agony and bloody sweat; by Thy cross and passion; by Thy precious death and burial: Good Lord deliver us!” Leaving the scene of our Lord’s bitter agony, we pass along the Valley of the Kedron, sometimes called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Jews and Mohammedans, alike, believe that this will be the scene of the final judgment. Hence has arisen an eager desire to be buried here, and the soil is, in many places, literally paved with tombstones, and the whole valley is one vast cemetery. Shortly before reaching the point of junction of the valleys of Hinnom and Kedron, we reach a cluster of remarkable tombs, called by the names of Zacharias, Absalom, and St. James. The tradition respecting them is quite modern, and has no historical basis. Those of Zacharias and Absalom are similar in design, being cut out of the solid rock. The former is said to be the burial-place of the Zacharias who was “slain between the temple and the altar.”[164] The latter, tradition asserts to be the pillar which the rebellious son “reared up for himself during his lifetime in the king’s dale, for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.”[165] Its base is now buried beneath a heap of stones, upon which each Jew, as he passes, throws one in detestation of his memory. [Illustration: MOUNT OF CORRUPTION IN THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT, WITH THE TOMBS OF ABSALOM, ST. JAMES, AND ZACHARIAS.] The tomb of St. James is a remarkable chamber, cut out of the side of the hill, with rock-hewn Doric columns in front. A modern tradition declares that here St. James retired after our Lord’s crucifixion, and vowed neither to eat nor drink till He had risen again. On the third day the risen Saviour appeared to him, saying, “Arise and eat, for I have now risen from the dead.” The marked resemblance between this sepulchre and the temple-tombs at Beni-hassan, in Egypt, has given rise to the suggestion that here we have the idol temple constructed by Solomon for his queen, the daughter of Pharaoh, in “the hill that is before Jerusalem.”[166] The site and the style of architecture afford a certain measure of probability to the conjecture. [Illustration: THE TOMB OF ZACHARIAS.] Just above us on the left is Silwan, the ancient Siloam—a collection of wretched hovels, inhabited by peasantry, who have the reputation of being the most dangerous, turbulent, and thievish in the district. Though I have often passed through the village alone, or with only a single companion, I have never had anything to complain of, beyond a demand for backshish, more than usually clamorous. In this village, and in other places round Jerusalem, I found many of the peasantry occupying old tombs which formed abodes at least as commodious as the huts in which their neighbours lived. The pool of Siloam is at the foot of the hill on our right. It and the neighbouring well of En Rogel are still much used, not only by the villagers, but by the water sellers of Jerusalem. [Illustration: ACELDAMA.]