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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JUNE, 1908.
Distant from this is a village now, & many years agoe, is & was inhabbited by Christiany, & the Turks haue attempted to live among them, but die all in verry short tyme after theire comeinge among them ; Soe now they lett yo xpians live quiet theire,40 Neare this is ye place yo marble pillere at Bethlem weer hewne out. A mile from this is ye place yo bunches of grapes weere taken from by Caleb & Joshua, valikly now to ye eie to beare anie such. A mile further is yo fountaine wheer Phillip Baptized the Eunuke. By this is St Phillips village.
3 mile further is the Desart of St John Baptist. In ye edge of a rocke is his howse, * & hewne out of ye rock, & the bed wherein he lay cut out of ye stone, woh the Padrey showes to be his rez. Il bedd. 3 Miles further is the bowse where Elizabeth dwelt & the fountaine by wch we dyned.41 Neure it a stones cast the howse wheere S Jno Baptist was borne.“
Next that a mile on ye rocks is the Sepulchres of ye Maccabees. Some few Miles from that, & about one Mile froms Jerusa, is a Convent of Greekes called ye Conuent of the holly Crosse. The tree on weh yo Crosse was made of Savior sufferd on being Out thence. Over woh place was built by Queen Hellen a faire Church, in yo vpper end of wch they, the Greeks wou now hold it, tho ye xpians of xpiandom did formerly, show the hole out of weh it was digged, & pmitt not vs to goe neare it wtb or showes On, they esteeme ye ground soe holly. We refresht of selfs theire wth good water & one howers stay, being almost spent wth riding in the heats. Betwixt this & Jerusalem is Mount Guibeon, on weh Solloman was crowned Kinge, alsoe is a faire fish poole cald Sollomons. We entred ye Citty at y gate Bethlem, & as at every Mile & some tyines less, we pd a doller & a doller & 3 dollers a man for Copher headmoney, Gards & usance, Soe now, coming from Bethlem, they at ye gate took 3. p. As usence Money.
17 day July 69. The Ceremoneys of the Convent, wheere all this while we sate and dranke & lodged, for, tbo abroad, o pritions attended vs from that Conuent (saue at Nazareth & Bethlem wheere y 2 Contents belonge to them), being pformed, & Leaueing or Gratuitys of 30 Dollers a man, we Mounted for Rama. Litle of note in ye way, saue yo howse of Jeremiah & the good theifs. neare wch we lay in the wide rocks, & had Jacobs pilloe & not soe mach plaine ground as to lie at lenth in. Att Ramah we got by sun rise yo 18, at w place the villann druggerman of Joppa lives yt tooke 28 Dollers a heade to Gide vs 50 Mile & sent Only one footeman. The Druggermans [Dragoman's] name is cald Abram [Ibrābīm ], a grand Roge, for he is for this money to give vs a Meale of good treat at goeing & ye same at of retarne And send wth ys a good gard of Jennesarys & Mount vs well, rone of woh we had.
18 July. Arriveing at Joppay, we hyred boate for Mount Carmell but or landinge place was Capha, 4 a mile beyond it. Soe we took horse & paid 2 dolls pr head for Copher & horsses; yo Arrabbs take it, being theire Commands. Arriveinge at ye top of Mount Carmell, wch is 2 Mile from Capha, theire stands yo ruine of an Old Conuent, Alsoe yo groote wheere Elias slept, Kept by 7 Padrey or ffranciscan fryers who live in a small Convent under that ruined, wch is a bow Shott aboue. Att the bottom of this hill, they showed vs a large Grote or Caue hewed out of ye naturall rock, wliere Elias precbed, & wt in y a place wheere ye Angell appeared to him, both now kept by 5 Indians, wh live theire, Converted in India by the padre Guardian, & caime out of it wth him, & spend all theire tyme in Devotions. Two leagues of, aboue on the Mount, they tell vs of Elias fountaine,* & in y way to y, yo feild in wh are found yo Stone water Mellong.16 Telling vs this story, vizt. -- Elias passing by yo Garden, desired of him a Mellon. The gardner said they weere stones. Replied the pfet prophet ] Elias, stones lett them be, of woh I haue One to show.
"We came to a village Galled Boote hallah ; concerning which they relate this roniarkable property, that no Turk can live in it above two years. By virtue of this report, w
of this report, whether true or false, the Christians keep the village to themselves without molontation," Maundrell, A Journey from Alegpo to Jerusalem, p. 123.
+1 All these places were seen by Maundrell. Vol. XXXVI, p. 179: n. 100. • See Maundrell's explanation of Elisabeth'stwo dwelling-places. Journey from Aloypo to Jerusalem, p. 125. 43 See note on Vol XXXVI, p. 179. n. 100.See Maundrell, 4 Journey from Alopro to Jerusalem, p. 76. 45 See Thévenot, A Voyage into the Levant, for these and many of the other sites mentioned by Bell.
