ony; there was no sermon or prayers,
except a little chanting during the processions, and nothing that could
tend to remind you of the awful event which this feast was designed to
commemorate.

Soon you saw the lights increasing in all directions, every one having
lit his candle from the holy flame: the chapels, the galleries, and
every corner where a candle could possibly be displayed, immediately
appeared to be in a blaze. The people, in their frenzy, put the bunches
of lighted tapers to their faces, hands, and breasts, to purify
themselves from their sins. The Patriarch was carried out of the
sepulchre in triumph, on the shoulders of the people he had deceived,
amid the cries and exclamations of joy which resounded from every nook
of the immense pile of buildings. As he appeared in a fainting state, I
supposed that he was ill; but I found that it is the uniform custom on
these occasions to feign insensibility, that the pilgrims may imagine he
is overcome with the glory of the Almighty, from whose immediate
presence they believe him to have returned.

In a short time the smoke of the candles obscured everything in the
place, and I could see it rolling in great volumes out at the aperture
at the top of the dome. The smell was terrible; and three unhappy
wretches, overcome by heat and bad air, fell from the upper range of
galleries, and were dashed to pieces on the heads of the people below.
One poor Armenian lady, seventeen years of age, died where she sat, of
heat, thirst, and fatigue.

After a while, when he had seen all that was to be seen, Ibrahim Pasha
got up and went away, his numerous guards making a line for him by main
force through the dense mass of people which filled the body of the
church. As the crowd was so immense, we waited for a little while, and
then set out all together to return to our convent. I went first and my
friends followed me, the soldiers making way for us across the church. I
got as far as the place where the Virgin is said to have stood during
the crucifixion, when I saw a number of people lying one on another all
about this part of the church, and as far as I could see towards the
door. I made my way between them as well as I could, till they were so
thick that there was actually a great heap of bodies on which I trod. It
then suddenly struck me they were all dead! I had not perceived this at
first, for I thought they were only very much fatigued with the
ceremonies and had lain down