Below This Place, Towards The N.E. Extends A Small Plain, Called
Sahel Hottein (Arabic).
The country is intersected by Wadys.
About one
hour distant from the stones, upon the same level, stands a hill of an
oblong shape, with two projecting summits on one of its extremities; the
natives call it Keroun Hottein (Arabic), the Horns of Hottein. The
Christians have given it the appellation of Mons Beatitudinis, and
pretend that the five thousand were there fed. We travelled over an
uneven, uncultivated ground, until we arrived at Kefer Kenna (Arabic),
four hours and a quarter from Tabaria, a neat village with a copious
spring surrounded by plantations of olive and other fruit trees, and
chiefly inhabited by Catholic Christians. This is the Cana celebrated in
the New Testament for the miracle at the marriage feast; and the house
is shewn in which Our Saviour performed it. We rested under an immense
fig-tree, which afforded shelter from the sun to a dozen men and as many
horses and mules. From hence the road ascends, and continues across
chalky hills, overgrown with low shrubs, as far as Naszera (Arabic) or
Nazareth, eight hours from Tabaria, by the road we travelled. I alighted
at the convent
[p.337] belonging to the missionaries of Terra Santa. Here Mr. Bruce
introduced me to Lady Hester Stanhope, who had arrived a few days before
from Jerusalem and Akka, and was preparing to visit the northern parts
of Syria, and among other places Palmyra. The manly spirit and
enlightened curiosity of this lady ought to make many modern travellers
ashamed of the indolent indifference with which they hurry over foreign
countries. She sees a great deal, and carefully examines what she sees;
but it is to be hoped that the polite and distinguished manner in which
she is every where received by the governors of the country, will not
impress her with too favourable an opinion of the Turks in general, and
of their disposition towards the nations of Europe.
Naszera is one of the principal towns of the Pashalik of Akka; its
inhabitants are industrious, because they are treated with less severity
than those of the country towns in general; two-thirds of them are
Turks, and one-third Christians; there are about ninety Latin families;
together with a congregation of Greek Catholics and another of
Maronites. The house of Joseph is shewn to pilgrims and travellers; but
the principal curiosity of Nazareth is the convent of the Latin friars,
a very spacious and commodious building, which was thoroughly repaired,
and considerably enlarged in 1730. Within it is the church of the
Annunciation, in which the spot is shewn where the angel stood, when he
announced to the Virgin Mary the tidings of the Messiah; behind the
altar is a subterraneous cavern divided into small grottos, where the
Virgin is said to have lived: her kitchen, parlour, and bedroom, are
shewn, and a narrow hole in the rock, in which the child Jesus once hid
himself from his persecutors; for the Syrian Christians have a plentiful
stock of such traditions, unfounded upon any authority of Scripture. The
pilgrims who visit these holy spots are in the habit of knocking off
small pieces of stone from the
[p.338] walls of the grottos, which are thus continually enlarging. In
the church a miracle is still exhibited to the faithful; a fine granite
column, the base and upper part of which remain, has lost the middle
part of its shaft. According to the tradition, it was destroyed by the
Saracens, ever since which time, the upper part has been miraculously
suspended from the roof, as if attracted by a load-stone. All the
Christians of Nazareth, with the friars of course at their head, affect
to believe in this miracle, although it is perfectly evident that the
upper part of the column is connected with the roof. The church is the
finest in Syria, next to that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and
contains two tolerably good organs. Within the walls of the convent are
two gardens, and a small burying ground; the walls are very thick, and
serve occasionally as a fortress to all the Christians of the town.
There are at present eleven friars in the convent.
The yearly expenses of the establishment amount to upwards of £900.
sterling, a small part of which is defrayed by the rent of a few houses
in the town, and by the produce of some acres of corn land; the rest is
remitted from Jerusalem. The whole annual expenses of the Terra Santa
convents are about £15,000. They have felt very sensibly the occupation
of Spain by the French, and little has been received from Europe for the
last four years; while the Turkish authorities exact the same yearly
tribute and extraordinary contributions, as formerly;[The Terra Santa
pays to the Pasha of Damascus about £12000. a year; the Greek convent of
Jerusalem pays much more, as well to maintain its own privileges, as
with a view to encroach upon those of the Latins.] so that if Spain be
not speedily liberated, it is to be feared that the whole establishment
of the Terra Santa must be abandoned. This would be a great calamity,
for it cannot be doubted that they have done honour to the European
[p.339] name in the Levant, and have been very beneficial to the cause
of Christianity under the actual circumstances of the East.
The friars are chiefly Spanjards; they are exasperated against France,
for pretending to protect them, without affording them the smallest
relief from the Pasha’s oppressions:[I understood from the Spanish
consul at Cairo, that when the news of the capture of Madrid, in August,
1812, reached Jerusalem, the Spanish priests celebrated a public
Te Deum, and took the oaths prescribed by the new constitution of the
Cortes.] but they are obliged to accept this protection, as the Spanish
ambassador at Constantinople is not yet acknowledged by the Porte.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 114 of 232
Words from 115088 to 116092
of 236498
