The sciences have entirely disappeared from Jerusalem. Formerly, there existed large schools belonging to a Mus sulman temple, but at present hardly any traces of them remain, and only a few subsist, where children of every sect learn to read and write the tenets of their respective reli gion. The grossest ignorance is found to prevail among persons of the highest rank, who, on the first interview, seem to have received a liberal education. The arts are nearly in a state of equal degradation : a late traveller af firms that he did not see a single lock or key of iron during his abode in the city. There are some weaving looms, and very handsome yellow slippers are made, but the other manufactures are apparently inconsiderable. An immense quantity of relics was wont to be made for the convents, as it is not evident that these were fabricated within their walls ; which was either for export to Catholic countries, or to supply those whose devotion led them hither in pil grimages. The traffic is not yet abandoned. Jerusalem forms a kind of central point between Arabia, Egypt, and Syria, and is a rendezvous for the Arabs of these three countries, who come for the purpose of commercial con cerns. But the chief trade of all Palestine consists in ex porting oil and importing rice by the way of Acre. How ever, little benefit seems to be derived from it by Jerusa lem. Possibly those who have contemplated its form er grandeur in history draw a contrast with its present state, which is scarcely warranted by the reality ; for the activi ty required by the very supplies which a city of 30,000 in habitants demands is inconsistent with the picture of deso lation which some travellers, such as Chateaubriand, give of the streets. " Enter the city ; nothing will console you for its sad exterior : you wander over an unequal surface in narrow unpaved streets, walking, amidst clouds of dust, or among rolling flints. The darkness of this labyrinth is heightened by cloths stretched between the houses. Vaulted bazars, replete with infection, deprive the deso late city of the remaining light. Some mean shops dis play nothing but misery to the sight ; and they are fre quently shut up, from the dread of a cacti passing near them. No one appears in the streets—no one stands at the gates of the city. Sometimes only a peasant glides along in the shade, concealing the fruit of his labour under his vestments, in the apprehension that a soldier may despoil him of it. All the noise which is heard in the city is the galloping of a horse in the desert, bearing a janisary out on his way to pillage, or carrying hint home with the head of a Bedouin Arab." Jerusalem is abundantly sup plied with game : provisions of all kinds are cheap, and the wine is good. The shops and markets are, in the ordinary streets, not restricted to a separate bazar, as is usual elsewhere.
Independent of the stationary inhabitants and the other subjects of the Turkish government, Jerusalem is a great resort of pilgrims, among whom were many Europeans in former times. But though the zeal fur pilgrimage has greatly declined, yet it is still very considerable. In 1806, the number amounted to 1500, which was thought small ; but there were only two Europeans, of whom one was a traveller. It has been believed that the visits of Catholic pilgrims were the source of great riches to the convents of Jerusalem—a point disputed by Chateaubriand, who quotes various instances to confute the assertion. The city swarms with mendicants, allured thither in expectation of alms from the pilgrims.
Jerusalem has a governor, who lives in state, and re ceives strangers in a dignified manner ; a cacti, or civil judge, who is sent annually from Constantinople ; a gover nor of the citadel ; a sheik el haram, or chief of the Ma hometan temple ; and a mufti, or chief of the law. This city is particularly interesting to Europeans, .having been the capital of a people from whom all their reli gious opinions are derived, and from being the theatre of some events, which not only excited great sensation at the time, but have been carefully transmitted to posterity. Its public edifices are still numerous ; the spots which are mentioned in Scripture in the environs are yet pointed out with pious anxiety ; but it must not be disguised, that some recent travellers, leaning more to ancient history than the affirmation of the moderns, begin to question the identity of the localities which have remained undisputed for ages. The present citadel, which is supposed to oc cupy the site of David's palace, is a Gothic edifice through out, with interior courts, fosses, and covered ways. No cannon are seen on its walls ; and in one deserted apart ment, full of old helmets, lie numbers of weapons resem bling musket brrrels, of which the use is now unknown. This structure is also called the Pisan's Tower, having been built, according to Doubdan, by the republic of Pisa, when the Christians were in possession of the Holy Land.
But the religious edifices are more important and interest ing. There are several convents of Christian monks, whose total number in 1807 amounted to 61 ; and of these no less than 43 were natives of Spain. The Franciscan convent of St Salvador is a spacious structure like a fort ress, which, with all its conveniences in relation to the usual accommodations of Palestine, has been compared to " a sumptuous and well furnished hotel, open to all corners who may be attracted hither by curiosity or devotion. Meals are served up in an apartment called the Pilgrim's Chamber, consisting of sufficient variety, and adapted to every national taste. Even the beverage of tea is copious ly supplied to the Dutch and English, and abundance of liqueurs may be obtained." All pilgrims are received here : on their arrival, they undergo some ceremonies, and the feet of Europeans are washed by the superior of the con vent. They are lodged and supplied with whatever they require, and ccnducted to every sanctified place ; but the duration of their residence is limited to a month. It is common for persons of condition to make a present to the convent on their departure, which, in Pocoke's time, amounted to about Gl. sterling. At present, however, their table is apart from that of the fathers : they bear their own expences, and the convent derives no advantage from their residence. Only the poor are gratuitously maintain ed. The funds of the convent are ample, being the result of donations from Catholics of all ranks, and especially Catho lic princes, either in money or in goods and merchandise.
But the monks were lately reduced to great distress from interruption nterruption of their European supplies by the war ; and they are also occasionally harrassed by the exactions of the Turkish officers. In eight years of the present century, they were compelled to pay 40,000 piastres, or about 60001. Nevertheless, they have obtained the esteem of the people among whom they dwell, by their excellent organization and the regularity of their conduct. The Armenian convent is the largest in Jerusalem. It is main tained in a degree of splendour, attended with neatness, cleanliness, and good order, unexampled in Palestine. " Every thing pertaining to it is oriental. The patriarch appears in a flowing vest of silk instead of a monkish habit, and all around him bears the character of eastern magni ficence. He receives his visitors in regal stateliness, sit ting amidst clouds of incense, and regaling them with all the luxuries of a Persian court." The church of the Holy Sepulchre has been celebrated for ages, as containing within its precincts a tomb believed to be that in which the body of Jesus Christ was deposited. This structure stood on Mount Calvary. It consisted of several churches united ; and, besides the tomb, covered about twelve places, consecrated as the scenes of remarka ble transactions. The tomb itself, a white marble sarco phagus of ordinary dimensions, occupies a subterraneous chamber highly decorated. Its sanctity, however, is de nied by Nlabometans ; and the later travellers, though they rest their opinions on very different principles, have called its identity in question. The former deny its sanctity, be cause Christ ascended to heaven after imparting his like ness to Judas, who was crucified in his stead ; and the lat ter doubt its identity, because there is no evidence that the tomb attracted any notice until centuries subsequent to the event. Nay, they are disposed to go much farther, and to question the identity of all the localities pointed out as those of scripture, partly because the topography of the moderns is inconsistent with ancient descriptions, and part ly from the cause above assigned, that such points were not determined until the age of the Empress Helena, who lived some centuries after the death of Christ. Under this impression, the real sepulchre has been sought for among the neighbouring catacombs of a hill facing Mount Sion. The empress now named is said to have founded the church of the Holy Sepulchre, from the real cross on which Christ suffered being discovered on the spot ; and the tomb was covered by a superb rotunda, forming one end of that structure, which has been lately destroyed by fire. This conflagration is ascribed to the ArmenianS, who sought, by these means, to gain possession of the whole edifice, which was partitioned into churches and chapels belonging to various sects professing the Christian religion. The monks who superintended the sepulchre were particularly the objects of Turkish oppression, which the sincerity of their devotion alone could enable them to sup port. They not only suffered grievous exactions, but were repeatedly exposed to personal insult and danger. The Musselmen of Jerusalem themselves revere the tombs of many saints, which afford a profitable speculation to in dividuals, either from the pious endowments annexed to them, or the collection of alms.