From the altar of the Nativity, two steps brought us to the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid. This is also of marble. It is raised about a foot and a half above the floor, and hollowed out like a manger, and the very spot is shown on which the Savior of mankind reposed. Before it is the altar of the magi, on which they presented their prayers, and their adoration. This revered series of sacred vaults is an excavation about twelve feet deep in the rock, and is a very unlikely place ever to have been a stable, as the place in which our Savior was born is represented in Scripture to have been, From the top of the convent we were shown the place in the valley where the angels appeared to the shepherds, the grotto where David cut off the skirts of Saul's robe, the western tower at the cistern of David, the place where Jezebel was eaten of dogs, the convent of Saint Elias, in which there is a stone that still retains the impression of his body, and the grotto adjoining the convent of Bethlehem, where Joseph hid the Virgin Mary, and the infant Jesus, before they fled into Egypt; and she having nursed the babe in it, the chalk in the grotto is still found to be a sovereign remedy for increasing the secretion of milk, and much resorted to by mothers who have occasion for it, and listen to the advice of the Romish priests.

The village of Bethlehem contains about 300 inhabitants, the greater part of whom gain their

livelihood by making beads from the fruit of the Judaic palm, which is the same with the Thebaic palm, already mentioned, carving mother-of-pearl shells with sacred subjects, such as the Holy Family, the Twelve Apostles, Glory to God in the Highest, and in making small tables and crosses of the same, all of which are eagerly purchased by the pilgrims in Jerusalem. It is but a poor village, but it was the birth-place of David, and of David's Lord, which is praise sufficient for any village upon earth, It is not the least among the princes of Juda.

Having left the convent, we passed out at the south gate of Bethlehem, where half the population of the village were assembled, at a contiguous fountain, to witness the march of our cavalcade. We moved on in a southerly direction, over a very rugged and disagreeable road, the rock being completely uncovered in many places, and after an hour's travelling, arrived at Solomon's pools. They are three in number, and are in the shape of a long square, covered with a thick coat of plaster in the inside, and supported by abutments. The workmanship throughout, like every thing Jewish, is more remarkable for strength than beauty. They are situated in the south end of a small valley, and, from the slope of the ground, the one falls consi derably below the level of the other. That on the west is nearest the source of the spring, and is the smallest, being about 480 feet long; the second is

about 600 feet; and the third about 660 feet longthe breadth of them all is nearly the same, about 270 feet. The fountains communicate freely with each other, and are capable of containing a great deal of water, which they discharge into a small aqueduct that conveys it to Jerusalem. Both fountains and aqueduct are said to have been made by Solomon the son of David, and the antiquity of their appearance bears testimony to the truth of the

statement.

On our return to Jerusalem, after passing the gate of Bethlehem, we descended into the valley to take a view of the ruined church or convent, which the pious Helena built over the place in the valley where the angels appeared to the shepherds, and announced to them the joyful tidings of the birth of Christ. It is curious that this interesting event should also have taken place in a grotto, and in a grotto dug in the bottom of a valley, as if on purpose to meet the occasion. Every thing about it is now in ruins, and, saving the small subterraneous chamber in which the interview with the heavenly messengers took place, there is nothing else to be seen. The valley is about half a mile broad, runs from north to south, and is quite close to Bethlehem, on the east, between it and Jerusalem. Thither we now directed our steps, and entered the Holy City at sun-set, a little before the closing of the gates.

ST. JOHN'S IN THE DESERT.

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The next place that we visited in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, was St. John's in the desert. Here we did not travel in company, but each went as it was most convenient. One morning in the beginning of May, I went out by the gate of Bethlehem, and turning to the right, crossed the line of the ravine, and proceeded in a westerly direction. In about ten minutes we came to a cistern, with very little water, said to be the upper fountain of Gihon. It is dug in the rock, in the same manner as the pools of Solomon beyond Bethlehem, plastered within, and supported by buttresses, and is not much inferior to the smallest of them in dimensions. Here we are informed that Zadok, the priest, and Nathan, the prophet, anointed Solomon King ever Israel. A small burial ground lay down to the left, a flock of sheep were feeding around, their shepherd had taken his station on an elevated rock, encompassed with ruins, that rises on the right, to catch the beams of the morning sun, and with his almost tuneless reed, was toiling at a native air. It hardly required the vicinity of Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, or a recollection of the wisest of men, to render this a most interesting scene. We proceeded over the hill, and in about twenty minutes arrived at the convent of the Holy Cross, which is pleasantly situated on the edge of a deep ravine, and there is a hole under the great altar in the church, where the tree grew, of which the

true cross was made. This convent, to the great annoyance of the Romish, is in possession of the Greek monks.

We next passed the tombs of the illustrious Maccabees, situated on the summit of a lofty hill on our right, and had a distant view of the interesting country of Samuel the seer, and in about an hour after leaving the convent, in Jerusalem, we arrived at the convent of St. John. This monastery is built over the spot where John the Baptist, the forerunner of our blessed Savior was born. How this place came to be ascertained as the birthplace of John I do not know. Mention is made of his father, Zacharias, who was a priest of the course of Abia, and burnt incense in his turn, in the Temple of the Lord, also of his mother Elisabeth. Both of them were old, and John was the child of their old age. His birth was foretold by an angel, and his father was dumb, from the time that he had seen the vision till his son was eight days old; but nothing is said of the place of his birth in any part of the New Testament. However, in the church belonging to the convent, we read on the left of a splendid altar, the following inscription: Hîc præcursor Domini natus est. Here the forerunner of the Lord was born. On the right is the altar of Zacharias, and that of the visitation. The church is well proportioned, with a number of handsome columns, some tolerably