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sprightly, intelligent, and loquacious Andalusian, who took great delight in displaying to us his array of bottles, jars, and pillboxes, remarking as he went along upon the sanative efficacy of each, and the miraculous cures they had effected. The laboratory was a perfect curiosity, and such as I dare say could not be found at present in Europe. Retorts, alembics, and other chemical instruments of the antique fashion used in the halcyon mystifying days of alchemy and astrology-such as no doubt were often used by the professor of the times of the first Crusades to search for the philosopher's stone or the elixir of life— were there displayed in bright array. With these were mingled the relics of sundry skeletons-awful looking chirurgical instruments-grim monsters, and musty specimens in natural history:

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"A tortoise hung,

An alligator stuffed, and other skins

Of ill-shaped fishes."

with divers amulets and charms. All these, together with the dark gloomy vaulted chamber and its ancient furniture, afforded a strong contrast to the laboratory of modern times, worked by steam and lighted up with gas. The stock of medicines was, however, very good ;* and as some of the brethren devote themselves to the study of medicine, and do much to alleviate the diseased of all classes and persuasions, it is really a most valuable establishment in that country; although the knowledge of those persons in medicine and surgery is just in that state in which we received it from the monks about three centuries ago.

* I procured some good specimens of scammony from the Medicus of the convent; and received much valuable information regarding its culture and manufacture. Aleppo and Damascus are still the great marts of this valuable drug, though it grows all over Palestine, and particularly well about Bethlehem. The trade is still in the hands of the Jews, who purchase it from the Arabs; and I have good reason to believe that very little of it finds its way into this country unadulterated with clay and resin. The price in Jerusalem is six piasters, not quite 1s. 6d. an ounce. This is worth inquiring into by our druggists.

POVERTY OF THE GREEK CONVENT.

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Another singular part of this monastical establishment is the warehouse, to which it is expected that all travellers will pay a visit and purchase some of the sacred merchandise it contains. Were I to detail the vast quantities of amulets and beads, the tons weight of mother-of-pearl ornaments, and the stores of crosses of every shape and size we saw in these apartments, I fear my readers might say I was exceeding even a traveller's license. We were truly astonished at this immense stock of holy ware. There are upwards of seven hundred persons engaged in one branch of these manufactures at Bethlehem, and several thousand pounds worth of this trumpery are yearly forwarded to Europe, having been first sanctified and endowed with peculiar virtue, it is said, by being rubbed upon the Holy Sepulchre, hearing mass in the Latin church, and being blessed by the superior of the convent. I hope, for the sake of those who put faith in such wares, that they may all enjoy these advantages.

The Greeks are the most numerous of any of the sects of Christians in Jerusalem, and enjoy a larger share of Turkish patronage, as well as a greater number of holy places, than the others. Some time ago, however, their convent was in rather distressed circumstances, and the monks were obliged to pawn their plate and decorations to a Jew, one of the few rich ones in the city. I understood that this person was also the creditor of a late eccentric lady, whose case was a short time since before the English public. This man of money claims to be a subject of the British crown; and when one of our consul-generals visited the city a few years ago, a most extraordinary scene took place in the hospice of the Latin convent; the box, containing the pawned articles, was unsealed in his presence, and its valuable contents actually put up to auction; but, as there were no bidders, the ornaments were replaced, and still remain in the possession of the Hebrew. Notwithstanding the loss of these ornaments, the dresses of the Greek ecclesiastics are still very splendid.

The Armenians make a much greater show and display in their worship than any of the other sects. Their chapel, which is within the holy enclosure, is situated in the gallery to the right of the Sepulchre, and the furniture and decorations of the altar, and the costume of the priests, are superb. When we

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visited their chapel, the bishop was sitting in state in front of the altar, dressed in the most costly robes; having on his head a mitre shaped like the papal crown, of great brilliancy, and studded with the most valuable and precious stones; and holding in his hand a crozier of exceeding beauty and of great value. This sect do not use bells in their worship; but in lieu of them they shake a small silver cymbal, fastened to the end of a stick, as the signal for the different prostrations. On the morning of our visit, the service was chanted in Persian. Their music is not quite so inharmonious as that of the Greeks. Their convent is an immense pile of buildings, with spacious courts, and extensive gardens attached to it; in which are generally to be seen. groups of pilgrims seated round fires, cooking their meals, and giving to the place the appearance of a caravansary. The chapel attached to this convent has for many years attracted the attention of travellers, chiefly on account of the beauty and exquisite workmanship of some of the side altars, the doors of which are inlaid with tortoise-shell, ivory, and mother-of-pearl set in silver. In some of the small chapels are a few old and very beautiful manuscript copies of the Scriptures. A large curtain hangs before the principal altar, having on it a wretched painting of a ship, and a sea view. The whole is a sorry daub, with perspective in Chinese style, and so ill does it accord with the splendour of the other parts of the edifice, that I should not have noticed it, but for the curious fact, that the English ensign is represented flying from the main mast of the vessel. Why, or wherefore, this device had been adopted, I could not learn; possibly it may have been the handiwork of some British sailor. The females sat apart in the chapel, and had their faces enveloped in white muslin handkerchiefs like the Osmanlees, whom they very much resemble in appearance.

Altogether, the Armenians are a very interesting people; they are less bigoted to their own religious opinions, more liberal to those of others, and less adverse to the reading and circulation of the Bible, than any of the other sects, and they are particularly courteous to strangers. The dress of the priest is blue; and instead of a turban or a small skull cap, he wears a high-crowned black hat, which spreads out at top.

They also possess another convent, which stands on the sum

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mit of Sion, outside the gates, and they assert that it contains the real stone that closed the mouth of the Holy Sepulchre. The exterior of this building is highly characteristic of the late disturbed state of Judea, and of the defensive attitude that all the exposed monastical establishments were obliged to maintain, in order to repel the attacks of the Arabs, who were not only constantly on the watch for an opportunity to rush in and rob the convents, but sometimes came in strong parties, and tried to force an entrance. There are no windows, and no apertures of any kind in the outer wall, except the small, low, and ironstudded door, which is of vast strength. On the top of the parapet was piled a wall of loose stones, of about three feet high, in order to prevent the scaling ladders of the enemy from catching on the solid masonry, as well as to hurl down upon the besiegers.

Within, we found the tombs of the several patriarchs of that church who have died in Jerusalem; and on the left is shown a small plain chapel, adorned with Dutch tiles, like the churches in Portugal. Here the stone which as they assert closed the door of the sepulchre in which our Saviour was laid, forms the altar; and it also is covered with pottery ware, except at the ends, and on the back part, where the naked rock is exhibited, to receive the devout kisses of the pilgrims; of late, however, its peculiar sanctity has been very much on the wane, and it is now almost neglected. I believe that Maundrell was deceived when he stated that this stone had formerly occupied a place in the church of the sepulchre, and was stolen from thence by the Armenians, a few years before he visited Jerusalem. This story has now become current among travellers. Sandys, who visited the place eighty-seven years before, speaks of this very stone, but does not mention the theft, which if it had really occurred, would naturally have been fresher in the minds of the people then, than at the period when Maundrell visited the place. It is impossible that it could have been used as a door to the tomb of Christ, for it is seven feet five inches long, by three feet five inches in depth and breadth. In short, though the tradition about it is, no doubt, very old, yet it is an Armenian opposition shop.

The Maronites and other Christian sects that inhabit Palestine, and occasionally visit the Holy City, are so few in number,

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that they scarcely deserve any particular notice.* But the Copts cannot be passed over in silence.

Perhaps there is no other people in existence that deserve a more attentive inquiry into their history and physical character, than the Copts; because of no other nation, possessing such claims on our attention, from their origin, descent, or present condition, do we know less. The passing traveller is less likely to gain any accurate knowledge of the religion, customs, or domestic manners of this sect, than of any other; for they are a particularly reserved and silent people, who mix little with those of a different persuasion; and for this reason, information respecting them is with great difficulty obtained.

The question seems now decided, that the Copts are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, though much altered by intermixture with other nations, particularly the Abyssinians, whom they resemble in colour, and also slightly in features. By the Egyptians here alluded to, I must not be understood to mean all those whose forms are so accurately represented on the ancient paintings and sculptures; for even independent of the conquered races that are exhibited on these drawings, there were at least three distinct races of Egyptians, as stated by Blumenbach, and as can be seen by a reference to the magnificent plates of Rosselini. I have, however, seen Copts who partook more or less of the peculiarities of all three, except in the copper tinge that appears to have been the peculiar colour of the higher cast.

In stature the Copts are generally small, though, as far as my observations went, they are not the ill made or deformed race they were represented to be by Denon. The figure of the head is that denominated Caucasian; the hair is thick and rather crisp or curly, but not woolly; the beard is scanty, but not remarkably so, or any thing like what it is in the negro. The nose is straight, though rather larger at the end, and more in

*The following circumstance was related to me in Judea upon good authority: Some of the Maronites of Mount Lebanon having lately (for certain political purposes) put themsleves under the dominion of the pope, the priests conditioned that they were not to say mass in Latin, as none of them had learned that language-the stipulation on the part of the See of Rome was, that as they could not speak Latin, they should read the service in ancient Syriac, an unknown tongue to the people who heard them!

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