rch obtains the Sacred Fire from the Holy Sepulchre--Contest
for the Holy Light--Immense sum paid for the privilege of receiving
it first--Fatal Effects of the Heat and Smoke--Departure of Ibrahim
Pasha--Horrible Catastrophe--Dreadful Loss of Life among the
Pilgrims in their endeavours to leave the Church--Battle with the
Soldiers--Our Narrow Escape--Shocking Scene in the Court of the
Church--Humane Conduct of Ibrahim Pasha--Superstition of the
Pilgrims regarding Shrouds--Scallop Shells and Palm Branches--The
Dead Muleteer--Moonlight View of the Dead Bodies--The Curse on
Jerusalem--Departure from the Holy City.

It was on Friday, the 3rd of May, that my companions and myself went,
about five o'clock in the evening, to the church of the Holy Sepulchre,
where we had places assigned us in the gallery of the Latin monks, as
well as a good bed-room in their convent. The church was very full, and
the numbers kept increasing every moment. We first saw a small
procession of the Copts go round the sepulchre, and after them one of
the Syrian Maronites. I then went to bed, and at midnight was awakened
to see the procession of the Greeks, which was rather grand. By the
rules of their Church they are not permitted to carry any images, and
therefore to make up for this they bore aloft a piece of brocade, upon
which was embroidered a representation of the body of our Saviour. This
was placed in the tomb, and, after some short time, brought out again
and carried into the chapel of the Greeks, when the ceremonies of the
night ended; for there was no procession of the Armenians, as the
Armenian Patriarch had made an address to his congregation, and had, it
was said, explained the falsity of the miracle of the holy fire; to the
excessive astonishment of his hearers, who for centuries have considered
an unshakable belief in this yearly wonder as one of the leading
articles of their faith. After the Greek procession I went quietly to
bed again, and slept soundly till next morning.

The behaviour of the pilgrims was riotous in the extreme; the crowd was
so great that many persons actually crawled over the heads of others,
and some made pyramids of men by standing on each others' shoulders, as
I have seen them do at Astley's. At one time, before the church was so
full, they made a race-course round the sepulchre; and some, almost in a
state of nudity, danced about with frantic gestures, yelling a