our Lord and afterwards threw them back being in despair for having sold his Master They were taken up and laid out in purchasing this Field which was appointed to be a Burying-place for Strangers and the Armenian Strangers are buried there at present The Grott of the Apostles Afterwards we saw the Grott where the eight Apostles hid themselves when our Lord was taken there are some Pictures of the holy Apostles still to be seen there then the place where the Strangers Greeks are Interred The pit where the Fire was laid during the Captivity of Babylon and the pit where the Jews hid the Fire of the Altar by orders from the Prophet Jeremy when they were carried away Slaves to Babylon by Nebuchadnezer King of Babylon and many years after they were delivered the high priest Nehemiah causihg search to be made for the Fire in that place they found nothing but a fat Clay which being by the said Priest laid upon the Burnt-Offering it took Fire and was Consumed Close by this Pit there is a Mosque with a reservatory of Water We came afterwards to the Pool of Shiloah Pool of Shiloah whither our Lord sent the Blind man to wash The place where the Prophet Isaiah was Sawn in sunder a live The Fountain of the Virgin The Mount of Scandal The place where Judas hanged himself Bethany The Castle of St. Lazarus The Sepulchre of Lazarus after he had anointed his Eyes with Clay and Spittle which restored his sight to him Then we came to the place where the Prophet Isaiah was Sawn a live in two by the middle with a wooden Saw by command of King Manasses then the Fountain of the Virgin so called because there as it is said she washed our Saviours Clouts There are thirty steps to go down to it and they say that such as are sick of Feavers by bathing in that water and drinking of it it being very good to drink are presently Cured From this Well comes the water of the Pool of Shiloah Not far from thence we saw the Mount of Scandal so called because the Concubines of Salomon made him commit Idolatry in that place by Sacrificing to the Idol Moloch and the Idol of Chamos Not far from thence is the place where Judas Iscariot Hanged himself after he had betrayed our Saviour then we went to Bethany where we saw the ruines of the House of Simon the Leper where Mary Magdalen poured the precious Ointment upon the Feet of our Lord. Advancing sixty Paces further we saw the place of the Castle of St. Lazarus nothing remaining but the ruines upon a little Mount at the foot of which is the Sepulchre that our Saviour raised Lazarus out of when he had been four days Dead and the very stone that was rolled against the mouth of it there are twenty uneasie steps down to it cut in the Rock and at the bottom of them are six wooden steps that lead into a little Chappel out of which you go into the said Sepulchre that is on the left hand This Sepulchre is a little square Grott containing a Table on which all the Priests of the Nations that Inhabit Jerusalem say Mass and the Body of Lazarus was laid upon this Table Not far from thence is the stone on which our Saviour coming from Jericho sat down and bewailed the Death of Lazarus The Castle of Mary Magdalen The House of Martha when St. Martha told him Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not Died. Within a few paces of that stone stood the Castle of Mary Magdalen called Magdalon and close by it is the place where the house of Martha stood after that we came to the place of the Fig-Tree which our Saviour Cursed because it bore no Fruit whereupon it instantly withered Then we passed through Bethphage where we saw the place where the Ass was when our Saviour sent for it to make his entry into Jerusalem on Palm-Sunday riding on the Ass Next we went to the Grott where St. Peter wept bitterly for his Sin The Grott of St. Peter after that the Cock had Crow'd from thence we came to the place where the Jews would have taken the Body of the Virgin from the Apostles as they were carrying it to the Sepulchre for which they were immediately punished Then we went to Mount Sion about five or six hundred paces distant from the City Mount Sion The place of the Lords-Supper which is the place where our Lord celebrated his Holy Supper with his Apostles washed their Feet and instituted the most August Sacrament the eighth day after his Resurrection he entered into it when the Doors were shut and said to his Disciples Pax vobis Peace be unto you the Holy Ghost also descended there upon the Virgin and the Apostles on the day of Pentecost the Sepulchre of David and Salomon In this place are the Sepulchres of David and Salomon About an hundred years since that Mountain was within the Town possessed by the Religious of the Order of St. Francis but after that Sultan Solyman rebuilt the Walls of Jerusalem The place where the Virgin died it was excluded and the Friers dispossessed of it The Turks have built a Mosque there into which the Christians are not suffered to enter close by we saw the place where the holy Virgin died at present there being no building there a little lower is the Church-yard of the Roman Catholicks On the left hand towards the City is the place where St. John the Evangelist many times said Holy Mass About an hundred and fifty paces from that Mount as you go towards the City there is a Church held by the Armenians in the same place where the House of Caiaphas stood we went into it and saw upon the Altar The Stone that shut the Sepulchre of our Lord. the Stone which shut the door of our Saviours Monument which is near seven foot long three foot broad and a foot thick On the right hand is the Prison into which our Lord was put whil'st Caiaphas after he had examined him consulted with the rest what should be done with him As you go out of the Church on the left hand in a low Court there is an Orange-Tree which is the place where St. Peter warmed himself when he three times denied his Master seven or eight steps from thence is the place of the Pillar where the Cock Crew After that we entred the City by the Gate of Sion and went to see the House of the High Priest Annas which now is an Armenian Church The House of the High Priest Annas In the Court before the Church there is an Olive-Tree which they affirm for a certain to be the same to which our Lord was Bound till he received the Sentence of the High Priest Going from thence we went to another very fair Church called St. James still held by the Armenians which was built by St. Helen The
Face remaining which is commonly reduced to Ashes I believe it is because it will not admit of Gumming so well as the other parts of the Body However I brought to Paris the Head of a Mummie whole and entire but it is all covered with Fillets of Cloth so neatly fitted The Bandages Mummies that they hinder not but one may see the shape of the Eyes Nose and Mouth The rest of the Body was swathed with little Bands of Cloth very neatly made but wrapped about with so many casts and turnings that I believe there were above a Thousand Ells in it and certainly it is so rare a way of Swathing and Binding that I think it cannot be imitated at present as many Chirurgeons have acknowledged to me Along the Breast and Belly there was a band of Cloth three good Fingers broad and a large Foot and a half long it was fastned to the other Bands and upon it were several Hieroglyphicks done in Gold. I took this Writing and folded it that I might the more conveniently carry it up with me I hoped to have found Idols in that Coffin Idols in the Coffins of the dead Idols within the dead bodies The Balm wherewith bodies were anointed in Aegypt knowing that they Interred many with their Dead either of Stone Copper or Green Earth as I have several that have been found in these Bodies but finding none I thought there might be some within his Body for after they had Emboweled them they pretty often enclosed Idols within their Bellies for that end I had it broken up but we could find nothing I considered then that Balm which is now quite lost it is Black hard and shines like Pitch having much such a smell but more pleasant that kept Bodies entire and I believe the Sand contributed not a little thereto for even in the great Desarts of Arabia sometimes the dead Bodies of Men and Dogs are found entire who falling asleep and staying behind the Caravans Bodies preserved in Sand. are covered over with an ocean of Sand driven by the high Winds in which the Bodies being buried are by the driness and salt that is in the Sand which dries up all the humidity of them preserved entire and are afterwards found when another Wind blowing carries off the Sand again Many think that the Bodies so dried are the true Mummie it is a mistake and that which Merchants bring into Christendom to be used in Medicine is the Mummie we first described Near the Room I went in to there were several others full of Bodies but seeing the entries into them were full of Sand Rooms full of bodies in the Mummies I called to them above to pull me up again with the same Rope with which I was let down being much dissatisfied with my Moors who had opened so sorry a Pit for me When I was got up I looked upon my Cloth whereon were Characters of Gold but was much vexed to see that all the Letters disappeared and that by my own fault because I had folded it together when it was very humid and so all the Gold and Paint stuck to the opposite sides whereas I should have brought it up open and dried it in the Sun. But I have others that are finer which are only a little spoilt in the bringing I brought with me also some Hands of Mummies which are as entire at present as ever they were I had also the good fortune to buy upon the place some Idols of the Moors who come and sell them to the Franks in the City Idols of Mummies These Idols are of several sorts and in many Postures there are of them of Copper of several sorts of Stone and several sorts of Earth also at least I have some of all these kinds all which I am very sure have been taken out of Mummies and cannot be said to be counterfeit for besides that they have not the Art to do it they sell them at so easie a rate that the very Materials are worth more The reason of the Egyptians expensfulness in their Tombs This is all I could observe of the Pyramides and Mummies And hence it appears that the Ancient Aegyptians spent more in their Tombs than during their whole Lives and one reason they gave for that was That their Houses were only for living a short time in and their Tombs the Palaces that were to be inhabited by their Souls for many Ages Not far from these Mummies towards the Nile are some remains of a large Town Memphis which was Memphis the Inhabitants whereof were Buried there the Ancients never burying their Dead within Towns for fear of infecting the Air none but Christians who mind not that bury their Dead any where Now to prove that these great Ruines are the remains of Memphis Pliny affirms it when he says that the Pyramides are betwixt the Delta of Aegypt and the City of Memphis on the side of Africa At length we returned by old Caire and saw all that is Curious or worth being seen in it CHAP. VII Of Old Caire Old Caire OLD Caire is a Ruinous Town though there be several good Houses in it still pretty well Inhabited and about a quarter of a League distant from New Caire The Church of Abousargis served by Cophtes We went first to the Church of Abousargis that is to say Father Sergius because it is built to the Honour of St. Sergius Under this Church there is a low Chappel where it is believed our Lady lived a pretty while with her dearest Son Jesus and was formerly but a meer Grotto In the Wall of this Grotto there is a hollow place like a Window where the Monks sometimes celebrate Mass this Church is held by the Cophtes From thence we went to the Monastery of St. George The Church of St. George in old Caire not far distant and first entred into the Church where the Greeks say there is an Arm of the said Saint still preserved but it is not to be seen being kept in a very dark place with two great Iron Grates before it one over another where there is a Lamp always burning There is a thick Pillar also in this Church to which an Iron Chain is fastned which they say was St. George's and they tie Mad-men to it to be Cured This Monastery is Inhabited by Greek Nuns it is very Ancient well Built and exceeding high having a place on the top of it that affords a very distant Prospect But we must take notice withal that this Monastery is so full of Fleas that so soon as you have set foot within you are covered all over with them and seeing they are very lean they quickly crawl up and fall on Near to this Monastery is the Church-yard where the Franks are Interred paying the Nuns a Chequin for breaking of Ground Granaries of Joseph After that you see the Granaries of Joseph which as they say he Built and filled with Corn
place where St. James was Beheaded The House of St. Thomas The House of St. Mark. in this Church there is a little Chappel on the left hand as you enter which is the place where St. James the Minor first Patriarch of Jerusalem was Beheaded by command of Herod Agrippa This Church has no light but by the opening in the Dome above where there is an Iron-Grate very well wrought Over against this Church is the House of St. Thomas the Apostle into which the Turks dare not enter because they say that in times past such as entered it died there Afterwards we entered into the House of St. Mark where there is a Church held by the Syrians it is the first that was built by St. Helen in Jerusalem when Herod cast St. Peter into Prison the other Apostles with the Disciples were in that House praying for his deliverance near to that we saw the Iron-Gate through which the Angel brought St. Peter Iron-Gate when he delivered him out of the Prison from whence St. Peter went to the House of St. Mark and found the other Apostles there We then visited in order the House of Zebedee the Father of St. James the Major and St. John the Evangelist The House of Zebedee which is also the place of their Nativity at present there is a Church there held by the Greeks Then we came into the Court or open place of the Church of the holy Sepulchre and on the right hand where Mount Calvary is we entered a little Door and ascending nine and thirty steps of a winding stair-case we saw two Churches held by the Abyssins And then a Chappel near to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a Dome and fifteen steps up to it under which St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The place where St. Mary the Aegyptian did Penance The Prison of St. Peter when she could not get into the Holy Sepulchre This Chappel is the place where the Holy Virgin and St. John the Evangelist were when the Jews Crucified our Lord. Then we went through a place where we saw the Ruines of a great Pile of Building where heretofore the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem lived we went into the Prison where Herod put St. Peter from whence he was delivered by an Angel as we have said After we had seen all these Places we came back to the Convent about eleven a clock in the Forenoon CHAP. L. Our third Entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Of the City of Jerusalem SAturday the seven and twentieth of April we entered into the Holy Sepulchre where we stayed till next day being Sunday the eight and twentieth of April that the Pilgrims went to Dinner in the Convent for my part I stayed still in the holy Sepulchre Knighthood of Jerusalem where I was honoured with the Order of a Knight of the holy Sepulchre with the customary Ceremonies This Knighthood costs an hundred Crowns and has many Privileges but not acknowledged in many places That which chiefly made me desire this Knighthood was that that they assured me in several places that the Spaniards did not detain the Knights of Jerusalem Prisoners though they were French men and seeing I was afraid I might meet them at Sea upon my return into Christendome I thought my self obliged to take shelter under that protection After I had dined in the Refectory which the Monks have in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre I went to the Convent and we prepared to leave that Holy City next day I shall say nothing of the Ancient Jerusalem only give the Reader an account of the present State of it Jerusalem The City of Jerusalem is the Capital of Judea It stands on a dry and mountanous ground that bears nothing so that for three or four leagues about the Land is very barren but good at a farther distance The Streets of this City are narrow and crooked The Gates of Jerusalem It hath six Gates to wit the Sheep-Gate at present called St. Stephens Gate the Gate of Ephraim that of Damascus that of Jaffa or Bethlehem that of Sion and the Dung-Gate It hath also besides these six Gates the Golden Gate by which our Lord entered upon the Ass in Triumph but it is walled up because the Turks have a Prophesie That the Christians are to take Jerusalem by that Gate A Prophecy of the Turks And every Friday all the other Gates of the City are shut at Noon and not opened till their Noon-Prayers be over because they have another Prophecy That the Christians are to become Masters of them on a Friday during Noon-Prayer The same thing they also do in many other Cities Not far from the Golden-Gate there is on high on the outside of the City-Wall towards the Valley of Jehosophat The Valley of Jehosophat A Pillar on which Mahomet will sit at the Day of Judgment The transformation of Mahomet a little Pillar peeping out of a nich in the Wall like a Cannon out of a Port-hole and the Turks say that at the day of Judgment Mahomet shall sit upon that Pillar and observe whether our Lord Judge the Christians well or not if he Judge righteously Mahomet will give him his Sister in Marriage with a great deal of Money that then the same Mahomet shall change himself into a Sheep and all the Turks shall nestle in his Wool being all like Flees and so he shall flie in the Air shaking himself very hard and that those who stick fast to him shall be happy and such as fall off be damned The Walls are fair and strong much like to the Walls of Avignon and look as if they were new CHAP. LI. Of Emaus and Jaffa MOnday morning the nine and twentieth of April the R. F. Commissary led us to the Church of St. Saviour where having sung the Benedictus and some Prayers he gave us his Blessing and so having taken leave of him and of all the Monks of the Convent after we had given some Piastres to the Truchemen for their pains and Money to the Procurator or Steward for our diet which is given by way of Charity every one according to his liberality for they ask nothing we parted from the said Convent extremely well satisfied with the Entertainment we had received from these good Fathers who certainly are at a loss how to Treat the Pilgrims for they say if they treat them well when they return into their own Countrey they give it out that there is no need of sending any thing to the Monks because they are too rich and if they treat them not well they hinder others from sending them any Charity saying that they do not so much as entertain Pilgrims with what is given them In the mean time they need support considering the great summs of Money they yearly pay the Turks without which they would not so willingly be tolerated though indeed the League betwixt the Grand Signior and the French