Section 201

top of the cnnnpy to a lamp continually hnrning to give light in the cave of Machpelah, Avhere the actual sar- cophagi rest. At the upper end of tlie court is the cliief place of prayer ; and on the opposite side of the mosque are two larger tombs, where are deposited the bodies of Jacob and Leah" {tiiimme)-'s Jiamble, i, 245). Tlie cave itself he does not describe, nor does it appear that even Moslems are admitted to it; for Ali Bey (a Spaniard travelling as a JMoslem) does not even mention tlie cave below whUe describing the shrines of the mosque. John Sanderson (A.D. IGOl) expressly says that none might enter, but that persons might view it, as far as the lamp allowed, through the hole at the top, iSIoslems being furnished witli more light for the jjur- jiDse than Jews. At an earlier period, however, when the Holy Land was in the power of the Christians, ac- cess was not denied; and Benjamin of Tiulela says that the snrciijiliagi above gmund were shown to the gener- ality of pilgrims as wliat they desired to see; but if a rich Jew offered au additional fee, " an iron door is open- ed, which dates from the time of oiu" forefathers who rest in peace, and, with a burning taper in his hands, the visitor descends into a first cave, which is empty, traverses a second in the same state, and at last reaches a third, which contains six sepulchres, those of Abra- ham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of Sarah, Eebekah, and Leah, one opposite the other. All these sepulchres bear inscriptions, the letters being engraved ; thus, upon that of Aljraham : ' This is the sepulchre of our father Abra- ham, upon whom be peace ;' even so upon that of Isaac and all the other sepulchres. A lamp burns in the cave and upon the sepulchres continually, both night and day ; ami you there see tubs filled Avith the bones of Is- raelites ; for it is a custom of the house of Israel to bring hitlicr the bones and relics of their forefathers, and leave them there, unto this day" (/tineran/, i, 77 ; ed. Asher, Berlin, 1840). The identity of this place with the cave of ilachpclah is one of the few local traditions in Pales- tine which even Dr. Robinson suffers to pass without dispute, and maj^ therefore be taken for granted. M. Pierotti, an engineer to the pasha of Jerusalem, has lately had an opportunity of leisurely examining the building ; and in the spring of the year 18(52 the prince of "\A^ales and his suite were allowed to visit the inte- rior, of which a description is given in App. ii to Stan- ley's Lectures on the Jeioish Church, pt. i : " We reached the south-eastern corner of the massive wall of inclosure. . . . Up the steep flight of the exterior staircase, gazing close at hand on the polished surface of the wall, amply justifying Josephus's account of the marble-like appear- ance of the huge stones which compose it, we rapidly mounted. At the head of the staircase, which by its long ascent showed that the platform of the mosque was on the uppermost slope of the hill, and therefore above the level where, if anywhere, the sacred cave woidd be found, a sharp turn at once brought us within the pre- cincts, and revealed to us for the first time the wall from the inside. . . . AVe passed at once through an open court into tlie mosque. With regard to the building itself, two points at once became apparent. First, it ■was clear that it had been originally a Byzantine church. To any one acquainted with the cathedral of St. Sophia at Constantinople, and with the monastic churches of Mount Athos, this is evident from the double narthex, or portico, and from the four pillars of the nave. Sec- ondly, it was clear that it had been converted at a much later period into a moscpie. ... I now proceed to de- scribe the tombs of the patriarchs, premising always that these tombs, like all those in iMussulman mosques, and, indeed, like most tombs in Christian churches, do not profess to be the actual places of sepidture, but are merely monuments or cenotaphs in honor of the dead who lie beneath. Each is inclosed with a separate chapel or shrine, closed with gates or railings similar to those which surround or enclose the special chapels or royal tombs in Westminster Abbey. The first two of these shrines or chapels are contained in the inner por-