Page:Travels from Aleppo, to the city of Jerusalem, and through the most remarkable parts of the Holy Land, in 1776.pdf/6

 the father guardian’s chamber, who embraced, and bid us welcome: we were carried to our lodgings, and the father procurator came to us, and passed a complement on us, bringing two or three bottles of the best wine, and desiring us to call for what we wanted: this was our first entertainment but I should have told you that our druggerman, Mellaniss Salley who conducted us from Joppa through the mountains up to Jerusalem, was formerly a robber himself, and could therefore the better carry us through the Arabs- who those mountains, and live all upon purchase; he was a Greek by nation and religion. Now to our further entertainment at Jerusalem, the next morning father Tamaso, a lay-brother mighty serious and religious in their way, came to our chamber with milk, wine, and fruit, with a blessing in his mouth, the season being very hot; and about twelve o’clock we went to dinner, two or three lay-brothers attending at the hall-door with a bason and water for us to wash; and then entering the hall, the fathers stood all on one side, near one another, saying a grace in Latin, and then singing the Lord’s prayer all together; and afterwards bowing towards the picture of our Saviour at supper with his apostles, which is placed over the guardian’s head, adorned with silver crosses about it, &c. The guardian hath his table along in the middle of the room, and two long tables stand on each side, one for the pilgrims, and the other for the fathers; after they had kiss’d the ground we all sat down, and had every one his allotment brought in a little dish, never wanting three or four courses of several sorts of of meat. Our wine, water and fruit was set ready; the wine about a quart, the water something less, which was the allowance of two men, and had two glasses belonging to it. About the middle of dinner, the father came and changed our water that it might drink the fresher. Dinner being ended, the father guardian knocks, and the fratres rise and kneel with their faces towards the picture of our Saviour with his disciples at supper, and then mumbling something to themselves, they kiss and then begin to take away, one carrying the dishes, another the knives, every one having his appointment; and then give thanks in the same manner as before dinner; then washing at the door, they go into the church for a quarter of an hour this they do daily, rising always early, and in the night also to go to mass.

At this time there were two or three Christians came from Bethlehem, whose art is to make the figure of our Saviour’s sepulchre, or what holy story you please, upon your arm they make it of a blue colour, and is done by the continually pricking of your arm with two needles. They began presently to go to work on some of us; and having presented us the patterns of abundance of prints, every one took his fancy.

The next day, May 27th, we all agreed to go into the temple