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156
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JONE, 1903.
THE TRAVELS OF RICHARD BELL (AND JOHN CAMPBELL) IN THE EAST INDIES, PERSIA, AND PALESTINE.
1664-1670.
BY SIR R. C. TEMPLE.
(Concluded from Vol. XXXVI., p. 179.) A LITLE further & low in the valley is a cane wheere 8 of ye Appostles hid themseluos when of savior was led from Gethsemain.10 Over ye doore of ye Cave is 8 roses Cut in ye naturall rock in memory of ye place; other marks wthin ye Cave are through tyme worne out. ffolloweinge the vaile, we caime to that of Jehoshaphat, wh is but narrow, yet reacheth to yo Dead Sea, wych is about 20 Engl miles from Jerusalem. Att this place, by a small buildinge & part of an Old ruin howse, is a deepe well [the well of Nehemiah) wherein the Jewes, when they weere carried into Babilon Captives, hid the bolly fyer & at theire returne found it theire in an Oyly substance, wcb by them beinge spred on the wood vppon the Alter, fyer from heaven (came] & Consumed the wood.11 The water in that well, neare 30 yards below the Top, doth Over flow once in two yeares, 12 thereby portending great plenty. ffratre Thomas, in 10 yeares vch he had lived in Jerusalem, hath knowie it Overflow 4 times, & y effects seene as aforesaid. Neare this place was the tree, & now an other grows theire, wheere Isaah (Isaiah) Aled to from Manasses, wch tree opened to receive him from the pursewers & closed againe, but the pedewers seing wheere he went sawed him wth the Tree in two.13
Siloa Siloam) is hard by, wheere the man borne blind washt & was restored to his sight. Theire I washt. Neare this is ye hill [on which] Sollomon built a temple to ye Idoll Molock 14 & by yt is the fountaine Modona (Madonna).15 A litle aboue yt is the place wheere Judas hanged himselfe [Aceldama] And a litle further is many Selpalchers of the Jewes Theires the Sepulcher of Zacherias cut out of a great rock & stands now as in the time when first finished, a verrie large place of One intire stone sepated from yo rock 10 yds & is as bigg as many Chappells in England. A stones cast from it is the Sepulchre of Absolon cat ont of the rock in his life tyme, & stands vndefaced as in or Saviors tyme. Neare this is the tomb of Jehossephat in a valt.16 A valt neare this in ye rock, in wh St James Junior (the Less] hid himselfe. A litle aboue these is ye heade of Brooke Kydron, now noe water runs theire, by woh heade they show in a stone the print of of Saviors foote in a rock, 16 & theire touch theire heads & Crosses & Kisse it and pay Devotions. Wheere Gethsemain was is now a wild wood, near woh is yo place, wheere Or Savior left 8 Appostles when he went to pray in ye Garden16 ; against this was ye Golden gate. Neare this they show yo place ye Virgin Mary prayed for 8Stephen. And the place where yo Virgin Mary let fall her girdle to St Thomas.17 A litle further is yo groat (grotto]18 in wch or Savior swett drops of blood & in ye groat we all pd or devotions.
1. Seo Maundrell, A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalom, p. 187.
11 See Maundrell, 4 Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 137, and Pooooke, Travels in the East, p. 424, for variants of this legend.
13 "They told me that sometimes it overflowed." Pooocke, Travele in the East, p. 424.
15 Compare Maundrell, A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 137," a little higher in the valley, on the left hand, you come to a tree supposed to mark out the place where the evangelical prophet was llawn asunder." Pocooke says the tree was a white mulberry, Travels in the East, p. 423.
11. ., the Mountain of Offence. See Pooooke, Travels in the Kast, p. 494. 15 i, e., the Fountain of the Blessed Virgin. See Maondrell, A Journey from lop po to Jerusalem, p. 137. 16 All these nlaces are desoribed by Maundrell.
17 Compare Meundrell, A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 141, "Near the bottom of the hill is a great stone, upon which, you are told, the Blessed Virgin lot fall her girdle after her assumption, in order to convince St. Thomas, who, tbey say, was troubled with a ft of his old incredulity upon this occasion."
• Maundrell remarks, A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 158, "Almost all passages and histories related in the Gospel are represented by them that andertake to show where everything was done, as having been dopo udost of them in grottos.