Paying the customary tribute to the Arabs as they passed, they proceeded on their way, their eyes resting at every step on some celebrated spot: Samaria, Sichem, mounts Ebal and Gerizim, places rendered venerable by the wanderings of prophets and patriarchs, but hallowed in a more especial manner by the footsteps of Christ. They now began to enter upon a more rocky and mountainous country, and passing by the spot where Jacob saw angels ascending and descending, “in the vision of God,” and Beer, supposed to be the Michmas of the Scriptures, to which Jonathan fled from the revenge of his brother Abimelech, arrived at the summit of a hill, whence Rama, anciently Gibeah of Saul, the plain of Jericho, the mountains of Gilead, and Jerusalem itself were visible in one magnificent panorama. Being in the Holy City, which no man, whether believer or unbeliever, can visit without the most profound emotion, Maundrell enjoyed unrestrainedly the romantic delight of living where Christ had lived and died, which to a high-minded religious man must be one of the noblest pleasures which travelling can afford. They resided, during their stay, at the Latin convent, visiting the various places which are supposed to possess any interest for pilgrims; such as the church of the Sepulchre, on Mount Calvary, the grotto of Jeremiah, the sepulchres of the kings, and the other famous places within the precincts or in the vicinity of the city. Four days after their arrival they set out in company with about two thousand pilgrims of both sexes and of all nations, conducted by the mosselim, or governor of the city, to visit the river Jordan. Going out of the city by the gate of St. Stephen, they crossed the valley of Jehoshaphat, with part of Mount Olivet, passed through Bethany, and arrived at that mountain wilderness to which Christ was taken forth to be tempted by the Devil. Here some terrible convulsion of nature appears to have shattered and rent in pieces the foundations of the everlasting hills, swallowing up the summits, and thrusting up in their stead the bases and substructions, as it were, of the mighty masses. In the depths of a valley which traversed this “land of desolation, waste and wild,” were discovered the ruins of numerous cottages and hermits’ cells, many ascetics having formerly retired to this dreary region to waste away their lives in solitary penance. From the top of this mountain, however, the travellers enjoyed a prospect of extraordinary diversity, comprehending the mountains of Arabia, the Dead Sea, and the Plain of Jericho, into the last of which they descended in about five hours from the time of their leaving Jerusalem.