EASTERN SHEPHERDS. 551 preceded by their shepherds, walking slowly towards Jerusalem, and at once the full force of all the beautiful imagery, and the many touching similes derived from such scenes and associations, and so often alluded to in Scripture, came vividly before me. These Arab shepherds, clad in the turbans and simple abbas worn by their class, and carrying a wooden crook in their hands, walked in front. The sheep, which are a peculiar and very handsome breed, are mostly low sized; the foreparts of their bodies are of a fawn colour, the hinder parts white; they have long, pendant, silken ears, and sweeping tails; their faces are more oval and longer than the species in these countries, and they have altogether a more pleasing, docile, and mild expression of countenance. Not one of them ventured before the shepherd, but stopped or quickened their pace as he did; or if a young and froward creature lagged behind or strayed to either side, a single word from their leader, often a very look, brought it back and checked its wanderings. A few favourite lambs frisked about their master, rubbing themselves against his legs and garments. After the sheep, came some young goats and lambs, and the whole procession closed with about two dozen of old, patriarchal looking goats, who brought up the rear. These goats have long horns and pendant ears that hang almost to the ground, and their hair is a glossy black and of the finest grain; the sheep and goats were perfectly distinct. These shepherds are often to be seen about sunset slowly approaching the city from all sides, to seek shelter for their flocks, during the night, in some of the deep valleys by which it is surrounded, carrying the lambs in their bosoms. It is almost incredible, the influence that the shepherds of Palestine have acquired over their flocks; many of them have no dogs, but a word is quite sufficient to make them understand and obey the will of their shepherd. He sleeps among them at night, and in the morning leadeth them forth to pasture; always walking before them, guiding them to those places where they can enjoy the best food; and resting when he thinks they have obtained a sufficiency, or during the heat of the day, in some cool shady place, where they all immediately lie down around him. He has generally two or three favourite lambs, who do not mix with the flock, but follow close at his side, frisking and fondling about him like dogs; indeed the degree of intelligence and under 552 THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM. standing that exists between the Arab and his flock, is truly astonishing. "They know his voice, and follow him;" and "he careth for the sheep." It was probably to such shepherds as these, that the angel announced the glad tidings of the Saviour's birth. We next passed the gloomy, prison-like Greek convent of Elias, and there lost sight of the city. From thence to the end of our ride, the country was greatly broken, and resembled, in miniature, that lying between Ramlah and the Holy City; and a continual series of hills, clad in their sombre grey limestone, gave the scenery a solemn and dreary aspect. Through the intervals of those hills, we caught occasional glimpses of the Dead Sea; and to the east, a peculiar conical hill, called the "Mount of the Franks," or the hill of Bethulia, supposed to be the Herodium mentioned by Josephus. From this point of the road, until we approached Bethlehem, the country was stony and uncultivated, though it hardly deserves the term barren, for it could be rendered productive, if a proper system of agriculture were adopted. Here I am again compelled to remind those who exclaim against the barrenness of Palestine, that its barrenness arises in a great measure from the want of cultivation; and such persons should remember, that the curse pronounced against the earth, was that of sterility—a sterility which can only be removed by the fertilizing dew from off the brow of man, till the dawning of another era, when the bloom of Eden shall clothe the rocks and valleys of this promised land. As we approached the village, the scenery improved; the path wound through olive yards and corn fields, such as, in all probability, the Saviour often traversed. Bethlehem is beautifully situated, and does not require even the hallowed scenes, and the associations connected with its history-though they certainly heighten its effect, and give it an additional interest-to arrest the attention of the traveller, and bid him gaze upon the picturesque hill that rises before him in parterres of vineyards, almond groves, and fig plantations, watered by gentle rivulets that murmur through those terraces; and diversified by the tower and the wine-press. On entering the town, we met a band of young girls going out to the neighbouring well, with their waterpots on their heads; and these, as well as the other females that we saw in Bethlehem, THE FEMALES OF BETHLEHEM. 553 were some of the most beautiful of their sex we met in the East. They had slight and elegant figures; a native grace of mien and air, and large lustrous eyes, shaded by lashes of surpassing length, the soft witchery of which is described in the language of our country's poet "Such eyes! long, shadowy, with that languid fall Of the fring'd lids, which may be seen in all Lending such looks as, on their marriage days, Young maids cast down before a bridegroom's gaze!" Added to this their oval expressive faces, composed of features, regular without formality, and marked without harshness; the tasteful drapery of their light simple attire; the dark tresses that fell in wild luxuriance over their necks and shoulders, braided with small golden coins, while a zone of the same brilliant material adorned their high expanded foreheads; their elastic step, the music of their silver anklets, (Isaiah, iii. 16,) and the beauty of the long-necked vases they carried on their heads, in some supported by the left hand, while the right held up the folds of their blue tunics-all cast a charm, an inexpressible charm round those lovely Arab maidens. The rosebud's bloom, that complexion so rare under an eastern sun, was on their cheeks and lips, very different from the pink, sickly tinge of the Circassian or Osmanli, or the dark olive hue of the Abyssinian, or Egyptian. In Europe those females would be admired as most interesting brunettes;* and a modern painter No females in existence possess finer or more erect, and at the same time more graceful carriages than those accustomed to carry light burdens on the head. It is a subject of some surprise, why those to whose care the education of the young ladies of our own country is committed, have not sooner taken the hint from this fact, and thrown aside those horrible machines, backboards, steel straps, and monitors, calculated not only to give an awkward and ungraceful gait and appearance to the person, but really to promote deformity. To appreciate the advantages of this mode of exercise, it is only necessary to observe any milkmaid walking with a pail upon her head. To preserve its balance, she must stand perfectly erect the shoulders must be in their natural position, and on a perfect level; and, strange as it may seem, to preserve the equilibrium should have one of the maids of Bethlehem to sit for the Madonna. Bethlehem is a straggling village, with one broad and principal street; the houses have not domed-roofs like those of Jerusalem and Ramlah, but are built, for the most part, of clay and bricks, and every house is provided with an apiary, the beehives of which are constructed of a series of earthen pots, ranged on the house tops in the same manner as the wooden ones are in Asia Minor. There are said to be about 3,000 inhabitants in this place, the greater part of whom are Arab Christians; for Ibrahim Basha, finding that the Mooslims were continually at war with the Christians, had lately expelled the former, leaving the latter in peaceable possession of the village. The inhabitants are nearly all engaged in the manufacture of those articles of sacred merchandize that supply the bazaars and warehouses of the Holy City; and no sooner was our party espied than we were beset by a multitude of bead hawkers and relic sellers, shouting aloud the respective holy powers and miraculous virtues of their different wares. Some of the articles wrought in mother-of-pearl are carved with considerable skill; more than we could expect to find in that distant land, and the workmanship of some would not disgrace the artists of our own country. One of these manufacturers, whose workshop I visited, informed me, that when a boy he had been sent by his parents to Spain, to be instructed in the trade. In the streets several Bedawee blacksmiths were at work. The rude and simple character of their temporary forges attracted of the burden, be it ever so light, the back must be straight; and more pressure is taken off those parts of it called, in technical language, the intervertebral substance, than when walking or remaining without any such appendage. Were a similar kind of exercise more used, and were our young ladies permitted to breathe a little more fresh air, we should see fewer of those deformities, even of a minor character, than at present unhappily prevail amongst the sex; and are more frequently, perhaps, the effect of inattention and improper education than of any other cause whatever. If these obvious principles were attended to, we should have less occasion for the single hour of powerful kalesthenics, resorted to, to make up for the many, many hours of the day, spent in acquiring mechanical and perhaps useless accomplishments. THE FRANK CONVENT. 555 our attention. The bellows which they employed, was a most primitive instrument of its kind, being nothing more than an inflated goatskin bag, such as we read of being used by the early Greeks, and which in this instance was blown by the smith's wife pressing its sides together and then drawing them asunder to admit the air. At the farthest extremity of the town is the Frank convent, at whose low massive door we alighted, and were well received by the fraternity. We were first conducted into the cathedral of St. Helena, a handsome, spacious hall, consisting of a central nave, and aisles separated from each other by rows of tall Corinthian pillars of grey marble, but much defaced by dirt and the remains of gaudy paintings. As there is no ceiling, the lofty roof is exposed to view; and, although composed of the last of the cedars of Lebanon, it is still in a state of good preservation, and affords a fine specimen of the architecture of its day. The chapel at the upper end of the hall is now separated from it by a wall; as it was considered too expensive to keep up the whole; and the centre has a most cold, lonely, and desolate appearance. In this cathedral Baldwin the First was crowned king of Jerusalem, and it is the most chaste, architectural building in Palestine. The chapel belonging to this part of the building scarcely deserves our notice; but, the attendant monk placing in the right hand of each of us a large lighted wax taper, led us to the subterranean grotto, called the "Chapel of the Nativity." A flight of steps conducted us into an oblong apartment, in which a small low crypt, said to be hewn out of the solid rock, was exhibited to us as the actual place of the Nativity. On one side of it is an altar with a silver plate on the floor, like to that at Calvary, and said to cover the spot on which the birth of the Saviour took place. Opposite to this, a niche in the wall contains a very handsome, polished white marble trough, like a sarcophagus, which is shown as the very manger in which the infant Jesus was laid!! This trough is on a level with the floor of the apartment, which is somewhat lower than that of the outer chamber. The niche in which it is placed contains a very good Spanish painting, representing the event. Another place in this little vault is shown as that in which the Magi presented their gifts, and is also ornamented by a good painting. A number of silver lamps, suspended from the roof, are kept continually burn |