Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/342

Rh wages, who brought the stones from the base of the wall of Zion. Among these men were two friends who were confederates, and on a certain day the one entertained the other; after their meal they returned to their work, when the superintendent said to them: 'Why have you tarried'? 'They answered:' Why need you complain! When our mates go to their meal we will do our work. 'When the dinner-time arrived and their fellow-workmen had gone to their meal, they removed the stones and discovered the entrance to the cave. Thereupon one said to the other:' Let us go in and see if any money is to be found there! 'They entered the cave and found a chamber resting upon pillars of marble overlaid with silver and gold. In front was a chamber of gold and a sceptre and crown. This was the sepulchre of King David. On the left thereof was the sepulchre of King Solomon in like fashion. And then followed the sepulchres of all the kings that were buried there belonging to the kings of Judah. Closed coffers were also there, the contents of which no man knows. The two men essayed to enter the chamber when a fierce wind came forth from the entrance and smote them. They fell to the ground like dead men, and there they lay until evening. And there came another wind crying like a human voice:' Arise and come forth from this place.' So the men hastily went forth in terror and they came unto the patriarch and related these facts to him. Thereupon the patriarch sent for Rabbi Abraham, the pious recluse of Constantine, who was one of the mourners of Jerusalem, and to him he related all these things according to the report of the two men who had come from the cave. Then Rabbi Abraham replied: 'These are the sepulchres of the House of David belonging to the Kings of Judah, and to-morrow let us enter the cave, I and you and these men, and find out what is to be seen there.' And on the morrow they sent for the two men and found each of them lying upon his bed terror-stricken. The men said: 'We will not enter there, for the Lord does not desire that any man should see the place.' Then the patriarch gave orders that the place should be closed up and hidden from the sight of man unto this day. All this was told me by the said Rabbi Abraham.

"From Jerusalem two parasangs bring one to Bethlehem, and close thereto is the pillar of Rachel's grave at the parting of the way. The pillar is made up of eleven stones corresponding with the number of the sons of Jacob. Upon it is a cupola resting on four pillars, and all the Jews that pass by carve their names upon the pillar. At Bethlehem there are two Jew dyers. It is a land of brooks of water, and contains wells and fountains. At a distance of six parasangs from Bethlehem is Hebron. The Hebron of old is in ruins, and in the valley is the cave of Machpelah, where there is a great church called St. Abraham. Whilst the Arabs held the place the Jews had on this spot a house of worship, and the Gentiles made there six graves, respectively called those of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah, and they tell the Christians that these are the graves of the patriarchs, whereupon they receive offerings of money. But when a Jew comes there who gives