A few words must also be said about the proselytes among the different Christian sects. The insane rivalries among these, far more than true conviction, produce the greater number of converts from one party to another. Of this there are many sad examples in Jerusalem. Whenever a person (I do not refer to Europeans) thinks he is wronged by his own community, he turns to another, and goes where he expects to find the greatest advantages. No one can form an idea of this commerce in religion who has not lived some time at Jerusalem and seen it for himself. The most trivial matters are enough to make a man change his creed; but happily the Missionaries and Convents are beginning to open their eyes to the true state of the case, and do not so readily admit the new converts into their church, without making previous enquiry into their character, and the reasons which have produced the change. One of the things which excites commerce and brings a little money into Jerusalem is the system of pilgrimages; and on these I purpose to say a few words, without entering into details--an endless matter. The European pilgrims are not so numerous as those from the East, and most of them are poor, so that they bring more expense than profit to the Franciscans, in whose convents they are lodged and fed, and by whom they are conducted to the spots consecrated by the events of the Old and New Testament. For this the monks ask nothing, though they accept any gift that is offered; consequently the presents are unfrequent, and seldom compensate for the expense that the donor has caused. Every pilgrim is allowed to remain a month in the hospice at Jerusalem, without any other recommendation than his passport and three days in the others in different parts of Palestine, provided he be in good health. When he is ill, according to his rank, he is nursed in the hospice, or in the hospital, without anything to pay for doctors, druggists, or attendants. It is plain, therefore, that this philanthropic undertaking of the Franciscans is on too large a scale, and is a burden to the convents, besides encouraging knaves and vagabonds, who go on pilgrimages to pass away the time and live in idleness. A judicious reform of this unlimited hospitality, and a careful scrutiny of the papers of such as appear to be vagrants, would be a beneficial change. Those who think that the pilgrims supply, in great part, the revenues which enable the Fathers of the Holy Land to bear these heavy expenses, should know that these come mainly from the different Christian nations, with whose alms the churches, schools, and houses in which the pilgrims are lodged, are maintained, and the poor and pilgrims supported. In order to give an idea of the number of the pilgrims who have availed themselves of the hospitality of the Franciscans during the last ten years, I print the following extract from the Archives of the Convent of S. Saviour: