Notwithstanding the numerous caravans of pilgrims which Russia annually sent to the Holy Land, that country formerly did not possess a foot of ground in Jerusalem. But a few years before the last Eastern war, Russia established in the Holy City an Archimandrite, for whom the Greeks themselves supplied a fitting residence. The jealousy of the latter, however, was soon aroused, and they were foolish enough to treat as dangerous intruders those whom a more prudent course of conduct might have made valuable allies. The plans of Russia have perhaps changed since the late war; that which she has been unable to secure at once by force of arms, she will doubtless acquire more slowly by other means, which time will bring more fully to light. Meanwhile she is at present taking the lead in the restoration of the cupola of the Holy Sepulchre. In February 1858 a Russian Bishop, accompanied by his clergy, took up his abode in Jerusalem; in October of the same year, the Russian consulate was established, and a temporary hospice opened pending the erection of a permanent one. The new buildings are nearly finished, but not yet inhabited. The community numbers 68. The Syrians, who possess a convent presided over by a Bishop, are in number 32. The Greek Catholics have a well-built convent. The number of those permanently established in the city is 24. The Armenian Catholics possess an estate, on which they intend to erect a church, a convent, and a Bishop's house. Their number will then increase, at present they are but 6. The Ammonites are 8 in number, the Disciples 3, and the Sabbatarians 2: these three sects have arrived during the last few years from America, but have not made any proselytes. From these numbers it results that the whole population, as I have already stated, amounts to 20,453. Compared with the space surrounded by the walls the population is very small. Without including the large area of the _Haram-es-Sherîf_, Jerusalem could easily contain at least three times as many inhabitants as it now does. If indeed the houses were built two or three stories high, if those belonging to the Government and the mosques were occupied, if those now tottering or in ruins were rebuilt and made habitable, if the numerous convents of the different religious communities contained a number of inhabitants in proportion to their sizes, if also the plots of land now abandoned, covered with rubbish or occupied by gardens, were partially built over, there would be no lack of room for a greatly increased population. From this it is evident that, even if the city did not contain the exaggerated number of more than a million at the time of the siege by Titus, the amount of its inhabitants might have been considerable, especially when Ophel and the southern part of Sion were within the enclosure, thus augmenting the habitable space by more than a third.