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ITS BENEFIT TO MAN.

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the laurel on the warrior's brow; that leads the soldier on to conquest, and bids him face the battle's dread array; that, pointing to the enjoyment of earthly honour and greatness in time, cheers man amidst every discouragement he may have to encounter, and leads him to overcome every difficulty and obstacle for their attainment; and, when elevated and directed to higher objects by the influence of religion, gives him the cheering prospect of happiness in eternity. It is the very life-boat of our existence-the oil that calms that sea of trouble, on which man launches at his birth. What would the poor despised Jew be-what would man be without its cheering influence? yes, though clouds of doubt and mists of uncertainty may hover round, and for a while obscure our horizon, it is hope can

"Smile those clouds away,

And paint the morrow with prophetic ray."

Independent of the death-like stillness that prevails without the city, as we remarked upon first approaching it, there is a stillness and solitude within its walls, that could hardly be imagined in a place containing so many thousand souls. This may arise from the inhabitants not being engaged in manufacturing or commercial pursuits; for, except those things absolutely requisite for supplying the common necessities of the population, there

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is little bought or sold in Jerusalem; and consequently the bustle of traffic and the busy hum of men are never heard within its streets. As religious worship in some form or another is the object for which the greater number of the inhabitants have come to Jerusalem, they make it the daily business of their lives; and so much respect do the Mooslims pay to their Sabbath, that the city gates are always closed during the hours of prayer, and no inducement could prevail upon the officer of the guard to open them for us one day that we wished to go out, until their services were concluded.

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That portion of the town that encloses a part of the brow of Sion, is almost a waste; sunk in pitfalls or thrown up into mounds by ruined buildings, and overgrown with weeds and enormous cacti. This sacred spot is now the district allotted to the lepers, great numbers of whom are constantly met near the Sion gate, or seated by the road side among the nopals. These wretched people are most disgusting objects, and some of them exhibited the worst cases of this dreadful malady that I ever beheld; many had lost fingers, toes, noses,-nay, whole hands and feet; and several were absolutely white as snow, from the peculiar scaly appearance that some forms of this disease had assumed. It is high time that the rulers of the countries where leprosy. exists should exert themselves to prevent its extension, by providing a separate asylum for these unhappy beings; instead of allowing them to con

THE STREETS AND HOUSES.

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gregate in small communities, where the disease is sure to be propagated and perpetuated.

The streets of Jerusalem are narrow, ill-paved, and generally very dirty, particularly in the Jewish quarter. The sides of the houses fronting the streets, are little better than dead walls, with a few small latticed windows. The roofs of nearly all the houses are domed and white-washed, and around these are flat terraces; the whole covered with cement, and surrounded by a parapet wall, about breast high.† The house-tops are the constant retreats of the people, and many of them are covered with awnings. Portions of the parapet walls are curiously constructed of small cylinders of red crockery ware, piled up in a pyramidal form, and forming a kind of open work, that allows the air to blow through, and produces a most refreshing current. The inhabitants say, this construction has also the effect of preserving the wall from being blown down by the many sudden squalls and tempests common to this country at particular seasons. Besides this, it is useful in permitting the ladies to observe, unseen, what is going forward in the neighbourhood, all the Christian females in Judea being just as chary of their fair faces as the Ismalians.

According to our notions of social and domestic enjoyment, nothing can be more cruel, dreary, and unnatural, than the enslaved condition

*Judg. v. 28. Canticle, ii. 9.

† Deut. xxii. 8.

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THE FEMALE INHABITANTS.

in which the women of the East, and particularly those in Jerusalem, are held. The chief amusement of many of them seems to be, mourning over the tombs of their departed lords; but I have occasionally observed others partaking of that agreeable imitation of the motion, productive of sea-sickness, called "swing-swang ;" and whole hareems turn out to partake of this pastime, among the olive groves near the Bab-el-shem. During the play, the ladies chant a low chorus; and the person who is swung, utters a shrill but not unpleasing cry, as she rises in the air.*

The face-cover of these ladies is not the boo'rcko of the Egyptian females, but the yashmac, similar to that worn at Constantinople. It consists of a white muslin handkerchief, drawn tight round the lower part of the face, immediately beneath the nose, and fastened at the back of the head, thereby exposing more of the face than is usual among Eastern ladies. From its continued pressure against the end of the nose, it has produced a general protuberance of that organ, by no means pleasing. If intense white, with a slight tinge of pink upon the cheek, can be called beauty, these ladies possess it; but among the Mooslim belles, it is size, not colour or the form of their features, that constitutes that envied appellation, expressed in one

*Swinging has been a very old and favourite amusement among Eastern ladies. See the Arabic Tales of Inatulla.

A MOHAMMADAN GRAVEYARD.

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word, dumpiness. The Armenian females dress like the Turkish, and resemble them very much in appearance.

Besides the bath, one of the few excuses that an eastern dame has for leaving the hareem, is to visit the tombs of deceased relatives. Most of the Mooslim tombs about the city have the round stele or head-stone carved at top into the form of a palmetto leaf, or a number of grooves radiating from the centre. This is said to be for the purpose of catching the plenteous tears of the widows who resort there to weep over their husbands. In this respect they bear some analogy to the ancient lacrymatories mentioned by the Psalmist; but, though I examined numbers, I was never able to discover any of this precious fluid.

How

A Mohammadan graveyard is ever a scene of interest; and although many resort to it from a more unworthy motive than that of mourning, yet I have seen others around these tombs, the outpouring of whose sorrow told of withered hopes and blighted happiness that no affectation could produce. much greater reverence and respect is paid to the remains of the dead in the east than in our own country. The oriental looks forward to visiting the tomb of a friend for days and even years to come; and every thing about it is kept clean, neat, and elegant. Rows of tall cypresses shade the snow-white marble, interspersed with flowers and grass plots. At night small twinkling lamps are hung in the different

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