tanist. These fubterraneous places, fays he, afforded me lefs pleasure than the open plain I faw around them, where I fearched for natural curiofities. However, he acknowledges that the infects he found in the land were the greateft advantage he reaped from this journey; for he met with fome which he fuppofes no naturalift had ever before feen :-He must mean defcribed, for it is rather too much, to pronounce what had not been seen by other naturalifts vifiting the fame country.

During his ftay at Cairo, our Author tells us he ventured to do a thing which he believes very few travellers before him have done, and in which he would not advise any one to follow his example, as they might not, perhaps, come off fo fafely as he did. He went into the Turkish mofque !-In direct oppofition to the laws of Turky, which ordain that any Chriftian who fhall prefume to enter one of their places of worship, muft either turn Mahometan, or be burnt alive. The Doctor's curiofity, nevertheless, was stronger than his apprehenfion of the danger, and in he went; at a time, however, when none of the Turks who live there were prefent. He was accompanied by a French interpreter, and a good honeft Janiffary who was devoted to our Author, and the fcruples of the door keeper removed by a handfome fee-What our adventurer faw in the mofque proved, after all, but an indifferent compenfation for the hazard he ran ; the building which he vifited, and which he briefly describes, having nothing in it equal to the churches in moít European

nations.

From Cairo our Author went to Damiata, a little town built on the fhore of the Nile, in the form of a half-moon, situated on the right-hand in coming from Cairo. In the environs of this town he botanized, according to custom, and here, he tells us, in the true spirit of a difciple of Linnæus, he had the pleafure of feeing, from his window, one of the moft remarkable fights in nature. A female palm (Phoenix dactylifera Linnæi) had in the night put forth its bloffoms from the fpatha. I went thither at fun-rife to fee it, whilst the dew was yet falling. I faw a gardener, the proprietor of the palm, climbing up the palm, which equalled our largeft firs in height. He had a bunch of male flowers, with which he powdered the female, and by these means fecundated them. After he had done this, he cut away the inferior boughs or leaves, between which the flowers of the preceding year had come out, together with the remarkable web which covers the bafis of the leaves, and goes from one edge of a leaf to the other.'

And now quitting the Land of Egypt, we arrive, with our Author, at THE HOLY LAND.-April 1, 1750, the veffel by which he was conveyed, in four days, from Damiata, anchored before, Jaffa, called Joppa, in the fcriptures. Here he im

mediately

mediately repaired to the quarters of the Latin Monks, who are appointed to receive pilgrims, and to forward them on their journey to Jerufalem. The Procurator immediately put to him a queftion, which our Proteftant traveller would willingly have avoided; viz. "Whether he came to vifit the holy places out of devotion?" The Doctor honeftly answering in the negative, "What," cried the Monk, who was a Spaniard, " travel to the Holy Land without devotion!"-Our Author, however, fpeedily put an end to this difagreeable converfation, by changing the fubject to that of money; and counted out to the pious Procurator 62 piaftres for himself, and the like fum for his fervant. In confideration of this fum, the procurator fent previous advice to Jerufalem, of the ftranger's arrival; and alfo took charge of all his baggage, till he should return. The Doctor was well pleased with this delay, as it afforded him fome time for reft, after a difagreeable voyage, before he fet out on a journey yet more difagreeable by land.

I was now, fays he, come into the Holy Land, therefore had reafon to expect continual informations of holy things. The Monks began with their hotel, by informing me that it was the holy place where St. Peter had his fishing hut, and where he threw the famous ring into the sea. Every thing, even to the table on which we fupped, was holy. The wine we drank caine from the holy defart where St. John dwelt; and the olives grew on the mountain of Olives near Jerufalem. Thefe, independent of their holiness, were of the beft kind I had tafted in the Levant, being fuch as Palestine, always famous for olivetrees, affords. Amongst thofe who vifited me, during my stay in Jaffa, was a clerk of the customs, who on the third day came to receive the twenty-two piaftres, which every Frank is obliged to pay to the custom-house of Jaffa, for the privilege of coming on fhore and travelling in the country. The inhabitants of the country, Armenians, Greeks, &c. pay only half the fum. But as 4000 perfons arrive yearly, befides as many Jews, who come from all quarters of the world, this may be efteemed a confiderable revenue for the Turks; and indeed they receive no other from this uncultivated and almost uninhabited country. The greatest part of this money is by legacies left to Mecca. A fhrewd difpofition, which appropriates the revenue arifing from one kind of fuperftition, to the maintenance of another.'

April 5th, our traveller, accompanied by a few others, mounted on affes, set out for Jerufalem; and as they journied along, he obferved, and thus defcribes, the face of the country:

The whole country from Jaffa to Rama confifts of little hills; between these are level and handfome vales, which extend in large plains. A part is turned into corn fields, but moft of it lies wafte. The ground here confifts of a loofe reddish REV. Feb, 1766. L fandy

fandy mould; and I have never feen in any place the ground fo caft up by moles as in thefe plains. There was fcarce a yard's length between each mole hill. This is an advantageous circumftance for all forts of felf-fown wild plants; therefore entire plains were covered with buphthalmum foliis oblongis dentatis : or oxeye, with oblong dentated leaves; which made them much yellower than our Swedish meadows are in the month of June, from the caltha paluftris and ranunculus, or marsh-marygold and crowfoot. In other places the fields were white with a fort of matricaria, or feverfew. In three places, we had fine vales abounding with olive-trees. Cranes, the inhabitants of uncultivated countries, were here to be found in great numbers. At four o'clock we came to Rama, and alighted at the fine convent, which, if we except Jerufalem, is the beft in the Holy Land.'

Here, on the 7th, in the afternoon, he was waited on by the Monk who was appointed to attend him ; and who conducted him to the places they fhew for those which Christ, by his sufferings, death, and burial, has immortalized in memory.' A famous temple now adorns the spot which was called Golgotha, or the place of Skulls. The Europeans, fays the Dr. imagine this is a hill, or rifing ground; it is quite the contrary, a vale, or deep ground.' At the entry of this temple, they found three Turkish, officers, placed here to receive the tribute levied on pious travellers, and alfo to keep the peace, by preventing the quarrels which might arife among Chriftians of various denominations, who pay their devotions here: a neceffary precaution, derived, no doubt, from the juft idea the Turks have formed of the fort of people they generally have here to do with.

We must not think of fwelling this article with a detail of the many holy relicks, and facred fpots of ground fhewn to our traveller, at this grand fountain of Romish fuperftition; towards gratifying the curiofity of our readers, however, we shall mention fome of the most genuine remains and appearances of things and places mentioned in the fcriptures of the old and new teftament.

Paffing through one of the town gates, our Author came immediately on the holy mount Sion, to famous in the days of David. It is now a defart, flat and level; occupied by the Chriftians, for a burial place :-I botanized, fays he, on the dry and poor Sion, and found fome common plants there, viz. Allium pallens, veronenfe; betonica officinalis; bifcutella didyma; trifolium; globofum, tomentofum, refupinatum; ephedra diftachia.'

The Jews, it feems are ftill very numerous in this their ancient Emporium; our Author reckons about 20,000 Jewish inhabitants, befides Turks and Chriftians: fo that Jerufalem is fill a great and populous city: though in no refpect equal

to its former opulent ftate. The greatest part of the Jews refiding here now, are poor, as they have no opportunity of trafficking; for, fays our Author, without traffick, they cannot thrive in any part of the world. They have no other income here,' fays he, than what they get from the Pilgrims of their nation, who come far and wide from all places to pay their refpects to the feat of their fore-fathers. Their Rabbi has large revenues from his brethren throughout the whole world, of which the Turks draw the greateft part; for Jews as well as Chriftians must constantly bring their offerings to their altars, if they will kifs their holy places in peace.'

In an excurfion to Jericho, Dr. H. fays they came to a rifing ground, whence the original fituation of Judea may be feen; which, he fays, is the fame as it hath been from time immemorial; though many divines contend, that Judea bath undergone a change, or according to their manner of fpeaking, hath been transformed fince the death of Chrift. Judea is a country full of hills and vales, and as fuch it has been described both in the Old and New Teftament; where it is always called a hilly land, and is every where famous for its mountains. The hills are all of a moderate height, uneven, and are not of any mathematical figure, like many others, which are either of a conic, hemifpheric, or fome other fuch form. At first, and nearest to Jerufalem, they consist of a very hard limestone, which approaches to the nature of a flint, of a whitish colour, or pretty near a pale yellow. They afterwards, and nearer the Dead Sea, confift of a more loose limeftone, fometimes white, and fometimes greyish; between which are layers of a reddish micaceous stone, or faxum purum micaceum. Near Jerufalem grow different forts of plants on these hills, especially ceratonia, carobtree; myrtus, myrtle; and teberinthus, turpentine-tree; but farther towards Jericho, they are bare and barren. The vales, like the hills, are not fruitful, but deferted and uncultivated, being full of pebbles, and without vegetables; nevertheless, the earth confifts of a good red mould, and would amply reward the husbandman's toil. In the beginning they are fomewhat narrow, but become wider nearer Jordan. Thefe interchanges of hills and vales, make the roads in Judea as dangerous as in any place whatever; and they could not be travelled with any but Arabian horfes, which are ufed to go upon fuch ftony roads as feem impaflable, and perform it with great fagacity. I have had fuch proofs of this as I fhould fcarce believe, if I had not feen it myself, efpecially on the journey from Jericho to the Dead Sea: but though these creatures are used to trot in the hills, they will blunder unlefs they be well governed. This I faw by thofe on which the Monks rid, who were but indifferent riders, and therefore their horfes feemed to have forgot the expertnefs and fafety with

L 2

which

which they went when managed by an able horfeman. The fun had already hid himself behind the hills of Stony Arabia, and the moon come from her retreat; when we, at eight o'clock * in the evening, arrived at our encampment, which was laid out on the great plain of Jericho,, that extends two leagues in length. along the Dead Sea. Here we found tents erected for us, which. by the care of the Procurator had been brought thither; under which we had a pleasant and delicious fupper, and refted during. the darkest part of the night. My Herbarium ferved me for a pillow. I was happy in having this, when the rest of the company,, and the fuperior himself, had nothing to lie on but the bare earth. If our bed was not convenient, our reft was not long. We arofe before day-break to go to the mountain where Chrift fafted and was tempted by the Devil: we came thither at fun-rife, and began to afcend before the heat fhould incommode us. The mountain is high and pointed; and on our left, as we afcended, was a deep valley, towards which the rock was perpendicularly steep. It confifts of a loose white limeftone, mixed with another that is greyish and harder. The way to its highest point is dangerous beyond imagination.. It is narrow, fteep, full of rocks and ftones, which obliged us frequently to creep over them before we could accomplish our defign. The difficulty is encreafed by the valley on one fide; which, befide its terrible aspect, is dangerous in case one should flip, as in fuch cafe it would be impoffible to escape death. Near the top of the mountain are the ruins of an old Greek convent, which fhew how the Monks and Anchorites of the ancient Chriftians lived, and what places they inhabited, viz. fuch as really inclined them to lead a lonely, detached, and devout life: therefore defarts and inacceffible rocks were chofen by the primitive Chriftians for their dwellings, where they might offer up their prayers in foli tude. The former are yet occupied by the Coptite Monks in Egypt, for they have two convents in the defarts; and with refpect to the latter, the Greeks preferve the ancient dwellings of their forefathers in Mount Sinai, Saba, St. Elias, and other places in the Eaft. I went as far up on this terrible mountain of temptation as prudence would permit, but ventured not. to go to the top, whither I fent my fervant to bring what natural curiofities he could find, whilft I gathered what plants and infects I could find below; of the latter I found a very curious and new cimex, or bug. I had time enough to view the mountain and adjacent country, when we broke up at nine o'clock, and continued our journey to Jericho, and travelled over a part of its large plain, which was entirely defart and uncultivated, bringing forth a number of trees that afford the oil of Zaccheus, and fome Rhamnus, call'd Chrift's Thorn. We came, after a little time, to the fountain of Elifha, which is the name of a fine fpring of fresh water, fituated in a vale, and furrounded