Armatha* the seat of Samuel, as Josephus has it, and to the Arimatheat of the New Testament, and the Ramla of the present day. +

The oriental geographers speak of this as the metropolis of Palestine§, and every appearance of its ruins even now confirm the opinion of its having been once a considerable city. Its situation, as lying immediately in the high road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, made it necessarily a place of great resort; and from the fruitfulness of the country around it, it must have been equally important as a military station or a depôt for supplies, and as a magazine for the collection of such articles of commerce as were exported from the coast.

In its present state, the town of Ramlah is about the size of Jaffa, in the extent actually occupied. The dwellings of this last, however, are crowded together around the sides of a hill, while those of Ramla are scattered widely over the face of the level plain on which it stands.

The style of building here, is that of high square houses with flattened domes covering them; and some of the terraced roofs are fenced around with raised walls, in which are seen pyramids of hollow earthenware pipes, as if to give air and light without destroying the strength of the wall itself.

On the large mosque we noticed a square tower with pointed arched windows, like many of our country-church steeples in England, differing only from these in being surmounted by an open gallery, and a flat-domed summit. These last, it could be plainly seen, were subsequent additions, and did not harmonize with the tower itself, which was purely Gothic, and, no doubt, a

* Josephus, Index 3. Letter A.

+ St. Luke, xxiii. 51.

+ Vide Adrichom. Theat. Terr. Sanct. p. 29. Colon. 1628. Abulhasen Persa, in geographia sua manuscripta, vocat Ramolam caput Palæstinæ. Liceat enim vocem ita reddere, quæ metropolin significat, uti jam observavit Golius in notis ad Alferganum, pag. 279. Reb. Pal. Illust. p. 959. 4to. 1714.

Christian work at the period of the crusades. We saw also in other parts of the town, vestiges of Gothic edifices, of a character decidedly different from Saracen architecture, though both of them have the pointed arch in common; but all these were greatly ruined.

The convent of the Latins is large and commodious, though not equal to that of Nazareth. It has a good church, an open court, with a fine spreading orange-tree, and several wells of excellent water in it for their gardens.

The inhabitants are estimated at little more than five thousand persons, of whom about one-third are Christians of the Greek and Catholic communion, and the remaining two-thirds Mohammedans, chiefly Arabs; the men of power and the military only being Turks, and no Jews residing there.

The principal occupation of the people is husbandry, for which the surrounding country is highly favourable; and the staple commodities produced by them are corn, olives, oil, and cotton, with some soap and coarse cloth made in the town.

There are still remains of some noble subterranean cisterns at Ramlah, not inferior either in extent or execution to many of those at Alexandria. They were intended for the same purpose, namely, to serve in time of war as reservoirs of water; and they are, no doubt, those spoken of by the Arabian geographer, as quoted before.

Some writers place here the tomb of St. George the Martyr, the patron saint of our crusading kings, from whom is descended to us the St. George's ensign, emblazoned with the symbol of the redcross knights: but neither the fathers of the convent, nor the guide which they had given us, could tell us any thing regarding it.

Equally ignorant were such of the Mohammedans as we ques

• Deinde venerunt Alarixa; de Alarixa in Ramula, juxta quam est monasterium beati Georgii Martyris, ubi ipse requiescit. Bernardus de Locis Sanctis. Anno 870. apud Reland. p. 959.

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tioned of the tomb of Lockman the sage, a man as celebrated among them for his wisdom, as St. George is with us for his valour. *

On our return to the convent, we found every thing ready for the prosecution of our journey, and thanking the friars for their hospitality, we mounted our mules, and set forward on our way.

* Le chapitre 31. de l'Alcoran, qui porte le nom de Locman, s'appelle Sourat Lokman. Mahomet y fait parler Dieu, qui dit ces paroles. Lécadatina Locman alhecmat. "Nous avons donné la sagesse à Locman." L'auteur du Tarikh Montekheb écrit que le sépulcre de Locman, se voyoit encore de son temps à Ramlah ou Ramah, petite ville que n'est pas éloignée de Jérusalem." Bib. Orient. tom. 2. p. 485.

WE left the town of Ramlah through a road again bordered by the prickly-pear, and continued over a fine plain until nine o'clock, when we began to ascend, but gently, over land that was partially cultivated. At ten, we came to rugged hills, and saw on the left, in one or two places, vestiges of old Gothic buildings.

Passing the first range of hills, we came to a long narrow defile, in which we met a number of Mohammedan pilgrims, chiefly Barbary Arabs, returning from Mecca by way of Damascus and

Jerusalem; there were some few women among them, who were all barefoot and miserably dressed; and there was only one camel to carry the baggage of the whole party.

From hence we went up a steep ascent, and passing a small building on the left, at noon we reached another similar one, where a caphar, or toll, of sixteen paras was demanded of us.

Still ascending, we reached at length the summit of these hills, from whence we had a view of the extensive plains to the west, through a break in the line of the first range of smaller hills, distinguishing plainly, Ramlah, Lydda, and Jaffah, with a long line of coast on the north and south, and the distant horizon of the west. Stoney and rugged as the hills were here, there were yet patches of ploughed land, and evident marks of care to save every rood fit for cultivation.

Descending now on the eastern brow of these hills, we came at one o'clock to the village of Abu-Gosh, so called from its lord, an Arab chief in great power here. A caphar was again demanded of us by a party of about twenty men, who sat by the way-side armed to enforce it. It was accordingly paid, and soon afterwards the chief himself, a fierce red-bearded man of about forty, coming to accost us, demanded our paper of protection. It was shown to him, and he said, that as he held himself responsible for our safe passage through his territory, which lay between that of the Pasha of Acre and the Pasha of Damascus, he must keep this certify that we had so passed safely through his hands.

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In this village we saw the ruins of a Christian church, apparently once a handsome edifice, now used as a stable for oxen. There are here about two thousand inhabitants, chiefly Mohammedan; and though the country around is rocky and hilly in the extreme, it is carefully cultivated, even to the very summit of the hills. Maundrell's observations on this subject are perfectly just*, though the inferences he draws of the ground thus producing

* Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 87. 8vo.