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.
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