[49] גנת Esther i. 5, &c.
[50] Jos. de Bel. lib. 5. cap. 7. § 3.
[51] All these dimensions, I wish the reader to understand, are not by actual measurement, but as nearly as I could judge by the eye; I think they are sufficiently accurate to serve as a guide in the present case, but I do not affirm them to be strictly accurate.
[52] Such a custom still prevails in the east. In Turkish burying grounds, we frequently see bits of rags suspended about the tombs of the dead whom they regard with reverence. The monumental enclosures in Pere la Chaise, near Paris, are often rendered offensive by the heaps of decaying garlands within them, the offerings of friends.
[53] Many parts of Jerusalem bore testimony to our itchings for such relics; fresh fractures were to be seen in a great many places on the walls and along the streets.
[54] I paced the circuit of the city, taking notes and plans of the whole, and marking the towers; but the paper has been unfortunately lost.
The following are the dimensions in detail, as furnished by Messrs. Fisk and King:
| paces. | ||
| From N. W. cor. to the Jaffa gate, | 300 | 768 on the western side, |
| “thence to the S. W. corner, | 468 | |
| ““to Zion gate, | 195 | 1149 on the southern side, |
| ““to bend in S. W. wall, | 295 | |
| ““to S. E. corner, | 659 | |
| ““to St. Stephen’s gate, | 583 | 943 on the eastern side, |
| ““to N. E. corner, | 360 | |
| ““to Damascus gate, | 759 | 1419 on the northern side, |
| ““to N. W. corner, | 660 |
which, at their computation of five paces to a rod, makes the whole circuit two miles and seven tenths, or nearly two thirds of a mile; Sandys made it nearly the same, namely, two miles and a half.
[55] In addition to the passage of Josephus just referred to, see also de Bel. lib. vi. cap. ix. § 1.