,,carpenter',s ,,world ,,travels ,familiar ,talks ,about ,countries and ,peoples ,,with ,,the ,,author ,,on ,,the ,,spot ,,and ,,the ,,reader ,,in ,,his ,,home1 ,,based ,,on ,,three ,,hundred ,,thousand ,,miles ,,of ,,travel ,,over ,,the ,,globe ,,the ,,holy ,,land ,,and ,,syria ,illustration3 ,,christians ,,rule ,,the ,,land ,,of ,,christ ,seven hundred years of ,moslem supremacy in the ,holy ,land ended with ,general ,allenby's modest entrance into ,jerusalem4 ,then arose the cry4 8,the day of deliverance is come40 ,,carpenter',s ,,world ,,travels ,,the ,,holy ,,land ,,and ,,syria ,,by ,,frank ,g4 ,,carpenter ,,litt4,d41 ,f4,r4,g4,s4 ,illustration ,,ninety-,,six ,,pages ,,of ,,illustrations ,,from ,,original ,,photographs ,,and ,,two ,,maps ,,in ,,colour ,,garden ,,city ,,new ,,york ,,doubleday1 ,,page ,,company #aibc ,,copyright1 #aibb1 ,,by ,,frank ,g4 ,,carpenter ,,all ,,rights ,,reserved1 ,,including ,,that ,,of ,,translation ,,into ,,foreign ,,languages1 ,,including ,,the ,,scandinavian ,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states ,,at ,,the ,,country ,,life ,,press4 ,,garden ,,city4 ,n4 ,y4 ,,acknowledgments ,in the publication of this volume on the ,holy ,land and ,syria1 ,i wish to thank the ,secretary of ,state for letters which have given me the assistance of our official representatives in the countries visited4 ,i also thank our ,secretary of ,agriculture and our ,secretary of ,labour for appointing me an ,honorary ,commissioner of their ,departments in foreign lands4 ,their credentials have been of the greatest value1 making accessible to me sources of information seldom opened to the ordinary traveller4 ,i wish to acknowledge also the valuable assistance and coperation rendered by ,mr4 ,dudley ,harmon1 my editor1 and ,miss ,josephine ,lehmann in the revision of the notes dictated or penned by me on the ground4 ,while most of the illustrations are from my own negatives1 there are certain photographs which have been supplied by the ,near ,east ,relief1 the ,red ,cross1 the ,publishers' ,photo ,service1 and the ,zionist ,organization of ,america1 all of which are protected by copyright4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,i ,,just ,a ,,word ,,before ,,we ,,start #a ,,ii ,,in ,,the ,,land ,,of ,,goshen #d ,,iii ,,the ,,city ,,of ,,jonah #ad ,,iv ,,by ,,railway ,,to ,,the ,,land ,,of ,,judea #bc ,v ,,from ,,dan ,,to ,,beersheba #cj ,,vi ,,jerusalem ,,in ,,the ,,twentieth ,,century #cf ,,vii ,,around ,,the ,,walls ,,of ,,the ,,holy ,,city #dc ,,viii 8,,the ,,tribes ,,of ,,god ,,go ,,thither0 #dh ,,ix ,,on ,,the ,,site ,,of ,,solomon',s ,,temple #eg ,x ,,jews ,,of ,,palestine #fh ,,xi ,,the ,,evil ,,eye #gh ,,xii ,,easter ,,in ,,jerusalem #hd ,,xiii ,,washing ,,the ,,feet ,,of ,,the ,,apostles #ie ,,xiv ,a ,,talk ,,with ,,the ,,greek ,,patriarch #aja ,,xv ,,among ,,the ,,money ,,changers #aaa ,,xvi ,,excavating ,,old ,,jericho #aai ,,xvii ,,the ,,dead ,,sea ,,and ,,the ,,jordan #abi ,,xviii ,,bethlehem #ach ,,xix ,,among ,,the ,,samaritans #adi ,,xx ,,farming ,,in ,,the ,,land ,,of ,,milk ,,and ,,honey #aei ,,xxi ,,the ,,colonies ,,and ,,their ,,development #afi ,,xxii ,,where ,,our ,,saviour ,,spent ,,his ,,boyhood #agg ,,xxiii ,,on ,,the ,,sea ,,of ,,galilee #ahg ,,xxiv ,,the ,,zionist ,,movement #aif ,,xxv ,,the ,,world',s ,,oldest ,,city #bjd ,,xxvi ,,shopping ,,in ,,the ,,street ,,called ,,straight #bad ,,xxvii ,,the ,,veiled ,,women ,,of ,,damascus #bbc ,,xxviii ,,baalbek ,,the ,,wonderful #bcb ,,xxix ,,across ,,the ,,lebanon ,,mountains ,,by ,,rail #bdb ,,xxx ,,american ,,leaven ,,in ,,the ,,near ,,east #beb ,,xxxi ,,at ,,the ,,shrine ,,of ,,diana ,,of ,,the ,,ephesians #bfb ,,xxxii ,,armenia1 ,,the ,,suffering #bga ,,xxxiii ,,palestine ,,and ,,syria ,,under ,,new ,,rulers #bhj ,,seeing ,,the ,,world #bhg ,,bibliography #bhi ,,index #bic ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,christians rule the ,land of ,christ ,frontispiece ,,facing ,,page ,primitive water wheel in the ,land of ,goshen #h ,through rocky wastes to the top of ,mt4 ,sinai #i ,egyptians toiling where the ,israelites made bricks #af ,we go ashore in small boats at ,jaffa #ag ,house of ,simon the ,tanner #ag ,the men of ,palestine are very strong #bj ,cactus hedges are used instead of fences #ba ,the crude plough of ,palestine #bh ,the children of the ,holy ,land #bh ,a sheeted ,balaam and his ass #bi ,fuel is scarce in the land of no woods #cb ,the ,pool of ,hezekiah #cc ,airplane view of ,jerusalem #cf ,the ,kaiser's breach in the ,wall of ,jerusalem #cg ,the roofs of ,jerusalem #dd ,view of the ,mt4 of ,olives #dd ,jerusalem seen from a bell tower #de ,sheep and goats outside the walls #dh ,lepers beg at the ,gates of ,jerusalem #di ,the roads to ,jaffa and ,bethlehem #di ,water carriers old and new #eb 8,going up to ,jerusalem0 #ec ,a donkey ambulance for pilgrims on the march #ec ,pilgrims bathing in the ,river ,jordan #fj ,russian women walk from shrine to shrine #fa ,the ,mosque of ,omar #fd ,the ,jews' wailing place #fe ,a maid of ,jerusalem #fh ,snow in the streets of ,jerusalem #fi ,three learned ,jews of the ,holy ,city #gf ,the ,tower of ,david #gg ,inside the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre #hj ,keeping off the evil spirits #ha ,grandfather and grandson--both beggars #hd ,pilgrims praying in the ,via ,dolorosa #he ,waiting for the ,holy ,fire #ib ,gathering the olive crop #ic ,the ,church of the ,lord's ,prayer #if ,washing the feet of the twelve bishops #ig ,a tailor shop in ,jerusalem #ajj ,the church of the best religious paintings #aja ,commercializing the holiness of the ,holy ,city #ajh ,moslem priest reading the ,koran #ajh ,the biblical good measure #aji ,bethlehem maids #aab ,bushels of rosaries #aac ,a ,turkish restaurant in ,jerusalem #aaf ,in the shoemaker's bazaar #aaf ,view of ,bethany from hillside #aag ,the ,fountain of ,elisha #abd ,at the ,tomb of ,lazarus #abe ,the ,healing ,stone on the way to ,jordan #abe ,the source of the ,jordan at ,banias #abh ,our escort to the ,river ,jordan #abi ,on the shores of the ,dead ,sea #acb ,fisherman and boat on the ,jordan #acb ,a street in ,bethlehem #acc ,christmas ,day services in ,bethlehem #adj ,young women and their dowries #ada ,at ,jacob's ,well #add ,the ,sacred ,scroll of the ,samaritans #ade ,the ,feast of the ,passover on ,mt4 ,gerizim #adh ,pulling tares from the wheat #adi ,the camel blubbers as his hair is clipped #adi ,why ,palestinians use camels for ploughing #aef ,modern farm machinery in the ,jewish colony #aef ,the sheep that was lost is found #aeg ,colonists terrace the hillsides with stone walls #afj ,picking almonds #afa ,an avenue of cypresses and palms #afd ,a carpenter shop in ,nazareth #afe ,nazareth lies in a little amphitheatre #agb ,the boys of ,nazareth are friendly #agb ,mr4 ,carpenter and the ,water ,pot of ,cana #agc ,we cross the ,sea of ,galilee #agf ,the arched ,gate of ,tiberias #agg ,fish from the ,sea of ,galilee #ahj ,capernaum--the city of prophecy fulfilled #ahj ,the colonists do much of their own work #aha ,making the bread of ,bible times #ahh ,a colonist's home near ,lake ,merom #ahi ,a prayer niche in the ,grand ,mosque #aib ,where ,fatima lies buried in ,damascus #aic ,a place of trees with a river flowing between #aif ,the ,wall of ,st4 ,paul in ,damascus #aif ,shopping in the ,street called ,straight #aig ,the men come together in the horse market #bjd 8,o ,allah1 send customers10 cry the bread-sellers #bjd ,spinning wool into thread for a rug #bje ,the transportation monopoly of the ,bedouin #bjh ,at the end of the ,bookseller's ,bazaar #bji ,the street dress of the women of ,damascus #bbd ,mr4 ,carpenter and the ,columns at ,baalbek #bbe ,the portal of the ,temple of ,bacchus #bbh ,the mighty columns of the ,temple of the ,sun #bbi ,the nomad ,bedouins live in brown tents #bcf ,a lonely grove of ,lebanon cedars #bcg ,only a few of the great trees are left #bdj ,tree-lined avenues lead out of ,beirut #bda ,the ,american ,university at ,beirut #bdd ,stones carried up on the backs of camels #bdd ,a view of ,beirut #bde ,the ruins of the ,city of ,diana #beb ,storks build their nests in the palaces of ,ephesus #beb ,giving the silkworms their breakfast #bec ,armenian children make themselves useful #bef ,getting the ,armenians back to the land #beg ,a cradle of ,armenia #bfj ,american flour sacks serve a double purpose #bfj ,the water power of the ,jordan will be developed #bfa ,the first steel bridge across the ,jordan #bfh ,jerusalem now has a speed law #bfi ,,maps ,the ,holy ,land #bd ,the ,holy ,land and ,syria #dj ,,the ,,holy ,,land ,,and ,,syria ,,chapter ,i ,,just ,a ,,word ,,before ,,we ,,start ,by the ,world ,war the ,moslem was forced to the rear and ,palestine has become more and more the possession of ,christian and ,jew4 ,general ,allenby and his troops have taken the part of ,richard the ,lion-hearted and the ,crusaders1 and ,jerusalem is at last out of the hands of the followers of the ,prophet ,mohammed4 ,among the innovations that followed are the removal of the tax gatherers who robbed the poor and the rich in the name of the ,sultan1 the safeguarding of the roads from the wandering ,bedouins1 and the reclaiming of the soil1 so that the country bids fair to become once more the land of milk and honey that it was when it gladdened the tired eyes of the ,israelites after their long wanderings in the desert of ,sinai4 ,railways now cross the desert1 connecting ,palestine with ,egypt and ,turkey1 and one may go on the cars from ,cairo to ,jerusalem and from ,paris1 via ,constantinople and ,damascus1 to ,galilee4 ,at the same time the ,holy ,land of the ,bible is the ,holy ,land of to-day4 ,it has the same skies as those under which the ,wise ,men followed the ,star to the birthplace of ,jesus4 ,it has the same flowers as those trodden by ,joseph and ,mary1 and the water in ,jacob's ,well is still sweet1 notwithstanding it is now compared with that of the ,nile which flows in pipes over the desert almost to the ,pool of ,siloam4 ,the sheep still pasture on the hills as they did in the days of our ,saviour1 and boys and girls may be seen picking the tares from the wheat4 ,asses like ,balaam's still carry their masters over the road1 although their brays are now and then drowned in the horns of the automobiles2 and the strange people one constantly meets personify ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob1 and ,rachel and ,ruth1 and the other ,bible characters who lived and loved in the days of the ,scriptures4 ,all these belong to the ,palestine perennial1 and to that ,palestine belong the talks of this book4 ,they are based on the notes dictated to my stenographer or written by me in the midst of the scenes they describe4 ,i give them as they came hot from the pen1 changing only a line here and there to accord with the changing conditions4 ,we start in the ,land of ,goshen which ,joseph gave to his father and brothers after he was sold to the ,ishmaelites and carried down into ,egypt1 and enter ,palestine at ,jaffa1 the city of ,jonah and ,simon the ,tanner4 ,we cross the plains of ,sharon by rail1 and travel back and forth over the ,holy ,land from ,beersheba to ,dan4 ,jerusalem and ,bethlehem1 ,jericho and the ,jordan1 ,shechem and ,nazareth are among the places where we linger longest1 and it is on the opposite side of the ,sea of ,galilee from ,capernaum that we take the train for ,damascus4 ,in that city we go to the wall over which ,saint ,paul was let down in a basket1 shop in the ,street called ,straight1 and then1 crossing the ,abana1 one of the rivers that ,naaman the ,leper would have preferred to the ,jordan1 ascend the mountains of ,lebanon to the ruins of ,baalbek4 ,we next climb down to the ,mediterranean ,sea at ,beirut and sail north to ,smyrna to pay our respects to the ruined shrine of the ,goddess ,diana on the site of old ,ephesus4 ,after a peep at ,asia ,minor we take a ship for home4 ,throughout the journey1 the old is ever tramping on the heels of the new1 and the ,palestine of the future is seen through the veil of the ,palestine of the past4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,in ,,the ,,land ,,of ,,goshen ,come with me this bright ,sunday morning for a look at the old ,land of ,goshen1 where the ,israelites settled when they first came into ,egypt4 ,i am writing this at ,zagazig not far from the road down which ,joseph was carried by the caravan of ,ishmaelites1 or ,bedouins1 who had bought him of his brothers and were on their way to sell him to ,potiphar4 ,it was over that same road that the brothers of ,joseph came to buy corn in the seven years of famine4 ,it was probably near ,zagazig that ,joseph met them and had the cup hidden in ,benjamin's sack1 and from ,zagazig he came out in his chariot to meet his old father ,jacob when by his advice the patriarch came into ,egypt to live4 ,through him ,goshen became a land of the ,israelites1 where they remained and prospered until he died1 and those 8who knew not ,joseph0 reigned in his stead4 ,the ,land of ,goshen is to-day one of the finest parts of the ,nile ,valley4 ,my whole way from ,cairo to ,zagazig was through rich crops of cotton1 sugar cane1 and clover4 ,there was green everywhere1 and ,i could ride from here twenty miles more to the eastward before reaching the desert4 ,the railroad from ,cairo to the ,suez ,canal goes directly through ,goshen4 ,it strikes the canal at ,ismailia and then branches off north and south1 following the canal to ,suez on the ,red ,sea1 and to ,port ,said on the ,mediterranean4 ,the first section is over the road which led from ,arabia to ,memphis and ,heliopolis1 cities long since replaced by ,cairo1 the metropolis of ,egypt4 ,zagazig1 where ,i am stopping1 is one of the chief cities in the ,delta4 ,it is on the freshwater canal and the big irrigation ditch which leads to the ,nile4 ,it is famous as a cotton port1 and to-day camels are coming into the town with bales on their backs1 and long trainloads are starting out for ,alexandria and ,port ,said1 whence the cotton will be shipped off to ,europe and ,america4 ,the cotton scenes are features of the landscape unknown in the days of ,joseph and ,jacob4 ,at that time the only clothes made in ,egypt were of flax or wool4 ,nobody knew of the cotton plant1 and it was not until the ,middle ,ages that ,europe learned anything about it4 ,the first knowledge of it was brought by the traveller1 ,sir ,john ,mandeville1 who said that the ,east ,indians had a shrub or bush1 half vegetable and half animal4 ,it was called the vegetable lamb of ,tartary4 ,according to ,sir ,john1 it was a plant which blossomed out at the top in a living sheep that bent down and ate the grass growing luxuriantly about it4 ,the sheep had a thick coat of wool1 and from this came the cotton of ,india4 ,sir ,john wrote that this plant beast had flesh1 bones1 and blood1 and that he had not only seen but eaten it4 ,he closed with the statement that all thought it wonderful but that 8,god is marveyllous in his werkes40 ,this was about #acej ,a4,d41 and many years before the real nature of cotton became known in ,egypt and cotton seeds were planted4 ,now the crop is grown everywhere in ,goshen1 and thrives on almost every spot where the feet of the ,israelites trod4 ,it covers the ,delta and large plantations have been set out even in old ,nubia and the ,sudan4 ,cotton has supplanted grain as a money-making crop and is worth far more than the grain that ,joseph had cornered when the years of famine began4 ,this ,land of ,goshen is a fine stock country4 ,camels1 buffaloes1 and donkeys are staked out in the fields1 and flocks of sheep and goats feed there1 watched by shepherds4 ,there are also droves of camels grazing or lying on the ground1 chewing their cuds4 ,all have their herdsmen4 ,there are no fences in ,egypt2 the fields are bounded by imaginary lines4 ,sometimes the limits are marked by water ditches1 or little embankments made for irrigation4 ,it was as stock raisers that the ,israelites came into ,egypt4 ,perhaps it was because they were a pastoral people that ,joseph had ,pharaoh give them this ,land of ,goshen1 the eastern part of which is fringed by the desert1 with patches of scanty vegetation where the stock could graze4 ,the ,bible says that ,joseph advised his brethren to say to ,pharaoh1 8,thy servants' trade hath been about cattle1 from our youth even until now1 both we and also our fathers02 for said he1 8,every shepherd is an abomination unto the ,egyptians40 ,to-day the land is well cultivated4 ,most of the fields are kept like gardens1 and ,i see half-naked men bending over and digging the soil with great mattocks4 ,here the farmers are ploughing1 using the same one-handled plough of the days of the ,scriptures4 ,some of them have donkeys and buffaloes hitched together1 while now and then one sees a plough dragged along by a cow and a camel4 ,there is much artificial irrigation4 ,sometimes the water is lifted from level to level by men with buckets and baskets to which ropes are slung4 ,in other places it is raised by the sakieh1 a rude wheel turned by the cogs of another wheel set at right angles to it4 ,clay jars are fastened on this perpendicular wheel1 and as this moves through the water1 the jars fill and empty themselves into the troughs which lead to the little canals4 ,the motive power of the sakieh is a blindfolded camel1 bullock1 or donkey1 the animal going around like a horse in an old-fashioned bark mill4 ,many of the fields are now under water and the silvery streams shine out through the emerald green of the crops4 ,when the ,israelites first came to ,goshen they probably lived in tents such as the ,bedouins use to-day4 ,these are made of sheep's wool or goat's hair rudely woven by hand4 ,they are held up by ropes and poles and are so low that the people must crawl into them4 ,we know that ,abraham lived in a tent1 and it is likely that this was the case with ,isaac and ,jacob4 ,after coming to ,goshen the ,israelites probably copied the houses of the ,egyptians1 building villages of mud huts not unlike those ,i now see4 ,these homes are rude to an extreme4 ,many of them are less than twenty feet square2 they have flat roofs and are often so low that ,i can see over them as ,i ride by on a camel4 ,they have no gardens or lawns4 ,facing the street1 they are huddled together without regard to beauty or comfort4 ,the roofs form the woodyards of the people below4 ,the only fuel they have is cornstalks1 straw1 or the bushes from which the cotton has been picked4 ,this stuff is tied up in bundles and laid away on the roofs until used4 ,there are but few trees to be seen4 ,now and then an acacia grows along the roadway1 and here and there are clumps of date palms4 ,there are occasional fruit gardens1 and ,i have seen many green orchards loaded with oranges4 ,the roads are usually high above the rest of the country4 ,they run along the canals1 and consist of the dirt banked up to hold back the waters4 ,the side roads are chiefly camel paths or foot paths1 and one sees everywhere the traffic moving along through the fields4 ,even on the main roads there are few wagons4 ,most of the freight is carried on donkeys and camels1 which are the common riding animals as well4 ,long-legged ,egyptians in turbans and gowns sit on the rumps of little donkeys1 their feet almost dragging2 and fierce-looking ,bedouins1 their headdresses tied on with ropes1 bob up and down as they ride on their camels1 their heads bowing at every step of the beasts4 ,there are camels loaded with alfalfa1 the grass so covering them that they look like haystacks on legs4 ,there are donkeys laden with boxes and bags1 and mules and bullocks carrying freight of one kind or another4 ,out in the fields one now and then sees a buffalo with a half-naked boy perched on it1 and at nightfall the paths are lined with men coming from the fields riding these ungainly beasts and balancing their one-handled ploughs in front of them4 ,it was in ,goshen that the ,israelites worked after they were enslaved by the ,egyptians4 ,here they built for ,pharaoh the treasure cities of ,pithom and ,rameses1 referred to in ,exodus1 from which they were sent out to build other cities and towns in various parts of the ,nile ,valley4 ,illustration3 ,the ,land of ,goshen still gets much of its water by the primitive wheel turned by a blindfolded and resentful camel4 ,this is the land which fed ,jacob and his family through the years of famine in ,canaan ,illustration3 ,it was through rocky wastes such as this that ,moses climbed to the top of ,mount ,sinai and there received the ,ten ,commandments1 and there the ,lord spoke with ,moses 8face to face1 as a man speaketh unto his friend0 ,the archologists now excavating in ,egypt tell me that they frequently find bricks which were undoubtedly made by them1 and assert that the sun-dried bricks of to-day are practically the same as those the children of ,israel moulded under the lash of their taskmasters4 ,this is true of the ruins of ,bubastis1 or the city of the worship of the cat4 ,the remains of this town1 which was situated within a stone's throw of the ,zagazig of to-day1 are still to be seen4 ,its many buildings of mud brick have crumbled almost to dust1 but here and there the walls are plainly visible4 ,there are several hundred acres of such ruins and ,i spent an hour or so to-day driving through them4 ,bubastis dates back to the times when the ,pyramids were young4 ,it is supposed to have been built by the ,israelites1 and was a great city until it was captured by the ,persians about #ceb ,b4,c4 ,it was noted for its temples devoted to the cat-headed goddess4 ,this lady had the form of a lioness with the head of a cat and held in one hand a lotus leaf as a sceptre4 ,herodotus tells of her and of this city1 saying that the temples were gorgeous and that the stone road leading to them was one thousand eight hundred feet long4 ,he says that as many as seven hundred thousand worshippers came to the annual festivities4 ,he relates that many of the worshippers were women who often danced and acted 8in an unseemly manner40 ,driving out to the ,bubastis1 ,i found there a brickyard in full swing4 ,it was situated right on the edge of the ruins1 and the fellaheen of to-day were moulding the clay used by the ,israelites of the past into building material for the present4 ,as ,i looked at them my mind went back to the days of the ,pharaohs when ,moses saw his people toiling under the lash4 ,these men and women ,i watched were working under taskmasters or overseers4 ,their half-clad bodies were burnt black by the tropical sun and they looked not unlike slaves4 ,here they were grinding the mud1 there they were moulding it into bricks1 while farther over they were piling up those which had been dried in the sun4 ,the bricks were carried by young girls1 bossed by a burly negro with a stick in his hand4 ,at his direction the girls took the bricks on their heads and carried them off on the trot4 ,by bribing the negro overseer ,i got a photograph of this scene1 and ,i doubt not my picture gives a fair idea of what went on in those long-ago days1 when ,pharaoh drove the ,israelites to similar work4 ,down through ,goshen came ,joseph and ,mary fleeing with the infant ,saviour from the wrath of ,herod1 the baby killer4 ,this was then on the main highway from ,palestine into ,egypt1 and there is no doubt that they stopped at ,bubastis as they went on to ,heliopolis4 ,not far from the obelisk of ,heliopolis there is a tree under which ,mary and ,joseph and the young ,jesus are said to have rested4 ,it is about five miles from ,cairo and guide books speak of it as one of the chief sights of ,egypt4 ,i doubt the reliability of their statements4 ,the tree may be the descendant of one which stood there in the time of ,christ4 ,it is an old sycamore gnarled with many years and scarred with the names of tourists4 ,it is on one of the estates of the ,khedive1 and may be seen through the bars of a fence which has been built around it to keep off the relic hunters4 ,during my visit there ,i tried to climb the fence in order to get a photograph of it1 but some of the ,khedive's servants came up and warned me not to go in4 ,the tree is surrounded by orange orchards which are irrigated by sakiehs worked by water buffaloes with blankets over their eyes4 ,as ,i went by ,i stopped at one of these sakiehs and the men brought me some oranges from the ,khedive's orchard1 selling them at the rate of eight for ten cents4 ,they were wonderfully refreshing1 and as ,i sat eating them in the shade of the trees outside the fence ,i wondered whether ,mary and ,joseph had not perhaps thus quenched their thirst in the same place nearly two thousand years ago4 ,any resting place must have been welcome after the long ride through the country to the edge of the great city of the sun4 ,there are other stories told of the stay of the ,holy ,family in ,egypt4 ,one is that ,joseph and ,mary took the infant ,jesus out to the ,pyramids1 and from there to the ,sphinx4 ,it is said that ,mary laid ,him in the lap of the ,sphinx1 and that ,he slept for a night on the paws of that mighty stone beast1 half lion1 half woman4 ,as ,i travel through ,egypt1 these stories seem more vivid4 ,i went down the other day to the banks of the ,nile where the little baby ,moses is said to have lain in the bulrushes in his boat of papyrus1 and as ,i stood by the obelisk at ,heliopolis ,i was reminded of the ,virgin and the ,saviour by a young girl who had a baby in her arms4 ,she must have been about the same age that ,mary was then1 and the little one laughed and crowed as she rested there under the tropical sun4 ,at the same time a score of other children ranging in age from two to twelve years gathered around me and posed for my camera in front of the obelisk4 ,this great monolith was undoubtedly standing when our ,saviour was carried through ,egypt1 and it was erected long before the baby ,moses was rescued from the waters of the ,nile4 ,the great stone shaft seemed to tie the past and the present together1 and the children of to-day brought to my mind those of the times of the ,saviour4 ,the children were glad to pose for me1 but as ,i snapped the camera they rushed to the front with hands outstretched1 begging for baksheesh4 ,i was at a loss how to fee so many1 and finally gave twenty-five cents to my coachman and left him1 to fight it out with the babies4 ,the little ones mobbed him and he had to threaten them with his carriage whip to keep them away4 ,he finally ended the trouble by giving each two children one half a piastre1 so that each received little more than one cent4 ,this made them quite happy4 ,as ,i was about to leave the obelisk a party of ,american tourists drove up4 ,among them was a smart twelve-year-old boy who put his hands in his pockets and gazed up at the stone as though he were ready to buy it4 ,as he did so ,i said to him3 8,hello1 my little man1 aren't you an ,american80 8,you bet ,i am10 he promptly replied4 8,i came from ,chicago in the state of ,illinois4 ,you are ,english1 aren't you80 8,no1 ,i am an ,american1 and my home is in ,washington40 8,oh1 yes10 said the urchin4 8,i know all about that place4 ,the ,president lives there4 ,say1 what is the name of your ball team80 ,that was the interesting thing to him4 ,out here under the shadow of an obelisk four thousand years old1 on the spot where ,joseph was married to ,asenath2 where ,plato philosophized and where ,moses played2 within plain sight of the ,pyramids and near enough almost to hear the whisper of the ,sphinx1 he cared nothing for them4 ,he was a live boy1 and he wanted live things4 ,therefore the pitchers1 catchers1 and shortstops of the great ,american diamond were worth more to him than all the stories of history and all the mummies of the museums4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,city ,,of ,,jonah ,i have come up out of the land of ,egypt1 out of the ,israelitish 8house of bondage10 and am to-day on the edge of the ,promised ,land4 ,i am at ,jaffa1 the ancient ,joppa1 and the port for the ,holy ,city4 ,when ,jacob went down from the highlands of ,samaria to the ,land of ,goshen to meet ,joseph1 his journey took several weeks4 ,i made the trip in the opposite direction by land and sea in less than a day4 ,i took the express train at ,cairo and in four hours was landed at ,port ,said1 at the mouth of the ,suez ,canal1 where ,i got a steamer which brought me to ,jaffa4 ,the whole way was through the lands of the ,bible4 ,we struck the canal at ,ismailia1 about midway of the ,isthmus of ,suez1 and thence rode northward along its banks to ,port ,said4 ,our steamer was crowded with pilgrims from ,russia1 ,egypt1 and north ,africa4 ,there were many ,americans1 ,french1 and ,germans travelling first class1 and hundreds of ,syrians and ,egyptians going steerage4 ,the ,russian pilgrims were particularly interesting to me4 ,old men and old women1 with honest faces full of intelligence and goodness1 they held their religious services all over the third-class portion of the ship1 and ,i spent two hours watching them as one after another they turned their faces toward the ,holy ,city and prayed1 crossing themselves1 and now and then getting down upon their knees and bumping their heads against the deck in their worship4 ,they were curiously dressed and many of them wore long fur coats4 ,some had high fur hats and looked as if they had just stepped out of one of ,tolstoi's novels4 ,i was especially impressed with the strength of character shown in their faces and with their magnificent physique4 ,if all of ,russia's millions are of the same mould as those who make the pilgrimage to ,jerusalem1 they will some day prove to the world that there is in them as good stuff as ever made history or built up a civilization4 ,the women1 with their strong1 motherly faces made heroic by toil and privation1 were equally as striking as the men4 ,they were better looking than any other peasant women ,i have ever seen1 and the old saying of the ,greeks came to me as ,i looked at them3 8,if strong be the frame of the mother1 her sons shall make laws for the people40 ,as the ship approached the ,holy ,land the people broke out into prayers1 and in some cases into tears4 ,it is a religious pilgrimage for them and they think1 ,i doubt not1 that in making it they are coming nearer to heaven4 ,we had our first view of the shores of ,palestine at seven o'clock in the morning1 after a night on the steamer4 ,we had been awakened at six with the cry that we were nearing shore1 but this was a ruse of the captain to get breakfast out of the way before landing4 ,when ,i came up on deck nothing but the sea was in sight4 ,the sun was about two hours high and the sky1 a light blue with long streaks of fleecy white drawn like a half-veil over it1 curved down into the ocean at the eastern horizon4 ,as ,i looked ,i saw two lines of hazy gray rise up out of the water1 which rippled in sapphire wavelets1 caught by the sun4 ,the first line was the sandy beach that edges the rich plains of ,sharon and the second the wall of smoky gray which marks the hills of ,judea or the highlands of ,palestine4 ,as we came nearer1 these lines increased in size1 until the first turned to dazzling white sand1 out of which a little later the wooded green strip marking the port of ,jaffa came into view4 ,nearer still we could see the shipping in the harbour1 and above and behind it the walls of this1 one of the oldest towns of the world4 ,we get some idea of the age of ,jaffa from the story of ,jonah2 for the ,bible says that it was from here ,jonah took passage upon the ship from which he was thrown into the sea into the mouth of the whale4 ,he remained in the whale's belly for three days1 during which time he prayed to the ,lord1 and the ,lord spake to the whale1 whereupon he was vomited out upon dry land4 ,jonah was born about eight hundred and fifty years before ,christ4 ,he was a baby when1 according to some authorities1 ,homer was telling the story of the ,iliad1 and a hundred years had yet to elapse before the founding of ,rome4 ,i am not sure as to the exact spot where ,jonah was taken up by the sailors and thrown into the sea1 but he is said to have been buried not far from ,jerusalem1 and there are dragomans who will show you his tomb4 ,ever since ,jonah's time sailors have been superstitious about having preachers along1 thinking that such passengers bring bad luck to a ship4 ,illustration3 ,these brickmakers work under a taskmaster to-day just as the ,israelites toiled under the lash in this spot nearly four thousand years ago4 ,here was built ,bubastis1 the ancient ,egyptian city sacred to the worship of the ,cat ,illustration3 ,we go ashore in small boats at the city of ,jonah1 which rises almost straight out of the water--but we see no whales ,illustration3 ,the best view of ,jaffa is had from the roof of the ,house of ,simon the tanner where ,st4 ,peter had the vision which led to the preaching of ,christ to the ,gentiles ,the harbour of ,jaffa is one of the worst in the world4 ,it is almost always rough and often so much so that it is impossible to land4 ,upon our arrival there was such a swell that the boats which took us ashore bobbed up and down and the waves soaked our baggage4 ,as to ,jonah himself and his narrow escape1 one of our preachers on board has quoted a new version of why he and the whale parted company3 8,i threw up ,jonah10 said the whale1 ,who'd lately come to town2 8,i threw up ,jonah1 ,for ,i could not keep a good man down40 ,in coming in ,i looked for whales4 ,there were none in sight1 although ,i am told they are still to be seen in the ,mediterranean4 ,in their place1 however1 were many jellyfish of an opalescent blue4 ,these fish were as big as a football and of the shape of a mushroom4 ,there were hundreds of them floating about and bumping against the hull of our ship as we lay at anchor4 ,besides the story of ,jonah there are many well-authenticated facts about ,jaffa which make it interesting4 ,it has always been the chief port for the ,holy ,land4 ,it was at one time owned by the ,phnicians1 and later1 when ,solomon built the temple1 it was here that the timber used in its construction was landed4 ,most of this was cedar which came from the forests of ,lebanon several hundred miles up the coast4 ,the logs were dragged down the mountains and thrown into the sea at ,tyre and ,sidon4 ,they were there made into rafts and towed down to ,jaffa1 whence they were carried up to ,jerusalem by camels and men4 ,jaffa was an important port in the days of the ,crusades1 and was fought for again and again4 ,at one time its walls were overthrown by ,saladin1 but a little later they were rebuilt by ,richard the ,lion-hearted1 the ,king of ,england1 who came here in a vain attempt to rescue the ,holy ,sepulchre from the hands of the ,turks4 ,in addition to all this there is a tradition that ,andromeda1 the beautiful daughter of the mythical king of this country1 was here chained to the rocks in order that she might appease a huge sea serpent which threatened to eat up the people4 ,while so imperilled she was rescued by ,perseus1 who killed the monster and married her4 ,in ,pliny's time the historians state that the chains by which ,andromeda was bound to the rocks were still to be seen1 and that the bones of the sea serpent were carried to ,rome and placed upon exhibition there4 ,the ,jaffa of to-day stands upon a bluff washed by the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,the city is built right on the rocks1 with its yellow1 white1 and blue houses coming down to the cliff edge4 ,they rise up the steep sides of the bluff which makes a wall cutting off the view of the country behind4 ,at the south of the bluff1 as far as one can see1 are white sands4 ,at the north are orange groves and then more sand4 ,as we left the ship we came down a gangway and were lifted into the boats4 ,the third-class and steerage passengers were hung over the sides of the deck of the steamer by the arms1 and dropped down into the boats1 twelve or more feet below4 ,some of the women screamed as they fell1 making the rocks recho with their cries as though the beautiful ,andromeda were still chained there4 ,we had no trouble with the customs1 largely1 ,i believe1 because our dragomans had given the officers a liberal amount of baksheesh4 ,the examination was short1 and within half an hour after landing we were comfortably housed at the ,jerusalem ,hotel4 ,i mention this hotel because ,i found it was kept by a character who was for a long time our ,american consular agent4 ,his name is ,hardegg1 and he spices his food with a religious doctrine of his own kind4 ,the hotel rooms are not numbered #a1 #b1 #c1 etc41 but are named after the sons of ,israel and the various ,old ,testament prophets4 ,each of them contains a book which ,hardegg has compiled entitled 8,bible ,pills40 ,it is composed of texts from the ,scriptures fitted to one's daily life4 ,the city of ,jaffa has normally about fifty thousand inhabitants of whom the majority are ,mohammedans and the rest ,christians and ,jews4 ,it has considerable trade and is rapidly growing4 ,the rich plains of ,sharon at the back furnish sesame1 grain1 and olive oil1 while the highlands of ,judea and ,samaria produce wool1 just as they did in the times of our ,saviour4 ,all about the town are orange groves the fruit of which is shipped to all parts of the ,mediterranean4 ,the oranges are almost the shape of a lemon1 but they are of a great size and sweet as honey4 ,they are packed up in boxes at the groves and carried down to the harbour on the backs of camels4 ,i met the caravans of these huge beasts swaying along as they made their way to the steamers4 ,i was taken through the native quarters of ,jaffa by a young ,syrian named ,moses4 ,we went together through streets so narrow and winding that carriages could not enter them1 and at times we were altogether shaded by the houses1 the roofs of which almost touched overhead4 ,we entered several of the dwellings4 ,each consisted of but one room facing a court where the men1 women1 and children were herded together4 ,the house of ,simon the ,tanner was destroyed some centuries ago1 but another house1 which is probably of the same character1 stands on its site1 and tanning is still done in the neighbourhood4 ,at least1 it seems so by the smells4 ,this house is now used as a second-class inn4 ,it is a rocky structure1 built high up over the sea1 with steps outside which lead to the second story and roof4 ,i climbed to the top1 and there saw about the same view as did ,st4 ,peter4 ,in front of me the blue ,mediterranean stretched out toward the west4 ,at the north were the glistening sands reaching toward the ruins of ,csarea and the foothills of ,mount ,carmel1 while at the south were the hills near which stood ,askalon4 ,it was here that ,st4 ,peter had that wonderful dream1 in which he beheld all the beasts of the world let down from heaven in a sheet1 in order that he might eat of them4 ,you remember that he refused1 saying3 8,not so1 ,lord6 for ,i have never eaten anything that is common or unclean40 ,and then came a voice which said3 8,what ,god hath cleansed that call not thou common40 ,it was these words that first led to the preaching of the ,gospel to the ,gentiles1 bringing about the conversion of ,cornelius1 the ,roman centurion1 and later on the preaching of ,christ to all the world4 ,as my guide refreshed my biblical memory with this story1 he told me of an ,american who had visited this place with him last week4 ,said ,moses3 8,this ,american was a funny man1 and it seemed to me a foolish one4 ,he was not satisfied with seeing this house1 but he asked me to show him the vision that ,st4 ,peter saw1 and demanded to know what had become of the sheet4 ,he said he did not think he ought to pay me unless ,i could show him the vision1 but ,i told him that ,i could not do that unless he had ,st4 ,peter's heart1 and ,i was sure that he had not40 ,illustration3 ,the men of ,palestine are very strong and carry amazing loads on their backs4 ,both men and women think little of walking twenty miles a day4 ,many are too poor to keep even a donkey ,illustration3 ,impenetrable hedges of giant cactus bushes intermingled with thorn are often used as fences to separate land holdings4 ,one seldom sees a man carrying a water jar1 for that is 8women's work0 in the ,holy ,land ,this ,american was probably facetious1 but his questions are not unlike those of many of the tourists whose ignorance and superstition surpass belief4 ,many of them credit the most extravagant stories of every guide1 and go about kissing spots which they imagine to be hallowed by their connection with the ,bible1 but of whose authenticity no one knows4 ,there is one thing ,i must not forget about ,jaffa1 and that is that here was born the modern sewing bee1 ,i might almost say the ,woman's ,missionary ,society4 ,you have all heard of ,dorcas1 the queen of the needle1 who was raised from the dead by ,st4 ,peter4 ,she was noted for the garments she had made for the poor1 and at her funeral the people gathered round and showed specimens of the needlework she had sewed and hemmed and stitched for them4 ,dorcas lived two or three miles outside ,jaffa on a hill which has a commanding view of the country for miles around4 ,it overlooks the sea and land1 including thousands of acres of orange groves and gardens containing all kinds of fruits4 ,the site of her house is now occupied by a ,russian ,greek ,catholic ,church and a tomb has been erected over her grave hard by4 ,i drove out to the place in a carriage1 winding my way in and out through orange groves and up the hill to the church4 ,here ,i met a ,russian priest1 who was acquiring merit by guarding the bones of the saint in whose honour prayers are said daily4 ,it was with him that ,i visited the tomb4 ,it is of stone and is roofed by a dome1 the whole being covered with plaster4 ,there is a door at the front1 and by descending several steps one can see the piece of mosaic which covers the spot where ,dorcas lies4 ,there are catacombs to the right and left containing the bones of saints1 and over the whole rise magnificent trees4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,by ,,railway ,,to ,,the ,,land ,,of ,,judea ,take a seat with me this morning in the railroad car which is just about leaving the seaport of ,jaffa to go to ,jerusalem4 ,the distance by rail is only fifty-four miles1 but it will take us more than four hours4 ,crossing the rich plains of ,sharon1 the road winds its way up the hills of ,judea until it brings us to the ,holy ,city1 about twenty-five hundred feet above the sea4 ,the cars are comfortable1 but we have had to fight with the tourists and pilgrims for our seats near the windows4 ,a ,german and a ,greek on the opposite side of the coach are still quarrelling for places1 using language not that of brotherly love4 ,the ,german has just called the ,greek a swine1 while the ,greek has retaliated by simply calling the ,german a dog4 ,but now they are quiet and we can enjoy the scenery as we go on4 ,leaving ,jaffa we ride for some miles through orchards4 ,there are orange groves loaded with blossoms and fruit4 ,there are orchards of olives1 pomegranates1 and figs1 and many gardens surrounded by cactus hedges twice as high as our heads4 ,next we enter the rich plain where the ,philistines lived4 ,the soil is brown and so fat that you have only to tickle it with the plough and it laughs with the harvest4 ,you do not wonder that the ,philistines fought for this fertile land4 ,here is a green field of wheat4 ,the stalks stand as thick as grass1 and rise and fall with the winds from the sea4 ,there a native is ploughing with a bullock and donkey harnessed together4 ,the plough is the rude implement of the ,scriptures1 and the dark-skinned farmer steadies it with one hand1 while he carries a goad in the other4 ,farther on are camels dragging the ploughs4 ,in places we see flocks of fat sheep1 herded by boys1 and now and then pass a village of flat1 white-walled houses with thick roofs of thatch on which the grass grows4 ,nearly every house has a roof of sod about a foot deep1 and as we near the hills1 the towns on their sides rise up in green terraces4 ,here some shepherds in sheep-skin coats1 with the wool inside1 are watching their flocks1 and there1 pulling up bunches of grass for her cattle1 is a maiden who makes us think of ,ruth gathering wheat in the harvest-fields of ,boaz4 ,here and there throughout the plains of ,sharon we see the watch-towers built for soldiers posted to ensure the ,turkish ,sultan's share of the farmers' crops4 ,the landscape here is far different from that of the ,united ,states4 ,there are no houses or barns standing alone in the fields4 ,there are no outbuildings of any description1 and no haystacks or strawstacks4 ,the people live in villages and go out to work in the fields4 ,the only fences are cactus hedges1 but most of the holdings are not fenced in at all4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,holy ,,land ,the land is fertile clear to the mountains1 a distance of perhaps twenty miles4 ,in the foothills there are patches of green1 while higher up fields are here and there cut out of the rocks1 which are built up to hold in the earth4 ,i have never seen a country more rocky4 ,the rough lands of the ,blue ,ridge are ,nile farms compared to the hills through which our train climbs up to ,jerusalem4 ,in many places there is nothing but rocks4 ,the limestone strata are piled stone upon stone1 looking like mighty monuments rising on the hills4 ,in some places mountains rise in steps forming pyramids of white limestone1 sparsely sprinkled with patches of grass and red poppies4 ,as we begin to ascend the hills of ,judea1 we come into the real land of the ,israelites4 ,our railroad winds in and out among little mountains and we can see that in the past the whole country was terraced and that not a bit of land went to waste4 ,what is now the grazing ground for sheep and cattle was once a garden4 ,palestine reminds us of other parts of the world4 ,the rich fruit of the orange groves of ,jaffa makes us think of ,florida4 ,were it not for the lack of fences and barns1 the plains of ,sharon might be a slice out of ,lancaster ,county1 ,pennsylvania1 or the rich fields of the ,scioto ,valley in ,ohio4 ,these hills are very like ,italy near ,genoa1 or south ,france about ,nice and ,monte ,carlo4 ,the terraces are planted with olive trees and we see gray-green olive orchards everywhere4 ,as we rise the air becomes purer and fresher4 ,we pass the spot on which ,david is said to have killed ,goliath1 and see in the distance the town of ,mizpah1 where the ,prophet anointed ,saul king when the latter was out hunting his father's asses4 ,when we see an old bearded and turbaned ,syrian riding along on his donkey1 we wonder if he may not be a second ,balaam1 and we almost expect his donkey to open its mouth and speak to its master4 ,but let me tell you something about the railroad up to ,jerusalem4 ,the track is narrow gauge1 and the coaches are much like street cars1 with little racks for baggage along each side under the roof4 ,each carriage is divided into compartments the sides of which are walled with windows4 ,the road has no tunnels1 and it winds its way in and out as it climbs the hills4 ,there are five stations between ,jaffa and ,jerusalem4 ,the total cost of the railroad was two million dollars1 or a little less than forty thousand dollars per mile4 ,the idea of the road was originated by an ,american1 a civil engineer named ,zimpel1 who came to ,palestine as a pedlar of a patent medicine which he called 8,sunlight ,pills40 ,he brought the scheme before the ,sultan at ,constantinople1 but failed to get the concession to build it4 ,after his death the matter was taken up by the ,french1 who put the line through4 ,this was the first railroad built in ,syria1 and it is the father of a system which is now opening up a great part of the country4 ,one section is the road building from ,damascus toward ,mecca1 and connected with it are others which will eventually join the ,holy ,land to the valley of the ,euphrates1 as well as to ,asia ,minor and ,turkey4 ,the rates for both passengers and freight are much higher than in the ,united ,states4 ,as it goes up the mountains1 the railway twists this way and that4 ,it crawls along the sides of the hills with horseshoe curves here and there4 ,the whole journey is over historic ground4 ,we cross the plains where ,samson fought with the ,philistines1 slaying a thousand of them with the jawbone of an ass4 ,we see the place where he tied the firebrands to the tails of three hundred foxes and let them loose to burn up the harvest4 ,a little farther on we enter the valley of ,sorek1 where the wicked ,delilah cut off the hair of the strong man as he lay asleep in her lap1 and away up on the side of the hill we can see the town of ,zorah1 where ,samson was born4 ,at the station of ,deir ,aban1 where ,samuel raised his ,ebenezer1 a crowd of children comes to the trains with bouquets of wild flowers4 ,the boys whine for baksheesh4 ,we wonder whether there may not be an infant ,samson among them4 ,it was in ,zorah that ,samson was buried1 and the guides will show you his tomb4 ,farther along the road we pass through a great gorge in the cliffs1 on the north side of which1 near the top1 is a cave1 where ,samson lived1 and ,i verily believe if we should offer the guides sufficient reward they would find us his bones or some pieces of brass from the gates of the city of ,gaza1 which1 you remember1 he carried away on his shoulders4 ,in our ride up to ,jerusalem we go by the ancient city of ,gezer4 ,it is marked by a mound which has several buildings upon it1 including the dome of a ,mohammedan mosque4 ,the ground about it has been dug over and over1 and the ruins discovered have excited the religious and scientific world4 ,the excavations made by the ,palestine ,exploration ,fund show it to be one of the oldest of cities4 ,the scientists have gone down into the earth at this point1 finding one city built upon the ruins of another1 down to the seventh city1 which seems to have been occupied by the cave dwellers of the ,flint or ,stone ,age1 a period before recorded history began4 ,in these cave dwellings pottery and flint instruments were discovered4 ,a burial place of that ancient race was opened up and remains were found which show that the cave dwellers practised cremation4 ,in one of the six other cities1 higher up1 bronze tools were discovered1 and higher still the relics of an ancient ,egyptian civilization4 ,in one of the caves were found large jars containing the skeletons of infants that had been sacrificed to some pagan idol1 probably during the ,canaanite period4 ,in another was a cistern1 the mouth of which was guarded by the skulls of two young girls1 and inside which were fourteen skeletons1 one that of a girl of sixteen who had been sawn asunder4 ,the ,king of ,gezer was defeated by ,joshua1 and later the city was captured by a king of ,egypt1 who was one of ,solomon's three hundred-odd fathers-in-law4 ,the story is that ,pharaoh gave ,gezer to ,solomon as a dowry with his daughter1 and that ,solomon rebuilt the city4 ,at the time of the ,crusades ,richard ,cur de ,lion and ,saladin fought over it1 and it was an important fortress at the time of the ,maccabees4 ,the archologists of the ,palestine ,exploration ,fund have discovered bronze pots1 ivory tablets1 statues1 and jewels and other treasures of a half-dozen different periods of history4 ,in one of the cities a complete olive press made of stone was unearthed1 and in another an ,egyptian statuette about four thousand years old4 ,the figure was that of a man with a beard and a wig4 ,bronze tweezers were found as well as many articles of ,greek and ,roman times4 ,one of the most interesting discoveries was a reservoir with a capacity of four million gallons4 ,another was a place supposed to belong to one of the ,maccabees4 ,illustration3 ,camels and donkeys1 as well as bullocks1 are hitched to the low1 one-handled wooden ploughs of ,palestine1 the same to-day as centuries ago ,illustration3 ,the children are what we like best in the ,holy ,land1 even though they have generally learned from their elders the habit of begging for backsheesh ,illustration3 ,the ass of this sheeted ,balaam opens his mouth but only a bray comes forth4 ,the roads are so fearful that many places may not be reached by wheeled vehicles and the sure-footed donkey is usually the best mount ,the ,palestine ,exploration ,fund is not a religious body1 but rather a scientific and historical society4 ,it has spent about fourteen thousand dollars a year on such work1 most of the sums being collected in amounts of five dollars or less from ,english and ,americans all over the world4 ,the ,fund has made great discoveries in ,jerusalem4 ,it has surveyed and mapped a great part of ,palestine and has added many ,bible sites to those already known4 ,,chapter ,v ,,from ,,dan ,,to ,,beersheba ,the size of ,palestine is surprising to every visitor4 ,you know it is small1 but you cannot appreciate how small it is until you have travelled over it4 ,then you see why it has been called 8the least of all lands40 ,the whole country does not average more than fifty miles wide1 and it is only about a hundred and forty miles long4 ,you could lose it in many of the counties of ,texas1 and on some of its mountains you can look from one side of it to the other4 ,standing on the ,mount of ,olives1 just outside of ,jerusalem1 ,i could see the ,mediterranean on the west and on the east the ,dead ,sea and the ,river ,jordan4 ,from ,dan to ,beersheba is not as far as from ,new ,york to ,washington1 and the 8stormy banks0 of the ,jordan inclose a stream across many parts of which you can easily throw a stone1 and which though it winds in and out like a corkscrew1 is not over two hundred miles long4 ,the ,mount of ,olives1 upon which ,jesus was taken by the ,devil1 is described as 8an exceeding high mountain10 but it is only about twenty-seven hundred feet high and would be no more than a hill in the ,rockies4 8,all the kingdoms of the world0 which ,satan showed him consisted of a few half-barren hills and some fertile plains1 which together would not make more than a good-sized ,western county4 ,with an aeroplane we could fly across the whole of ,palestine in less than an hour4 ,including ,syria1 which takes in the mountains of ,lebanon and much other country in addition to ,palestine proper1 it is not as long as from ,new ,york to ,pittsburgh4 ,it begins at the boundary of the ,french ,mandate of ,syria on the north1 and extends from there southward along the line of the ,mediterranean ,sea until it is lost in the sands of ,arabia4 ,though it has bulked so large in history and religion1 the ,holy ,land itself is not as big as ,rhode ,island1 while all ,palestine is only about the size of ,vermont4 ,if you could take it up and stretch it over the ,united ,states it would hardly make a patch of court plaster on ,uncle ,sam's body4 ,dropped down upon ,new ,england1 with one end at ,boston1 the other would be at ,mount ,washington1 and most of the country would not be wider than from ,boston to ,springfield4 ,if spread out upon northern ,illinois the whole might be included inside a line drawn from ,chicago to ,aurora and thence to ,decatur and back to ,chicago4 ,the ,bible has called this little territory a land of milk and honey4 ,the expression must have been used by contrast to the dreary sand of the ,sinai desert1 through which the ,israelites travelled on their way hither4 ,as ,i know from former travels1 it is more rocky than any part of the ,alleghanies2 and the ,blue ,ridge of ,virginia1 which is covered with stones1 is the ,mississippi ,valley compared with it4 ,the country has a backbone of mountains comprising the hills of ,judea1 ,samaria1 and ,galilee1 with a low coastal plain1 where the ,philistines lived1 extending to the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,on the other side of the backbone is the great ditch in which lie the ,sea of ,tiberias1 or ,galilee1 and the ,dead ,sea1 with the winding ,jordan running from one to the other4 ,this ditch is below the level of the sea and parts of it have the hottest and most oppressive climate on earth4 ,on the opposite side of the ,jordan toward the east is a country much richer than ,palestine4 ,it is composed of highlands from two thousand to three thousand feet above sea level1 giving excellent pasture and1 in the north1 large crops of wheat4 ,this was the ,bashan1 ,gilead1 and ,moab of the ,bible1 and it is now inhabited chiefly by ,mohammedan ,bedouins1 who live in tents1 driving their camels1 cattle1 and sheep from place to place4 ,in the past it was thickly populated1 and archologists have uncovered the ruined cities of the people who used to live there4 ,palestine1 on the other hand1 could never have had a very large population1 and the 8hosts0 spoken of in the ,scriptures would dwindle by comparison with the numbers of people we are used to nowadays4 ,the trip from ,jaffa to ,jerusalem gives us a fair idea of the character of the country4 ,the coastal plain is typical of the richest part4 ,its soil is a chocolate brown1 the grass is as green as that of ,egypt1 and there are great orchards of olives and fruits of all kinds4 ,the roads are lined with rich red poppies and there are wild flowers on all sides4 ,climbing the hills is like jumping from the ,nile ,valley into the desert4 ,there is nothing but rocks with a sparse vegetation scattered here and there through them4 ,the limestone crops out everywhere1 and in places heaps of stones have been thrown up to make little fields4 ,such fields are fenced with stone walls4 ,there are also corrals for the sheep made in this way4 ,illustration3 ,fuel is so scarce in this land of no woods that even roots and twigs bring good prices4 ,two years of poor olive crops often drive the peasants to cutting down their precious olive trees and selling them ,illustration3 ,the ,pool of ,hezekiah1 opened by an ancient ,hebrew king in the city of ,jerusalem1 is fed by a fountain in the hills4 ,not until the ,british came did the city have an adequate water-supply4 ,one old ,arab said1 8,for four hundred years1 the ,turks did not give us so much as a cup of cold water0 ,palestine has no woods4 ,there are no groves or bushes4 ,almost the only trees are fruit trees1 with now and then a funereal cypress in a garden4 ,our consul tells me that the country has two groves which the people call forests4 ,one of these contains forty scrub oaks and the other is not quite so large4 ,he says that a few years ago there was some brush on the hillside1 but that the people have even dug up the roots and sold them for fuel4 ,indeed1 fuel is one of the most costly things in this country4 ,it is so expensive that it is seldom used except for cooking1 and that notwithstanding the fact that the climate is cold4 ,wood is so valuable that the older olive trees are being cut down1 and it is feared that the olive orchards will gradually disappear4 ,these old trees are often of considerable thickness1 but they are only twenty or thirty feet tall so that one will supply but a small amount of firewood4 ,the olive tree is as hard as the apple and far more knotted and gnarly4 ,its wood is heavy and is sold by the ton4 ,it is brought in on the backs of donkeys and camels and every stick has to pay a tax before it gets inside the gates of ,jerusalem4 ,a common fuel is charcoal1 made mostly of olive wood4 ,it is made chiefly at ,hebron1 about twenty-three miles south of ,jerusalem1 near the cave where ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob are buried and where tradition says ,adam died4 ,hebron1 which is about five hundred feet higher than ,jerusalem1 has big orchards of olives1 almonds1 and apples1 the brush and the dead wood of which are used to make charcoal4 ,the use of coal is almost out of the question on account of the high rates over the railroads4 ,the same charge is made for carrying coal as for carrying silk4 ,such coal as comes here is in the shape of briquettes and sells for high prices4 ,another lack from which the ,holy ,land suffers is water4 ,the rainfall in the southern sections is something like six inches and upward a year1 the amount gradually increasing as one goes northward toward ,galilee4 ,the country has always been one of pools and wells1 and every house in ,jerusalem has its roofs so made that they drain into cisterns placed in the courts4 ,in dry seasons water is sold1 and the man who has a spare cistern gets a big price for his surplus4 ,nearly all the wells of the olden times remain1 and are pointed out by the dragomans4 ,one can drink from the well where ,christ met the ,samaritan woman1 and from many cisterns scattered over the country4 ,most of them are shaped like great pears4 ,when the pools of ,solomon were connected with ,jerusalem it was thought that they would supply the city with water4 ,these pools are on the highlands between ,bethlehem and ,hebron4 ,they are cut out of the solid rock1 and it is said that they originally held about forty million gallons4 ,there are three of them1 ranging in height from three hundred and eighty to five hundred and eighty feet4 ,they lie in terraces one above the other1 being of varying widths4 ,the depths are from twenty-five to fifty feet4 ,if they were in good condition they could supply a vast deal of water1 but as it is1 the aqueducts which ,solomon built to ,jerusalem have gone to ruin1 and there is now only a four-inch iron pipe running from them to the city4 ,the pipe comes in near the ,dung ,gate and goes from there to the temple platform4 ,i stumbled over it the other day4 ,i am told that the water is used almost altogether for the ,mosque of ,omar1 although it is connected with the fountains of the city1 which are only occasionally allowed to play4 ,in addition to these pools there are many others in and about ,jerusalem4 ,the ,pool of ,hezekiah is in the heart of the city1 not far from the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre2 and the ,pool of ,siloam1 where ,our ,lord sent the blind man to wash1 is in the valley of ,jehoshaphat1 outside the walls4 ,just now the ,holy ,land is suffering from drought and the people are praying for rain4 ,we have had one or two showers in the last few days1 but more is needed or the crops will fail4 ,most of the inhabitants of ,jerusalem are great believers in prayer1 and ,mohammedans1 ,christians1 and ,jews are all holding services at which they ask the ,lord to send water4 ,we had a slight rain yesterday and more is expected4 ,the people evidently think their prayers will be answered4 ,as ,i walked through ,david ,street ,i heard two ,mohammedans talking4 ,their language was ,arabic1 but my dragomans told me that one had just said to the other3 8,how good ,god is1 after all4 ,we have prayed for the rain and1 lo1 it has come40 ,when the first shower began to fall ,i was standing in a doorway4 ,a little girl1 perhaps eight years old1 passed by with a platter of bread on her head4 ,the rain was pouring down upon it and she was wet to the skin1 but nevertheless she was singing4 ,i asked my guide the words of her song4 ,he replied3 8,she cries3 #8,praise ,god for the rain6 ,praise ,god for the rain6 ,praise ,god for the rain6'0 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,jerusalem ,,in ,,the ,,twentieth ,,century ,i write these words on the housetop of a bishop's residence on the summit of ,mount ,zion and in the centre of the ,holy ,city4 ,my typewriter stands within thirty feet of the great square ,tower of ,david the base of which was undoubtedly built before the time of ,christ4 ,at my left1 surrounded by the yellow stone walls of the houses1 is the dark green pool ,hezekiah made to supply ,jerusalem with water in case of siege1 and beyond it1 out of the jumble of buildings1 shines the huge bronze dome erected over the spot where ,christ was crucified4 ,not half a mile away on a plateau covering thirty-five acres is a big octagonal tower with a bulbous bronze dome4 ,that is the ,mosque of ,omar which rises on the very site of ,solomon's temple4 ,at its left is the church built over the ,roman mosaic floor of the house of ,pontius ,pilate4 ,jerusalem lies in a nest of mountains4 ,it is built on an irregular plateau with valleys all about it and steep hills rising straight up from these to the city and to the higher hills on the opposite sides4 ,the site of the city runs over height and hollow1 and was probably chosen for the capital of ,judea on account of the great gorges about it1 by which it could be the more easily defended against attack4 ,illustration3 ,jerusalem lies in a nest of hills which seem flattened out when viewed from an airplane4 ,it is on a plateau twenty-five hundred feet above sea-level1 and the city is divided into four quarters1 each on its own hill ,illustration3 ,the walls of the ,holy ,city were breached at the ,jaffa gate to provide a special entrance for the ,german ,kaiser when he visited ,jerusalem4 ,he was arrayed as a crusading knight and rode a prancing snow-white steed ,around the edge of the plateau is a wall about thirty feet high enclosing the ,jerusalem of to-day4 ,the wall runs along the rims of the valleys1 climbing up hill and down1 making its way around the ,holy ,city until it comes again to the ,jaffa ,gate which is just below me4 ,the ,holy ,city now covers twice as much space as it did when ,i was first here a good many years ago4 ,it has doubled in size and has some sixty thousand people4 ,at that time most of the inhabitants were crowded together inside the walls4 ,they are crowded still1 but to the north1 south1 and west large ,jewish settlements have sprung up1 and among and beyond them have been built great hospices1 hospitals1 convents1 cathedrals1 and hotels1 so that the population outside the walls almost equals that within4 ,the new buildings have extended to the ,mount of ,olives1 and are working their way toward the east along the road to ,jaffa4 ,seated here upon the site of ,king ,david's palace1 ,i see the whole city spread out beneath me4 ,what a curious place it is6 ,in my tours of the world ,i have found no spot so full of strange sights and picturesque characters1 so different in most particulars from every other town of the world4 ,aside from its wonderfully interesting historical associations1 ,jerusalem has a character of its own4 ,it looks more like a great honeycomb than a city4 ,the houses are piled one above the other in all sorts of irregularities4 ,if you would take a half-section of land and scatter over it gigantic packing boxes just as you find them in a down-town alley1 you might get some idea of ,jerusalem as it looks to me from ,mount ,zion4 ,these houses have no chimneys and their stone roofs are almost flat4 ,many of the roofs have in the centre little domes that remind me of beehives4 ,if the town were on a level these domes would look like the haycocks in a meadow at harvest time4 ,the wood used in the construction of ,jerusalem would not last an ,american family a winter4 ,yellow limestone is the sole building material4 ,the roofs1 walls1 and floors of these thousands of houses are of this cold1 yellowish-white rock4 ,even in the ,bishop's mansion1 which is one of the finest in the city1 ,i step out of my bed on to a stone floor and walk to my breakfast down stone steps and through stone halls4 ,now look at the streets with me4 ,they are narrow and winding and some are built over1 so that going through them is like passing through tunnels or subterranean caves4 ,indeed1 ,jerusalem is a city of cave dwellers4 ,many of the stores and houses are little more than holes in the rocks4 ,i visited a native inn yesterday right in the heart of the town4 ,it consisted of a series of vaulted chambers which looked much like caves4 ,in one cave were four donkeys1 two camels1 and a party of ,bedouins4 ,in another were a dozen ,jews from ,samaria1 and in a third were some men and camels who had just come from beyond the ,jordan4 ,the only sign of modern times was an ,english lamp burning ,american kerosene oil4 ,through my guide ,i chatted with the keeper of the stable1 or inn1 as it was called1 and he told me that his charge for feeding and washing a donkey or a horse was five cents a day4 ,jerusalem of to-day is founded upon the remains of the ,jerusalems of the past1 and the excavations have unearthed houses and temples far below the streets of the present4 ,the original floor and court of the house in which ,pontius ,pilate examined the ,christ is much lower than the level of the present city1 and mosaics and marbles1 including carvings of various kinds and ,greek and ,roman capitals and columns1 are frequently uncovered in digging the foundations for new buildings4 ,there are many caves outside of ,jerusalem and people live in some of them4 ,the tombs of the kings on the edge of the city have been cut out of the solid rock1 and some of them are so large that a city house could be dropped into one and not touch the walls4 ,an excavation of the ,pool of ,bethesda has shown that it is eighty feet deep and covers nearly an acre4 ,right under the temple platform are enormous caverns known as ,solomon's ,stables1 and near by there is a space honeycombed with vast tanks which will hold millions of gallons of water4 ,all of the water for the ,holy ,city comes down in rain1 and the trees and gardens of the town can be numbered on your fingers4 ,the surrounding hills are almost as barren as some of the rocky slopes of ,new ,england1 and the only foliage visible is the dark silvery green of the orchards on the ,mount of ,olives and along the hills between ,jaffa and ,bethlehem4 ,the only grass to be seen is an acre or so of common inside the walls of the temple plateau1 and here and there a house top1 which by age has gathered a coating of dirt from the dust of the city1 and on which the green grass has sprouted4 ,occasionally ,i see ruined arches1 too dangerous to be inhabited by the bees of this human hive1 on which grow moss and grass4 ,there is one green bushy tree at the base of ,mount ,calvary1 and a solitary palm beside the business street named after ,king ,david looks out over the city4 ,jerusalem is not an attractive looking town1 and the glare from its cream-white buildings lying under the rays of this tropical sun makes my eyes sore4 ,jerusalem is the ,mecca of millions of souls4 ,it is to hundreds of millions the holiest spot on the face of the earth4 ,everywhere buildings have gone up both to accommodate pilgrims and to mark the most sacred places4 ,on the very top of the ,mount of ,olives a great ,russian church lifts its swelling domes toward heaven4 ,in the ,garden of ,gethsemane1 where ,christ spent that night of 8agony and bloody sweat0 before ,his crucifixion1 there is a resting place for pilgrims4 ,the ,roman ,catholics have fifteen hundred brothers and sisters in their monasteries and convents1 while the old ,armenian church can accommodate a hundred and eighty monks and two thousand pilgrims4 ,there are ,greek ,christians here by the thousands and ,egyptian ,copts by the hundreds4 ,there are ,abyssinian priests with faces as black as your hat4 ,indeed1 among the worshippers who gather around the ,holy ,sepulchre you may see every costume and hear every language4 ,furthermore1 the ,jews are fast coming back into ,palestine1 and ,jerusalem is again becoming a city of the ,children of ,israel4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,holy ,,land ,,and ,,syria ,but let us come down from our housetop and take a walk through the crowd4 ,we are at the ,jaffa ,gate1 which leads to the railroad station a half mile from the walls4 ,it is also at the end of the roads to ,bethlehem1 ,hebron1 and ,jaffa1 and is the main business gate of the city4 ,it is always thronged1 and the people who go in and out come from all parts of the world4 ,they are of all colours--blacks1 browns1 yellows1 and whites--and number a dozen different nationalities from the near-by parts of ,asia1 ,europe1 and ,africa4 ,here comes a donkey led by a fat1 bare-footed ,turk in a yellow gown and red turban4 ,his beast is loaded with wood which he is bringing into the city for sale4 ,the wood is the roots of olive trees and his donkey load is worth twenty-five cents4 ,he is stopped by the customs officer at the gate and pays a tax of three cents4 ,behind him comes a porter with a bag half as big as a hogshead fastened to the small of his back4 ,inside the bag is a basket filled with the flat cakes which form the bread of the city4 ,now turn to the right and look at that ,syrian ,bedouin riding a gray ,arabian pony4 ,there is a gun on his back and he wears a black-and-white woollen blanket4 ,his head is covered with a great yellow handkerchief bound about the crown with two strands of hair cord the size of your finger4 ,sitting as straight as a ramrod1 he looks with fierce black eyes at the crowd about him4 ,behind him come three camels laden with the oranges of ,jaffa4 ,each beast has a cartload of the great yellow balls in the two crates which hang over his back1 and he grumbles and whines as his barefooted driver drags him along by a string tied to his nose4 ,as we look we see the figures of the ,old and ,new ,testaments crowding around us4 ,there are peasants who might have been among the disciples1 and gray-bearded men who would pass for ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob4 ,we see boys with coats of many colours1 which remind us of ,joseph1 and shepherds driving sheep into market who probably came from the very plains near ,bethlehem where similar shepherds were watching their flocks when the heavenly host appeared4 ,let us take a seat with those ,syrians on the porch of the coffee house outside the gate and make further sketches of those who go in4 ,here come two figures dressed all in white4 ,they look like walking bed ticks bound around at the middle1 or1 better1 like the ghosts of a sheet and pillow case party4 ,they are ,mohammedan women1 and it is against their ironclad custom for them to go out unveiled4 ,they have wrapped their bodies in sheets the folds of which they hold close together over their faces1 leaving only a crack by which they may see to pick their way through the crowd4 ,behind them is a girl with bare face4 ,she wears a round cap which extends a foot above her rosy brown forehead1 and she has a headdress of white cotton4 ,her gown is a gray chemise which falls almost to her feet1 and which has a wide hem of red and blue silk embroidery4 ,she is a ,bethlehem maiden wearing the shawl made with her own hands for her wedding4 ,such shawls are much prized by tourists1 and the best of them bring twenty-five dollars apiece in the stores4 ,but here are some women in long coats and high boots4 ,they have calico gowns under their coats which reach half way down the calf4 ,their heads are covered with handkerchiefs1 and their faces are bronzed by the sun4 ,each has a staff in her hand and a bag on her back1 and is marching along at the rate of four miles an hour4 ,they are dusty and dirty1 and look weary and worn4 ,those are peasant women1 pilgrims from ,russia1 who are making their way from shrine to shrine4 ,they have tramped this morning out to ,bethlehem1 and to-morrow will probably be on their way to the ,jordan4 ,but let us leave here and take a walk about the walls of the ,holy ,city4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,around ,,the ,,walls ,,of ,,the ,,holy ,,city ,i have tramped about the walls of ,jerusalem on foot and have ridden round them upon donkeys4 ,let us make the trip on foot4 ,some of the walls which still stand were laid up by ,solomon1 others were erected by ,herod the ,great1 who built ,david's ,tower1 and others by ,agrippa only a few years after ,christ's death4 ,we walk across the road leading to ,bethlehem1 down which the ,wise ,men of the ,east rode on their way to the birthplace of the ,saviour1 and picking our steps through a caravan of camels lying there1 climb up the slope of ,mount ,zion4 ,there is a moat at the foot of the tower which is one hundred feet wide and thirty feet deep1 and the wall rises perhaps one hundred feet above this4 ,there are olive trees between the road and the walls1 and as we go we see ragged donkeys feeding among them4 ,now we have passed the moat and come close to the wall4 ,though its lower portions are about two thousand years old1 the stones are as firm as when they were laid4 ,going onward1 we pass tower after tower running fifteen or twenty feet out from the wall and rising five or six feet above it4 ,these towers were used for the archers and watchmen stationed there on the lookout for the enemy4 ,a little beyond ,david's ,tower1 almost against the walls1 is the great church built by the ,germans4 ,its site commands a view over the whole of ,jerusalem and was sold to the ,kaiser of ,germany by the ,sultan of ,turkey4 ,a part of the churchyard is the ,american cemetery1 which was sold by our consul4 ,its sale caused great excitement among the ,americans at ,jerusalem1 and the ,american colony here protested against the removal of their dead1 which they said was done after dark4 ,the bodies were taken up and carried to the ,english cemetery4 ,continuing our walk we hug the wall looking down into the ,valley of ,hinnom until we come to ,zion ,gate1 and a little farther on to the ,dung ,gate4 ,below this in the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat lies the ,pool of ,siloam4 ,at the ,zion ,gate a group of lepers are begging4 ,they are ragged and filthy and hold out the stumps of their hands asking for alms4 ,on the inside of this gate stood the house of ,caiaphas1 where ,peter three times denied that he was one of the disciples of ,christ1 before the cock crowed4 ,as we go on we see chickens scratching in the earth outside the wall1 and as we look at the gardens on the slopes of ,kedron or ,jehoshaphat observe that the land is still rich4 ,there are cows away down in the valley and the bees are buzzing on the cacti and wild flowers on the slopes4 ,in some favoured spots the ,holy ,land is still one of milk and honey4 ,the villages near ,jerusalem have dairies which supply excellent butter1 and the honey1 which is largely made of orange blossoms1 is delicious4 ,it is served every day at all the hotels1 usually in the liquid form rather than in the comb4 ,illustration3 ,the houses of ,jerusalem are of limestone with flat roofs constructed to catch the rain water4 ,the better houses have little domes on them ,illustration3 ,the ,mount of ,olives is climbed by walled and winding roads and marked with many churches and chapels4 ,here ,jesus often walked with ,his disciples1 and here ,he brooded over the city that rejected ,him ,illustration3 ,the ,holy ,city is a beautifully framed picture when viewed from a bell tower on the ,mount of ,olives4 ,across the foreground stretches the wall of the inclosure of the ,mosque of ,omar ,the slopes of the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat are now spotted with red4 ,thousands of poppies and anemones grow upon the ridges between the gardens1 and the peasants are working the crops4 ,they use plenty of fertilizer and1 strange to say1 most of that which comes from the city is taken out through the ,dung ,gate4 ,it may be from this that it got its name4 ,it is a great square hole in the wall just large enough for men and beasts to pass in and out4 ,it is not far from the temple platform and within a stone's throw of the ,jews' wailing place4 ,the southeastern corner of the walls of ,jerusalem1 and1 indeed1 a large portion of the eastern walls1 are a part of the plateau upon which ,solomon's ,temple once stood4 ,in almost the middle of the eastern side of the temple is what is known as the ,golden ,gate1 through which ,christ is said to have made his entry into ,jerusalem on ,palm ,sunday4 ,it has been walled up and the ,mohammedans say that it will not be opened until the ,judgment ,day4 ,a little farther on1 at the corner of the temple1 is ,st4 ,stephen's ,gate1 which some say was the place where ,st4 ,stephen was stoned4 ,another legend is that the place of the stoning was near the ,grotto of ,jeremiah1 in ,solomon's quarries1 farther along around the walls4 ,the tradition is that ,stephen was here brought to the brow of the hill and thrown over a precipice4 ,his hands were tied1 and after he had fallen heavy blocks of stone were rolled down upon him from the brow of the hill4 ,the walls near the ,temple are among the first that were built4 ,they are in fine condition to-day1 parts of them having been recently repaired4 ,the stones are of bright yellow limestone laid in white mortar4 ,those at the bottom1 which were laid up by ,solomon1 are of enormous size1 one being about fifty feet long and about fifteen feet high and evidently cut from the bed rock upon which the wall stands4 ,right at the ,temple the walls rise almost precipitously from the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat1 and ,i judge they are one hundred feet high4 ,they are in excellent condition throughout4 ,the towers are almost perfect1 and1 although the vegetation is growing in the cracks1 most of the masonry looks comparatively new4 ,a curious feature of the walls of ,jerusalem is a stone block as big around as a flour barrel which juts out from that part above which stands the ,mosque of ,omar to a distance of perhaps fifteen feet4 ,this block or pillar hangs right over the rocky ,valley of ,jehoshaphat4 ,according to the belief of the ,moslems1 ,mohammed will sit astride this pillar at the ,day of ,judgment1 and ,christ will have ,his seat on the ,mount of ,olives on the opposite side of the valley4 ,there will be a fine wire stretched from the pillar across to the mountain1 and upon this wire all mankind must walk on its way to eternity4 ,as the people of the various religions go those who believe in ,mohammedanism will be upheld by the angels and will reach safely the opposite side1 whence they will ascend into ,heaven4 ,the others will drop down into the valley and perish4 ,there are cemeteries for both the ,jews and the ,mohammedans outside the walls and not far from the ,mosque4 ,the ,mohammedan cemetery1 which lies close to the walls1 is just opposite the ,garden of ,gethsemane and includes the ,place of the ,skull where ,general ,gordon located the site of ,calvary4 ,this site is now surrounded by a wall and fence1 and ,christians are not permitted to enter it4 ,within it is the grotto where ,jeremiah is said to have written his ,lamentations1 and not far away1 near the ,damascus ,gate1 are ,solomon's quarries4 ,our walk has brought us back once more to the ,jaffa ,gate1 where we join a pilgrim-throng entering the ,holy ,city4 ,,chapter ,,viii 8,,the ,,tribes ,,of ,,god ,,go ,,thither0 ,jerusalem a city is ,compactly built together2 ,unto this place the tribes go up ,the tribes of ,god go thither4 ,the ,holy ,land is hallowed ground for three great religions of the world4 ,jews1 ,moslems1 ,christians--all of them worshippers of only one god--do reverence at its shrines4 ,jerusalem is the pilgrimage city of the world4 ,sacred to the ,christians1 the centre of ,jewish religious devotion and national dreams1 it is also a second ,mecca to the ,mohammedans4 ,the ,moslems locate the judgment seat upon the walls surrounding the ,mosque of ,omar1 which stands on the site of ,solomon's great temple4 ,they make their pilgrimages from all parts of the ,mohammedan world to worship at this mosque1 and prostrate themselves before the sacred rock within it as they do before the holy black stone of ,mecca4 ,the prophet ,mohammed himself said that ,jerusalem was the holiest place in the world1 and that one prayer here was worth a thousand elsewhere4 ,illustration3 ,outside of the walls of ,jerusalem one often sees flocks of sheep being driven in to market4 ,nearly every flock has its goats1 which are usually black4 ,palestinian shepherds go before their sheep1 inducing them to follow by calling to them ,illustration3 ,lepers beg at the gates of ,jerusalem1 under the walls of great stone blocks finely joined together ,illustration3 ,down the hill from under the walls of ,jerusalem goes the road to ,jaffa and the sea3 to the right is the way to ,bethlehem ,the ,christians of the ,eastern churches are brought up in much the same faith4 ,they believe that the prayers said within the walls of the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre at the foot of ,mount ,calvary have a wonderful efficacy1 and they gather in ,jerusalem every ,easter by the tens of thousands4 ,from the wilds of ,abyssinia1 from the flat plains of ,egypt1 from the mountain fastnesses of ,greece1 and from all over ,russia1 even to the borders of ,siberia1 they come to drop their tears upon the tomb1 and to live over the terrible events of ,passion ,week4 ,they come from all parts of ,asia ,minor1 and the ,syrians and the ,armenians jostle the ,copts and the ,arabians on their way to prayers4 ,in recent years ,latin pilgrimages from western ,europe and ,america have been increasing4 ,bands of ,christians come from ,italy1 ,france1 ,spain1 and the ,united ,states4 ,i was in ,jerusalem when the first pilgrimage was made by a body of ,christians from ,america to the ,holy ,city4 ,more than one hundred men and women from all sections of the ,united ,states1 under the leadership of the ,bishop of ,tennessee1 took part in the ,latin celebrations in the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,many of these pilgrims are extremely superstitious4 ,most of them believe that every spot pointed out by the monks is the actual locality of the event alleged to have occurred there4 ,they walk over the ,holy ,land with staffs in their hands1 and kneel down and kiss the places where they believe ,jesus trod4 ,they even kiss the stones of the streets of ,jerusalem1 forgetting or not knowing that there have been three or four ,jerusalems buried below the site of the present one4 ,i have seen pilgrims crawling on their knees through the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,creeping into the vestibule1 they kiss the ,stone of ,unction upon which it is claimed the body of ,christ was anointed for burial4 ,near the ,stone of ,unction is the spot on which it is said the ,virgin ,mary stood while ,christ was on the cross4 ,it also is worn away by kissing4 ,going on into the great rotunda and turning to the right we reach a church belonging to the ,greeks at the front of which stands a column as high as a chair and about as big around as a four-gallon crock4 ,this is the centre of the world1 and is honoured as such4 ,i saw ,russian peasant girls kissing it1 and farther on observed them kissing holy place after holy place until it seemed to me that their lips must wear out4 ,kisses are pressed upon these spots by thousands of mouths every day1 and if every lip leaves its microbes all the diseases of the world must be in the bacteria here4 ,it is hard to estimate the value of the offerings the pilgrims lay on these shrines4 ,those who come are of all classes1 and some bring the savings of years4 ,the poor lay their pennies in the hands of the priests and drop them in the slot boxes which may be seen at almost every corner4 ,there is much gold1 and there are treasures in precious stones4 ,a life-sized image of the ,virgin ,mary which ,i saw in the ,greek church was covered with diamonds4 ,the image was made of wax1 and was dressed in satins and silks4 ,its face was painted4 ,an oval pearl as big as the end of my thumb hung on the forehead1 while on the waxen fingers were a score or more rings4 ,some of the rings were set with diamonds1 some with sapphires and rubies1 and others with opals4 ,opals in ,palestine are looked upon as the sign of good luck and not bad1 as with us4 ,most of the rings were costly and each was presented to the ,virgin as a love offering4 ,on the silken lap of the image lay a great golden heart as thick as my fist and about six inches in width4 ,it was studded with emeralds and diamonds4 ,the heart was a present from ,franz ,josef1 ,emperor of ,austria1 who made many costly gifts to the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,in the grotto of the ,church of the ,nativity at ,bethlehem is a similar statue1 even more gorgeously decorated1 although some of the jewels are said to be paste4 ,the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre is a hotbed of superstition4 ,it is supposed to stand on the spot where ,christ was crucified4 ,the ,bible tells us that this was outside ,jerusalem1 but the ,church of the ,sepulchre is to-day far within the walls4 ,this1 however1 is not a proof that the location is incorrect1 for the walls of ,jerusalem have been thrown down and rebuilt again and again1 especially those on ,mount ,zion where the great church stands4 ,the hill where ,christ was crucified was made up of terraces of rock1 and that is the nature of the foundation of this church4 ,the place was located by ,st4 ,helena1 the mother of ,constantine the ,great1 who came here about three hundred years after ,christ died1 and found what was said to be the true cross among the rubbish on the side of the hill4 ,she had the cross dug out and carried to ,constantinople1 whence later on some pieces of it were sent to ,rome4 ,one section as long as your arm is said to be in ,jerusalem1 and there are so many other pieces scattered over the world that ,i venture you could build a house with them4 ,shortly after this discovery1 a church was erected on the spot1 and since then others have been built1 destroyed1 and rebuilt1 until we now have this great edifice which covers1 ,i should say1 an area of several acres4 ,it is surmounted by a cross rising from a dome as big as that of our ,national ,capitol4 ,the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre is not beautiful and its position in the heart of ,jerusalem1 surrounded by bazaars1 convents1 monasteries1 and hotels1 is by no means imposing4 ,the front of it is covered with carvings1 some of which are from ancient temples1 and over the doors are bas-reliefs of scenes from the ,bible4 ,one of these represents the raising of ,lazarus1 with the ,saviour standing at the front and ,mary at ,his feet4 ,at the command of ,christ1 ,lazarus is seen rising from the dead1 while in the background are spectators1 some of whom are holding their noses as an evidence1 perhaps1 of the corruption which had begun to take place before ,lazarus was brought to life4 ,under the dome of the church lies the tomb of the ,saviour4 ,it is enclosed in a chapel of an ivory-white marble1 which stands in the centre of the rotunda4 ,this chapel is perhaps twenty feet high1 twenty-six feet long1 and seventeen feet wide4 ,entering through a door so low that you have to stoop to go in1 you finally come into a chamber six feet square and lighted only by candles4 ,this is the alleged tomb of the ,saviour4 ,over it is a marble slab covered with glass to keep the kisses of the pilgrims from wearing the stone4 ,there are always priests here1 and all who come in are sprinkled with holy water4 ,every worshipper brings with him rosaries1 beads1 and holy pictures which are laid upon the tomb to be blessed4 ,i saw one old woman totter in with a half bushel bag full of rosaries on her back2 a frowsy-bearded man came with her1 bearing all he could carry4 ,spreading these out on the slab1 they knelt1 while the priest sprinkled the beads and gave them his blessing4 ,before leaving they dropped some coins into his hand4 ,they were ,russians and will probably carry these rosaries back home to their friends4 ,illustration3 ,the modern ,american oil can competes with the ancient water bottle4 ,the small boy scorns1 like his father1 to be seen carrying a little water at a time1 though he may proudly stagger along with a heavy skin holding several gallons 8,,going ,,up ,,to ,,jerusalem0 ,illustration3 ,these ,russian pilgrims carry their food and cooking utensils with them4 ,undismayed by poverty and difficulties they press on upheld by their unquestioning faith ,illustration3 ,a donkey ambulance is provided in case a pilgrim falls ill on the march ,for years more ,russians have made the pilgrimage to the ,holy ,land than almost any other people on the globe4 ,fifty or sixty thousand of them come here every season4 ,they are brought in by the shipload at ,easter time and during the whole spring bodies of pilgrims can be seen going on foot from shrine to shrine throughout ,palestine4 ,many of the pilgrims land at ,haifa1 the most northern port of the country4 ,from there they walk over the mountains of ,galilee1 stopping at ,nazareth and then going on to ,tiberius4 ,they stop and pray at every holy spot and often kiss the ground where they think ,jesus or the saints have trod4 ,from the ,sea of ,galilee they make their way back to ,nazareth1 and thence go across the plain of ,esdraelon and through ,samaria to ,jerusalem4 ,i have seen thousands of them at ,bethlehem and have met them tramping the weary road to the ,dead ,sea and the ,jordan4 ,these ,russians belong to the ,greek ,church1 which owns most of the monasteries and convents of this country1 and which has1 all told1 property amounting to millions1 including some of the best real estate in ,jerusalem4 ,it has a great hospice outside the walls of ,jerusalem as well as a magnificent church on top of the ,mount of ,olives4 ,it has other similar institutions elsewhere1 and is a great factor in the religious life of the ,holy ,land4 ,the ,russians have here what is perhaps the largest hotel of the world4 ,ten thousand people can sleep there in a single night1 and it has1 besides1 separate buildings for families4 ,it is known as the ,russian ,hospice and lies at the west outside the city wall4 ,it covers a space of ten acres or more and has a high wall about it4 ,entering the gates of this hospice1 one finds himself surrounded by ,russians and ,russian scenes4 ,it is a slice of the land of the ,white ,bear dropped down in ,judea4 ,there is nothing ,syrian in sight4 ,the men dress in caps1 long coats1 and trousers tucked into high boots4 ,they are long-bearded1 long-haired1 and fair-faced4 ,there are many red heads among them and none seems to know of the razor4 ,the women are clad in coarse gowns ending at six inches or more from the ankle4 ,most of them wear boots1 but some wear straw shoes1 and wrap cloths around their legs in place of stockings4 ,they have handkerchiefs tied about their heads1 and their features are usually as hard and rough as those of the men4 ,but suppose we go into the women's quarters of this mighty hotel4 ,the building is cut up into stalls which run from one side of it to the other4 ,these tunnel-like rooms are lighted at the end1 and standing in a central hall it seems as though the windows were at least two hundred feet distant4 ,each vault1 which is eight feet wide and fifteen feet high1 is filled from end to end with rough bunks of pine boards4 ,upon the boards is straw matting1 and a space six feet square forms the bed and home of each woman4 ,at the back of this she piles up the bread1 tea1 and other belongings she has brought with her from ,russia4 ,she sleeps stretched out on the board in the clothing she wears in the daytime4 ,the quarters devoted to the men are of similar nature while those for the families differ only in that the spaces are larger4 ,these pilgrims bring their bread and tea with them from ,russia4 ,in addition to this they have a few vegetables which they buy of the natives4 ,they cook with oil stoves4 ,when on the march each carries some bread along with her and a pan out of which to drink and in which to make tea4 ,in some parts of the inclosure we can see families at their meals4 ,the men1 women1 and children sit on the ground around a pot of soup4 ,each has his own piece of bread and a spoon4 ,they wash their own clothes1 using dishpans as tubs4 ,the pans are as big as a bicycle wheel and four inches deep4 ,the washing is done with cold water1 which is free in the hospice1 but which outside would cost two cents a gallon4 ,these ,russian pilgrims are very religious4 ,they are mostly poor1 and many have been saving a lifetime in order that they might make this tour to the ,holy ,land4 ,they undergo all sorts of hardships and spend their time in fasting and prayer4 ,they have a church inside the hospice where services are held twice a day4 ,i have attended the church several times4 ,it is always full of people standing or kneeling4 ,they cross themselves again and again as the service goes on1 and now and then get down and bow their heads to the floor4 ,there are similar services in the other ,greek churches4 ,i attended one on the ,mount of ,olives where the reading of the ,scriptures and the singing were done by ,russian nuns dressed in black with stove-pipe hats without brims crowning their heads4 ,the hats ended in a cape or veil which fell down the back4 ,the faces of the nuns were uncovered and spiritual looking4 ,their singing was exceedingly sweet1 and the service was impressive4 ,the pilgrims who listened knelt and now and then kissed the bare floor4 ,at ,easter time the water of the ,river ,jordan is blessed by the high priest of the ,church1 and there are many priests to baptize the ,faithful in the sacred river4 ,the women and men dress in white garments and go into the water together4 ,they change their clothes on the shore4 ,the garments they wear in the water are usually shrouds1 which they have brought from home with them for this purpose1 and which they intend to take back to be used at their burials4 ,the scenes of these baptisms make one think of a picnic4 ,the men1 women1 and children rush about1 some laughing and screaming1 and others quietly talking4 ,the priests dip each three times in the ,jordan1 giving their blessing as they do so4 ,after baptism some soak other shrouds in the river to consecrate them that they may carry them home to their friends4 ,they also drink of the dirty water and bottle it up to take home4 ,some of the pilgrims are old and have to be lifted in and out of the river4 ,the current is swift1 and frequently men are drowned4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,on ,,the ,,site ,,of ,,solomon',s ,,temple ,i want to take you this morning to the summit of ,mount ,moriah and show you the site of ,solomon's ,temple4 ,it is on the same spot where ,abraham1 at the command of the ,lord1 was about to sacrifice his only son1 ,isaac1 when he was told to desist and shown the ram with its horns caught in the thicket behind him4 ,it is the place where the wisdom of the boy ,christ astonished the wise men2 where ,david1 ,solomon1 and ,elijah used to pray1 and where1 according to the ,mohammedans1 the blast of the trumpet will sound forth at the ,day of ,judgment4 ,the spot is sacred to both ,christians and ,moslems4 ,indeed1 it may be called the holiest on the face of the globe4 ,the geologists say that ,mount ,moriah is one of the two oldest parts of the world1 the other being ,mount ,sinai1 upon which ,moses received the ,ten ,commandments4 ,they prove this by the rocks1 saying that when the world was thrown off by the sun and floated about in its nebulous state through the air the parts which first solidified were the summit of ,sinai and the rock which now stands inside the mosque on the top of ,moriah4 ,there is also a ,jewish tradition that as the ,lord saw the solid earth rising out of chaos ,he blessed these two spots and said3 8,they shall be great in the history of the human race1 which ,i shall create1 and upon one of them shall my holy city be built40 ,mount ,moriah is on the eastern edge of ,jerusalem proper4 ,it is just opposite the ,mount of ,olives and above the ,garden of ,gethsemane across the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat4 ,its top is a plateau containing thirty-five acres1 or about one seventh of the whole of ,jerusalem1 inside the walls4 ,the walls partially bound this plateau1 and in them at the northeast corner of the city is the gate through which ,st4 ,stephen is said to have passed when he was stoned to death by the ,jews4 ,across from the plateau and far down below it is the ,jews' wailing place4 ,hugging it on the west1 south1 and north are the box-shaped limestone houses which form the greater part of ,jerusalem4 ,in going to it we leave our hotel on ,mount ,zion and make our way down ,david ,street through a horde of pilgrims of all colours and races4 ,we pass the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 go through a bazaar where men and women1 sitting on the ground1 are selling glass bracelets and beads from ,hebron1 past shops selling candles to be burnt at the tomb of our ,saviour1 and on through a vaulted tunnel-like street which was once the cotton bazaar1 but which now sells everything else4 ,ascending a stairway at the end of this tunnel1 we find ourselves on the plateau now occupied by the ,mosque of ,omar1 but formerly the site of the ,temple of ,solomon4 ,this plateau rises in terraces4 ,we come first on to the level1 which was known as the ,court of the ,gentiles1 and was open to ,jew and ,gentile alike4 ,from this we go up to the ,court of the ,israelites and then to the ,court of the ,priests1 which is now under the great ,mosque of ,omar4 ,in the latter court stood the open-air altar for burnt offerings1 the very rock upon which ,abraham tied ,isaac when he was about to sacrifice him in obedience to the ,lord's command4 ,the great flat rock on the summit of ,mount ,moriah over which the dome of the ,mosque of ,omar now rises was the ancient threshing-floor of ,ornan the ,jebusite4 ,in many parts of ,palestine to-day a flat rock or a hard piece of ground is selected as a threshing-floor upon which the ripe grain is laid down to be trodden out by cattle or mules4 ,david purchased this particular floor from ,ornan as an offering to the ,lord so that the people might be freed from a terrible pestilence then raging in ,jerusalem4 ,the ,bible account continues3 8,then ,david said1 ,this is the house of the ,lord ,god and this is the altar of the burnt offering for ,israel40 ,and right away he began preparations for the temple which was actually built on this spot by his son ,solomon4 ,the ,moslems have their own tradition regarding this rock4 ,since ancient times it has been the custom in the ,holy ,land to bring the harvested grain to the community threshing-floor1 which is soon walled with toppling piles of sheaves1 each pile belonging to a different farmer4 ,the owners of the wheat sleep on the threshing-floor at night so as to keep watch over their property4 ,according to the ,mohammedan story1 two brothers1 one married1 the other a bachelor1 lay down to sleep beside their respective piles4 ,the married brother1 waking in the night1 began to think how much grain he had and then of his brother's lot compared with his own4 8,poor fellow10 said the married man1 8he has no wife and children to comfort him and make his life happy4 ,to even things up a little ,i will slip over and add some of my sheaves to his and he will never know ,i have given them to him40 ,this he did1 and then fell fast asleep again4 ,a little later the bachelor brother woke and thought of his great stacks of grain and how he1 being unmarried1 needed so much less than his brother4 8,poor fellow10 thought he1 8,i who am free have much more than ,i need1 ,i will give him some of my grain while he sleeps1 for he would never take it from me if he knew ,i was giving it40 ,so he transferred a generous portion of wheat from his heap to his brother's4 ,in the morning both were astonished to find their piles exactly the same size as they had been the night before4 ,then a prophet appeared to them and told them what had passed in the night4 ,he said that ,god1 who had seen and approved the evidences of their brotherly kindness1 had decided to make this threshing-floor the place of prayer for the whole world4 ,illustration3 ,priests of the ,greek ,church bless the waters of the ,jordan at ,easter1 when hundreds of pilgrims bathe in the river1 many of them clad in their burial shrouds4 ,across the ,jordan ,joshua led his hosts dry-shod to the assault on ,jericho ,illustration3 ,sturdy character shows in the faces of these ,russian women1 who patiently trudge from shrine to shrine4 ,the ,russians are perhaps the most devout of all the thousands of pilgrims who come to the ,land of ,christ ,directly under the plateau on which ,solomon's ,temple stood is a great catacomb1 which once formed a part of one of the ,jerusalems of the past4 ,let us first visit these underground caves before going into the mosque4 ,descending the steps1 we come into a wilderness of vaults with roofs upheld by pillars and arches of stone4 ,some of the stone blocks are of enormous size4 ,i have measured one which is eight feet wide and fifteen feet high4 ,these stones are beautifully laid4 ,they are closely joined and show mechanical ingenuity in their construction4 ,the pillars are about four feet square1 and some of them have holes bored through the corners4 ,it is claimed that the vaults were constructed by ,solomon for his stables1 and that the holes in the columns were the tying places for the horses4 ,in some of them are stone mangers1 which the guides say were used long ago4 ,others claim that this stable story is a fiction1 and that the excavations were made in erecting the ,temple and the great columns put up to sustain its platform4 ,however that may be1 the architecture is wonderful for that time1 or1 indeed1 for our own4 ,there are altogether a hundred or more vaults1 and the mighty stones which wall them are so heavy that it would be impossible to handle them nowadays without the use of machinery4 ,since the site of ,solomon's ,temple is now a ,mohammedan shrine1 and under their control1 ,christians cannot visit this place unless they first obtain an official permit4 ,this ,i obtained through our ,american consul1 who not only arranged for a soldier to escort us1 but sent along his chief kavass1 so that we have two guards with us as we walk about4 ,the kavass is a sort of majordomo of the consul4 ,he has two of them1 tall1 straight ,syrians attired more gorgeously than ,solomon in all his glory4 ,they wear vests covered with bands of gold embroidery1 with long1 flowing sleeves like those of the ladies of the ,middle ,ages4 ,they wear big1 baggy trousers1 each pair of which would make two full suits for a fat man4 ,they have enormous scimitar-like swords at their sides and carry ebony staffs as thick as the handle of a baseball bat topped with great knobs of silver as big as your fist4 ,the ,united ,states ,government furnishes the outfits1 except for the swords4 ,formerly1 whenever our consul came out of the cavernous region of his hotel or walked down the narrow stone stairs of his office1 these two gaudy officials preceded him1 making the pavements ring with their staffs as they cleared his path4 ,when he stepped across the way to church1 though the streets were deserted and a baby might go about without danger1 a kavass always went with him and waited outside the building until ,his ,excellency was ready to return4 ,such extreme pomp as this has1 however1 begun to go out of style1 though the consul still has his strikingly garbed kavasses to lend the dignity expected of ,uncle ,sam's representatives4 ,the ,mosque of ,omar was supposed by the ,crusaders to be ,solomon's ,temple4 ,this is not so1 of course1 as the original building was destroyed long before their time4 ,it is now believed to have been built by a ,moslem governor in the seventh century4 ,but before that1 and soon after ,jerusalem was destroyed in the first century after ,christ1 the ,roman ,emperor ,hadrian is known to have built on this site a temple to ,jupiter4 ,it is believed that some of the pillars in the present mosque came from a church erected on ,mount ,zion by the ,christian ,emperor ,justinian4 ,the mosque is one of the finest specimens of ,byzantine architecture4 ,imagine a mighty dome of greenish copper on the top of which is a golden crescent4 ,let this be as large as or larger than that of the ,capitol at ,washington1 and let it rest upon a vast octagonal temple walled with tiles so fine that any one of them would be prized as a piece of rare china4 ,let there be a dado of marble below the tiles and a wide frieze above them inlaid with texts from the ,koran in ,arabic characters1 and let the whole be entered by mighty doors over which are beautifully carved arches1 and you have a faint idea of the ,dome of the ,rock1 another name by which this mosque is known4 ,here may be seen striking evidences of the belief of the ,mohammedans as to ,christ and the prophets4 ,they believe in ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob1 and class ,jesus as one of the prophets1 although not so high as ,mohammed4 ,among the verses of the ,koran on the front of the mosque is one reading3 ,the ,messiah1 ,jesus1 is only the son of ,mary1 the ,ambassador of ,god1 and ,his word which ,he deposited in ,mary4 ,believe1 then1 in ,god and ,his ,ambassador1 and do not maintain that in one there are three4 ,another reads3 ,blessings be on me in the day of my birth and my death4 ,he is ,jesus1 the ,son of ,mary1 the word of truth1 concerning whom some are in doubt4 ,there are other passages of the ,koran which tell the stories of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob1 and the ,mohammedans reverence this spot in connection with them4 ,let us take off our shoes and go in4 ,the floor of the mosque is holy ground1 so none is permitted to enter except in his stockings or bare feet4 ,the inside is even more beautiful than the outside4 ,the walls and roofs are a mass of carvings and mosaics4 ,the mosaic is made up of bits of gold and glass1 the latter of many colours1 all so delicately put together that they form beautiful pictures4 ,each bit is only as big as the head of a nail1 or smaller1 and thousands of them are required to make a single picture4 ,the columns upholding the roof are of marble1 and the floor is of marble carpeted with old rugs from ,turkey and ,persia4 ,right in the centre of the mosque is the huge rock upon which ,abraham built his altar for ,isaac1 and upon which ,ornan's cattle threshed his grain1 and where1 the ,mohammedans say1 the ,angel ,gabriel will stand when he blows the last trump calling the people to judgment4 ,at that time1 according to ,moslem belief1 the souls of the human race will rush to this spot and present themselves before ,mohammed and ,christ1 who will pass on their virtues and sins4 ,after that all must go to the ,pillar of ,judgment and cross on the wire rope to the ,mount of ,olives4 ,according to another ,mohammedan story1 the ,moslems will be turned into fleas1 and ,mohammed himself into a sheep1 in which form he will ascend to heaven with the faithful fleas in his wool4 ,the rock is esteemed sacred by every ,mohammedan4 ,it is surrounded by an iron stockade which none is allowed to enter4 ,it is about forty feet long and sixty feet wide1 and rises some six feet out of the floor4 ,it fills the whole inclosure and comes so close to the fence that one can touch it1 or1 if he is devout1 as are most of the worshippers we see in the mosque1 he can put his mouth through the bars and impress a kiss upon it4 ,as we walk about the fence examining the rock our turbaned guide shows us its wonders4 8,here10 says he1 pointing to a round hole in one of the sides1 8is the mark of ,mohammed's heel4 ,it was from that spot that the holy ,prophet ascended to heaven1 and as he rose the rock started to go up with him holding fast to his heel4 ,the ,angel ,gabriel had to put his hand upon it to keep it down1 and here10 pointing to five curious marks1 8are the places where ,gabriel's fingers rested when he did so40 ,illustration3 ,moslem pilgrims pray at the ,mosque of ,omar1 which occupies the site of ,solomon's ,temple4 ,it is said that no faithful ,jew will enter its inclosure1 for fear of treading on the spot where once was the ,holy of ,holies ,illustration3 ,every ,friday devout ,jews weep under the walls of the ,mosque of ,omar1 mourning the loss of their temple4 ,they repeat for hours their litany3 8,for the temple that is desolate4444 ,we sit in solitude and mourn0 ,a little farther on the guide tells us that this rock is the centre of the earth1 and that some believe it to be the gate of hell4 ,he shows us a plate of jasper as big as a checker board1 in which are three golden nails1 saying that the plate originally contained nineteen nails which ,mohammed had driven into it4 ,one nail drops out at the end of each age of the ,moslem cycle1 and when the last nail is gone the end of the world will occur4 ,the guide offers to let me pull out the last three nails for a dollar apiece1 but ,i have no desire to hasten the ,judgment ,day1 and therefore refuse4 ,in that way ,i save the world4 8,the devil got at this plate one day10 so our consular kavass tells me1 8and was jerking out the nails at a great rate when the ,angel ,gabriel caught him and pulled him away40 ,these stories are silly1 but they are only a few of many which are told us when we are inside the mosque4 ,nevertheless1 the average ,mohammedan of this side of the world believes them1 and we see bearded1 gowned1 and turbaned men and white-sheeted1 veiled women praying over these holy places4 ,they kiss the marks of ,mohammed's footprints and run their handkerchiefs and beads over the rock4 ,they pray as they do so1 for the ,prophet said that one prayer here is worth a thousand uttered anywhere else1 and he prayed here himself4 ,the greatest interest of ,mount ,moriah1 however1 arises from the fact that we know this was the actual site of ,solomon's ,temple as well as that of the two other ,jewish temples which succeeded it4 ,the first house of ,god erected by the ,israelites was the ,tabernacle4 ,this was constructed at the direction of ,moses just after he had received the ,commandments4 ,it is said to have been just about half the size of the ,temple of ,solomon1 although there are passages in the ,scriptures which lead us to think the latter must have been very much larger4 ,the ,tabernacle was a movable building4 ,it was about fifty feet long and sixteen or seventeen feet wide4 ,the roof and walls were formed of curtains made of linen or wool beautifully sewed and fastened in places with gold buckles4 ,there were also curtains of goat's hair and of ram's wool dyed red4 ,some suppose the roof of the ,tabernacle to have been flat1 and others that it was ridged like a tent1 with a cube inside about sixteen feet square1 which was the ,holy of ,holies4 ,in the latter were the ,ark of the ,covenant and the ,tables of the ,law4 ,solomon's ,temple was planned by ,david1 who collected much of the material used4 ,solomon himself made a bargain with ,hiram1 ,king of ,tyre1 to aid him in supplying the timber and certain classes of the mechanics4 ,hiram was a ,phnician king who lived up the coast and who controlled the forests of ,lebanon4 ,he gave ,solomon a concession of certain tracts of cedar and fir1 and the ,hebrew king sent men in parties of ten thousand each to go to the mountains and cut down the trees4 ,the servants of ,hiram helped them1 and they carried the lumber to the shores of the ,mediterranean and floated it down to ,jaffa1 whence it was brought up to ,jerusalem4 ,the ,bible says that ,solomon gave ,king ,hiram every year two thousand measures of wheat and twenty measures of oil as his part of the contract1 and that the two kings were associated together4 ,the first temple was begun by ,solomon more than twenty-nine hundred years ago1 and it took seven years to build it4 ,i have translated some of its dimensions into feet4 ,the cubit1 which was then the unit of measurement1 was as long as the distance from a man's elbow to the tip of his middle finger1 and varied from eighteen to twenty-one inches4 ,putting the cubit at twenty inches the ground plan of the ,temple was sixty-six feet wide and one hundred and thirty-three feet long1 and according to some statements its height was fifty feet1 although one of the roofs rose eight feet and the other sixteen above the inside walls4 ,there is another place in the ,bible in which it is stated that the height of the porch was one hundred and twenty cubits1 which would make it two hundred feet high4 ,the ,temple of ,solomon had disappeared long before ,christ was born4 ,it was destroyed by ,nebuchadnezzar1 #eif ,b4,c41 and a new building was not erected until the ,jews came back from their captivity at ,babylon4 ,this was also destroyed many years later and a third and last temple was erected by ,herod the ,great eighteen years before ,christ4 ,in that temple occurred the scenes of ,christ's ministry4 ,it was there that ,he talked with the priests as a boy of twelve1 and from there ,he drove out the money changers4 ,the ,temple of ,herod is said to have been much finer than ,solomon's4 ,it has been described by ,josephus1 who probably had a ground plan of the building before him when he wrote4 ,he says that the space it covered was about twice as large as that of the old temple4 ,it was of much the same style as the ,temple of ,solomon1 but its approaches were more imposing1 and it doubtless displayed all the architectural beauties of the time1 which was one of magnificent buildings4 ,,chapter ,x ,,jews ,,of ,,jerusalem ,the ,jews are rapidly coming into their own4 ,the ,holy ,city now contains some thirty thousand of them2 they form about half of its whole population4 ,they have acquired the right to own land in ,palestine1 and they can come and go as they please4 ,this has not always been the case4 ,jewish immigration used to be prohibited1 and such ,jews as bought real estate had to purchase and hold it under other names4 ,until the last decade of the nineteenth century the ,turkish ,government had a rule that no ,jew might come into ,palestine and stay there longer than three weeks4 ,the restrictions were given up largely through the activities of ,mr4 ,gilman1 a former ,american consul to ,jerusalem4 ,when he came to the ,holy ,city it was the policy of the representatives of the other foreign governments there to aid the ,turkish authorities in expelling immigrant ,jews4 ,shortly after his arrival he was advised by the ,sultan's officials that some ,american ,jews were overstaying their time in the ,holy ,land and was requested to direct them to leave4 ,he replied that such action was entirely contrary to the spirit of our government which is founded on religious toleration and freedom1 and after some negotiations the ,american ,jews were allowed to remain4 ,soon after this the ,british consul1 acting under instructions from the ,british minister at ,constantinople1 took the same stand1 and the other leading governments followed suit4 ,seventy-five years ago there were only thirty-two ,jewish families in all ,jerusalem and only three thousand in all ,palestine4 ,illustration3 ,christian sects may quarrel over their holy places1 ,jews may clamour for their national home in ,palestine1 while the ,arabs proclaim that the land is theirs4 ,neither politics nor religion disturbs this maid of modern ,jerusalem ,illustration3 ,snow is almost unknown in these grass-grown vaulted streets1 beneath which lie buried the ruins of the ,jerusalems of the past4 ,the streets ,christ trod are twenty to eighty feet below the city of to-day ,now there are sixty-odd thousand in the ,holy ,land and1 as ,i have said1 ,jews make up half the population of the ,holy ,city4 ,the ,jews here are now engaging in trade1 and already control a large part of the business of ,jerusalem4 ,forty different languages are spoken among the ,jews of ,palestine1 and there are many who cannot understand one another4 ,in the main there are three separate classes3 ,first is the ,ashkenazim1 made up of ,jews from ,russia1 ,poland1 ,austria1 and ,germany4 ,these people are much like the lower-class ,jews of ,america1 and their common language is ,yiddish4 ,the second class is the ,sephardim4 ,they are ,spanish ,jews1 descendants of those who came here centuries ago4 ,these ,jews speak a mixture of ,spanish and ,hebrew4 ,the third class is the ,eastern ,jews1 made up of ,israelites from ,syria1 ,persia1 ,arabia1 and ,central ,asia4 ,they speak ,arabic and look much like ,moslems4 ,the ,american ,jews are comparatively few1 and it is seldom that you meet one born in the ,united ,states4 ,those who claim to be ,american citizens are chiefly natives who have gone to the ,united ,states to get naturalization papers1 and then returned here to live4 ,many of them are frauds1 and our consul believes that some of them bought their naturalization papers without ever leaving ,palestine4 ,american citizenship is an especially valuable badge of protection in this part of the world4 ,said our consul to me3 8,our citizenship has been used to carry on frauds4 ,when ,i first came here ,i found it serving as a cloak for crime4 ,one man who claimed to be an ,american was acting as receiver of stolen cattle1 and selling them openly4 ,he carried on a big business1 and although the officials were aware of his criminal practices they could not arrest him4 ,this was so because of a difference between our government and that of ,turkey4 8,the treaties provide that the offences of ,americans against the ,turks may be punished only by the ,american consul1 and we contended that this gave us the right of trial in such cases4 ,the ,turkish ,government contended that all such offenders must be tried in the ,turkish courts1 and as neither government would give in1 it was impossible to convict and punish without bringing about international complications4 ,as soon as ,i came ,i decided to stop it and told the man ,i would arrest and convict him by means of ,american witnesses4 ,the result was that he did not wait for trial1 but skipped out of the country40 ,most of the ,jews here pride themselves on their piety4 ,they think themselves above the ,jew who has suffered long contamination by mixing with foreigners1 and some of them especially despise the ,american4 ,meeting one on the street they may slap him on the stomach and sneeringly ask how much pork he ate when he was in the ,united ,states4 ,in making this statement ,i refer to the fanatics who are composed more especially of the ,spaniards and the members of the ,ashkenazim4 ,these people have inner circles of religious aristocracy1 some of whom are supposed to have magic powers of healing4 ,among them are many men of education and culture1 men who know the ,bible from beginning to end1 and who speak several languages4 ,one can tell nothing of the culture of the ,jerusalem ,jew by his dress1 for a dirty1 ragged old man is often a great scholar4 ,the dress here is about the same among all classes of the ,israelites4 ,the boys and the men wear coats without belts which reach from the neck to the feet4 ,they are full1 and are slightly open at the front1 showing gowns under them4 ,many of the ,spanish ,jews wear black turbans or velvet caps with a wide fringe of fur outside4 ,some wear broad-brimmed felt hats which come far down over the forehead1 half hiding the ears4 ,they do not shave1 for a long beard is a sign of wisdom1 dignity1 and piety4 ,they wear the hair long1 with a curly lock on each side of the face1 in front of the ears4 ,these locks often reach down to the breast1 and are allowed to grow1 according to a saying in ,scriptures1 which reads1 8,thou must not mar the corners of thy beard40 ,many of the ,jews never cut the hair in front of the ears for fear of touching the beard1 and ,i see boys with the rest of the head shaved and these two earlocks left4 ,these ,jerusalem ,jews have fine faces4 ,many of them have high foreheads1 strong noses and mouths1 and beautiful eyes4 ,some are fair and others have olive complexions4 ,their hair is of all colours from jet black to blond and fiery red1 and there are many old men with beards of silver4 ,indeed many of the ,jews of the ,holy ,city are old men and old women who have come here to die4 ,jerusalem is to many of the ,jews what ,benares is to the ,hindu4 ,they have a superstition that this city is on the direct road to heaven and that they must come here in order to attain paradise4 ,i am told that many of the ,jews of this city believe that if they should die in other lands they will be dragged under the earth through the globe to the ,mount of ,olives1 where the ,resurrection is to take place4 ,the ,jewish cemetery on the side of the mountain contains thousands of tombs4 ,it is said that soil from that spot is sent all over the world to be put in ,jewish coffins4 ,not a few of the old men who live here have left their business to come4 ,some have given their estates to their sons and relatives1 and receive allowances from them4 ,not long ago one such came to the ,american consul1 and said that he would like to leave some money to found a synagogue in ,jerusalem4 ,he looked dirty and ragged1 and the consul asked what he had to leave4 ,he replied that he owned under other names six good houses in ,jerusalem and that the money to buy them had been saved out of an allowance of a thousand dollars a year which his sons in ,new ,york had been sending him4 ,the ,jews of ,jerusalem are far more particular as to the observances of their religion than the ,jews of ,america4 ,there are more than one hundred synagogues in this city1 in all of which worship is held on the ,sabbath4 ,i have attended many of the services and have generally found the synagogues full4 ,the men read ,hebrew aloud4 ,they come in their best clothing1 and some of the old men are gorgeous in their rich gowns of velvet and silk4 ,the ,sabbath here begins ,friday night and does not end until six o'clock ,saturday4 ,it begins just as soon as the stars can be seen ,friday1 after which no work of any kind must be done4 ,neither fire nor lamp may be lighted1 so most of the people light their lamps before the dark comes and hire ,gentiles to come in at bedtime to blow them out4 ,the meals for the ,sabbath are all cooked beforehand1 and if there are any hot dishes they must be cooked by the ,gentiles4 ,the orthodox ,jew here will not carry a bucket1 an umbrella1 or even a baby on the ,sabbath day4 ,i have just heard of a boy who was given a new suit of clothes on ,saturday1 his ,sabbath4 ,the gift was made by one of the ,american colony outside the walls1 and the people there watched to see how the boy could stick to his religion and still carry his new clothes home4 ,after pondering some time1 he finally put the clothes on and wore them1 thus escaping the sin of carrying them on ,god's holy day4 ,the ,jews here have a slaughter house of their own4 ,indeed1 they kill all of the cattle of ,jerusalem1 serving the ,gentiles free of charge1 in order that there may be no danger of sinning by eating animals improperly killed4 ,the city abattoirs are on the road to ,jericho across the valley of ,jehoshaphat1 on the southern slope of the ,mount of ,olives4 ,the cattle and sheep are brought there and passed upon by the ,jewish rabbis4 ,they are then killed and skinned according to the ,mosaic law1 and the meat is stamped by the rabbis before it is offered for sale in the cities4 ,a special stamp is placed on all that supplied to the ,jews1 and such meat1 strange to say1 brings about twice as much per pound as that sold to the ,gentiles4 ,if the meat is good to eat it is known as kosher4 ,if not killed according to the regulations1 it is called tarif1 and no ,jew will touch it4 ,the killing is done by the rabbinical butcher1 who cuts the animal's throat with one stroke of the knife1 going just deep enough not to touch the bones4 ,the law provides not only that the meat must be healthy1 but that no bone must be scratched1 cut1 or broken1 and if the butcher's knife slips and cuts off a bit of bone1 even though it be no thicker than a sheet of paper1 the whole carcass is regarded as bad and fit only for the ,gentiles4 ,the ,jews eat cattle and sheep1 but they will not touch the meat of pigs or game4 ,said one of the sportsmen of ,palestine to me3 8,if the ,jews ate game they would clean out our partridges and other birds in a season4 ,but as it is1 there is always good shooting40 ,most of the ,jews here will not eat the hind quarters of any animal1 and the hind legs and loins are sold to the ,gentiles4 ,the ,spanish ,jews say that those who eat pork will be damned1 but they get around eating rump steak by pulling out the white sinews or scraping off the red particles of the meat and making what we know as ,salisbury steaks from them4 ,the ,jewish quarter of ,jerusalem is confined to the southeastern part of the city4 ,it is near the great platform on which ,solomon's ,temple stood and inside the ,dung ,gate4 ,it is a dirty1 squalid1 poverty-stricken section4 ,many of the ,jews here are mendicants1 who live on the alms sent in by the ,jews from the outside4 ,at fixed hours of the day bread is given away at certain places and the people come for it in crowds4 ,there are funds which are supplied at regular intervals to those who need them1 and much of the population is supported this way4 ,they might be called educated paupers4 ,many of these people are desperately poor4 ,i visited a number of the houses1 finding family after family each living in cave-like rooms no larger than a hall bedroom and lighted only by a door at the front4 ,in such dwellings the floors and walls are of stone1 and about the only furniture is the beds1 which are for the grown-ups only4 ,the children sleep on the floor4 ,the kitchen is often on a porch outside the house1 and the water comes from a court in which is a well or cistern4 ,this well may be used by a half-dozen different families1 and its surroundings are unsanitary to an extreme4 ,on the doorposts of each of these dwellings1 whether it be of one room or more1 is tacked up a roll of white parchment six inches long4 ,this contains the name of ,jehovah and the ,ten ,commandments4 ,every ,jew here wears the ,commandments tied upon his arm under his coat1 and some have phylacteries1 or strips of parchment with texts upon them1 about their foreheads4 ,one of the strangest sights of ,jerusalem is the ,jews' wailing place1 where every ,friday afternoon and ,saturday morning certain sects meet on the outside of the walls of the ,mosque of ,omar and with their heads bent against the stones sorrow over the loss of ,jerusalem and pray ,god to give the land back to ,his chosen people4 ,this custom has been observed since the days of the ,middle ,ages and it is one of the saddest of sights4 ,i visited it last week4 ,in a narrow alley surrounded by miserable houses--on stone flags which have been worn with the bare feet of thousands of ,jews--against a wall of great blocks of marble which reached for fifty or more feet about them1 a line of men in long gowns and of women with head shawls stood with their heads bowed1 praying and weeping4 ,many of the men had white beards and the long curly locks which fell down in front of their ears were silver4 ,others were just in their prime4 ,there were also young men and young girls4 ,not a few of the male mourners wore ,european clothes1 and ,i saw one woman wailing in a hat and gown of ,parisian design4 ,most of the women1 however1 were dressed in ,jewish costume with shawls wrapped around their heads4 ,each of the mourners had a book in his hand and read the ,lamentations of ,jeremiah1 swaying back and forth as he did so4 ,now and then the whole party broke out into a chant1 a gray-haired rabbi acting as leader and the rest coming in on the refrain4 ,the substance of one of the chants was as follows3 ,o ,lord1 we pray thee have mercy on ,zion1 ,gather the children of ,jerusalem together6 ,may the kingdom soon return to ,zion6 ,comfort those who mourn over ,jerusalem1 ,and let the branch of ,jesse spring up in ,zion6 ,still more affecting was this one3 ,leader--,for the palace that lies desolate4 ,response--,we sit in solitude and mourn4 ,leader--,for our ,majesty that is departed4 ,response--,we sit in solitude and mourn4 ,leader--,for the walls that are destroyed4 ,response--,we sit in solitude and mourn4 ,leader--,for our great men who lie dead4 ,response--,we sit in solitude and mourn4 ,leader--,for our priests who have stumbled4 ,response--,we sit in solitude and mourn4 ,the effect of this chant cannot be appreciated unless you hear it4 ,the old men1 the weeping women who kiss the stones of the wall that separates them from what was once the site of ,solomon's ,temple1 and that is even now the holiest spot on the earth to the ,jew1 the genuine feeling expressed by all and the faith they show in thus coming here week after week and year after year1 are most wonderfully impressive4 ,it is indeed one of the strange sights of this strangest of cities4 ,a nation is mourned for4 ,illustration3 ,many learned ,jews come to end their days in the ,holy ,city4 ,the raggedest man may be the greatest scholar4 ,some of them have returned from ,america whence their successful sons send funds for their support in the land of their fathers ,illustration3 ,the ,tower of ,david was standing here when ,christ walked in ,zion4 ,jerusalem1 like other ancient cities1 was surrounded by walls for its defence1 with towers here and there along their course ,,chapter ,,xi ,,the ,,evil ,,eye ,the ,evil ,eye is abroad in the ,holy ,land1 and a glance from it will bring you misfortune4 ,it will lame your horse1 cow1 or camel1 and it may cause your child to sicken or die4 ,it can ruin your health or your business1 and it may even send your soul to eternal damnation4 ,those who possess the evil eye are devils incarnate1 but you cannot tell who they are4 ,they go about in the shape of innocent-looking men1 women1 and children1 so you will not realize that their spells have been cast upon you until misfortune comes4 ,the belief exists throughout ,palestine and is common all over this part of the world4 ,every house in ,jerusalem1 whether ,jew1 ,moslem1 or ,christian1 contains charms to ward off such spells4 ,every man1 woman1 and child carries a talisman to keep off the witches4 ,some of these charms are in the shape of a hand1 because of an old ,jewish saying that the hand of ,god will arrest all disasters1 and a ,mohammedan habit of calling upon the hand of ,fatima1 the daughter of the ,prophet1 to guard the ,faithful from evil4 ,silver hands are sold as charms1 and the wealthier classes wear hands of gold inside the necks of their gowns4 ,every ,jerusalem house has a painting or carving of a hand on its front door to keep off the evil eye2 and even in the new houses which are now going up they are putting hands over the windows as well as at the front doors4 ,over their doors hang bags of charms containing an egg1 a piece of alum1 some garlic1 and a large blue bead4 ,blue is believed to be a colour which frightens the devil4 ,these people think that anything blue will ward off the evil eye1 and for this reason horses1 donkeys1 and camels have strings of blue beads round their necks4 ,every horse and donkey that ,i have ridden since ,i set foot in the ,holy ,land has been decorated with beads1 and in a carriage trip that ,i recently took across country1 changing my teams three times1 every horse we drove had a blue necklace4 ,one was a three-year-old colt1 which was lively and skittish4 ,he wore several strands of blue beads1 each as big as the nail of my thumb4 ,as he jumped about he broke the string and the beads fell off and were lost4 ,the driver went back to look for them1 but hunted in vain1 and was troubled during the rest of the day4 ,when toward evening the colt got a stone in his foot and went lame1 he said it was the evil eye1 which might have been kept off had the beads not been lost4 ,i see many children here wearing blue beads1 some of which are the shape of an eye4 ,there is one special kind made in ,hebron which is considered most effective4 ,it is a bead of blue glass of the shape of a hand with five fingers4 ,it is worn as a charm4 ,some of the children are clad in blue gowns with white circles stamped on them4 ,every store has some blue inside it1 and in some a silver hand is hung up on the walls4 ,every bride wears blue beads at her wedding1 and in wedding processions salt1 rice1 and sugar plums are thrown at the bride and bridegroom to keep off the evil eye and bring luck4 ,i have been warned that ,i should always have some alum in my pocket1 for this is a charm which will keep away witches4 ,it is usually carried along with the beads4 ,some beads are made with a small piece of alum inside them1 and people who are ashamed to show their belief in the beads often carry alum in their pockets4 ,if a child goes out without charms the mother is greatly alarmed1 and if she thinks that someone has cast an evil eye on it she burns a bit of the child's clothes with incense and a small piece of alum4 ,she first prays over the child1 waving the bit of stuff and the alum about as she does so4 ,she then throws the charm into an open fire and holds the child over it4 ,as the alum burns it gives off a smoke which takes certain shapes1 and the mother believes that by looking at them she can learn who has cast the evil eye on her child4 ,the same rite is gone through with by pretty girls who feel ill on coming home from a call4 ,they work this charm to find out who has cast a spell on them4 ,one of the commonest safeguards against the evil eye is a text from the ,bible or the ,koran such as3 8,break down the spell of the ,eye02 or 8,by the blessings of ,god40 ,these phrases written in ,arabic characters are framed and hung up in many of the houses4 ,they are also carved upon furniture4 ,the ,jews carry about texts of the ,scriptures4 ,the ,christians have relics of saints1 and some of the natives here think they have pieces of the true cross4 ,it is customary to use the name of ,god at the beginning of every sentence which contains the name of one's friend4 ,illustration3 ,the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre is the centre of superstition in ,jerusalem1 where imagination sets the only limit to stories told to the tourists--and implicitly believed by many of them ,illustration3 ,the women of the ,holy ,land are great believers in the power of the ,evil ,eye and wear blue beads and other charms to keep the spirits away4 ,bits of alum1 which is supposed to be especially effective1 are often worn in little bags around the neck ,the people of ,palestine do not like to hear themselves complimented unless at the same time you use the name of ,god4 ,otherwise they believe such expressions are bound to bring misfortunes and possibly troubles and death4 ,if you call a boy or a girl pretty its mother's heart is filled with terror1 and she straightway throws out her hand1 extending the index and little finger in a way supposed to ward off the devil and to prevent the evil consequences of your remark4 ,if you wish to praise the beauty of a child you must begin the sentence with1 8,may ,god surround thee40 ,after that you may go on as you please4 ,if you pat the child on the head and fail to use this sentence1 the mother upon returning home will take the child into a room and put it in the middle of the floor4 ,she will then take a shovel and gather some dust from each of the four corners1 and throw it into the fire1 crying3 8,fie on thee1 evil eye40 ,similar precautions should be taken in admiring a horse or a donkey1 and there are ways of keeping the evil eye away from them4 ,if a man has a spirited horse which he fears the people may admire1 he carries with him some salt4 ,as he rides through the crowds he will now and then sprinkle a little salt under the feet of the horse1 especially if he sees the crowd looking at it4 ,if any one asks whether he will sell the animal he must answer yes1 but if asked what he will take he makes the price so high that the man cannot buy4 ,at such times he usually requests the would-be purchaser to stop thinking of his horse for fear it may bring misfortune4 ,another superstition regarding salt relates to babies at birth4 ,it is sprinkled over their bodies to keep off the devil1 and is used at all other ceremonies connected with children4 ,the power of the evil eye is also possessed by spirits who inhabit human beings4 ,the people here believe in one class of spirits who live underground but who are fed by those on earth4 ,they are said to come up and take the wheat from the threshing-floors and the bread from the ovens1 and the only way to keep them from doing so is to utter a sentence from the ,koran or ,bible as you put the bread in to bake1 or spread out the grain4 ,these same spirits hover about the fire1 and if you quench it without asking ,mohammed to protect you the spirits are liable to beat you or perhaps lame you for life4 ,these underground spirits are known as the jinn4 ,their favourite place of residence is below the front doorsteps1 for which reason women are not allowed to sit there4 ,the jinn1 or genii1 are supposed to be an organized body1 having a sultan1 a court1 and regular officials4 ,they keep guard on the food stores and are on the whole fairly good fellows4 ,they are said to be fond of human company4 ,it is even whispered that they sometimes assume human shape and marry mortals4 ,they are believed to be most common in ,egypt4 ,one may attract a jinn by whistling1 and it is said that the girls here frequently whistle4 ,some of the men of ,palestine are jealous of the jinn1 thinking they have association with their wives1 and some will not look at a real woman for fear the jinn girls1 who they imagine are in love with them1 will object4 ,one of the queer superstitions here in ,jerusalem is the idea that a marriage in a cemetery will propitiate the ,lord and cause ,him to favour ,his people4 ,this is believed by the native ,jews1 and several cemetery weddings have recently occurred on account of the drought4 ,palestine has had no rain for weeks and the crops are drying up4 ,the people are wildly excited over the prospect4 ,there is also an epidemic of infantile paralysis1 which has been carrying off the children4 ,the people think that ,god is angry with them1 and perhaps wroth because the graveyard marriages have been too few4 ,to pacify ,him they have had weddings in the cemeteries1 though a graveyard is considered a most unlucky place for starting upon the life matrimonial4 ,indeed1 it so unlucky that brides and grooms have to be hired to get married there4 ,at a marriage which took place this week the couple received two hundred dollars in gold1 besides food for two years1 as a present for having the ceremony in the cemetery4 ,in this case the groom was a ,jew from ,yemen1 ,arabia1 and the bride a ,jewess from ,aleppo1 in ,syria4 ,the bride was late coming1 and the three thousand worshippers who had assembled to see the ceremony had to wait for two hours4 ,she was finally carried in under a canopy1 and took her stand on one side of an open grave while the bridegroom stood on the other4 ,standing thus they exchanged marriage vows4 ,two more cemetery weddings are planned1 but it is difficult to get willing couples1 as such marriages are supposed to be disastrous4 ,nevertheless1 the charm seems to be working4 ,the wind has changed since the first ceremony took place1 and it may rain by and by4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,easter ,,in ,,jerusalem ,at no time in the whole year is the ,holy ,city so interesting as during ,easter ,week4 ,jerusalem seems always filled to overflowing1 but during ,holy ,week it is crowded and jammed with people for days and nights on end to a degree that it is impossible to describe4 ,i had the good fortune to be here during the most remarkable ,easter that ,jerusalem ever had1 when by a curious coincidence the calendars of the various sects fixed the holy feasts on the same days1 and the ,jewish ,passover and the ,mohammedan festival of ,nebu ,musa1 or the pilgrimage from the ,mosque of ,omar to the tomb of ,moses1 came during ,easter ,week4 ,these celebrations packed the narrow1 vaulted1 winding streets of ,jerusalem with a jam of crushed and crushing humanity4 ,they filled the monasteries which surround the walls with tens of thousands of pilgrims1 and clothed the ,holy ,city in a greater variety of colours than were in the coat which ,jacob gave to his favourite son ,joseph4 ,the walls of ,jerusalem enclose an area of not more than three hundred acres of ground1 made up of hill and hollow1 all filled with the flat-roofed box-like houses4 ,there is no regularity in the city4 ,the streets wind in and out and up and down1 now becoming narrow1 murky tunnels1 and now roofed with the blue sky of ,palestine4 ,they are so narrow that through most of them no wheeled vehicle can go1 and standing in the middle of many of them you can touch the walls on both sides with your outstretched hands4 ,it is in such streets that the thousands move to and fro at ,easter4 ,illustration3 ,grandfather and grandson--and both are followers of the ancient profession of begging4 ,under ,turkish taxation the ,palestinians were reduced to such dire poverty that asking alms is considered no disgrace ,illustration3 ,where ,christ rested when carrying the ,cross to ,calvary pilgrims now stop to pray in the ,via ,dolorosa ,i doubt whether there is a town of five hundred population in the ,united ,states which is built upon three hundred acres of land4 ,here there are over one hundred times that many people1 and the ,easter visitors swell the number to as many more4 ,during ,holy ,week the bulk of this mass of humanity crowds into the section of the city surrounding the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,there seem to be scores of thousands of worshippers in an area less than that of a city block1 and the two or three narrow streets leading to the sanctuary become so crowded that ,moslem soldiers must be constantly on guard to keep them in order4 ,the gay colours of the clothes of the ,orient turn the streets into a flowing mass of broken rainbows1 and the jabber of a score of languages makes a noise quite as remarkable as that heard at the ,tower of ,babel4 ,let me show you ,david ,street as it looked to me the day after ,palm ,sunday4 ,david ,street is the narrow way leading from ,jaffa ,gate down into the city4 ,it is about ten feet wide1 and we go through it into the ,christian ,street1 which1 by a second turn1 brings us to the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,at the top is the ,tower of ,david1 a square stone structure one hundred feet high1 a part of which was in existence before the ,christian ,era4 ,in the large square in front of this is the vegetable market of ,jerusalem1 where pedlars from ,bethlehem and elsewhere sit on the stones with their baskets about them4 ,standing with our backs to the tower1 as far as we can see1 we look upon a moving mass of pilgrims and natives of all ages and colours and costumes4 ,twenty different nations are represented in the faces which look toward us4 ,here is an ,ethiopian priest1 in a tall black cap and a long black gown1 whose black eyes are set in features as shiny as oiled ebony4 ,he is one of the ,abyssinian fathers and has his place in the ceremonies at ,easter4 ,that mahogany-faced man in a yellow gown is a ,persian1 and the fierce-looking ,ishmaelite behind him1 in a blanket of black-and-white stripes1 his bronzed face crowned by a yellow silk handkerchief1 is a ,bedouin2 he is of the ,moslem faith1 and is on his way to worship at the mosque4 ,behind him comes a woman in a white sheet4 ,her features are covered with a yellow gauze cloth with red leaves printed upon it2 she is the wife of a ,mohammedan merchant1 and her face is not to be seen outside the harem4 ,that slender1 black-eyed girl1 with the dark roses in her cheeks1 is the daughter of a ,polish ,jew4 ,her cap is black1 and1 like all of her sisters1 she wears a little silk flowered shawl4 ,some of the prettiest women in the world are peddling vegetables about you4 ,as you note their complexions you can hardly realize that they live under the fierce sun of the tropics4 ,their skins are as fair as the cheeks of the girls of ,dublin1 and their regular features would make them beauties in ,america4 ,they wear high caps bound round with silver coins1 row after row rising up from their foreheads against a background of black velvet4 ,here is a crowd of ,russian peasants4 ,the honest bronzed faces of the women look out under the brown handkerchiefs tied about their heads in place of bonnets1 and their short dresses of cheap cotton or wool come half way down over their high-topped boots4 ,the men have tall fur caps1 and their coats are made with skirts as full as the petticoats of the women4 ,the faces of both sexes are strong1 with honesty and industry showing in every line4 ,they cross themselves as two ,greek priests pass them4 ,let us push our way through the crowd4 ,that tall soldier in red fez and ,european uniform breaks the way for us4 ,we pass good-natured ,moslems and ,jews2 we are jostled by ,bedouin girls in gypsy dress1 and by ,bethlehem shepherds clad in sheep-skins4 ,going by the market women squatting at the turning1 we follow the crowd and pass on to the entrance of one of the tunnel-like bazaars4 ,leaving this1 we turn into another arch at the right1 and diving through vaulted1 twisting caves of stores1 we go down some steps1 past the money-changers1 who sit at the street corners with little glass-covered boxes of gold and silver coins before them4 ,brushing by dozens of beggars we arrive at last in the court in front of the great ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,now we are in the heart of the ,jerusalem of ,easter4 ,this court is where the multitude stood to see the crucifixion of our ,lord4 ,on the opposite side from the entrance1 in a corner of the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 is the ,rock of ,calvary1 and the buildings which surround it are the convents and monasteries of the various ,christian sects4 ,a stream of worshippers of all nations passes continuously among the hordes of beggars and pedlars squatting on the stones4 ,here a young ,syrian is selling candles of all kinds and sizes1 from tapers no bigger than your little finger to great cylinders as thick as your arm1 to pilgrims who go to burn them before the altars within the sepulchre4 ,there is a rosary pedlar doing a rushing business4 ,she is a ,bethlehem girl with two bushels of beads4 ,they are made of olive wood and of the pips of the olive itself1 as well as of mother-of-pearl4 ,all around you are the characters of the ,scriptures4 ,here is a dark-brown man whose face reminds you of that of ,judas in ,leonardo da ,vinci's 8,last ,supper40 ,he is peddling little crosses of mother-of-pearl4 ,here is a woman with a face as beautifully sad as that of ,mary ,magdalene1 and there is an old man selling pictures of the church dignitaries1 whose patriarchal beard and honest eyes make you think of ,abraham4 ,there are pedlars of brass rings and glass bracelets from ,hebron4 ,the crier of drinks in bare feet and blue gown1 with his skin water bottle on his back1 passes along announcing his wares by clinking his two brass drinking-cups together4 ,the crowd moves on in a never-ending stream toward the door of the church4 ,it is the same1 morning and evening1 day in and day out4 ,thousands upon thousands of footsteps have worn the flag stones to the smoothness of marble1 and on and on they come1 year after year and generation after generation4 ,we enter the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 the church which these people believe covers the spot where ,christ was crucified and where ,his tomb is kept4 ,it is the church that ,constantine built1 the church for which the ,crusaders fought1 the shrine where the religious of all ,christendom would bow4 ,it is a vast building of yellow limestone rising out of and above a jumble of houses in front of the court1 with a dome a little smaller than that of our ,capitol at ,washington4 ,at one side a chapel rises above the other parts of the structure to the second story1 and the whole stands upon hill and valley so that the chapel rests upon a rock high above the level of the ground floor4 ,this rock is supposed to be ,calvary1 upon which stood the cross of ,christ4 ,around the rotunda extends a series of buildings1 consisting of gaudily decorated churches and chapels of a dozen different denominations and sects4 ,a wide vaulted aisle runs around between these and the rotunda into which they open4 ,entering1 we go through a high-arched door past a ledge cut into the wall at the right where ,mohammedan officers smoke long-stemmed water-pipes while they sit with their legs crossed and direct the soldiers posted here to keep the crowds in order4 ,we go into a great square vestibule in the centre of which1 with rows of immense candles at its head and foot1 there lies under a long row of beautiful brass lamps a rectangular stone of rose-coloured marble about eight feet long and four feet wide4 ,it is four inches above the floor1 and around its edges burn the wax tapers of worshippers4 ,this is the ,stone of ,unction on which it is said the body of the ,lord was laid when it was anointed for burial4 ,pilgrim after pilgrim walks forward and prostrates himself before it4 ,each one gets down on his knees1 and bows his head to the floor1 then leans over and kisses the stone4 ,as we come closer we see that the marble has been worn rough by the pressure of human lips4 ,as we stand and watch the earnest worshippers who pray before it1 we cannot but be impressed with their faith4 ,an old peasant woman in black1 who trembles as she puts her long thin hands caressingly on the marble1 bends over and touches it again and again with her withered lips4 ,a pretty boy of ten crosses himself and kneels beside his ,armenian mother while they go through their devotions together4 ,another pilgrim lays his beads on the slab1 that they may be blessed by the contact1 and crosses himself as he rises4 ,now there kneels a family of ,greeks1 the men in the ballet-girl costume of the ,albanians1 followed by a richly dressed lady who lays some cakes of incense on the slab1 and prays long before it4 ,behind her come two ,russian women with long strips of white linen in their hands4 ,waiting until the crowd has partially thinned1 they measure the stone with this cloth1 and cut it into strips of just the size of the slab4 ,they rub these strips over the stone1 praying as they do so1 for these are to be their winding sheets1 and they believe that1 buried in them1 they will rest more easily in their graves4 ,it is difficult to appreciate the solemnity of the worship at the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,there is superstition mixed with earnest1 honest faith1 as is so often the case in the poor1 weak human brain1 even in those who lay claim to greater intellectuality than these poor pilgrims4 ,these tens of thousands of pilgrims continue to pray as they rise from the ,stone of ,unction1 and then with bowed heads walk on into the great rotunda of the church itself4 ,here in the very centre rises an oblong marble structure about thirty feet high1 twenty-five feet long1 and seventeen feet wide4 ,the marble is yellow with age and the architecture of the building is rude rather than artistic4 ,this is the tomb of ,christ4 ,it is more like a chapel than a tomb1 and its fronts and sides are covered with candles4 ,curious brass lamps1 with glass globes of different colours1 hang like a frieze around its alabaster top1 and between these are oil paintings of scriptural scenes4 ,in its front1 in gold pillars as tall as a man1 are columns of painted wax each six inches thick and twelve feet high4 ,at the top of each of these a flame trembles4 ,at ,easter there flows through its low door an endless stream of humanity4 ,we enter through a vestibule so dark that we can hardly see the features of the people around us1 and find the same kissing and praying going on4 ,upon the column of marble about three feet high1 standing in the centre of the vestibule1 thousands of kisses are pressed every day4 ,into its top is set a piece of the stone which was rolled from the door of ,christ's tomb4 ,the stones walling the tomb are very thick1 and the door is so narrow that only one man can enter it at a time1 and so low that even boys bow their heads in going in4 ,the space within is so small that it will hold only four persons at once4 ,it is dimly lighted with candles1 and a ,greek priest in cap and gown is always on guard4 ,at the right of the room1 set into the wall1 there is a marble slab of purest white resting upon another slab about four feet high and forming a box or ledge4 ,this box is supposed to have been the sepulchre of ,christ1 to the people of the ,christian world the holiest of the holy places of the earth4 ,the worshippers here pray and drop their tears1 and men reverently back their way out to give place to others4 ,all of the ,christian sects claim a right to the tomb1 and it is free of access to every denomination4 ,the chapels of the various churches opening into the rotunda are gorgeously decorated1 and each sect has some relic of the ,crucifixion which people consider their especial charge and which they guard with the greatest reverence4 ,one chapel contains the stocks in which some of the saints were imprisoned1 and the chapel of the ,syrians has the tomb of ,nicodemus and of ,joseph of ,arimathea4 ,the ,latins have the column of the scourging4 ,the ,greeks1 who have the finest chapel of all those surrounding the rotunda1 are first1 both in wealth and power1 in the ,church of the ,sepulchre4 ,the ,oriental ,christians are very superstitious1 and have implicit faith in all the stories connected with the ,sepulchre4 ,they believe that the ceremonies of ,easter carry with them saving grace1 and during this ,holy ,week they are in a state of religious frenzy4 ,the officers of the various churches do all they can to increase this excitement1 with the result that there is a series of religious pageants in which each patriarch and his bishops try to outshine the other churches in splendour and gorgeous ceremonials4 ,the competition is so great that at times the various sects break out into unchristian fights1 and once there was a riot in the ,holy ,sepulchre in which more than three hundred pilgrims were suffocated or trampled to death4 ,during the ceremonies of ,easter1 companies of soldiers are stationed in the more holy places of ,jerusalem1 and several companies surround the various patriarchs in their church exercises4 ,illustration3 ,waiting for the ,holy ,fire to come down from ,heaven1 a 8miracle0 celebrated by the ,greek ,church during ,easter ,week4 ,from the candle mysteriously lighted inside the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 others are lighted in rapid succession ,illustration3 ,the use of ladders to gather the olive crop has replaced the old1 wasteful method of beating the trees to shake off the fruit4 ,the olive grows best where its roots can find their way into the crevices of a rock ,the celebrations begin with ,palm ,sunday4 ,the patriarchs bless the palms which are distributed by the thousands to the people4 ,every man1 woman1 and child in ,jerusalem seems to be waving palm branches1 and the court and ,church of the ,sepulchre are filled with green4 ,the ,greek ,patriarch and his bishops march three times around the grand aisle outside of the rotunda of the church1 bearing a cross of gold and preceded by clouds of incense from urns carried by the bishops in gorgeous white brocaded silk gowns covered with roses of red and gold4 ,in the procession there are a score or more of bishops with crosses of diamonds six inches long upon their breasts1 and with their long hair flowing from under their high caps and down upon their shoulders4 ,the ,greek ,patriarch1 the central figure of all of these celebrations and the head of the ,greek ,church in ,palestine and ,arabia1 carries the gold cross-like staff of his office4 ,he is dressed in the most gorgeous of gowns of cloth of gold and silver1 and upon his handsome gray head is his cap of high place--a great dome-like tiara of silver and gold1 fairly blazing with diamonds1 emeralds1 and rubies1 each of them worth a fortune4 ,every day of ,holy ,week has its ceremonies1 and between times the pilgrims visit the spots made sacred by association with ,christ's life about ,jerusalem4 ,they kiss the ground on which ,stephen was stoned2 they visit the monastery which now stands on the floor of the house of ,pontius ,pilate2 they pray before ,christ's prison1 and they hold services all along the ,via ,dolorosa1 kneeling and praying at the various stations4 ,the ,easter festival itself is not so wonderful in comparison with the services of the week4 ,the day is ushered in with the ringing of bells4 ,the ,russian pilgrims rush into each other's arms and give the 8kiss of peace40 ,the ,easter celebrations are more notable for the display of fine vestments and gorgeous plate than for the excellence of the music or unusual features in the ceremonies4 ,the ,latin churches hold their services in front of the chapel of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 the ,latin ,patriarch officiating4 ,there is a solemn high mass in front of the ,sepulchre1 and after this the ,patriarch and bishops1 followed by the crowd bearing lighted candles1 march around the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 chanting and offering up their prayers on the spots made sacred by their association with the ,saviour's death and burial4 ,the ceremonies of the ,greek ,church come later1 when all over the hills about ,jerusalem can be heard the voices of the people and the sound of the bells pealing forth the song of the risen ,saviour4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,washing ,,the ,,feet ,,of ,,the ,,apostles ,two of the great sights of ,easter in ,jerusalem are the foot-washing on ,holy ,thursday and the 8miracle0 of the descent of holy fire from heaven on ,easter ,eve4 ,during my visits to ,jerusalem ,i have seen both ceremonies4 ,the washing takes place in the open air at the door of the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,the ,greek ,patriarch washes the feet of twelve of his bishops in commemoration of the foot-washing of the apostles by ,christ after the ,last ,supper4 ,by dawn of ,holy ,thursday1 at the time ,i last saw this rite1 the court was packed1 and for hours before the ceremony began the streets were jammed with a crowd of ,mohammedans and ,christians1 of ,orientals and ,occidentals1 such as you will see nowhere else in the world4 ,many of the pilgrims slept in the court all night in order to be sure of places4 ,in the centre of the court stood an oval rostrum about four feet above the stones4 ,around its floor ran an iron railing enclosing a space about eight feet wide and twelve feet long4 ,inside the railing and running around it were seats1 and at the back a gold and white armchair cushioned with red satin4 ,this stage was for the ceremony1 and the chair the throne of the ,patriarch4 ,the other seats were for the bishops4 ,around this platform1 to keep back the crowd1 was a guard of soldiers1 and back of these1 in a solid mass1 were the people4 ,from my seat on a housetop ,i looked with wonder at the twenty thousand people below4 ,the steps leading to the chapel of ,mount ,calvary were filled with ,mohammedan women in sheet-like gowns with veiled faces1 and every niche and corner of the buildings surrounding the court was covered by ,greek men and boys holding on to the walls as best they could4 ,the ledges of the convent were filled with ,syrians1 and even the roof of the ,sepulchre itself had its coping of picturesque humanity4 ,there was a stir in the crowd4 ,i looked toward the door of the church4 ,preceded by two fierce-looking ,syrian kavasses with swords at their sides and carrying silver-headed staffs1 came the bishops and in their midst the stately figure of the ,patriarch himself4 ,the grand procession passed slowly and majestically through the mass of people4 ,a wonderful silence succeeded the tumult as the bishops mounted the steps of the rostrum4 ,the ,patriarch took his seat on his chair of state and the twelve bishops arranged themselves on each side4 ,they were fine-looking men1 all of them1 with their full silken beards and their gorgeous robes4 ,presently a chanting solo was heard from the convent on the courtyard4 ,there against the wall in an improvised pulpit above the heads of the multitude a ,greek priest in black cap and gown stood with a gold-plated book open on a rack in front of him4 ,his chant continued during the greater part of the proceedings4 ,a priest brought to the rostrum a large golden pitcher in a basin of gold as big as a foot-bath and placed it in front of the ,patriarch4 ,as ,his ,beatitude and the bishops rose1 there was a waving of the crosses formed of candles1 a passing of the hands this way and that1 and a great deal of bowing1 which was understood only by the ,greeks and the ,russians4 ,illustration3 ,the ,church of the ,pater ,noster1 on the ,mount of ,olives1 contains tablets of the ,lord's ,prayer in thirty-two languages ,illustration3 ,with towel and basin the ,greek ,patriarch washes the feet of his twelve bishops each ,easter ,week1 thus commemorating ,christ's washing of the feet of ,his apostles4 ,the bishop representing ,peter always raises objections1 which the ,patriarch overrules ,then the ,patriarch prepared for the washing4 ,standing in front of his chair1 he first took off his great dome of a hat4 ,as he did so his long gray locks fell down almost to his waist and his fair1 open1 dignified face shone out under the sun4 ,he next laid off his grand gown2 piece by piece the cloth of gold was removed1 until at last he stood forth in a white robe of the finest cream-coloured silk crpe bound round the waist with a gold-and-white girdle4 ,in this still grand attire personating the ,saviour1 he took a long ,turkish bath towel and twisted it about his loins4 ,then stooping over he poured the water from the gold pitcher into the basin4 ,the twelve bishops1 in the meantime1 were busy getting their feet out of their ,english congress-gaiters and pulling off their white cotton socks for the washing4 ,each bared one foot and held it out to be washed as the ,patriarch came around with the basin4 ,the ,patriarch did the washing very quickly1 rubbing each foot with water and drying it with a towel4 ,as he finished he bent over and kissed the foot he had washed and then went on to the next4 ,the last bishop represented ,st4 ,peter1 and1 after the example of ,peter of the past1 he objected to having his feet washed by the ,lord2 he rose and gesticulated violently4 ,but the ,patriarch opened the ,bible and read to him the admonition of ,christ to ,peter1 shaking his hand at ,peter as he did so4 ,a moment later ,peter sat down humbly and submitted to the washing4 ,at this moment the bells of the ,greek churches all over ,jerusalem burst out in a chorus of rejoicing4 ,the preacher against the wall chanted louder than ever1 while the great crowd surged this way and that in their efforts to get nearer the platform4 ,the ,patriarch descended1 the bishops followed1 and in double file they marched out through the crowd1 with the kavasses clearing the way4 ,a priest carried in front of the ,patriarch a vase of the holy water in which the feet were washed1 and into this ,his ,beatitude dipped a great bouquet of roses with which he sprinkled the water over the crowd4 ,the people held up their faces to catch the purifying drops and rushed to the platform to wipe up with their handkerchiefs what was spilled on the floor4 ,those who succeeded in thus wetting their handkerchiefs then pressed them over their faces4 ,the 8miracle0 of the holy fire also takes place in the church in front of the tomb two days after the foot-washing ceremony4 ,the ,latin churches have not taken part in it for more than three hundred years4 ,the ,roman ,catholics protest against it1 and it is now managed entirely by the ,greeks and the other sects of the ,orient4 ,the ,greeks say that the 8miracle0 has been celebrated ever since the days of the apostles4 ,it is mentioned in theological literature as far back as the ninth century1 and in the twelfth century it was made use of to arouse a religious fervour against the enemies of ,christianity4 ,most of the pilgrims of the ,eastern churches believe that the fire actually comes down from heaven and that they are able to ignite their candles from flames sent by ,god4 ,this sacred fire appears in the tomb of the ,holy ,sepulchre precisely at two o'clock in the afternoon of the ,saturday before ,easter4 ,on the morning of that day all of the lights of the church are put out1 and the people stand for hours and wait for the great event4 ,there are holes in the walls of the ,sepulchre itself1 and through these the candles of believers are passed to the ,patriarch of ,jerusalem1 who is inside4 ,he lights them with the sacred flame as soon as it appears and hands them out burning4 ,other candles are lighted from these1 and runners carry the holy fire all over ,palestine1 to ,bethlehem and to ,nazareth1 and to the ,sea of ,galilee4 ,the night before the miracle hundreds sleep in different chapels and in the rotunda1 in order to hold good places for the morrow1 and during the day the churches are thronged to such an extent that people are often injured by the crush4 ,in the morning everyone has a bunch of candles in his hand4 ,there are ten thousand dozens of candles in the crowd1 and all are to be lighted within an hour with fire from heaven1 as they believe4 ,when the ceremonies begin1 the ,greek ,patriarch and his bishops in gorgeous dresses march three times round the ,sepulchre with banners1 praying4 ,they ask ,god to send down the fire1 and their march is preceded by a flag and a cross4 ,there is chanting and crossing1 and then the ,copts follow their ,ethiopian ,patriarch1 gorgeous in his gold cap and gown4 ,now there is silence1 and the only sound is that of the squeezing mass as it breathlessly watches4 ,the ,patriarch has entered the ,sepulchre1 and the fire is expected from heaven4 ,no one seems to suspect that it comes from his matches1 and the scratching1 if there be any1 is not heard4 ,it appears to be all dark within the walls of the ,sepulchre4 ,suddenly there is a great shout4 ,a faint light shines out through the holes4 ,the soldiers struggle to keep the crowd back4 ,men with whips push this way and that1 making roads through the mass which the soldiers try to keep clear4 ,the priests stand at the holes in the walls1 and great bunches of candles are passed in4 ,they are handed out lighted1 and fleet runners seize them and dash to the various chapels4 ,the ,copt chapel at the back of the ,sepulchre flames with lights1 and in less time than it takes for me to write this sentence1 the whole of the mass below me is a blaze of fire4 ,every man1 woman1 and child holds a lighted candle1 and many are hauled up by strings from one gallery to the other4 ,a priest creeps along the roof of the chapel of the ,sepulchre4 ,he lights the hundreds of lamps and candles upon its edges2 and as ,i look over it ,i see that the ,greek chapel beyond now blazes with thousands of coloured lights4 ,the lamps over the whole of the great church are burning4 ,the smoke comes up in great clouds1 and the air is perceptibly warmer4 ,it is just seven minutes by my watch since the first candle was lighted1 and in fifteen minutes the sacred fire will be all over ,jerusalem4 ,illustration3 ,ready-mades have not yet arrived in the ,near ,east4 ,jerusalem tailors sit at the doors of their tiny dark shops on ledges two feet above the street level4 ,customers must stand outside to bargain and be measured ,illustration3 ,the ,greek ,church has the finest collection of religious paintings in all ,jerusalem4 ,this has long been the richest and most powerful of the ,christian sects in the ,holy ,city and has roused much antagonism in the other churches ,,chapter ,,xiv ,a ,,talk ,,with ,,the ,,greek ,,patriarch ,i have just had an audience with one of the chief religious functionaries of the oriental world4 ,the ,patriarch of ,jerusalem is first in the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 and as the head of the ,greek ,church in ,syria1 ,palestine1 and ,arabia1 he is the pope of the ,east4 ,most of the people of ,russia belong to what was once a part of the ,greek ,church1 and it has other millions of members in ,greece1 ,turkey1 and ,asia ,minor4 ,as a result of immigration1 there are also hundreds of ,greek churches in the ,united ,states4 ,it is the most powerful and the richest church of all the denominations represented in ,jerusalem4 ,there is no king in the world who appears in such splendour upon state occasions as the ,patriarch of ,jerusalem4 ,he wears cloth of gold and his great hat is covered with magnificent diamonds1 emeralds1 and rubies4 ,the bishops who march with him have crosses of diamonds hanging about their necks1 and their dresses are of gold and silver brocade4 ,the mitre and other church insignia are of solid gold and silver4 ,in the treasury of the ,greek ,church here there are jewels which would make the treasures of many a palace seem commonplace1 for the rich men and the kings of the world have for generations been giving to this collection1 thinking that in so doing they have been buying their way into heaven4 ,the ,greek ,church has a score of monasteries and convents in the ,holy ,city where it can accommodate pilgrims by the thousands4 ,its believers come to worship here from the borders of ,siberia1 from the isles of ,greece1 and from the wilds of ,arabia1 and as ,i write there are thousands of ,russian pilgrims paying their devotions in the gorgeous ,greek chapel of the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,the ,greek ,church has a faith which might be called a cross between ,roman ,catholicism and ,protestantism4 ,it differs from ,catholicism chiefly in denying the spiritual supremacy of the ,pope1 in not demanding the celibacy of the clergy1 except the bishops1 and in authorizing all of its people to read the ,scriptures4 ,it claims to be the original ,christian church and says that the ,roman ,catholics broke away from it4 ,the dispute between the two branches of the ,church arose three or four hundred years after ,christ4 ,it was a question as to what should be the rank of the ,patriarch of ,constantinople1 and as the ,pope would not give in the trouble began4 ,it continued off and on until about #ajjj ,a4,d41 when the two churches broke apart1 and from that time the ,greek ,church has existed on its own footing4 ,the head of the ,greek ,church is the ,patriarch of ,constantinople1 and under him are the patriarchs of ,jerusalem1 ,antioch1 and ,alexandria4 ,since the sixteenth century1 the ,russian branch has been independent of the main body4 ,these patriarchs are elected by the clergy and the laity4 ,they have limited terms of office1 but the ,patriarch's power over the people here in ,jerusalem is to a large extent that of a judge as well as of a pope4 ,but let me tell you about my talk with ,his ,beatitude4 ,it was arranged by one of the church and the audience took place in the ,patriarch's house1 a great stone building near the ,pool of ,hezekiah and not far from the ,church of the ,sepulchre4 ,his ,beatitude lives there with one hundred monks1 and ,i saw many fine-looking ,greek priests as ,i went up the stairs of rose-coloured marble4 ,i passed through several rooms filled with high-capped1 black-gowned ecclesiastics1 and as ,i waited priests and bishops from the four quarters of ,greek ,catholicism passed in and out4 ,one of the priests1 who spoke ,english1 went with me into the audience chamber and gave me a seat at the right of the throne4 ,he asked me to wait1 telling me that the ,patriarch would be in shortly4 ,meantime1 there were others who had come for an audience1 and the chairs about the long table in the centre of the room were soon filled4 ,most of the men were bearded priests dressed in black gowns and high caps4 ,as we waited a servant brought in a silver tray containing a plate of rose-and-white cubes of ,turkish delight and several glasses of water4 ,upon the tray were many silver forks1 each having two fine tines as long as my little finger4 ,as the candy was passed each one of us took a fork and stabbed it into a cube of the sweets1 and thus conveyed it to the mouth4 ,it was delicious4 ,by and by the ,patriarch entered4 ,he talked first with some of the priests1 so ,i had a good chance to study him4 ,imagine a tall1 full-bearded1 fair-faced man of middle age dressed in a long black gown and a rimless black hat which rises eight inches over his forehead4 ,the gown1 which is cut full1 falls to his feet4 ,his cap is draped with black cloth which covers his shoulders1 and about his neck is a long1 heavy gold chain to which hangs an ivory medallion as big as the palm of your hand4 ,the rim of this medallion is studded with diamonds and inside the rim is a painting of the ,madonna with the ,holy ,child in her arms4 ,i watched the ,patriarch as he talked4 ,he gestured now and then and ,i saw that his hands were soft and his nails well kept4 ,his face changed with the subject and the man he spoke to4 ,at times he was serious1 again his eyes sparkled with animation1 and now and then he broke into a smile4 ,my talk with him was through the ,greek priest1 who spoke ,english4 ,i asked ,his ,beatitude about the condition of the ,church4 ,he spoke of many sects of ,christians now in the ,holy ,land1 saying that they were gradually growing more liberal1 and that they would work more in harmony than they had in the past4 ,i asked about the life of the priests and whether he thought it was as pious as that of the hermits who lived in the second and third centuries after ,christ4 ,he replied that he doubted whether man was as good now as then1 but that the ,church was doing what it could to bring him back to the faith4 ,he said he believed that the time would come when all mankind would be ,christian1 although that time would probably be far in the future4 ,i was surprised to hear him speak well of the ,protestants and say that all ,christian sects would eventually unite and work together as one for the salvation of man4 ,his ,beatitude was much interested in ,america and at my request gave me the blessing which he gives to all true believers1 saying that ,i must transmit it to the ,american people1 each of whom could regard it as being made especially for him4 ,this blessing was given to me in a golden frame4 ,the words are printed in ,greek in letters of gold4 ,literally translated1 it reads3 ,almighty ,god1 the ,father of ,mercy and ,god of ,prayer1 bless1 purify1 and strengthen these ,thy disciples who now bow before ,thee4 ,from every wicked work withdraw them1 and in every right action give them ,thy aid4 ,make all things smooth to each according to his wants4 ,be with those travelling upon the water and upon the land4 ,comfort the poor and heal the sick4 ,we praise ,thee1 ,our ,father1 the ,father1 ,son and ,holy ,spirit1 the source of all graciousness and glory4 ,and now may the grace of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 the love of ,god the ,father1 and the communion of the ,holy ,spirit be with you4 ,amen4 ,then there was a little more talk about the ,greek ,church and a second servant came in with another tray more elaborate than was the first one4 ,upon this were wine glasses filled with a liquor the colour of the dark moss rose4 ,it was flavoured with peppermint and had the rich1 oily strength of age4 ,though scarcely more than three thimblefuls1 it brought a pleasant warmth to the whole frame five minutes after it was drunk1 and the discussion of the doctrines of the ,greek ,church fell on my ear like the poetry of ,moore4 ,this refreshment was followed a few moments later by a third servant who brought in ,turkish coffee served in little cups of fine china1 each the size of the smallest egg cup4 ,the coffee was as thick as ,vermont molasses4 ,it was sweet and delicious and was served without cream4 ,after coffee is served in ,jerusalem the caller can politely terminate his visit4 ,we sipped the aromatic liquid and then arose to say good-bye4 ,this we said in ,american style1 shaking hands with 8,his ,blessedness0 and receiving from him a present of a ,bethlehem egg4 ,my egg lies before me as ,i write4 ,its ground is the same red as the coloured eggs of the ,american ,easter1 but this red is covered with etchings and on one side there is a rude picture of ,christ ascending to heaven1 with the cross in the background and with the ,virgin ,mary holding up her hands in adoration4 ,on the other side in a wreath of olive branches is the date4 ,there is room in ,palestine for the ,patriarch's hope that some day the ,christian sects will get along better together than is now the case4 ,the ,holy ,land often boils and seethes with the quarrels of the religious fanatics4 ,almost every sacred place in the country is claimed at the same time by the ,greeks1 ,latins1 ,armenians1 and ,copts4 ,some of the holiest spots are divided up1 and lines are drawn here and there indicating the sect to which each part belongs4 ,the various denominations are frequently divided among themselves as to who shall control the monasteries1 convents1 and other institutions belonging to them1 and quarrelling even goes on over the very spot where ,christ was born and upon that where it is supposed the ,crucifixion took place4 ,these quarrels are sometimes serious4 ,knives have been drawn and people have been killed in these religious riots4 ,some years ago a monk was shot by an ,american pilgrim in the ,church of the ,nativity at ,bethlehem1 and more recently a gigantic candle was sent to ,jerusalem addressed to the care of certain priests4 ,this candle was nine feet high and two feet thick1 and as far as its outward appearance was concerned seemed to be entirely of wax4 ,it was shipped in from abroad1 and was intended to be lighted inside the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre and to burn there while the ,easter celebrations were at their height4 ,at that time the church would have been filled with ,greeks1 ,armenians1 ,latins1 and ,abyssinians4 ,when the candle came to ,jaffa1 the customs officers held it for duties1 and sent word to the priests to come and get it4 ,when they failed to appear it was cut open and five thousand little dynamite balls were found inside it4 ,had it exploded at the time of the ceremonies ten thousand or more people would have been in danger of losing their lives4 ,that candle might have been sent by a ,greek who was disgruntled at the ,church1 and in his desire for revenge cared not how many he killed4 ,i am told that some of the factions in the ,greek ,church have refused to go to the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre until their wrongs are righted4 ,the ,greeks who are natives of ,palestine claim that they have the sole right to the church and church property4 ,there have already been numerous riots between these ,greeks and the foreign monks1 and at one time the people demanded that the ,patriarch of the ,greek ,church resign4 ,the fight among the ,greeks is to some extent sentimental1 but it is also said to be largely one for the loaves and fishes4 ,the ,greeks are the most powerful religious body in ,palestine1 and their property runs high into the millions4 ,scattered over the ,holy ,land from ,dan to ,beersheba are their monasteries1 convents1 and hospices1 to all of which pilgrims who travel over the country make contributions4 ,some of the places are so valuable that the priests in charge are said to pay a lump sum of a thousand dollars or more a year for the privilege of presiding at them1 expecting to recoup themselves from the gifts of the pilgrims4 ,here in ,jerusalem there are thirty-five ,greek monasteries and other big buildings managed by six hundred monks4 ,the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 the greater part of which belongs to the ,greeks1 brings in tens of thousands of dollars every year to the ,church4 ,there are thousands of ,russians who make pilgrimages to this city1 and each is expected to leave an offering according to his wealth and spiritual desires4 ,the ,greek ,church also owns the shops of a bazaar near the ,holy ,sepulchre and holds the titles to the most valuable of the buildings about the ,jaffa ,gate and ,david's ,tower1 including the ,grand ,new ,hotel building4 ,the native monks say that the ,greek priests who have come in from ,constantinople1 ,athens1 ,smyrna1 the ,isle of ,samos1 and other places now hold all the fat jobs1 and that they themselves are compelled to work for only a few dollars a month4 ,they do the pastoral work of the villages and act as the priests of the towns4 ,on the other hand1 the outsiders have amassed fortunes4 ,they pretend to be hermits and devoted to fasting and prayer1 but they are accused of living luxuriously and of keeping establishments by no means as good as they should be4 ,illustration3 ,outside the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 candle sellers1 rosary pedlars1 and hawkers of relics trade on the holiness of the ,holy ,city ,illustration3 ,the ,moslem who knows his ,koran by heart commands the respect of the ,faithful4 ,in many ,mohammedan schools it is the sole textbook ,illustration3 ,the ,palestinians never buy grain by the sack1 for they want to see just how much they are getting4 ,the merchant shakes the full measure1 then heaps up the top with his hands4 ,this is the ,biblical 8good measure pressed down1 shaken together and running over0 ,indeed1 the fights among the warring ,christians have sometimes been so bad that the ,mohammedan soldiers here had to use whips to keep them in order4 ,i have seen ,moslem soldiers in the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre at ,easter time whipping the quarrelling ,greeks1 ,armenians1 and ,copts in order to separate them4 ,it is not an uncommon thing for blood to pollute the ,holy ,sepulchre on festal days4 ,conditions are especially bad at ,easter time when the thousands belonging to the different sects go marching about singing their fanatical songs and denouncing each other4 ,one of their cries is3 8,this is the tomb of our ,lord40 ,another is3 8,oh1 ,jews6 ,jews6 your feasts are the feasts of pigs40 ,as they go the ,greeks jostle the ,armenians and the ,abyssinians bump against the ,latins4 ,not long since the followers of one sect set fire to some rich hangings that had been placed in a grotto of the church by the followers of another sect4 ,the fire spread1 the church was filled with smoke1 and it narrowly escaped being burned4 ,the ,greeks of ,palestine claim that they have the right to all the churches1 convents1 and monasteries belonging to their church in the ,holy ,land4 ,they demand that the money changers1 as they call the foreign priests1 be whipped out of the temple1 and that the gifts of the pilgrims be applied to the building of hospitals1 old-age homes1 and schools for their children4 ,this movement is not confined to ,jerusalem1 but extends throughout ,palestine and has the approval of the best element of the communities4 ,until recent years we have had so few ,greek ,christians in the ,united ,states that it is hard for us to appreciate what the ,greek ,church means4 ,it is one of the strong churches of the world4 ,it has altogether about one hundred and twenty million members1 or one fifth of all the ,christians on earth1 and more than two thirds as many as all the ,protestants4 ,i have before me the latest statistics of religious denominations4 ,there are in the world two hundred million ,roman ,catholics1 about one hundred and sixty million ,protestants1 one hundred and twenty million ,greek ,christians--five hundred thousand who belong to the ,church of ,abyssinia--and about seven hundred thousand ,armenians4 ,the sum total of ,christians is less than six hundred million1 and less than one third of the population of the world4 ,on the other hand1 there are three hundred and ten million who worship ,confucius1 two hundred and fifteen million ,hindus1 two hundred and thirty million ,mohammedans1 and one hundred and forty-seven million ,buddhists4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,among ,,the ,,money ,,changers ,if you would be cheated out of your eyeteeth1 come to ,jerusalem4 ,its bazaars are filled with tricksters and traders1 and it has its usurers and money changers as in the days of the ,saviour4 ,the people prey upon the pilgrims and tourists4 ,their main object is to get gain1 and they work the holiness of the ,holy ,city for all it is worth4 ,they sell candles which if burnt in the ,church of the ,sepulchre will carry away your sins in their smoke2 and rosaries upon which if you count your prayers you may be sure of their ascending to heaven4 ,the rosary business is a big factor in ,jerusalem4 ,the beads are cut out in great quantities at ,bethlehem and are shipped abroad by the millions4 ,they are sent to the ,holy ,city for sale1 and there are some stores which have nothing else except perhaps crucifixes and collection plates4 ,the merchants who sell rosaries are often great rascals4 ,i know one1 a ,bethlehemite1 who has just received a lesson which he is not likely soon to forget4 ,the man's rosary store is situated down ,christian ,street1 not far from the place where you turn in to the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,his lesson came from a ,jesuit priest1 who lives in ,chicago1 and who is just now starting home4 ,the holy father had come into the shop to buy some rosaries to carry back to his friends4 ,he had picked out a half-dozen beautiful ones1 and had paid the price without bargaining4 ,as the storekeeper wrapped up his purchase1 the priest looked at him out of the tail of his eye and saw him slip under the counter the rosaries selected and put some cheaper ones in their place4 ,the ,jesuit said nothing1 but he took up several beautiful carvings representing the ,crucifixion and ,ascension1 each of which was worth about twice as much as the rosaries he had chosen4 ,handing these to the man1 he told him to wrap them up4 ,this being done1 he took both parcels and started out of the store4 ,the ,bethlehemite merchant ran after him1 and told him he had not paid for the carvings4 ,the father replied3 8,my friend1 ,i saw you change those rosaries and give me the cheaper ones1 and you may consider this a judgment of ,god upon you for cheating4 ,i shall keep these carvings1 and if you do not immediately return to your store ,i will report you to the ,mohammedan courts40 ,the man1 seeing he was caught1 let the priest go4 ,another large business is the selling of candles4 ,jerusalem is full of shrines1 and the pilgrims buy candles to burn at the holy places4 ,they set them up at the score or more sacred spots in the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre and at the stations along the ,via ,dolorosa where ,christ walked on ,his way to ,golgotha4 ,they carry them to the ,mount of ,olives and to the ,garden of ,gethsemane4 ,some buy several candles for each shrine1 and the richer purchase some of enormous size and many colours4 ,the candle business is especially brisk at ,easter time4 ,illustration3 ,bethlehem maids are the prettiest in all ,palestine4 ,they bring fresh vegetables into ,jerusalem each day and sell them in the markets ,illustration3 ,the rosaries sold by the bushel in ,jerusalem are made in ,bethlehem of carved olive wood and of mother-of-pearl from the ,united ,states4 ,besides the thousands sold to tourists quantities are exported every year ,as ,i have said before1 many of the streets are vaulted over1 and we often pass for a half-mile through what might be called a subterranean cavern lighted by openings from the top and pierced at the sides with cavelike stores4 ,the smallest business shops in the world are in ,jerusalem4 ,a great many of the stores are no bigger than a dry-goods box4 ,they have no windows4 ,i stopped this afternoon before a shoe repair shop1 and1 out of curiosity1 took its measurements4 ,it was a hole in the wall with its bottom edge four feet above the cobblestone street4 ,a rude stone two feet high was the step by which the shoemaker crawled in4 ,it was just three feet wide1 five feet high1 and eight feet deep4 ,it was as dark as a pocket1 and the shoemaker squatting in the entrance with a board on his lap filled it completely4 ,he was working at a pair of rough ,bedouin shoes the owner of which sat cross-legged and in his bare feet in the street outside4 ,as the cobbler waxed his thread he was careful to move his hands toward the street and back into the shop4 ,the place was so small that had he pulled his thread in the ordinary way he would have barked his elbows against the walls4 ,next to this shoe shop there was a ,jerusalem restaurant4 ,it was an oval hole cut into the hill twelve feet high1 eight feet wide1 and forty feet deep4 ,at the front was the cooking stove of ,jerusalem1 a rude slab of limestone with holes cut in the top as big around as a workman's dinner bucket1 and with other holes piercing these from the sides4 ,a few inches from the top of each hole was a rude iron grating upon which the charcoal was laid4 ,the draft which came in from below kept the fire going4 ,the slab was mounted on cord-wood posts and had five fireplaces4 ,at the back a rough table without a cloth was set for the guests4 ,the only chairs were little stools a foot high and about a foot square the seats of which were of woven cords4 ,each kind of business1 or trade1 has its own bazaar4 ,there is a shoemaker's bazaar where scores of cobblers are working4 ,at the entrance to each cavelike shop two shoemakers sit sewing away with untanned calfskin aprons tight about them4 ,between them on a block of wood1 an olive tree stump it may be1 rests a slab of white marble4 ,this is the shoemakers' bench1 upon which they pound the wet leather to make it soft with what looks like a brass paper weight4 ,it is as big around as a tumbler and of about the same height1 tapering from the top to the bottom4 ,the shoes are all made with needle and thread4 ,the soles are of camel hide and the uppers of kidskin or goatskin4 ,these are the common shoes of the peasant4 ,as ,i watched the cobblers ,i asked about their wages and was told they received from forty to sixty cents for labouring from sunrise to sunset4 ,in another street tinsmiths are at work making pots and pans out of oil cans4 ,their shops are not much bigger than cupboards1 and the workmen are long-bearded men in fez caps and gowns4 ,farther on is the grain market1 consisting of many great vaulted chambers one or more of which belongs to each merchant4 ,the vaults are filled with piles of wheat1 corn1 barley1 oats1 and millet spread out on the floor4 ,the grain is sold by measure4 ,i saw a ,bedouin come in to buy two bushels of oats4 ,it was dipped out by the peck1 the merchant shaking the measure to make the grain solid1 and then heaping up the top with his hands so that the oats formed a cone4 ,this was the 8good measure pressed down1 shaken together1 and running over10 as mentioned in ,st4 ,luke4 ,the people here never buy grain by the sack1 for they want to see it measured out before their eyes4 ,but ,i am told that the grain sellers are sometimes able to impose upon those who purchase1 making them think they get more than they really do4 ,much of the grain of the ,holy ,city is ground at home and a great deal of that of ,palestine is made into flour with hand mills4 ,some flour is imported and some is ground in mills worked by camels or donkeys4 ,in baking bread the dough is kneaded at home and brought in great lumps to the public ovens to be found in almost every street4 ,they are cave-like vaults running down below the street level4 ,at the back of each vault is the oven with a sort of well before its open door4 ,in the well stands the baker with a long paddle in his hand upon which he puts in and takes out the loaves4 ,i have seen many bakeries of this kind4 ,the fuel is olive wood1 and the oven floor is marked out in blocks1 so that the baking of each family may be put on a separate block4 ,the loaves are about an inch thick and the size of a tea plate4 ,each has a hole in the centre4 ,the baker gets a few cents for each half-dozen loaves1 or he may instead take a toll of one loaf for each dozen4 ,before starting the baking he greases the floor of the oven with olive oil4 ,the reason for these public bakeries is the great cost of fuel4 ,the ,arabs have a proverb showing that such baking is the cheapest4 ,this runs3 8,send your bread to the oven of the baker even though he should eat the half of it40 ,i frequently see boys carrying dough to these bakeries1 or bringing bread home from them4 ,they use trays which they bear on their heads4 ,ancient ,jerusalem had its ,bakers' ,street1 for we read that ,king ,zedekiah put the prophet ,jeremiah into the court of the prison and commanded that they 8should give him daily a piece of bread out of the ,bakers' ,street40 ,during my stay in ,jerusalem ,i have enjoyed the salad which is served at the hotel with an olive oil dressing4 ,this is a land of olives and the oil is delicious4 ,it is as clear as honey with a tint like the green of chartreuse4 ,i say ,i have enjoyed it1 but ,i doubt whether ,i shall enjoy it hereafter4 ,why8 ,i have seen how it is made4 ,come with me to an oil mill which is kept in a cave just off ,david ,street1 not more than a stone's throw from the ,pool of ,hezekiah4 ,at the side of the door there is a stone ledge4 ,in the centre of this is a hole as big around as a flour barrel in which1 with his clothes tied up about his waist1 with bare legs and bare feet1 stands a sweating ,ethiopian treading the oil out of the ground olives4 ,peeping over into the well in which he is standing1 we see that he has a linen cloth laid on the top of the mushy mixture4 ,he tramps this cloth into the olives with his feet and taking it up wet1 wrings out the oil into a red clay basin from whence it is poured into pots to be strained for the market4 ,farther back stand a camel and a very small1 knotty little donkey munching away while the mill is not going4 ,these animals grind up the olives1 and in another cave opening into this we can see the mill itself4 ,it is much like a horsepower grist mill1 or the bark mill of a country tannery1 and the camel and donkey walk round and round in a circle hitched to a bar which turns the mill4 ,their food is a brown cake made from what is left of the olives after the oil has been pressed out of them4 ,illustration3 ,in the ,turkish restaurants food is cooked over holes in a limestone slab1 while below the charcoal fire is fed through other openings which also make the draught ,illustration3 ,during the day the low cavelike shop of the ,jerusalem shoemaker opens directly upon the street4 ,at night it is closed by two swinging doors on rude hinges ,illustration3 ,christ's happiest hours were spent with his friends at ,bethany1 the village where ,he lived when ,he was teaching in ,jerusalem near by4 ,here the 8tomb of ,lazarus0 and the 8house of ,martha and ,mary0 are pointed out to the traveller ,but let us go to market at the ,jaffa ,gate and see what the people have brought in from the country for sale4 ,there are scores of women with baskets of vegetables before them4 ,they have lettuce and eggplants and beautiful cauliflowers with heads as white as snow4 ,they have lemons and oranges from ,jaffa and apples and pears from the highlands of ,judea4 ,many of the sellers are ,bethlehem girls4 ,here are people selling beads1 although most of the bead sellers are about the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,many of the beads are of glass and come from ,hebron1 not far from the cave which is ,abraham's tomb4 ,hebron is the chief town of south ,palestine and is a manufacturing centre4 ,it makes lamps and bottles as well as glass trinkets and glass beads1 which are sold all over the ,holy ,land4 ,the cock which reminded ,st4 ,peter of his denial of his ,master has many descendants4 ,you may see some of them in this market1 tied by the legs and lying on the stones4 ,the ,holy ,city has no ordinance against crowing cocks1 and nearly every family here keeps its own rooster4 ,there are so many that the city resounds with their music1 and about daybreak they start up a concert which murders sleep4 ,i am living in the heart of ,jerusalem--,i might as well be in a barnyard4 ,the rooster symphony begins with sunrise and keeps on until evening1 and then the donkeys and camels take up the strain4 ,the donkeys bray louder than did ,balaam's ass1 and the camels whine and grumble all night4 ,in addition to these noises1 there are others which trouble the tourists4 ,the people rise with the chickens and the stone streets recho their steps4 ,the birds sing and the pedlars shout4 ,at the same time the bells begin ringing to show that it is day1 and the trumpets of the soldiers in ,david's ,tower add to the din4 ,one can easily sleep in a railroad depot or near a boiler factory1 for the noises there are of one or two kinds and the ear comes to know them4 ,here there is a new sound every minute4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,excavating ,,old ,,jericho ,to-day ,i have walked through streets which were probably thronged when ,moses and the ,israelites were wandering in the ,wilderness1 and have tramped up and down staircases of clay built hundreds of years before ,christ was born4 ,i have been in the ruins of old ,jericho1 the city ,joshua captured over three thousand years ago1 now brought to light again by modern excavations4 ,the place is only about fourteen miles from ,jerusalem as the crow flies4 ,it lies on a little plateau1 just under the mountain upon which it is said our ,lord was tempted by the devil and promised the world4 ,it is about three miles from the present town of ,jericho1 where ,i am stopping1 and within easy access of it4 ,the excavations at ,jericho are the work of the ,austrian ,ministry of ,education4 ,when they dug into what seemed only mounds of earth the remains of a great fortified city were found4 ,this city was undoubtedly the ,jericho of ,canaan4 ,it lies on a height surrounded by great walls some of which are of stone4 ,it has inner walls and a citadel and was flanked with strong towers4 ,the heart of the city is about twelve hundred feet long and five hundred and twenty-five feet wide4 ,many of the houses have been unearthed4 ,in one of them1 which is supposed to have been built twenty-seven hundred years ago1 there was found an uncovered courtyard4 ,the house seems to have been abandoned during a fire1 and for some reason or other is better preserved than most of the others4 ,it contained a red sandstone mill for grinding meal and water vessels of various shapes4 ,it had plates and jugs as well as lamps and iron vessels with handles of deer horn4 ,in going through the ruins ,i crunched over bushels of pottery broken in pieces4 ,i saw water jars chipped and cracked4 ,each had a clay stopper as big as a tomato with a hole through the centre4 ,there are hundreds of these stoppers lying on the ground4 ,there are also stone mortars which were used for grinding grain1 and the remains of amphor1 or huge jars with necks and side handles1 which were buried in the earth and used to hold wine or grain4 ,most of the pottery is covered with a white glaze1 and some of it has vertical stripes of yellow painted upon it4 ,in the buildings the stone walls are constructed without angles1 the cracks being filled in with smaller stones4 ,i am told that the work was done with tools of bronze1 and that some of it dates back before history4 ,the centre of the city is on an egg-shaped plateau just above the plain of the ,jordan4 ,it is difficult in wandering through these ruins of mud1 brick1 and rough stone to realize that here was once a magnificent city4 ,the ,jericho of ,joshua's day was not magnificent in our sense of the word1 although it covered a large area and had a great many people4 ,there are no remnants of great marble columns1 and it is said that ,jericho had disappeared long before ,christ came and that another city had taken its place situated in this same ,jordan ,valley4 ,the ,jericho of ,christ had a theatre1 a circus1 and a university4 ,it ranked with ,jerusalem as one of the important places in ,palestine4 ,surrounded by irrigated gardens1 it was known as the ,city of ,palms4 ,it had grown up in ,roman times1 and ,mark ,antony thought so much of it that he gave it as a present to ,cleopatra1 who collected quite a revenue from the balsam groves near by1 which furnished the gum of commerce4 ,cotton was raised here at that time1 and this region was then a winter resort for ,jerusalem4 ,herod the ,great had palaces in ,jericho4 ,it is said that he died here1 although he was buried near ,hebron4 ,we know that our ,saviour came to ,jericho1 and here ,he healed the blind4 ,he did not stay in the city1 but dwelt outside in the house of ,zaccheus1 who was a collector of taxes for the ,roman ,government and therefore not popular with the ,jews4 ,i refer to ,zaccheus the dwarf4 ,he was so short that he feared he would not be able to see the ,christ over the heads of the crowd and1 as you remember from the verse in the old primer3 ,zaccheus he did climb a tree ,his ,lord to see4 ,the ruins ,i have been exploring represent not the city of ,christ's time1 but that of the day of ,joshua and ,rahab4 ,you remember ,rahab1 the fair lady1 not so good as she should have been1 who lived upon the walls of ,jericho1 and who hid ,joshua's spies under the stalks of flax she had stored up on her roof4 ,she told them of the terror which prevailed in the city over the expected attack of ,joshua1 and made them promise to save her when ,jericho was taken4 ,the spies arranged with her that she should tie some red thread to the bars of her window so that her house might be spared4 ,she then let them down by a cord through the window1 and they escaped and reported to ,joshua4 ,that was a good day's work for ,rahab4 ,the promise of the spies was carried out by the ,israelites4 ,moreover1 she married one of the princes of ,judah1 a man named ,salmon1 and thereby became one of the most famous women of the ancestral tree of the ,israelites4 ,she was the mother of ,boaz1 the husband of ,ruth1 and ,king ,david was one of her great-great-grandchildren4 ,on the next step of her genealogical ladder we find ,king ,solomon1 while away down the centuries later comes the name of ,joseph1 the husband of ,mary1 and of the family of ,christ4 ,in the first chapter of ,matthew are given the generations from ,abraham to the birth of our ,saviour1 in which are mentioned the names of only four women3 ,thamar1 ,rahab1 ,ruth1 and ,bathsheba1 who had been the wife of ,uriah and became the mother of ,solomon4 ,right under old ,jericho is the fountain of ,elisha which the prophet made sweet by throwing salt into it4 ,it is not far from the spot where he was mocked by the children who cried after him3 8,go up1 thou bald head40 ,thereupon1 say the ,scriptures1 the prophet turned and 8cursed them in the name of the ,lord4 ,and there came forth two she bears out of the woods and tare forty and two children of them40 ,it is said that the place where ,elijah was carried up in a whirlwind to heaven was not far from ,jericho1 and on my way down here from ,jerusalem ,i saw the cave in which the prophet is supposed to have been fed by ravens4 ,it is in the ,wady ,kelt1 a great dry rocky canyon with high walls4 ,the cave is half way up the side of the gorge and partly hidden by the monastery which the ,greeks have built there4 ,but let me tell you how ,i came down to ,jericho4 ,the way from ,jerusalem is through the wilderness of ,judea1 over one of the roughest and stoniest lands of the world4 ,there is but little green to be seen and the glare is intense4 ,the dust of the limestone and chalk road is so thick that it gets into eyes1 mouth1 and nostrils4 ,this road1 which is the chief highway from the ,jordan to the ,holy ,city1 is travelled by thousands4 ,the traffic was even greater in the time of ,christ1 for the ,jordan ,valley was then covered with irrigated farms and the rich men of ,jerusalem had their winter homes there4 ,i left ,jerusalem in a carriage1 going out through the ,damascus ,gate1 crossing the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat1 and skirting the ,garden of ,gethsemane at the foot of the ,mount of ,olives4 ,my carriage was an easy victoria drawn by three ,arabian horses1 and the coachman was a ,syrian ,jehu with hair as red and a face as fair as my own4 ,i had a soldier with me to keep off the robbers4 ,he was furnished by the government of ,jerusalem at a cost of three dollars and was under the direct command of the sheik here at ,jericho4 ,this soldier carried a gun and sword1 and went ahead1 nominally to clear the road4 ,every party ,i met on the way1 including a company of hunters from ,jerusalem on their way for game in the lands beyond the ,jordan1 had an escort of soldiers4 ,i stopped at ,bethany to look at ,lazarus's tomb1 and was reminded of how ,mark ,twain said that he would 8rather sleep in the tomb than in any other house in the place40 ,the ,bethany of to-day is a dirty1 ragged village of forty or fifty stone huts inhabited by perhaps three hundred people4 ,the houses stand on the side of a hill1 rising one over the other4 ,the people are small farmers who cultivate patches of stony land and little orchards of olives and figs4 ,they have cows and make butter for ,jerusalem4 ,they are all ,mohammedans1 and their children call out for baksheesh4 ,entering the town1 ,i took a look at the tomb4 ,it is a sort of cavern cut out of limestone and entered by steep steps4 ,it belongs to the ,franciscan monks1 who often say mass there4 ,the house of ,mary and ,martha1 where ,christ stopped1 is said to have been in an inclosure now full of brambles and wild cactus4 ,there is no building left1 although the guides point out a pile of stones which they say was once a part of the wall4 ,on the way to ,bethany ,i was shown the site of the fig tree which was cursed by the ,saviour and thereafter never bore fruit4 ,there are many fig trees about1 and orchards of them are to be found in most parts of the ,holy ,land4 ,it was on the road to ,bethany that ,christ is said to have mounted the colt which carried him on his triumphal entry into ,jerusalem on ,palm ,sunday4 ,shortly after ,i left ,bethany ,i saw a curious sight by the roadside4 ,this was a man leaning backward over a great gray boulder and rubbing himself violently upon it4 ,there were some stones on top of the rock and ,i observed that the man added another stone to the pile and that he kissed the rock as he left4 ,i asked my guide the secret of his actions4 ,he replied3 8,that stone is called the ,father of ,rocks1 and it is said to be a sure cure for backache4 ,the people here think that any one so afflicted will be cured if he can rub his sore back against it40 ,illustration3 ,tradition says that by a miracle the prophet ,elisha purified the waters of this fountain4 ,excavations on the hillside above have uncovered the foundations of the old city walls of ,jericho1 over which ,rahab let down the two spies of ,joshua ,illustration3 ,at the ,tomb of ,lazarus there are always natives waiting to be photographed--for backsheesh ,illustration3 ,his back hurts him1 and he is rubbing it against the healing stone on the way to ,jordan1 believing this will work a cure ,a little farther on ,i stopped for a bottle of ginger pop and a cracker at the ,good ,samaritan ,inn1 which stands on the traditional site where lay the man who fell among thieves when the priest and the ,levite passed him by on the other side4 ,it is right on the road about half way between ,jerusalem and ,jericho4 ,there was a crowd in the inn while ,i waited1 among them a ,syrian peasant who had been robbed by a party of ,bedouins4 ,the man was covered with wounds1 and was crying and sobbing as he told how he had been attacked and robbed of the money which he had just received from the sale of some sheep4 ,much of this country is unsafe1 and no one who has money dares travel alone4 ,all the way to the ,jordan ,i met little caravans on their way to ,jerusalem4 ,in every party there were some men with guns on their backs4 ,the guns were often old-fashioned flintlock muskets4 ,i passed some donkey trains taking bags of charcoal from beyond the ,jordan1 and a caravan of camels each of which bore two great bags of wheat slung over his back4 ,the drivers of both donkeys and camels were armed4 ,they had come from the land of ,moab1 and were now going up through ,judea4 ,before starting on my way to the ,jordan ,i spent several hours on the ,mount of ,olives4 ,this mountain is two hundred feet higher than the hills upon which ,jerusalem stands4 ,it is directly opposite the city1 being separated from it by the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat or ,kedron1 and it can be easily reached4 ,there are good roads up the ,mount of ,olives1 and one can now ride to most of the holy places4 ,with the prosperity which is coming to ,palestine the ,mount of ,olives is rapidly changing4 ,its slopes are cultivated1 the rocks are being picked up and laid in stone fences1 and the cleared spots planted to crops and to orchards4 ,there were many olive orchards on this mount in the days of the ,saviour1 who came here frequently to get away from the crowds of the city4 ,the soil seems fertile1 and the crops upon the mountain grow luxuriantly4 ,there are green patches of wheat1 barley1 and oats1 while here and there are carob trees1 with pods like those which furnished the food for the prodigal son when he ate with the swine4 ,the ,mount of ,olives is now spotted with churches and chapels4 ,it has monasteries and convents1 a great ,russian church1 and several hospices1 including the huge sanitarium built in honour of ,augusta1 ,empress of ,germany4 ,one of the most interesting of these institutions is a ,carmelite nunnery1 which has been erected over the spot where tradition says ,christ taught the ,lord's ,prayer to ,his disciples4 ,the church here is called 8,the ,church of the ,lord's ,prayer10 and has in its court tablets inscribed with the prayer in thirty-two different languages4 ,i visited the chapel of the nunnery1 where prayers go up every day and night and every hour of the day all the year through4 ,the nuns so divide their time that one is always praying4 ,they kneel behind a screen and are not to be seen by visitors4 ,this church is one of the quietest and most solemn of all in the ,holy ,land4 ,after the noisy scenes which take place about the ,holy ,sepulchre it is a relief4 ,the ,carmelite nuns are devout4 ,they do not go out of the nunnery except it be absolutely necessary4 ,even when they walk in its garden they wear such heavy veils that they have to hold them out from their faces to see where they are going4 ,my guide tells me that each nun digs her own grave1 and that when she is about to die she is dressed in her shroud and carried into the church in order that she may pass away there4 ,in the floor of the ,chapel of the ,ascension near the nunnery is a spot which looks like a footprint1 and is said to be the place where the foot of the ,saviour rested before ,he ascended to heaven4 ,the chapel belongs to the ,mohammedans and is let out at times to the ,christians4 ,but to me the ,garden of ,gethsemane was more interesting4 ,it lies at the foot of the ,mount of ,olives1 just off the ,jericho road4 ,it is surrounded by a wall of yellow limestone twelve feet high and about four feet thick4 ,on the outside of it1 in the shade of the wall1 sat a score of lepers who held out their hands for alms as we passed4 ,they were dirty and filthy and their disease had made them repulsive sights4 ,some had no fingers1 some no noses1 and one held out a tin can tied to the stump of her wrist from which the hand had dropped off4 ,the garden goes up the side of the mountain4 ,it is almost square and does not cover two acres4 ,it is cut up into flower beds bordered by inverted beer and wine bottles4 ,there are eight old olive trees1 pansies of all shades of the rainbow1 and many beautiful flowers1 as well as dark cypress trees4 ,the garden belongs to the ,franciscan monks who opened the gate at our knock4 ,the gate is a mere hole in the wall1 so low that all who enter must stoop4 ,it is closed by an iron door1 with a round black bar of iron1 ten inches long1 as a knocker4 ,just back of the entrance to the garden is a ledge of limestone where the disciples are said to have slept during the night of the agony1 and perhaps one hundred feet farther away stands a column which tradition says marks the spot where ,judas betrayed ,christ with a kiss4 ,both of these places have been worn smooth by the lips of thousands of pilgrims4 ,illustration3 ,the source of the ,jordan at ,banias is one of the largest springs in the world4 ,the ,jordan is rightly named the 8down-comer10 for in its winding course of two hundred and forty miles it drops from the mountains to the ,dead ,sea1 nearly thirteen hundred feet below sea-level ,illustration3 ,we need an escort for the trip over the barren wastes to the ,river ,jordan1 for ,bedouin brigands still occasionally relieve the unwary tourist of his valuables ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,the ,,dead ,,sea ,,and ,,the ,,jordan ,the ,jordan6 ,how shall ,i make you see it as it winds its way through this great gash in the thirsty face of old ,mother ,earth8 ,all day long ,i have been travelling upon its banks in the lower part of its course4 ,i have visited the ford where ,joshua crossed with his army of ,jews when he took possession of ,canaan2 have stood on the spot where it is said that ,jesus was baptized of ,john1 and have gone over the place where the waters were parted by the cloak of ,elijah4 ,here at ,jericho ,i am within a short gallop of the ,dead ,sea1 into which the ,jordan flows1 and sitting on the steps of my hotel ,i can see ,mount ,nebo1 where ,moses stood when he viewed the ,promised ,land1 which he was not to enter4 ,in former travels ,i have seen the ,jordan1 near the ,sea of ,galilee1 and have been not far from its source in the ,lebanon ,mountains4 ,the ,jordan ,valley is the cellar of the world4 ,it is a great trench1 which begins a thousand or more feet above the sea in the ,lebanon ,mountains1 and within a distance of one hundred and sixty miles1 as the crow flies1 cuts its way down to thirteen hundred feet below sea level1 where it ends in the ,dead ,sea4 ,the bottom of that sea is a half mile below the surface of the ,mediterranean1 and in ,jericho1 where ,i am writing1 we are almost four thousand feet below the highest point in ,jerusalem4 ,there is no other part of the earth uncovered by water where for an equal distance the land is sunken even two hundred feet below the level of the ocean4 ,this is the strangest trough of the world4 ,though often associated with the idea of going to heaven1 the ,valley of the ,jordan is emblematic of hell4 ,most of it is as parched as the dry sands of the ,sahara1 and just now its heat is as torrid as ,tophet4 ,the plain over which ,i rode to-day on my way to the river was covered with thorn bushes4 ,the only green ,i saw after leaving the irrigated farms about ,jericho was that bordering the gully through which the ,jordan runs4 ,for the rest1 the alkaline earth cut up by the floods into castles and mounds1 makes bare gullies and hills of all sizes and shapes4 ,the mean temperature of ,jerusalem1 only fourteen miles away1 is #fd ,fahrenheit4 ,it is temperate throughout the year and snow falls there in the winter4 ,the heat here is as great as that of the centre of ,nubia4 ,for six months in the year the mean temperature in the ,jordan ,valley averages #ajj ,fahrenheit4 ,but this is not the character of the whole course of the ,jordan4 ,let me give you a bird's-eye view of the river1 or1 better1 let us suppose we have taken an aeroplane and are going from its source in the ,lebanon ,mountains to where it loses itself in the great sea of salt below here4 ,it rises on the foot of ,mount ,hermon1 whose peak is covered with snow the greater part of the year4 ,it has two or three different sources4 ,one is near ,dan1 and higher up is another at ,banias1 near the spot where ,christ said3 8,thou art ,peter1 and upon this rock will ,i build my ,church1 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it40 ,it is at ,banias that the ,jordan has its chief source4 ,it comes from a cave in the limestone rock which is now choked up with stones1 but out of which the water flows in a great volume1 cold1 sweet1 and pure4 ,there are trees about the cave and the stream runs through a beautiful park down to ,lake ,huleh1 which is only seven feet above the sea4 ,the spring of ,banias has always been noted for its sweetness and purity4 ,it is said the waters and cave were formerly dedicated to the god ,pan1 and that from him came the name ,banias1 or ,panias4 ,greek tablets have been found near by1 and ruined temples and columns show that the place was once the site of a considerable city4 ,it has now only a mud village of about fifty huts4 ,flying down to ,lake ,huleh1 we see a marshy catch basin into which run other streams and from which the ,jordan flows out4 ,there is little activity about the lake4 ,near it live a few ,bedouins whose only business seems to be making mats of the papyrus reeds growing on the shores4 ,these are the waters of ,merom beside which ,joshua and his men of war battled with the ,canaanites for the ,promised ,land4 ,a little farther down is the main crossing to ,damascus4 ,the place is known as the ,bridge of ,jacob's ,daughters1 and the stream is here on the level of the sea4 ,it drops six hundred and eighty feet in the next nine miles1 falling in a series of twenty-seven cascades4 ,the remainder of the ,jordan's course runs between the seas of life and death4 ,i refer to the ,sea of ,galilee at the north and the ,dead ,sea at the south4 ,the first1 though somewhat brackish1 is full of fish and surrounded by verdure4 ,the other is saltier than any other water on earth1 and so bitter and poisonous that no living thing can exist within it4 ,the distance between these two seas in a straight line north and south is about sixty-five miles1 and the slope from one to the other is almost twelve feet to the mile1 or over six hundred and sixty feet4 ,connecting them is this great trough of the ,jordan1 from one to sixteen miles wide4 ,through it flows the sacred river1 twisting about like a corkscrew1 and making so many turnings that it flows more than two hundred miles in an airline distance of only sixty miles4 ,it runs with great force and there are numerous falls where electric plants might be put in4 ,the land on each side might be turned into rich farms if it could only have water1 and it may be that the good fairy of electricity will some time bring the dead earth to life4 ,there are some farms in the upper part of the course of the ,jordan and there is a sugar plantation half way between ,galilee and the ,dead ,sea1 where soldiers work as labourers4 ,there are small fields of grain1 including millet1 wheat1 and barley here and there1 and ,i am told that rice and indigo can be grown4 ,down near the ,dead ,sea there is considerable cultivation on the ,jericho plain4 ,the land is irrigated by a stream from the mountains of ,judea and by the spring of ,elisha4 ,it is cut up into small patches covered with orange groves1 almond orchards1 and vineyards4 ,much of the fruit goes up to ,jerusalem4 ,there are also fields of eggplants1 tomatoes1 and melons1 and dates could undoubtedly be grown4 ,all the way from here to old ,jericho1 a distance of about three miles1 are orchards1 vineyards1 and gardens4 ,they are fenced with thorn bushes1 the thorns on which are great hooks turning inward4 ,they are said to be the same thorns as those of which the crown of our ,saviour was made4 ,illustration3 ,a thick mist always hangs over the weird waters of the ,dead ,sea1 while intense heat and insect pests make its shores almost intolerable ,illustration3 ,the current is swift in this place and we hire a fisherman to take us across the ,jordan4 ,under ,turkish rule the river was considered the personal property of the ,sultan1 who allowed no pleasure craft upon it ,illustration3 ,bethlehem is a maze of narrow1 winding streets1 lined with box-like houses having flat grass-grown roofs and overhanging windows4 ,here ,rachel died and was buried2 here dwelt ,ruth and ,boaz1 and here were born ,david and the ,saviour ,the ,jordan is not navigable4 ,along its whole course it has no wharves1 no boats1 and no cities or villages of any account4 ,it has numerous fords but no bridges of any size4 ,the wooden bridge about six miles above the ,dead ,sea is a toll bridge1 with fords above and below it4 ,the people use it only when the river is high4 ,at other times the caravans save the toll by passing through the fords4 ,on its course from ,galilee to the ,dead ,sea the river narrows and widens4 ,now it is a swift1 black1 sullen current flowing between ugly mud banks covered with refuse1 now it comes close to the mountains which border the valley on either side1 and down here at the ,dead ,sea it reaches a width of five hundred feet1 being so shallow that you could almost wade across it4 ,the water gathers the denudations of the mountains4 ,it changes in colour from season to season1 and in the spring spreads out in floods over the valley4 ,it is said that the parting of the water in order that ,joshua and the ,israelites might pass over was when the river was at its highest4 ,at this point in its course it is not a sweet water4 ,it has gathered the salts from this arid country and is so full of organic matter that those who carry it home for baptisms have to boil and filter it to get rid of its disagreeable smell4 ,i have several canteens which ,i filled myself from the stream1 or rather with the water which ,i brought in wine bottles from the ,jordan and had boiled and filtered before it was put into the cans4 ,if ,i ever have a grandchild it shall be baptized with this water4 ,i bought the canteens at the ,jordan ,hotel here at ,jericho where they are kept on hand to be sold to the tourists and pilgrims4 ,a vast number of them are carried away every year4 ,let us go from ,jericho to the land where the ,moabites live on the other side of the river4 ,it is only a few miles away1 and we can drive there in a carriage4 ,as we start1 the great white blazing sun is climbing the blue above ,mount ,nebo1 and the faint streak of the ,dead ,sea1 with the haze that hangs always over it1 can be seen down the valley4 ,our soldier gallops in front to scare off the ,bedouins and we wind our way lazily in and out through the wheat fields4 ,leaving these we enter a desert on the edge of which stands ,gilgal1 where the ,israelites first encamped after crossing the ,jordan1 and then go on through thorny scrub among gullies and hills until we approach the long fringes of thicket which border the river4 ,there is more vegetation as we near this1 and we go through the bushes until we come to a creek no wider than a city street4 ,it looks like some of the small streams of our central states4 ,i know many such in ,indiana1 ,illinois1 and ,ohio1 and there is one of just about the same size which goes by the name of ,goose ,creek in ,loudoun ,county1 ,virginia4 ,the ,rhine and the ,hudson1 the ,potomac1 or even the ,shenandoah1 could swallow the ,jordan without bulging1 and just now it is so small that in the ,united ,states it would not be called a river at all4 ,nevertheless1 the current is swift at this place and we hire a fisherman to take us across4 ,he charges twenty-five cents for the boat1 and for this rows us up and down stream for an hour4 ,he stands up as he rows and leans on the oars4 ,we go to the other side of the ,jordan and climb out through the willows4 ,how quiet it is6 ,the only sounds are the ripple of the stream as it washes the banks and the songs of sweet-voiced birds in the trees at our left4 ,as we return we lean over and bathe our hands in the ,jordan4 ,the water is cold4 ,when taken up in a bottle it looks like weak milk4 ,we taste it4 ,it is acrid and salty and we spit it out in disgust4 ,here ,christ is said to have been baptized of ,john4 ,at this place1 which is about three miles from the ,dead ,sea1 the water at ordinary times is four or five feet deep4 ,most of the pilgrims come here1 and it is the scene of tens of thousands of baptisms a year4 ,the chief time of baptizing is ,easter1 when the ,russians come by the thousands and when other members of the ,greek ,church unite with them in a great caravan which journeys here and camps4 ,leaving the ,jordan we make our way down the valley to the ,dead ,sea4 ,the road goes through the thorn bushes and twists about through the barren hills4 ,the land is salty and alkaline and all nature is dead4 ,how hot the sun is1 and how glaring6 ,our eyes smart1 and horrid flies crawl with legs of glue over our faces4 ,we try to brush them off but they alight and bite us again4 ,now we are on the shore of the sea1 which is covered with pebbles and driftwood4 ,it looks more like a lake than a sea1 and is just about the size of ,lake ,geneva in ,switzerland4 ,it is only fifty miles long and ten miles in width and we can see from one side of it to the other4 ,the ,dead ,sea lies between stony mountains4 ,on the east are the desert hills of ,moab1 where ,ruth was born and ,moses is buried1 and on the west lie those of ,judea where the children of ,israel came after ,moses had pointed out to them the ,promised ,land4 ,there are openings at the north and south1 and away at the southwest are works for evaporating the water to make salt4 ,the ,dead ,sea has no outlet4 ,the water evaporates so fast that it is usually misty here4 ,it is estimated that over six million tons of water flow into it daily4 ,nevertheless1 its level changes only a little throughout the year1 and that at the times of the flood4 ,now dip up some of the water in your hand and taste it4 ,it burns your tongue and your lips4 ,it is as bitter as gall4 ,if you drank a glass of it you would probably die4 ,it is the saltiest water on earth4 ,if you will take a gallon and boil it down1 you will find that one fourth of the contents is solid4 ,it is six times as salty as the water of the ocean1 and a cubic mile of it would contain nine hundred million tons of mineral matter4 ,the sum is so staggering that you cannot comprehend it1 but at ninety tons to the car it would take ten million cars to carry that much1 and if your cars were a little under forty feet long the train required for the load would reach eighty miles4 ,there is asphalt or pitch in the bottom of the lake and the water has other minerals in addition to salt4 ,indeed1 the salt proper left after boiling comprises only about #g per cent4 of the whole4 ,if you would further test the water1 take an egg and drop it into the sea4 ,it will float1 leaving one third of the egg above the surface4 ,a fresh egg will sink in fresh water1 and we break our egg to be sure it is fresh4 ,another test4 ,let us strip off our clothing and go in for a swim4 ,you do not know how to swim8 ,that makes no difference in this salty sea4 ,the water is so heavy you could not sink if you tried4 ,you can lie on your back and float all day long4 ,you can stand upright and tread1 but it is almost impossible to maintain such a position4 ,your feet have a tendency to fly to the surface1 and you bob up and down like 8the monkey on the stick40 ,now try to swim4 ,your feet fly out of the water and you cannot make any headway4 ,now let us wade out and let the sun dry our skins4 ,we feel as if we had been painted with mucilage4 ,we are gummy and oily and incrusted with salt4 ,we were scratched as we came through the thorn bushes and the salt got into the wounds and they are burning like fire4 ,we shall not be happy until we can get some fresh water to wash off the salt4 ,an interesting thing about the ,dead ,sea is the fact that on its shores were the sites of the ancient ,sodom and ,gomorrah1 the two towns which became so wicked that the ,lord rained fire and brimstone upon them4 ,there are said to be sulphur springs in the country about1 and it may have been a volcano which caused the destruction4 ,it was right here on the plain of the ,jordan that the nephew of ,abraham and the cousin of ,ishmael and ,isaac1 the good man ,lot1 had his estate4 ,it was in ,sodom that he lived1 one of the richest of its citizens1 and the only just man in the city4 ,from there he went out with ,mrs4 ,lot and the two girls4 ,and it is said to be at the southwest end of the lake1 not far away1 that ,madame ,lot turned and looked back and1 as we may suppose1 longed for the fleshpots4 ,and lo6 she became a pillar of salt4 ,there are still deposits of rock-salt at that end of the lake1 and the guides now show the remains of a pillar which they say was once ,mrs4 ,lot1 but which has been licked by the camels until it has almost disappeared4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,bethlehem ,during my several trips to ,palestine ,i have visited ,bethlehem1 where our ,saviour was born1 and have lived for days in ,nazareth1 where ,his boyhood was spent4 ,i have gone over much of the road ,joseph and ,mary followed when they carried the child into ,egypt1 and have crossed the mountains of ,samaria from ,galilee to ,jerusalem1 where ,he went as a boy of twelve and was found teaching the doctrine in ,solomon's ,temple4 ,i have even climbed the hills and gone into the wilderness where our ,lord was tempted of the devil after those forty days of hunger and thirst4 ,at ,capernaum ,i saw the recently excavated marble synagogue where some of ,his first preaching was done4 ,i have climbed to the top of the hill above the ,sea of ,galilee1 where ,he delivered the ,sermon on the ,mount1 and have picked flowers from the rolling green sward below1 where the miracle of the loaves and fishes was performed4 ,not far from that place1 on the opposite shore1 may be seen a steep hill down which rushed the swine possessed of the devils our ,saviour had cast out of the ,gadarene man4 ,i have been in ,bethany1 where lived ,mary and ,martha1 and have sat under the trees in the ,garden of ,gethsemane4 ,many of these places are about the same as they were when our ,saviour was alive4 ,some have been covered with churches and convents1 but the warring sects of ,christians have not been able to change the bright sky4 ,nature is the same now as it was then4 ,the same flowers bloom and the same birds sing4 ,besides1 it is not so long1 after all1 since ,jesus was born in ,bethlehem4 ,the average lifetime of a man is not much more than was that of our ,saviour4 ,he lived thirty-three years4 ,it would take only fifty-eight such lifetimes to cover the period between now and the birth of ,christ4 ,each of us has a relative who is1 perhaps1 sixty-five years old4 ,the lives of thirty such men would1 if joined together1 reach back to the days of ,king ,herod4 ,we shall take carriages for our trip from ,jerusalem to ,bethlehem4 ,we start at the ,jaffa ,gate1 next ,david's ,tower1 on the top of ,mount ,zion1 near where1 it is claimed1 the ,crucifixion took place4 ,the gate was widened by the breach in the wall made in honour of ,kaiser ,wilhelm of ,germany1 so all sorts of vehicles can now go through it4 ,as we leave the gate we pass coffee houses where people of a dozen different nationalities are drinking1 go by the railroad station1 where a puffing locomotive is just in from the ,mediterranean1 skirt the valley of ,hinnom1 in which is the ,pool of ,gihon1 where ,david was anointed1 and a little later on stop near the village where ,king ,saul was crowned4 ,the road is excellent4 ,it is of hard limestone walled on each side by limestone fences and backed by green fields now covered with the dust of the highway4 ,the traffic is constant1 so that the air is white with dust4 ,it fills our eyes1 mouths1 and nostrils1 and makes us look like millers4 ,we cover our eyes with smoked glasses to keep out the glare4 ,the road is dazzling white1 the fences are white1 a white dust covers the green of the fields4 ,as we are going toward the south1 the sun is full in our faces4 ,it is hot1 although a cold wind is blowing over these hills of ,judea which whirls the dust around and sends columns of it into the air4 ,soon after leaving ,jerusalem we cross a depression carpeted with green1 which is known as the ,valley of ,roses4 ,farther on are olive groves1 and as we near ,bethlehem there are great fields of green4 ,at the left we can see the plain where the young widow ,ruth garnered wheat for old ,boaz and thus got food and a husband4 ,all the way from ,jerusalem to ,bethlehem crops are growing4 ,there are signs of increased cultivation1 and every bit of available land is being set out in orchards and gardens4 ,i went over the same road twenty-odd years ago4 ,then the country was bare rocks with bits of grass here and there4 ,to-day the land is divided into fields4 ,the surface rocks have been gathered together and laid up in fences as high as my head4 ,the cleared land is now planted in wheat1 corn1 and barley4 ,new olive orchards are rising1 while many of the old ones still stand4 ,the trunks of the old trees are knotted and gnarled1 but the leaves are of green dusted with silver1 and ,i am told they still bear fruit4 ,i photographed one tree not more than thirty feet high which had a trunk as thick as a hogshead and branches which shaded a large tract of ground4 ,the soil of ,palestine is as fertile to-day as it was when ,joshua led the ,israelites across it1 and barring the fences1 ,i doubt not the landscape is about the same now as it was when ,christ was born4 ,illustration3 ,christmas is long drawn out at ,bethlehem4 ,first come the ,latin ceremonies on ,december #be2 fourteen days later the ,greek ,church celebrates2 and thirteen days later comes the ,armenian feast ,illustration3 ,young women in ,bethlehem proudly wear their dowries--necklaces and fillets of coins1 and beautifully embroidered shawls1 which may mean over a year of painstaking needlework ,every bit of the way from ,jerusalem to ,bethlehem is historic ground4 ,over this same road ,abraham travelled to ,mount ,moriah4 ,along it came the ,wise ,men of the ,east following the ,star on their way to the stable where ,jesus was born4 ,they had called upon crafty ,king ,herod at ,jerusalem to ask about the ,king of the ,jews4 ,he had told them to find where ,he was born1 that he might come and worship ,him4 ,the road goes by a well where it is said these ,wise ,men stopped to drink4 ,it is known as the 8,well of the ,magi10 and is near an olive grove on the east side of the road4 ,it is covered with a marble slab as big around as a cart wheel with a hole cut in the centre through which the water is raised by a bucket and rope4 ,the stone is polished by the kisses of pilgrims4 ,the story is that the ,wise ,men as they trudged along in the gathering twilight sat down by this well to rest4 ,when they stooped forward to draw some water to drink1 they saw reflected in its mirror-like surface the guiding ,star4 ,they looked toward the heavens1 and then1 in the words of the ,scripture3 ,lo1 the star which they saw in the ,east went before them1 until it came and stood over where the young child was4 ,it was not far from here that ,i caught my first sight of the field where the shepherds lay when the angel and the heavenly host announced ,christ's birth to them4 ,it is said to be the field of ,boaz upon which ,ruth gleaned her wheat4 ,it lies across the valley to the east of ,bethlehem4 ,there is a little village in front of it1 and a part of the field is covered by an olive grove4 ,i saw the sheep feeding upon it1 and as ,i rode to ,bethlehem ,i passed flocks of them being driven to the ,jerusalem markets4 ,they were of the fat-tailed variety1 some of their tails weighing1 ,i venture1 fifteen pounds each4 ,the drivers were kind-eyed and gentle in their manners and as they went by us they cried out ,neharak sa'id1 or 8,may thy day be happy60 ,to this we replied ,neharak sa'id umubarak which in ,arabic means 8,may thy day also be happy and blessed40 ,the shepherds were dressed in long gowns and wore handkerchiefs about their heads as turbans4 ,some of them wore sheepskins1 and it is probable that they were clad much the same as those who 8came with haste0 and found the infant ,jesus lying in a manger4 ,there is a chapel now in the ,field of the ,shepherds1 and for centuries a church and a monastery stood on the spot4 ,soon after leaving ,jerusalem we pass a hill on the left of the road1 where1 the guide says1 stood the building in which ,judas ,iscariot sold his ,lord for thirty pieces of silver4 ,not far away is an old olive tree upon which the pilgrims are told ,judas hanged himself in his remorse after the ,crucifixion4 ,going onward about four miles from ,jerusalem we come to a building which has just received a fresh coat of whitewash4 ,it is known as the ,tomb of ,rachel1 and covers the spot where she is said to be buried4 ,not far from it ,david had his fight with ,goliath1 the ten-foot giant of the ,scriptures4 ,i am not sure as to the locality1 but there are millions of stones there to-day1 and plenty of ammunition for the slings of an army of ,davids4 ,indeed1 there is hardly a field on the hills of ,judea which is not covered with stones of one size or another1 and the shepherds use slings to this day4 ,and speaking of stones reminds me of the ,field of ,peas1 which lies not far from ,bethlehem4 ,it is a tract on the side of a hill where the stones are so thick that if it were planted to corn you would have to carry earth to cover the grains4 ,as the story goes1 our ,lord was passing by here when ,he saw a man sowing grain4 ,he stopped and asked him what he was sowing4 ,the man replied 8stones40 ,and thereupon the seed peas in his bag turned to stones1 and all that he had sown did the same4 ,some of the stones now on the field are gathered up and peddled to pilgrims as relics4 ,i had one such pedlar follow me half the way from ,jerusalem to ,bethlehem4 ,he was a turbaned ,syrian boy on a donkey1 who had to gallop to keep up with my carriage4 ,to this the donkey objected1 and the boy kept him up to his work with a stick as long as a husking peg and equally sharp4 ,he inserted this under the saddle1 behind him1 and then using it as a lever1 pulled on the other end of the peg1 forcing its sharp point into the animal's flesh4 ,at every such pull the donkey kicked up its heels and increased its speed1 while the rider bobbed up and down1 and his long1 full-trousered legs stood straight out4 ,climbing the hill1 we come into the town of ,bethlehem4 ,we find ourselves in a maze of box-like1 one-1 two-1 and three-story limestone houses4 ,they stand close to the edges of winding streets1 which are here and there arched over to shut out the sun4 ,the town1 which has about fifteen thousand inhabitants1 is probably ten times as large as it was when ,christ was born4 ,its chief revenue comes from its association with the ,christian religion and the fact that ,christ was born here4 ,there are thousands of tourists who visit the birthplace of the ,saviour every year1 and the chief business of the ,bethlehemites is making rosaries1 crosses1 and articles of wood and mother-of-pearl for sale to the pilgrims as well as for shipment abroad4 ,i was surprised to learn that the mother-of-pearl used is imported from the ,united ,states1 where it is known as 8pearl waste40 ,shells are carved and sold to tourists in ,jerusalem and elsewhere1 and the ,palestine beads1 so largely used as rosaries1 both by ,mohammedans and ,christians1 are made here4 ,these beads are filed out of oyster shells until they are the right size4 ,holes are then drilled in them and they are polished by shaking them about in crockery vessels with a little water4 ,after this they are treated in a weak solution of nitric acid1 polished again1 and strung on cords of silk or wire4 ,crosses and hearts are made of mother-of-pearl1 and sometimes a little image of the ,saviour is attached to the rosary4 ,much of this work is done by women and girls1 who receive from twelve to twenty-five cents a day4 ,it is estimated that the total production of such wares sells for in the neighbourhood of two hundred thousand dollars a year1 and that something like thirty thousand dollars' worth are shipped to the ,united ,states annually4 ,the grotto or cave in which ,christ was born is in the very heart of the ,bethlehem of to-day4 ,there is an open square in front of it surrounded by stores and schools1 and a great church known as the ,church of the ,nativity has been built over it4 ,the church is entered by a door which looks like a square hole cut through a stone wall4 ,it is so low that all who enter1 even the children1 must stoop4 ,as ,i started to go in ,i saw a ,bethlehem woman with a baby in her arms standing outside4 ,the baby was small1 and ,i could imagine the woman as ,mary and the child as the ,saviour4 ,taking a coin out of my pocket1 ,i asked her to pose for my camera4 ,she did so1 carrying the child into the sun4 ,near by1 in the shadow of the church1 was a bearded ,syrian in turban and gown1 and at first ,i thought he might make a good ,joseph to pose with my ,mary4 ,upon bringing him into the light1 however1 ,i found that he was a beggar and would not fit into the picture1 so ,i enriched him with a gift of five cents and sent him back to his seat4 ,illustration3 ,ropes used by generations of drawers of water have furrowed the stones of ,jacob's ,well where ,christ talked with the woman of ,samaria4 ,over it the ,greeks have recently erected a stone chapel ,illustration3 ,there are left in ,palestine less than two hundred ,samaritans1 whose ,high ,priest guards the ancient scroll of the first five books of the ,bible1 which they claim is the original version of the ,pentateuch ,one part of the ,church of the ,nativity is controlled by the ,armenians and ,latins1 another by the ,greeks1 and there are soldiers on hand to keep the worshippers in order4 ,these two sects fight for the right to take care of the birthplace of ,jesus1 and not long ago a controversy arose over which should clean one of the windows4 ,both the ,armenians and the ,greeks were quarrelling over it when the ,mohammedan authorities came in and forbade either sect to touch it4 ,therefore1 that window remained unwashed4 ,the stable is under the church4 ,it is reached by a winding staircase going down into a cave floored with marble about twelve feet wide and forty feet long4 ,thirty-two lamps burn day and night within it4 ,set in the marble pavement is a star over which there is an inscription stating that on that spot the ,virgin ,mary gave birth to ,christ4 ,this star is held down by nails4 ,once the ,armenian who had the right to clean it was working away when he knocked off the head of one of the nails4 ,this caused a great commotion4 ,the ,greeks1 ,latins1 and ,armenians began to fight over it1 and the governor of ,jerusalem1 to settle the dispute1 called in a blacksmith to drill out the old nail and put in a new one4 ,the blacksmith proved to be a member of one of the quarrelling sects4 ,in order to settle the trouble the governor called in a gypsy1 who had no religious standing whatever1 and he replaced the nail without opposition4 ,at one side of the cave is a recess called the ,chapel of the ,manger1 where it is said the ,saviour was laid after ,his birth4 ,the manger is of brown-and-white marble1 and a wax doll lies in it representing the ,christ4 ,the ,latins claim that they have the original manger in one of their cathedrals in ,rome4 ,it is shown every ,christmas4 ,as ,i stood in the stable not far from the manger1 a party of twenty ,franciscan monks came in and knelt down and sang a service concerning the ,nativity4 ,they were burly men with shaved heads and long beards4 ,they wore long gowns and their heads and feet were bare4 ,they knelt upon the floor as they sang1 and at the end each bowed down and kissed the star marking the spot of ,christ's birth4 ,this ,bethlehem grotto1 if indeed it was ever used as a stable1 has been so changed by the decorations that it is impossible to conceive it to be the place of the ,nativity4 ,it is probably a fraud1 as is also the well at one side of the crypt where the water is said to have burst forth from the naked rock for the use of the ,holy ,family4 ,i looked down into this well4 ,it is said that the star1 that guided the ,magi fell into it1 but that it is only visible to the eye of a virgin4 ,i tried in vain to imagine the scenes of ,christ's birth4 ,the decorations were out of all keeping with the place1 and the warring ,christians prevented reverent thought4 ,i got a better idea by going into some of the actual stables which are in use in ,palestine to-day1 and which are just about the same now as they were nineteen hundred years ago4 ,i remember one such stable near ,jerusalem4 ,it was a cave with a floor of rough stone1 divided into chambers or stalls1 which opened into a sort of court4 ,there were men and women sleeping on the floors of the courts1 with the animals eating out of their stone boxes or mangers about them4 ,the people had no bedclothing except their blankets1 and ate their meals on the floor4 ,it was on such a floor that ,mary had to lie1 because there was no room at the inn1 and the manger in which the baby ,christ lay was probably a hollowed-out stone box such as those in which the donkeys were eating4 ,within this stable ,i saw a ,bedouin woman with a sleeping baby on her knee4 ,she had just been feeding the child and one breast peeped out between the folds of her coarse1 rough gown4 ,her arms were bare to the shoulders and there were bracelets upon her wrists4 ,her face was as sweet as that of any ,madonna ,i have ever seen upon canvas1 and her baby1 still in its swaddling clothes1 looked as pure and as innocent as the most famous representation of the infant ,christ4 ,it was in such stable that the ,wise ,men knelt and presented their gifts4 ,it was there that the shepherds came1 and it was there that our ,redeemer first saw the light of this world4 ,here at ,bethlehem occurred the slaughter of the innocents4 ,king ,herod had learned that the ,saviour was born1 and he thought that if this infant ,king of the ,jews still lived at ,bethlehem he would make sure of ,his death4 ,so his soldiers killed all the children under two years of age4 ,in a place here1 which the guides tell you was used for storing the bodies1 there are oil paintings horribly done depicting the killing4 ,bethlehem was so small that it must have been difficult to hide the infant ,christ from the men sent by ,king ,herod to search for ,him1 and it is no wonder that ,joseph and ,mary took the ,holy ,child and fled with ,him to ,egypt4 ,the ,bethlehem of to-day has entirely recovered from the massacre of ,herod4 ,its streets swarm with babies many of whom are not as clean as they should be4 ,there are many older children as well1 and all howl for baksheesh4 ,the ,bethlehemites are noted for their beauty1 especially the girls1 who are fair-skinned and bright-eyed4 ,their plump1 well-rounded forms are clad in long gowns of white linen so beautifully embroidered in silk that one dress requires many months' work4 ,the main part of their costume is much like a lady's nightgown4 ,the gown falls to the feet1 being open at the front in a narrow slit as far down as the breast4 ,over the gowns they wear sleeveless coats of dark red stripes and cover their heads with shawls of linen embroidered in silk4 ,each girl has necklaces of coins and a headdress decorated with coins of silver or gold4 ,they do not cover their faces1 and their features are usually refined4 ,they are very intelligent1 and in trading with them ,i find that they generally get the best of the bargain4 ,illustration3 ,the ,samaritans dress in white for the ,feast of the ,passover on their holy hill of ,mt4 ,gerizim1 where lambs are killed as in the days of ,aaron4 ,they are very poor and greatly despised by the orthodox ,jews ,illustration3 ,pulling tares from the wheat is the children's task4 ,if they are not removed the bread will be bitter ,illustration3 ,the camel blubbers and bawls as his hair is clipped off to make tents for his master ,,chapter ,,xix ,,among ,,the ,,samaritans ,i have just had an interview with a lineal descendant of ,aaron1 the brother of ,moses4 ,i refer to ,jacob1 the high priest of the ,samaritans4 ,he belongs to the tribe of the ,levites1 who in ancient times were at the head of the priesthood1 and he claims a genealogical tree reaching from that day to this4 ,his family has lived in ,palestine for more than three thousand years1 and high priest has succeeded high priest until this man took the position at the age of fifteen1 succeeding his childless uncle4 ,he is now almost eighty1 and he looks1 ,i imagine1 as ,aaron and ,moses may have looked in the latter part of their lives4 ,over six feet tall1 he has the face and form of a prophet4 ,his long beard falls down upon his chest and his scholarly face is refined and spiritual looking4 ,i met ,jacob here at ,nablus on the site of old ,shechem1 within a stone's throw of the well where ,christ talked with the woman of ,samaria4 ,it is not far from a farm which ,abraham owned1 and about on the spot where ,joshua gathered together the tribes of ,israel and read them the law of ,moses4 ,our conversation took place in the heart of the city in the synagogue of the ,samaritans4 ,i had to go through vaulted passageways and cave-like streets to reach it4 ,i had an interpreter with me1 and as we talked the high priest showed me what he said were the original parchments of the five books of ,moses as they were written by ,abou1 the son of ,ben ,hassan1 the son of ,eleazar1 who1 you remember1 was one of the two sons of ,aaron by ,elisheba1 his wife4 ,the high priest tells me that these five manuscripts were written only twelve years after the ,israelites came into the ,promised ,land1 and that they are now nearly four thousand years old4 ,they are the oldest ,bible manuscripts in existence4 ,they are written in the ,hebrew of the times of ,moses1 upon long sheets of parchment about two feet in width4 ,the scrolls are rolled upon three rods each tipped with a silver knob as big as a teacup1 and they can be rolled and unrolled as they are read4 ,the ink is still clear and the letters are distinct although the parchment is yellow with age4 ,the manuscript is treasured by the ,samaritans1 being kept in a brass case inlaid with gold4 ,it is said to have been dug up about three hundred years ago1 and has formed a subject of controversy among oriental scholars4 ,the ,samaritans believe that it was written by the grandson of ,aaron1 as the high priest here claims2 but the ,jews reject it as false1 denouncing the ,samaritans as pagan outcasts from the tribes of the ,children of ,israel4 ,i was surprised to find that there were any ,samaritans living4 ,i had supposed that they had been swallowed up by the people of other faiths4 ,i find1 however1 that there are about two hundred in ,nablus1 and that they practise the same religion as they did when ,christ came4 ,they annually celebrate the feasts of the ,passover and ,pentecost on ,mount ,gerizim4 ,these feasts are different from those of the latter-day ,jews4 ,at the time of ,jesus the ,feast of the ,passover was eaten reclining and as though at the end of a journey rather than at the beginning4 ,the ,samaritans eat their ,passover with their shoes bound upon their feet and staves in their hand as though ready to start out on their wanderings in the wilderness4 ,they do this on the top of the mountain1 going up there en masse and camping in tents4 ,they smear the blood of the sacrifice upon the tents to commemorate the passage of the angel of death over the houses of ,israel4 ,they dress in white garments and kill the animals which are burnt according to the methods in use when ,aaron lived4 ,the sacrifice consists of buck lambs each of which is carefully examined that it may be without wound or blemish4 ,at a given signal the throats of the lambs are cut1 and at the same time some of the blood is caught in tin tubs and smeared over the tents4 ,as the blood flows the people shout out again and again the words 8,there is but one ,god40 ,at the same time there is a service1 beginning with a hymn praising ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob1 and followed by a prayer of thanksgiving4 ,the meat for the sacrifice is cooked over a fire in the earth4 ,as soon as the animals are killed they are scalded and the wool is pulled off4 ,the entrails are removed and salted4 ,a pole is thrust through each lamb1 and it is laid on the hot coals of a fire made in a trench4 ,the meat is then covered with brush and earth4 ,as it cooks1 the people continue to pray1 and keep on praying until the sunset approaches4 ,at ten minutes after sunset they begin to eat the meat1 throwing the bones into the fire without breaking them4 ,in my talk with the high priest he contended that the ,samaritans were the only true ,israelites1 and spoke of the prophet ,samuel as a sorcerer4 ,he paid his respects to the ,jews in no measured terms4 ,he gave me a little book he had written concerning the religion of the ,samaritans1 and at the close was by no means averse to a present of silver for which he thanked me in a dignified way4 ,after ,i returned to my camp on the outside of ,nablus some of his followers brought me his photograph and a model of the five books of ,moses which they offered to sell for a song4 ,the ,samaritans are exceedingly poor and are despised by both ,moslems and ,jews4 ,it was at ,jacob's ,well1 not far from ,nablus1 that ,christ met the ,samaritan woman and told her of the water of which1 if one drinketh1 he shall never thirst1 but there 8shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life40 ,you will find the story in the fourth chapter of ,st4 ,john4 ,this well is one of the holy sites of ,palestine about which there can be no doubt4 ,the village of ,sychar corresponds to the village of ,askar1 which stands on ,mount ,ebal1 perhaps a thousand feet away from the well where the ,samaritan woman lived4 ,the well itself lies just below the road from ,jerusalem4 ,i went through an olive orchard to reach it4 ,it is surrounded by a wall and is in the middle of a garden now owned by the ,greek ,church1 which has made it a resting place for pilgrims4 ,over it they have built a stone chapel where services are held several times every day4 ,some of the priests went with us down the steps to the well4 ,it lies right in the floor of the chapel and is about three feet in diameter1 built up with stones4 ,one of the monks brought a pan tied to a rope in such a way that it remained level4 ,upon this he placed a lighted candle and then slowly lowered it into the well4 ,it descended perhaps sixty feet before it came to the water4 ,the sill of the well is of marble and shows the marks of the ropes which for ages have been let down into it4 ,it is some distance above the floor and may have been the original stone upon which ,christ sat at that weary hour of noon4 ,jacob's ,well has been known and visited by pilgrims for many years4 ,it probably used to be even with the surface of the earth1 but the dbris and earth-washings from the mountains near by have filled up the valley1 and it is now considerably below the present ground level4 ,excavations have uncovered in the garden the remains of a church which was built over the well some fifteen hundred years ago4 ,i found immense granite columns lying in the garden as well as many pieces of the stone wall of the church4 ,while ,i was here a party of travellers conducted by one of the great tourist agencies arrived4 ,they were ,americans 8doing0 the ,holy ,land at so much per day1 and they were bound to get the worth of their money4 ,one ,i shall never forget4 ,he had such a gigantic frame that ,i shall call him ,goliath4 ,when the party went down to the well the services in the chapel had just begun1 and after pointing out the hole in the floor1 the guide brought them out4 ,as they came into the churchyard ,i heard ,goliath remark3 8,i ain't satisfied40 8,about what80 said the guide4 8,i ain't satisfied about that well4 ,how do ,i know there's a well there80 8,you saw it10 said the guide4 8,naw1 ,i only saw a hole in the floor4 ,how do ,i know there's a well8 ,how do ,i know it has water8 ,i tell you ,i ain't satisfied4 ,here ,i come five thousand miles to see ,jacob's ,well1 and how can ,i prove that ,i've saw it80 ,the man protested so much that the guide took him back1 stopped the service1 and had them let down the candle4 ,further than that1 he brought up some of the water which ,goliath drank at a gulp4 ,i have run across this huge doubting ,thomas before on the trip4 ,he would not believe in the spot where our ,lord was baptized in the ,jordan1 saying that the banks were too steep1 and that if he couldn't crawl down them no one1 not even ,john the ,baptist1 could do so4 ,it took me just one day to come from ,jerusalem to ,shechem4 ,my outfit was a three-horse team harnessed to an ,american wagon4 ,the horses were good1 and we drove up hill and down on the trot4 ,we started at ,jaffa ,gate1 passed the ,place of the ,skull1 where ,general ,gordon thought the ,saviour was crucified1 and then crossed the valley of ,kedron4 ,we climbed ,mount ,scopus1 which joins ,olivet1 and rode under the hill on top of which was ,mizpah1 where ,samuel was buried and ,saul was publicly chosen ,king of the ,jews4 ,there is a mosque on that spot and the place is holy to ,jews1 ,christians1 and ,moslems alike1 all of whom worship at ,samuel's tomb4 ,mizpah lies on a peak about three thousand feet above the ,mediterranean1 and on one of the highest of the ,judean mountains4 ,here an army of crusaders stood with ,richard the ,lion-,hearted and got their first sight of ,jerusalem4 ,as they looked ,king ,richard knelt down and thus prayed3 8,o ,lord ,god1 ,i pray ,thee that ,i may never again see ,thy ,holy ,city if ,i may not recover it from the hands of thine enemies40 ,that prayer was uttered seven centuries ago when ,jerusalem had already been in the hands of the ,mohammedans for about six hundred years4 ,the road we took to ,samaria was the one over which came the boy ,christ and the ,holy ,family when they travelled up to ,jerusalem to celebrate the ,passover4 ,it is one of the highways of the ,holy ,land1 and is still travelled by thousands4 ,about ten miles beyond ,mount ,scopus we stopped at ,beeroth1 a stone village surrounded by green orchards of figs and pomegranates4 ,tradition says that ,nablus is the place where ,joseph and ,mary as they were returning to ,nazareth discovered that their twelve-year-old boy was not with them and went back to find ,him teaching the wise men in the temple4 ,a little farther on we came to ,bethel where the ,benjamites lived1 where ,abraham reared an altar and called on the name of the ,lord1 and where ,jacob took stones for his pillow and dreamed that he saw the ladder extending to heaven and the angels ascending and descending thereon4 ,the name ,bethel1 which means the ,house of ,god1 has been changed to ,beitin4 ,it is a poor stone village of about five hundred people1 with a ruined tower and a church4 ,shiloh1 just off the road a little farther on toward ,samaria1 is now called ,seilun1 and1 as ,jeremiah prophesied1 it is nothing but ruins4 ,where it stood is a mound covered with dbris1 broken columns1 and rubbish1 so that one is reminded of the passage3 8,but go ye now unto 444 ,shiloh 444 and see what ,i did to it for the wickedness of my people ,israel40 ,nevertheless1 ,shiloh is one of the most interesting spots of the country4 ,here ,eli dwelt and here ,hannah came every year with a new coat for her little son ,samuel1 whom she had given up to the ,lord4 ,it was here that ,joshua divided the land and the ,philistines stole the ,ark of the ,covenant4 ,i am surprised at the caravans which are continually crossing these ,palestine mountains4 ,there seems to be a great trade north and south1 and the roads are full of odd-looking people4 ,on my way here ,i saw crowds of men and women on donkeys coming up to ,jerusalem4 ,some were from ,galilee1 others from ,damascus1 and not a few from the mountains of ,lebanon4 ,one crowd told us that its people were ,mohammedans1 and that they were making a pilgrimage to ,jerusalem and the tomb of ,moses4 ,there were many women among them4 ,they sat astride upon donkeys and some of them carried babies in their arms4 ,we passed many camels4 ,some were loaded with white building stone slung in a network of rope on each side of their humps4 ,they were carrying the stone to ,jerusalem4 ,others were ridden by women and men4 ,i saw one with two veiled women clad all in black on its back and two boxes below them1 each box holding a baby4 ,another party was composed of ,samaritan women on their way to a ,moslem festival4 ,they were red haired and as straight as royal palm trees4 ,they carried their baggage in bundles on top of their heads and walked single file4 ,behind them were women from ,lebanon walking barefooted and singing in ,arabic4 ,they were tattooed on lips1 chin1 and cheeks1 and their bare heads were frowsy and dusty4 ,they were clad in long cotton gowns embroidered with red4 ,only a few were good looking and all seemed prematurely old4 ,illustration3 ,when a ,palestinian was asked why he did not use horses for ploughing he said3 8,they walk too fast2 ,i would have to hurry to keep up0 ,illustration3 ,but the ,jewish colonists have lost no time in adopting modern farm machinery on their lands1 with most gratifying results ,illustration3 ,the sheep that was lost is found by the roadside1 and the shepherd is all smiles4 ,at night1 several shepherds will gather their sheep in one place4 ,in the morning each calls to his own charges1 who know his voice and will always come to him ,i am now living in my tents outside this old town of ,shechem4 ,my camp faces ,mount ,ebal1 and above me is ,gerizim1 the holy hill of the ,samaritans4 ,it is very near the spot where the laws of ,moses were read by ,joshua to the assembled ,children of ,israel4 ,the country is in the shape of a great amphitheatre of which the hills form the walls4 ,these hills are1 it is said1 a natural sounding board1 so that one can talk on one mountain and be heard on the other1 and for this reason the place was chosen for reading the laws4 ,shechem1 or ,nablus1 is one of the oldest towns in history4 ,it was founded long before ,jerusalem was built and even before ,jacob's time4 ,it is within about six miles of the city of ,samaria1 where ,ahab had his ivory palace and where ,herod the ,great owned a royal mansion4 ,here1 so it is said1 he gave that birthday party at which his stepdaughter ,salome danced4 ,you remember the story4 ,her dancing1 which ,i doubt not was that of the nautch girl1 so delighted ,king ,herod that he told her she should have whatever she asked1 even to the half of his kingdom4 ,she thereupon1 as her mother insisted1 demanded the head of ,john the ,baptist1 who was lying in prison near by1 and this bloody gift was brought in on a great plate or charger4 ,there is a ,spanish legend that ,salome1 as divine punishment for causing the murder of ,john the ,baptist1 was herself beheaded some years later4 ,according to the story1 she married a ,roman general and went to live in ,spain4 ,while skating on a river there she fell in1 and her body is said to have struck the edge of the ice with such force as to sever her neck1 and her head went skidding over the frozen surface4 ,the old town of ,samaria has long since fallen to ruin4 ,its site is a mound with some broken pillars and other dbris lying near it and an olive orchard not far away in which more of the columns are still to be seen4 ,as for ,nablus1 it thrives1 and is one of the liveliest towns in the ,holy ,land4 ,it is the chief commercial centre between ,damascus and ,jerusalem1 and its population of thirty thousand is almost entirely ,mohammedan4 ,there are some ,jewish merchants1 but neither ,jews nor ,christians are much welcomed4 ,i have been told to watch out as ,i go through its narrow1 filthy streets and to take care not to provoke any one4 ,several times the boys have thrown stones at our party1 and men spit as we pass them4 ,people yell out 8,nazarenes0 at us1 and my guide refuses to let me photograph them1 saying picture-taking would surely get us into trouble4 ,the city is so fanatical that even the ,christian women go about with veils over their faces4 ,the ,english nurse who is working here in the ,charity ,hospital is veiled like a ,mohammedan when she goes out on the street4 ,otherwise she would cause much comment1 and her reputation and work would be ruined4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,farming ,,in ,,the ,,land ,,of ,,milk ,,and ,,honey ,i give you to-day some bits of ,palestine out of doors4 ,within the past few weeks1 keeping away from the cities and towns1 ,i have watched the shepherds and farmers4 ,i have seen the real ,palestine1 with the same sky1 the same rocks and hills1 and the same carpet of wild flowers as in the days of our ,lord4 ,i have talked with the farmers in the fields1 have ridden side by side with the modern ,balaam as he climbed the hills on his ass1 and have even put my hand to ploughs such as were used in the times of the ,scriptures1 and with a goad have pricked on the bullocks and donkeys as they turned up the sod4 ,the ,palestine of the ,bible was a land of the farmer4 ,the ,children of ,israel and their leaders were brought up or worked on the farm4 ,abraham had numerous sheep and so had ,isaac and ,jacob4 ,saul was the son of old ,farmer ,kish1 and he was hunting his father's asses when he was met by ,samuel1 the prophet1 who gave him a kingdom4 ,david was watching the sheep when ,farmer ,jesse1 his father1 sent him to the battle1 where with his sling he killed the mighty ,goliath4 ,lot was one of the richest farmers the ,jordan ,valley has known1 and as for ,job1 who lived in old ,uz1 he was the cattle king of his time1 owning seven thousand sheep1 three thousand camels1 five hundred yoke of oxen1 and five hundred she-asses4 ,it was in one farm village1 ,bethlehem1 that our ,saviour was born1 and in another farming settlement1 ,nazareth1 that ,he grew up to manhood4 ,a great part of ,his life was spent in going about among the shepherds and farmers1 and in ,his preaching most of the examples and figures in ,his parables were drawn from things of the soil4 ,the most common sight out of doors in the ,holy ,land is the sheep4 ,they are everywhere4 ,you find them on the rich plains where the ,philistines lived2 they feed among the rocks on the slopes of the ,judean mountains1 and spot the wilderness all the way down to ,jericho2 they graze on every part of ,samaria and ,galilee and almost everywhere on the plain of ,esdraelon4 ,they are always watched over by shepherds who often drive them to new feeding grounds4 ,the greater part of this country is mountainous4 ,limestone rocks cover the soil1 which is so thin that if you could pare it off for a depth of eight inches there would be nothing but stone4 ,it is different in the plains and the valleys1 but the hills are terraces of rock covered with boulders and sprinkled here and there with patches of earth4 ,yet the least bit of soil will grow luxuriant grass1 and the sheep seem to grow fat on the stones4 ,i remember some flocks ,i saw on my way to the ,jordan4 ,they were composed of heavy-wooled animals with tails of fat hanging down like aprons behind them4 ,the best of them weighed two hundred pounds each1 and the average was fatter and finer than the best sheep of ,america4 ,some were white-wooled and some brown1 and some had brown heads and white bodies4 ,i have tasted the mutton2 it is excellent1 being the choicest meat to be had at the hotels4 ,illustration3 ,the colonists terrace the hillsides to hold back the soil with stones cleared from the fields1 once thought too rocky for cultivation4 ,many neglected and treeless hills have been utterly denuded of earth by the rains of centuries ,illustration3 ,almonds have proved a paying proposition for ,jewish colonists in ,palestine1 where they have long been cultivated4 ,when ,jacob desired his sons to take into ,egypt of the best fruits of ,canaan1 he mentioned the almond ,the shepherds are about the same all over ,palestine1 kindly eyed men with fair faces bronzed by the sun4 ,they stay out all day on the hills with the sheep1 driving them into the villages at night4 ,each shepherd has his staff and his scrip1 a little bag of dried skin4 ,he uses a sling as ,david did to send a pebble just in front of any straying sheep so as to turn it back4 ,the strings of the slings are of goat hair1 and the pad for the stone is of the same material1 often made with a slit in the middle so that when a pebble is put in the sling fits close like a bag4 ,such slings are now used in fights between the boys of the villages1 who practise to see who can throw stones the farthest4 ,the wool of the ,palestine sheep is especially fine4 ,it brings a higher price than that of ,damascus1 and something like a million dollars' worth of it is exported a year4 ,the shearing is done by hand1 and much of the wool is sold unwashed4 ,some is washed after shearing1 the work being done by women4 ,nearly every flock of sheep has its goats4 ,they are usually black so they can be picked out from the sheep at a great distance4 ,some of the goats produce excellent milk1 the best as much as three quarts a day4 ,there is a great deal in the ,bible about the sheepfolds4 ,these are common in ,palestine4 ,in the villages they are often corrals and sometimes they are caves on the hills4 ,the village folds are closed at night1 and the shepherds keep the keys4 ,those of the mountains are usually open and the sheep go in and out as they will4 ,in some parts of the country the shepherds pasture their flocks separately by day1 but at evening several of them often bring their sheep together in a large open field or a spot sheltered from the winds4 ,then each of the four or five men will take turns at keeping watch while the others sleep1 curled up in their sheepskins4 ,the shepherds to whom the 8glad tidings0 came on the first ,christmas ,eve were thus guarding their flocks by night4 ,in the morning each shepherd calls out to his sheep1 and they1 knowing his voice1 come to him until he has his whole flock around him again4 ,they will pay no heed to the same call if it is uttered by a stranger or another shepherd4 ,often to make sure his sheep are all there and also to see that they are all right the shepherd causes them to pass under his rod between him and a rock4 ,he can thus count them1 and if one is limping or sickly he can pull it out of line with the crook of his staff and give it special care4 ,the ,palestine shepherd does not use his staff to drive his charges1 for he always goes before with the sheep following him4 ,the club or crook he carries is for protection and defence of his flock4 ,if they are frightened the sight of the crook on his shoulder calms their panic4 ,one is reminded of the words of the ,psalmist3 8,thy rod and thy staff they comfort me40 ,one of the most important duties of the shepherd is to water the flock4 ,he does this at streams or wells4 ,at the wells the women draw the water for the sheep as they did in ,bible times4 ,they use bags of goatskin untanned4 ,the skin is taken almost whole from the goats1 and the legs and other openings are tied up so that it will hold water4 ,one hole is left at the throat into which the water is poured4 ,the water for the household is carried in such bags1 a network of ropes being wrapped around a skin so that it can be rested upon the back1 the bag being supported by a rope around the forehead4 ,the water-bag of the ordinary size1 when filled1 weighs at least fifty pounds4 ,the women go along with their heads bent far over1 carrying water to their village homes4 ,they do this day after day all their lives long4 ,this is one of the most common sights of the ,holy ,land4 ,indeed these ,palestine peasants are strong men and women4 ,the men bear astonishing weights1 and nobody thinks anything of walking twenty miles and more in a day4 ,one naturally asks as to their diet4 ,this is largely rice1 vegetables1 nuts1 and the whole-meal unleavened bread of the country baked in flat cakes as in ,bible days4 ,meat is a rare luxury4 ,the ,arabic name for bread is aish1 which means life1 and to the peasants of the ,holy ,land it is the staff of life4 ,they have even a sort of reverence for it4 ,no one will trample a fallen crumb into the dust1 and even the smallest bit dropped or thrown away by a careless child will be picked up and lodged in a crack of a stone or wall so the birds may get it4 ,tomatoes1 squash1 cabbage1 cauliflower1 onions1 and eggplant are common vegetables4 ,there is a saying of the eggplant that there are so many different ways of preparing it that if during the eggplant season a woman says to her husband1 8,i know not what to provide for dinner10 he has sufficient cause for divorcing her4 ,grapes not quite ripe are much relished when eaten with salt4 ,cucumbers take much the place of apples with us4 ,coffee is considered a necessity4 ,it is bought in the raw berry and a housekeeper is judged by her skill in roasting and preparing it4 ,even if a family cannot afford it for every day it must be on hand for guests4 ,men often carry some coffee berries in their pockets for use at friendly gatherings1 and wherever men meet for business or ceremony coffee is expected4 ,the ,palestine of to-day is a land of donkeys and camels4 ,i suppose the latter are about the same as those owned by ,job4 ,they are raised in ,beersheba1 where the people live largely on their milk4 ,the camel is the freight car of ,palestine4 ,in going over the country ,i have seen many caravans of them4 ,on the way to ,zammarin we passed some camels which the ,bedouin drivers were shearing4 ,they were clipping the wool from the kneeling beasts1 which cried and moaned and now and then uttered shrieks as the shears nipped off bits of their flesh4 ,not a few actually shed tears4 ,the wool of these camels is woven into a coarse cloth used for making the coverings of the ,bedouin tents4 ,as far as ,i can see the camels of the ,holy ,land have no easy job4 ,they carry loads of three or four hundred pounds each1 and on short trips their packs are left on day and night4 ,they begin to work at three years1 and often last until they are twenty-five years of age4 ,the donkeys are much cheaper than camels4 ,they are the draft animals of the poor1 and are used by the farmers for carrying vegetables and wood into market4 ,i see them loaded with olive roots on their way to ,jerusalem1 and now and then pass a donkey caravan1 every animal carrying a bag of grain which has been balanced upon his back and which the driver holds there as he goes up the steep hills4 ,illustration3 ,with cypresses and palms ,jewish colonists have beautified this plantation near ,tiberias on the ,sea of ,galilee4 ,the ,jews answer the objections of the ,arabs to their settlements by pointing out how they have 8made the desert bloom like the rose0 ,illustration3 ,carpenters of ,nazareth and their shops are much the same to-day as when ,joseph plied his trade and the boy ,jesus helped him4 ,nazareth is a mountain village of some eight thousand people--,greeks1 ,moslems1 ,maronites1 ,roman ,catholics1 and about a hundred ,protestants ,palestine is often called 8the land of milk and honey40 ,this it was in the past1 and this1 so far at least as the honey is concerned1 it may be again4 ,i have already referred to the delicious honey served at the hotel in ,jerusalem4 ,modern bee-keeping was started in ,palestine by an enterprising ,swiss in one of the ,jewish colonies4 ,his bees were kept in hives made of terra-cotta jars1 which were moved to different pastures several times during a season so as to get the benefit of different kinds of flowers4 ,the average yield of honey per hive is about one hundred pounds1 and the product is delicious4 ,as to the ,palestine flowers1 ,i cannot describe them4 ,there are said to be more than three thousand varieties4 ,crossing the upper plains of ,sharon ,i rode through great fields of daisies as yellow as buttercups4 ,there were greenish-white flowers carpeting the roadside1 and among them poppies1 gladioli1 and lilies4 ,in the gardens at ,zammarin are geraniums as large as rose bushes and on the sides of the hills wild flowers of every description4 ,there are yellow violets1 and pink and blue blossoms whose names ,i know not4 ,there is also a red flower called 8the blood drop of ,christ40 ,it is said to have sprung up on the spots where dropped the blood of our ,saviour as ,he carried the cross4 ,in a single day's travel over the ,samaritan mountains ,i counted thirty-five different wild flowers4 ,at one place ,i saw what looked like piles of ,bermuda onions pulled up along the roadside4 ,there were bushels of them1 and ,i supposed they had been spilled out by a broken-down caravan4 8,those are lily bulbs which the farmers have dug out of the fields10 said my guide1 and farther on ,i saw the men digging4 ,the lilies are yellow and white and grow wild4 8,they toil not1 neither do they spin10 but they cause the farmer to toil and are one of the pests he has to get rid of4 ,there are but few farms of large size in the ,holy ,land4 ,the chief cultivated patches on the mountains are those which have been cleared of stones4 ,they are often no bigger than a parlour rug and seldom contain more than three or four acres4 ,such fields frequently have stone walls about them4 ,down in the valleys and on the plains of the ,philistines the farms are not separated by fences and are much larger4 ,they are planted to wheat1 beans1 and barley1 and grow luxuriant crops4 ,one of the interesting scenes of the wheat fields is often referred to in the ,bible4 ,this is pulling the tares1 the seeds of which1 if left1 will make the flour bitter4 ,gangs of girls are engaged in this business all over ,palestine4 ,each gang works under an overseer1 and the girls bend half double as they pull the weeds from the wheat4 ,it is said that a farmer's enemies even to-day sometimes sow tares in his wheat1 just as in the parable4 ,speaking of wheat1 it is claimed that ,palestine is one of the places in which that grain originated4 ,there is wild wheat here to-day1 and the agricultural experts are investigating to find out what can be done with the other wild grains found in different parts of this country4 ,the ploughs of the ,holy ,land are about the same now as those used in the days of the ,bible4 ,they are crude affairs1 made of wood tipped with iron1 to which oxen and bullocks are yoked with a rough piece of wood fastened to the necks of the animals4 ,sometimes the yoke is tilted at an angle of forty-five degrees1 reaching from the neck of a camel down to that of a donkey4 ,donkeys and cows are also harnessed together1 and bullocks and camels4 ,the plough ends in a point like that of a pickaxe4 ,it only scratches the soil1 and nowhere goes very deep4 ,the furrows are so narrow that many ploughs are required for large fields4 ,the ploughmen wear long gowns1 and on their heads are cloths bound round with rope4 ,they wear rough shoes or go barefoot4 ,much of the land in the mountainous parts is so rocky that ploughs are not used4 ,the earth is broken up with mattocks or hoes and all the crops are cultivated by hand4 ,nevertheless1 this limestone soil is so rich that it will often produce several crops in one year4 ,figs1 olives1 and other fruits flourish4 ,there are olive orchards everywhere4 ,they cover the sides of the hills and are near every farm village4 ,i was hardly out of sight of them on my way from ,shechem to ,mount ,carmel4 ,a great quantity of oil is exported4 ,the curse of the ,palestine farmer has long been the ,mohammedan tax gatherer and assessor4 ,these men have squeezed the heart out of both the farmer and his crop4 ,the tax assessors have gone out over the country in the blossom time of the olive orchards and levied on each tree the cash tax to be paid no matter how the crop finally turned out4 ,the olive harvest often fails in ,palestine1 so rather than pay unjust and excessive taxes the discouraged farmers have sometimes simply cut down trees and sold both wood and roots4 ,it is not only the olive orchards that have suffered from this kind of taxation4 ,one eighth of the annual yield of every crop has been taken from the people4 ,the custom of selling to the highest bidder the right to collect the taxes in a given district has1 of course1 made things worse4 ,in their determination to get back the money they paid the government and a handsome profit for themselves besides1 these men have had no mercy on the farmer4 ,the bundles of grain brought to the village threshing-floors and put up in stacks of eight have been closely watched by the tax gatherers and their agents4 ,besides these farm taxes1 the people have suffered from a head tax of two dollars on every male member of the community from birth to death1 from the salt tax1 from taxes on imports1 and on everything that a man eats1 drinks1 or wears4 ,once freed from oppressive taxation and its farmers given a fair chance1 there is no doubt that ,palestine will produce many times what it has done under ,turkish rule4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,the ,,colonies ,,and ,,their ,,development ,jews in the ,holy ,land are bringing to life again the ,palestine of the past4 ,they are proving that their ancient 8land of milk and honey0 can be made to bloom and prosper4 ,gathered together in colonies1 they are introducing modern farming methods and showing what can be done under proper conditions4 ,the trim ,jewish villages built by the colonists are a refreshing sight in contrast to the dirty ,arab settlements and their more or less desolate surroundings4 ,the energy and alertness of many of the settlers are also noticeable as compared with the natives who have been content for centuries to do no more than their fathers have done before them and in the same ways4 ,at first most of the ,jews came to ,palestine only for the sake of ending their days in the land of their fathers4 ,they were a sort of resident pilgrims4 ,others came to get away from oppression and persecution4 ,gradually the success of the farm colonies attracted the attention of ,jews all over the world1 and regularly organized movements for planting ,jewish settlements in the ,holy ,land sprang up4 ,more and more colonists began to come because they wanted to get on the land and saw in ,palestine chances of greater freedom and success in life than in the crowded streets and small shops of ,european cities4 ,colonies were set up under all sorts of schemes and plans1 and while there have been some failures1 many have been quite successful4 ,when groups of colonists first come out they frequently live in tents1 and even before they build permanent houses set to work starting nurseries1 planting trees1 draining swamps1 picking up stones1 and otherwise preparing the land for cultivation4 ,millions and millions of stones have been picked up from the rock-strewn hillsides of ,palestine1 piled into baskets1 and then carried off and laid up to form terraces to keep the soil from being washed away or to make walls like those so often seen on ,new ,england farms4 ,there is a tree here called the 8,jews' tree10 because the colonists have planted so many of them on their lands4 ,this is the eucalyptus1 first brought to ,palestine by the ,jewish settlers4 ,as this tree absorbs a great deal of moisture it is a good one to plant in swampy land1 and1 as has been found in other countries1 by helping to drain the marshes it is a factor in keeping down malaria4 ,besides giving shade in this land of glaring sun1 it furnishes wood for orange boxes and may in time be grown to such an extent as to increase the scanty fuel supply4 ,some of these farm colonies are in ,galilee1 some in ,judea1 and a very large one is not far from the seaport of ,jaffa4 ,the latter is known as the ,rishon le ,zion1 or 8the first colony of ,zion40 ,it supports a village of about twelve hundred people1 who cultivate three thousand acres1 on which are grown almonds1 oranges1 and other fruits1 especially grapes4 ,this colony annually makes millions of gallons of wine and it exports great quantities of ,jaffa oranges4 ,i am told that its wine cellars are the third largest in the world4 ,it was founded by the ,rothschilds to give persecuted ,russian ,jews a refuge1 and afterward managed by the ,hirsch colonization fund4 ,it is run at a profit4 ,the other colonies are similar to it1 and some of them nearly as large4 ,each has a school1 a drug store1 a hospital1 and a synagogue4 ,the ,sir ,moses ,montefiore colonies and schools at ,jerusalem are doing good work1 and the ,french-,jewish ,society1 which has a million members1 maintains a number of schools1 including manual training schools for girls and boys4 ,if the students do well they are given capital to start out with and are established in little shops of their own4 ,in some of these schools the children are so poor that they are furnished one meal a day and one suit of clothes every year4 ,another colony1 ,tel ,aviv1 or 8,the ,hill of the ,ears of ,grain10 has a high school graduates from which have been admitted to ,columbia and other ,american universities4 ,the only language spoken in this school is ,hebrew1 which is being revived as the language of a great many of the ,jews who have settled in the ,promised ,land4 ,the colony of ,gederah is celebrated for its large flock of doves1 which are the common property of the community4 ,rechoboth1 founded in #ahij1 was the first colony to introduce ,jewish workmen with success4 ,while the ,jews of ancient ,palestine were farmers1 it is now nearly two thousand years since they have had any land of their own to develop4 ,when they were driven out of their country by their conquerors1 they were scattered over the world1 and took refuge in the cities where most of them have been living ever since4 ,there they became a people of traders and shopkeepers1 and because of this fact many have believed that the ,jewish colonies in the ,holy ,land could never succeed4 ,the ,arabs in ,palestine have a saying that the love of trading is in the blood of a ,jew and that he can't help wanting to be a merchant any more than he can help wanting to possess the ,holy ,land4 ,they say that a few years after coming to ,palestine a ,jewish colonist will be found looking out of the back windows of his house at a gang of ,arabs doing his farm work1 while in his front windows he displays1 not his farm products1 but goods he has bought for sale4 ,many of the ,jewish settlers did1 in fact1 find it difficult to take up farm work1 and were inclined to hire ,arabs who would work for lower wages than ,jews4 ,this led to friction between ,jews and ,arabs1 but now more and more of the colonists are doing their own farm work1 road making1 carpentering1 and other manual labour4 ,the colonists have also learned that the most scientific farming methods pay best1 and are developing schools where their young people are taught how to get the most out of the land4 ,the ,jews of other lands are liberal in their gifts to the ,jews of ,palestine1 and1 besides helping to set up the colonies1 have established schools and hospitals in and about ,jerusalem4 ,one of the sources from which money comes for the settlement and advancement of the ,jewish colonies is a fund collected from the synagogues of the ,united ,states1 which is regularly sent from ,new ,york to the ,holy ,land4 ,jews all over our country contribute to it4 ,illustration3 ,nazareth lies in a little amphitheatre of hills with a rugged arena4 ,there is hardly a level spot in the whole town ,illustration3 ,the boys of ,nazareth are friendly1 but in fanatical ,nablus they throw stones at ,christians ,illustration3 ,the stone pot by which ,mr4 ,carpenter is standing is claimed by the ,greeks to be the one that contained the water that ,christ turned into wine at the marriage feast at ,cana of ,galilee ,there have been several ,american colonies in the ,holy ,land1 but the only one that has made any impression or lasted for any long time is that known for some years as the ,spaffordites4 ,it was founded by ,dr4 and ,mrs4 ,spafford1 who belonged to a ,presbyterian church in ,chicago4 ,they left the church and came to ,jerusalem1 saying that they intended to devote their wealth and their lives to working for ,christ in the ,holy ,land4 ,they persuaded fourteen adults and five children to come with them1 and together they founded a colony which has lasted until now4 ,that was #ahha4 ,to-day the colony has members from all parts of the ,union4 ,there are a number from ,new ,england1 some from the ,south1 several from ,kansas and ,nebraska1 and quite a delegation from ,philadelphia and ,chicago4 ,i have talked with them about their beliefs4 ,they say they are ,christians and that they believe in the ,bible interpreted as it is printed4 ,they take the ,golden ,rule as their motto and try to live up to it4 ,they say they have no hobbies1 and that their ,christianity is a practical faith4 ,this colony lives together as a community1 its members holding all things in common4 ,at first they threw their money into a common fund1 and lived without working4 ,finding1 however1 that this fund was soon spent1 they established a business of their own and are now self-supporting4 ,they have their own house outside the walls1 where they live very comfortably1 eating at a common table with worship morning and evening4 ,they frequently take ,americans in as paying guests1 charging less than the prevailing hotel rates for much better quarters4 ,they also have a bakery from which they sell bread and cake2 a shoe shop1 and an art school1 where girls are taught painting and drawing4 ,they have factories where they make desks1 boxes1 and other beautiful things of olive wood2 and a weaving establishment where cloths of wool and linen are made4 ,some years ago they also established what is known as the ,american store4 ,this is near the ,jaffa ,gate inside ,jerusalem1 and right on the way from that gate to the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,this store is about the only one-price establishment in the ,holy ,land4 ,in all other places three times what is expected is asked1 and one has to dicker and bargain and beat down the merchants4 ,in the ,american store one can buy photographs and slides of the ,holy ,land1 brass work from ,damascus1 rugs from ,persia and ,turkey1 and any sort of curio made in the country4 ,during my stay in ,jerusalem ,i several times visited this colony1 and was delighted with the peace1 quiet1 and brotherly love which seem to prevail4 ,its members are well bred and intelligent2 and as far as ,i can see they practise what they preach4 ,an interesting feature is their grace before meals4 ,this is always sung at the table by both members and guests4 ,one of the most interesting ,jewish colonies is at ,zammarin on the southwest slope of ,mount ,carmel1 where these notes are written4 ,the place is about five hours' ride from ,haifa1 and a day's journey by carriage from ,nablus4 ,the town is owned by a ,jewish colony which has a large tract of land given it by ,baron ,edward ,rothschild of ,paris4 ,the land is high above the sea at the northern end of the plain of ,sharon1 so situated that it commands a view of that plain at the east and of the ,mediterranean ,sea at the west4 ,the country about is covered with chunks of limestone of all shapes and sizes1 and1 besides1 the bedrock crops out in ledges with small tracts of arable land here and there4 ,the ,jews have taken this land1 have cleared it of the loose rocks1 and are making it bloom like a garden4 ,they have some quite large fields on top of ,mount ,carmel1 which is now covered with wheat waving in the wind4 ,they are raising luxuriant crops of oats and beans and they have vineyards as thrifty as those of south ,france or the ,rhine4 ,their olive orchards would be a credit to any part of ,italy2 and their ,english walnut trees bear like those of southern ,california4 ,they are raising fine cattle1 which they graze on the hills in the daytime and bring in at night4 ,the milk is excellent1 and the meat as tender and sweet as the corn-fed beef of ,chicago4 ,i am told that the land produces abundantly and that the colony does well4 ,zammarin is far different from the squalid ,arab towns of ,palestine4 ,its houses are of ,german architecture and many of its people speak ,german4 ,it has a hotel run by an ,american ,jew and planned upon ,jewish lines4 ,outside the door of my room is fastened a tube of olive wood containing the ,ten ,commandments1 and similar tubes are to be found at every door of the hotel1 as well as on the doors of every house in the place4 ,the ,jews kiss these tubes as they go in and out4 ,zammarin has sidewalks1 and there is a tower into which water is pumped to supply every house4 ,there is a synagogue1 which is well attended1 and a town hall1 where the officials of the colony meet and decide all matters of local government4 ,indeed1 the colony is a little republic with a president and other officials elected by its members4 ,it settles its own disputes1 and makes assessments for special taxes for such things as schools and village improvements4 ,when ,zammarin was started it was supported by ,rothschild4 ,later on it was turned over to the ,anglo-,israelite ,colonization ,society founded by ,baron ,hirsch4 ,it was then supported from ,europe1 but this did not work and it is now running itself4 ,every family works for itself and has its own property4 ,as a result the people are becoming independent4 ,the standard of self-respect has risen1 and all seem to be prospering4 ,illustration3 ,we cross the ,sea of ,galilee where ,christ stilled the sudden tempest and walked on the waters4 ,on its shores ,he spoke many of ,his parables and wrought a number of ,his miracles ,illustration3 ,through the arched ,gate we catch a glimpse of the ruins of ancient ,tiberias1 the once proud city of ,herod1 in the neighbourhood of which ,christ spent much of his active life4 ,for years ,tiberias was the seat of ,jewish learning ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,where ,,our ,,saviour ,,spent ,,his ,,boyhood ,to-day ,i am in ,nazareth1 the home of ,christ's boyhood4 ,here ,he was brought as a baby after the flight into ,egypt to escape the bloodthirsty ,herod1 and here ,he spent all but about four years of ,his life4 ,the town is situated high up in the mountains of ,galilee1 within sixty miles of ,jerusalem as the crow flies and sixty-seven miles from ,bethlehem1 where ,jesus was born4 ,it is within a day's ride on horseback of ,mount ,carmel and within four hours of ,capernaum on the ,sea of ,galilee from which our ,saviour called ,his apostles and where ,he first preached4 ,nazareth lies in a nest in the mountains4 ,it is in a little amphitheatre of hills with a rough and ragged arena4 ,the houses extend up the sides of the hills and there is hardly a level spot in the whole town4 ,it has altogether less than twelve thousand inhabitants of whom about half are ,mohammedans4 ,the rest of the population is made up of ,greek ,catholics1 ,latins1 and about two hundred ,syrians of the ,protestant faith4 ,the town is full of churches and convents1 and there are some great monasteries and hospices where pilgrims may stop over night4 ,the homes of the people are rectangular structures1 which look more like great stone boxes than houses4 ,they are usually of one story1 with a door and two windows1 and most of them have flat roofs1 which in the summer nights are used as resting and sleeping places4 ,a number of the buildings are in gardens4 ,some have cactus hedges about them and others are shaded by cypress trees4 ,there are many olive orchards1 and figs grow here as luxuriantly as they did when ,christ was a boy4 ,the buildings of ,nazareth are ugly1 but as a whole the city and its surroundings are beautiful4 ,i doubt whether there is more beautiful scenery to be found in ,england or ,scotland1 or even in the ,blue ,ridge ,mountains of ,virginia1 for which ,god has done much4 ,there are many fine views4 ,one can stand in the city or near it and look out over the plain of ,esdraelon1 and by climbing the hills he can see ,mount ,carmel1 where ,elijah hid the prophets and later on slew the false prophets of ,baal4 ,it is only a few hours' ride from ,nazareth over the hill to the ,sea of ,galilee1 where the ,nazarene boys even now sometimes go fishing4 ,i shall not soon forget a bird's-eye view ,i had of the town last night4 ,the moon was at its full1 and its great round silver disk changed the night into day4 ,its rays mellowed the yellow limestone of the houses and transformed them to ivory4 ,they softened the glare of the white1 rocky roads1 and made a fairyland of the mountains and valleys4 ,from the top of the hills ,i could see the plain of ,esdraelon1 which in its fertility vies with the ,nile ,valley2 and away off at the west lay the mighty ,mediterranean1 which stretches on for two thousand miles to ,gibraltar and the ,atlantic4 ,nazareth by moonlight is wonderfully peaceful4 ,at sunset all business stops1 and within an hour or so afterward everyone is in bed4 ,there are few places that seem so far from the strife of the world4 ,business is swallowed up in the beauties of nature4 ,the scenery is that of old ,greece1 and the stars shine gloriously out of skies which are perfectly clear4 ,the sunsets are surpassingly beautiful4 ,the other night the golden beams of the sinking sun seemed to form a halo over this the home of our ,saviour4 ,there were many white clouds in the sky1 which changed1 first to rose and then to gold1 the colour growing stronger and stronger1 until the whole west was one blaze of fire and molten copper4 ,coming down into the town1 after watching one of these sunsets1 ,i met many ,nazarene children4 ,as ,i stopped a few minutes1 the little ones gathered around me1 and it was not hard to imagine similar groups playing in these streets nineteen hundred years ago with the boy ,jesus4 ,the little ,nazarenes wore gowns of brown1 red1 or yellow4 ,most of them were in their bare feet2 the boys had caps of red felt1 while the girls wore handkerchiefs or shawls tied around their heads4 ,all were running and dancing and laughing and playing4 ,some of the girls were quite pretty4 ,i remember a rosy-cheeked baby carried by a roguish1 bright-eyed maid of eighteen4 ,i admired the baby and chucked it under the chin1 telling the girl ,i would like to take it home with me to ,america4 ,she promptly said ,i could have it and thrust it out toward me4 ,my face fell and ,i ran4 ,there is no doubt that this is the ,nazareth of ,jesus1 and that the hills and valleys about here were hallowed by ,his footsteps4 ,it was here that the ,angel ,gabriel appeared unto ,mary when she was engaged but not yet married to ,joseph and told her that she would be the mother of ,jesus1 and it was here that she came with ,joseph after the flight into ,egypt4 ,she waited only until ,king ,herod was dead1 and then came to ,nazareth1 the child ,jesus being still an infant in arms4 ,it was from ,nazareth that ,jesus went to the ,jordan to be baptized by ,john1 and it was here that after ,he had begun ,his work our ,lord came and preached in the synagogue4 ,whereupon the ,nazarenes cried out3 ,is not this ,joseph's son8444 ,and 444 they 444 were filled with wrath1 and rose up and thrust ,him out of the city and led ,him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built that they might cast ,him down headlong4 ,but ,he passing through the midst of them went ,his way4 ,the ,roman ,catholics now own what is said to be the site of the shop where ,joseph worked as a carpenter4 ,the place is in the ,mohammedan quarter1 not far from a bazaar where the ,moslem merchants sit cross-legged and sell to the ,christians4 ,when ,i visited it ,i met ,father ,kersting1 who came here to superintend excavations on the site of an old church built by the ,crusaders4 ,under his direction a grotto was uncovered which many believe to be the place where ,joseph had his carpenter shop1 and where1 if this is true1 the little ,christ must have played among the shavings4 ,the various sects here make all sorts of claims4 ,the ,latins allege that they own the table upon which ,christ supped with ,his disciples both before and after the ,resurrection4 ,it is a block of hard chalk eleven feet long and nine feet in breadth4 ,in another place in the ,latin monastery is what is known as the ,angel's ,chapel and the ,chapel of the ,annunciation1 where the ,virgin received ,gabriel's message4 ,there is also an old cistern which is called the ,kitchen of the ,virgin1 and in the centre of the town is ,mary's ,well1 or1 as it is sometimes called1 ,jesus's ,spring1 or ,gabriel's ,spring4 ,this is undoubtedly authentic1 for it is the only spring or watering place ,nazareth now possesses or ever has possessed4 ,it is therefore certain that the child ,jesus and the ,virgin frequented it1 and that ,mary came here daily for water4 ,this is a fountain rather than a well4 ,the water gushes forth in two streams into a stone basin1 whence it flows into a stone-inclosed pool4 ,there are always women with water jars about it1 and the scenes of to-day are probably the same as those of ,christ's time4 ,illustration3 ,fish from the ,sea of ,galilee are an important factor in the food supply of the ,holy ,land4 ,large catches are common ,illustration3 ,capernaum to-day is the city of prophecy fulfilled1 for of it ,christ said3 8,and thou1 ,capernaum1 444 shall be brought down to hell0 ,illustration3 ,for centuries the ,jews have been city-dwellers and traders1 but the colonists are doing the manual labor on the lands they have taken up1 though at first they brought down on themselves the reproaches of their neighbours by hiring ,arabs ,thousands of pilgrims come to ,nazareth every year to visit the places hallowed by the ,saviour1 and it is also on the main route from the mountains of ,lebanon to ,jerusalem4 ,caravan routes from ,damascus to ,egypt wind about it1 and it has always been an important point on the chief travel routes4 ,the bazaars are of about the same character as they were in ,jesus's day4 ,they are narrow1 cave-like stores lighted only from the front4 ,the merchants sit there walled around with goods1 while the customers stand out in the cobblestone roadway and bargain4 ,the streets are dirty and camels and ,bedouins are continually moving through them4 ,the men wear turbans and gowns1 and the women are veiled or unveiled1 according to whether they are ,mohammedans or ,christians4 ,i was interested in the mechanical work going on in these bazaars4 ,i stopped in a carpenter's shop1 and photographed a workman of just about the age ,joseph must have been when our ,lord was a boy and passed as his son4 ,i asked about carpenter's wages1 and was told they ranged from fifty cents to one dollar per day4 ,in another business street ,i stopped awhile with the blacksmiths who were making knives1 razors1 plough points1 and the long1 thin1 crescent-shaped sickles used here for harvesting4 ,the sickles have teeth like a fine saw4 ,i lingered to watch a blacksmith shoe a horse4 ,he used a plate of iron the shape of the hoof about an eighth of an inch thick4 ,with the exception of a hole as large as a finger ring in the centre1 it was solid4 ,there were three small holes on each side for the nails1 which were driven into the hoof4 ,when shod the horse's foot was entirely covered by iron except for the small hole in the centre4 ,since ,i have been here ,i have paid especial attention to the children4 ,they are the best part of the ,holy ,land and are as full of fun and as delightful as our children at home4 ,i have seen families which recall that of ,joseph and ,mary1 and many boys with innocent faces which suggest that of ,jesus4 ,here in ,nazareth ,i see the little ones everywhere playing4 ,there is a threshing-floor on one side of the town1 a place where the earth has been stamped down and where the grain is flailed or trodden out after harvest4 ,this is one of the great playgrounds1 where the boys come with their marbles and where they play ball4 ,in one of their games the boys try to throw the ball so as to hit a stone mark set up for the purpose4 ,they also strike the ball with a club and send it beyond the threshing-floor to be caught by the boys outside4 ,they play blind man's buff1 leap-frog1 and hide-and-seek1 and as ,i went through the streets the other day ,i saw two little ones rising and falling on a board resting on the edge of a sharp stone1 making a seesaw4 ,one of the games played is like our 8,button1 button1 who has the button80 ,the boys stand in a row with hands folded and the one who is 8it0 goes along and rubs his two hands1 holding the pebble over each pair of folded hands and endeavouring to drop it into one without being caught4 ,then the others must guess who has the pebble4 ,we play the same game with the button4 ,another game is known as the 8tied monkey40 ,in this the boy who is 8it0 catches hold with one hand of a rope fastened to a peg in the ground while the others beat him with handkerchiefs or ropes in which knots are tied4 ,if he can catch one of them without letting go his hold on the rope the boy caught takes his place4 ,i observe that the boys here usually play by themselves4 ,they rather look down on their sisters1 and the average family considers the girl of but little account4 ,when a girl is born no fuss is made1 but when a boy comes the friends of the family run through the streets crying out3 8,good tidings6 ,good tidings60 ,the father prepares a feast1 and all the friends of the family give presents of money for the benefit of the boy4 ,immediately after the child is born it is rubbed over with salt and then wrapped in swaddling clothes so tight that it cannot move4 ,after it has been bound up thus for about a week1 it is unfastened1 washed with fresh oil1 salted1 and bound up again4 ,this wrapping1 oiling1 salting1 and re-wrapping goes on for about forty days1 at the end of which time the child is ready to wear the ordinary clothing of babyhood4 ,this usually consists of one garment1 but in the summer1 if the child be poor1 that is omitted1 although a naked baby may wear a skull cap4 ,the usual garment is a shirt reaching to the knees1 and as the children grow older they may have jackets over their shirts4 ,one of the important ceremonies is naming the boy4 ,to the child's given name that of the father is always added4 ,in olden times if the son of ,james was named ,john1 his name would be ,john1 son of ,james1 but now the words 8son of0 are omitted and he is known as ,john ,james4 ,i am surprised at the beauty of the ,nazarene girls1 and especially of the little ones4 ,they have rosy cheeks and bright eyes and are quite as good looking as our ,american babies4 ,they dress in bright colours and some have rows of coins on their headdresses and rings on their fingers4 ,i see many little girls at the fountain of ,mary1 each with a jar in which to bring water home4 ,this is the work of almost every woman in the land4 ,the little ones are taught by beginning with a tiny jar which they steady on the head with the hand4 ,as they grow older they use larger jars1 until at last they are able to walk through the streets carrying four or five gallons of water on the head without touching the jar4 ,this work gives them erect figures1 and there are no stooped shoulders or curved spines among them4 ,when a girl reaches ten or eleven years of age she begins to think of marriage1 and it is not an uncommon thing for her to be a mother at thirteen or fourteen4 ,after marriage the wife becomes a member of her husband's family1 and1 for a time at least1 lives with her mother-in-law4 ,for this reason people believe in early marriages1 so that the girl may be trained by her husband's mother into a suitable wife when she grows up4 ,i wonder if the boys of our ,saviour's time studied as do the ,nazarene boys of to-day4 ,as half the town is ,mohammedan1 many of them are taught by the sheiks4 ,they sit on the floor1 swaying back and forth as they scream out the verses and texts they are trying to learn4 ,the teacher is sometimes blind1 but he knows the voices so well that when one stops he can strike with his stick the place where that boy should be sitting to start him again4 ,in our ,lord's time the ,bible was probably taught in the same way to the ,jewish children4 ,most of the slates used here are made of cast-off kerosene oil cans1 the tin being cut into squares and pounded out flat4 ,the ,arabic characters are painted upon such tins with brushes and ,india ink4 ,the chief study of the ,mohammedan boys is the ,koran1 while the ,jews learn the ,psalms4 ,at harvest time the schools close and the children go out into the fields1 gardens1 and vineyards4 ,they are accustomed to work1 and everywhere ,i go ,i see them herding the sheep4 ,the boys use slings just as ,david did and are skilful in sending the stones just where they please4 ,some of these ,palestine children are polite1 but others are just the reverse4 ,when the good boy comes into a room full of older people he goes around and kisses the hand of each one and places it on his forehead4 ,he can be so sweet that you might think him the soul of innocence and piety1 but take him outside and he will fight1 kick1 and scratch with his fellows4 ,a great deal of slang is used1 and in a quarrel the most common expressions are those cursing your enemy's ancestors4 ,one boy will say to another1 8,curse your father60 and the other will reply1 8,and your grandfather60 ,and so they will go on to the fourth and fifth generations1 each cursing the various branches of the other's family4 ,here at ,nazareth we find the children very polite1 but at ,nablus they threw stones at me and called me a 8,nazarene10 the name used by the ,mohammedans of ,samaria to express contempt for all not of their faith4 ,from ,nazareth1 ,joseph and ,mary went every year to ,jerusalem4 ,they tramped over the hills of ,galilee and across the plain of ,esdraelon1 then climbed the mountains of ,samaria4 ,there is a trail1 part of which has been made into a macadamized road4 ,such trips were usually made in large companies1 and when ,i crossed ,samaria a short time ago ,i met scores of these people from ,galilee on their way to ,jerusalem4 ,the parties consisted of men1 women1 and children1 most of whom were on foot4 ,now and then one found a woman riding a donkey1 with her husband trudging beside her1 and sometimes whole families on donkeys4 ,it was in such a party that ,jesus went to ,jerusalem when ,he was about twelve years of age4 ,he was then thought to be old enough to take care of ,himself1 for the ,bible relates that when they departed ,jesus tarried behind in ,jerusalem1 and ,joseph and ,his mother knew not of it4 ,they had already gone a day's journey before they missed ,him1 and then turned back to find ,him4 ,only after three days was ,he discovered in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors1 both hearing them and asking them questions4 ,and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers4 ,and when they saw him they were amazed4 ,and his mother said unto him3 ,son1 why hast thou thus dealt with us8 ,behold1 thy father and ,i have sought thee1 sorrowing4 ,and he said unto them3 ,how is it that ye sought me8 ,wist ye not that ,i must be about my father's business8 ,and they understood not the saying which he spake unto them4 ,and he went down with them and came to ,nazareth1 and was subject unto them4 ,but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart4 ,and ,jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with ,god and man4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii ,,on ,,the ,,sea ,,of ,,galilee ,we are in a fisherman's skiff on the ,sea of ,galilee4 ,we have just left ,tiberias1 the ancient city of ,herod near the southern end of the lake1 and are on our way to ,capernaum1 that white spot which you can see on the shore at the north where ,christ lived and preached4 ,it seems strange that one can carry the whole ,sea of ,galilee in his eye4 ,i have always thought of it as only a little less than an ocean1 or at least as big as the largest of our great freshwater lakes4 ,the truth is that compared to ,lake ,michigan it is only a puddle4 ,it is about half as large as ,lake ,cayuga1 at ,ithaca1 ,new ,york1 and standing on any of the hills rising precipitously about it one can plainly see the whole body of water4 ,this so-called sea is only six miles wide at its widest part from east to west1 and from where the ,jordan flows in at the north to the place where it empties out at the south the distance is a scant thirteen miles4 ,the sea lies in the depression of the ,jordan ,valley1 the river forming a winding canal two hundred miles long which connects it with the ,dead ,sea at the south4 ,lake ,superior is a little more than six hundred feet above the level of the ocean4 ,the ,sea of ,galilee is more than six hundred and eighty feet below that level and lies in a nest of beautiful mountains which slope up from the water in picturesque shapes4 ,over there at the west the shores are bright green and are spotted with wild flowers4 ,the grass makes a waving sheet of emerald velvet which seems almost to reach the fleecy white clouds of the blue sky above4 ,farther to the south are the ,galilean mountains1 now gray in the morning sun1 with masses of smoky clouds hanging over them4 ,they are full of water2 and as ,i look1 lo6 the rain comes4 ,the sun is still shining and has painted a rainbow over that part of the lake covering the town of ,magdala1 which1 as you remember1 was ,mary ,magdalen's home4 ,looking through the rainbow you can catch sight of the ,mount of the ,beatitudes where our ,saviour sat when ,he preached the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,on the sloping little hill at the left it is said ,he commanded the weary multitude to sit down on the grass and fed the five thousand4 ,now look eastward to the lands on the opposite sides of the lake and the ,jordan4 ,they rise straight up from the water4 ,the hills are so steep that it would be almost impossible to climb them1 and they are ragged and rough4 ,that is the land of the ,gadarenes1 where our ,lord cast out the devils into the swine which ran violently down a steep place into the sea4 ,all about us are the most familiar scenes of the ,scriptures4 ,every bit of these shores has been hallowed2 and as we look the figures of the ,old and ,new ,testaments spring into life4 ,it is impossible to read the ,bible in the ,holy ,land and not feel that its people were real men and women4 ,the apostles had the same feelings as ours2 they lived in a world much the same2 they breathed the same air2 they loved and sorrowed as we do to-day4 ,illustration3 ,in a galvanized iron shack1 the home of newly arrived colonists1 the bread of ,bible times is made by a ,jewess from modern ,europe4 ,palestine1 as a national home1 has had a special appeal to the persecuted ,jews of ,poland and southeastern ,europe ,illustration3 ,near the waters of ,lake ,merom1 where ,joshua smote the ,philistines1 we see to-day the new farmer of ,palestine and his transportation4 ,at last even the roads of that backward land are being improved so that motor cars may go over them ,i doubt not our ,lord appreciated the beauties of ,galilee4 ,its scenery is as picturesque as that of any lake in the ,alps1 and its loveliness changes every hour of the day4 ,i saw the sun set last night4 ,the clouds hung heavy over the hills to the east of the ,jordan and the sun gilded the top of the ,mount of the ,beatitudes as it went down in the west4 ,a little before that these waters were a glorious yellow which faded away into a rich copper bronze4 ,at the same time the heavens were burnished copper1 cloud piled upon cloud1 and the whole was mirrored in the glassy surface beneath4 ,the ,sea of ,galilee has always been noted for its wonderful beauty4 ,it was a pleasure resort at the time of ,herod ,antipas1 and the palaces of ,tiberias and ,capernaum were famous all over the ,east4 ,later on ,i had still another view of the lake4 ,it was moonlight on the ,sea of ,galilee4 ,the great round queen of the heavens1 her golden face at its full1 shone out of a mass of dark blue with black clouds behind it4 ,the rays of the moon striking the sea obliquely painted a wide path of silver running from the hills of ,gadara across the waters to ,tiberias4 ,i gazed at the scene from the window of my hotel over the minarets of a ,mohammedan mosque4 ,it reminded me of ,lake ,como and of some ,scottish lakes4 ,as we ride up the lake to-day ,i watch closely the fishermen handling our craft4 ,we are in a skiff about thirty feet long and four feet wide4 ,it has a white leg-of-mutton sail which is filled by the wind from the south1 and we are speeding over the water4 ,our boat leaves a pathway of diamonds dropped there by the sun4 ,i reach over the side of the boat and let my hand trail in the water4 ,it is cool4 ,i dip up some in my palm and taste it4 ,it is quite brackish4 ,now the fishermen have laid their oars across the sides of the boat4 ,they are depending on the wind to carry us onward4 ,some are asleep1 among them one at the prow who lies with bare legs outspread1 his bronzed face in the full glare of the sun4 ,he is snoring4 ,at the right is a man mending a net1 while on the other side of the boat two are chatting4 ,the scene might have been one on this same lake nineteen centuries ago1 when ,christ called men like these from their boats to be 8fishers of men40 ,by and by the subject of fishing comes up4 ,thinking of the great draught which ,simon ,peter and the other apostles drew up when they cast their nets at the command of our ,lord at the time ,he appeared to them here after ,his crucifixion1 ,i ask if there are still many fish in the lake4 ,they tell me that the sea is alive with good fish and that quantities are carried to ,nazareth and other ,galilean towns every week4 ,some are sent to ,damascus by railroad and some are salted and shipped off to ,jerusalem4 ,about a year ago a party took five tons of fish in one day4 ,the catch was so great that fish sold in ,tiberias for one cent apiece1 and six pounds or more could be bought for a penny4 ,all along the lake there are fishing villages where the fishermen are still to be seen dragging their nets or mending them as they float near the shore4 ,i am told that there are three ways of fishing4 ,one is by hook and the others are by nets4 ,one kind of net is cast4 ,it is used from the shores by the fishermen wading breast deep into the water4 ,the net is a great ring or disk of thread weighted with lead4 ,as it sinks1 it takes the shape of a dome1 falling upon the fish it incloses4 ,the fisherman dives down and draws the leads together and carries net and catch to the banks4 ,much fishing of this kind is done near ,magdala4 ,another net is a dragnet1 with floats at the top and leads at the bottom4 ,this is usually worked from a boat dragging the net so that it forms a loop and scoops in the fish4 ,among the fish caught are excellent bass1 some of which we have had at the hotel4 ,an especially curious fish is that known as the chromis simonis1 the male of which carries the eggs and the young about in its mouth4 ,the storms come up quickly on ,galilee4 ,i have seen several since ,i arrived in ,tiberias and have experienced one or two on the sea4 ,it was during one of these storms1 when they were crossing the sea1 that the apostles came to our ,lord1 who was sleeping1 and begged him to save them4 ,he arose and rebuked the waters1 and lo1 it was calm4 ,at the time of another storm ,he was not with them1 having gone up into a mountain apart to pray4 ,the ship was in the midst of the sea1 tossed by the waves1 when the disciples saw ,him walking on the water4 ,they were troubled1 and1 thinking ,him a spirit1 cried out for fear4 ,then ,jesus said3 8,be of good cheer2 it is ,i2 be not afraid40 ,and you remember how when ,peter tried to go to ,him1 and when he saw the wind boisterous1 his heart failed him and he began to sink1 ,jesus stretched forth ,his hand and caught him1 saying3 8,o thou of little faith1 wherefore didst thou doubt80 ,and when they were come into the ship the wind ceased4 ,but our wind also has dropped4 ,the boatmen are lowering the sails and we are gliding to the shores of ,capernaum4 ,they are now covered with rich meadows1 with here and there ploughed fields and crops of fast-growing grain4 ,from the boat we can see no signs that a city once stood on the spot4 ,the only evidence of life is a low1 gray1 one-story monastery belonging to the ,franciscans1 who are excavating the ruins and digging temples and synagogues out of the soil4 ,they own several hundred acres running along the beach and extending for perhaps a mile up the hills4 ,some of their lands are under cultivation1 and there are orchards of lemons1 oranges1 and almonds to the east of their buildings4 ,landing at the wharf we enter a door in the walls which surround the excavations4 ,i introduce myself to ,father ,wenderlin1 an austere-looking priest who speaks ,german4 ,he takes me around and shows me the results of the work4 ,he says they are digging up what is believed to be the actual synagogue where ,jesus ,christ taught when ,he came here from ,nazareth4 ,as you must remember1 ,capernaum was ,his home4 ,it was from here that ,he found most of ,his disciples and here ,he cured ,simon's wife's mother who lay sick of a fever4 ,here1 disgusted with the wickedness of the city1 ,he said3 ,and thou1 ,capernaum1 which art exalted unto ,heaven shall be brought down to hell2 for if the mighty works which have been done in thee1 had been done in ,sodom1 it would have remained unto this day4 ,the prophecy then uttered has long since come to pass4 ,the city of ,capernaum is not4 ,illustration3 ,the prayer niches of the ,grand ,mosque of ,damascus are marvels in mosaics4 ,marble and wood are inlaid with gold1 silver1 precious stones1 and glass4 ,they were presented to the mosque by pious and wealthy ,mohammedans as thankofferings for ,divine favour ,illustration3 ,in this ,mohammedan cemetery in ,damascus lies ,fatima1 daughter of the ,prophet1 and also two of the ,prophet's wives4 ,on ,thursdays the women of the city come to mourn at the graves ,the ruins of the synagogue show the splendour of the ancient city4 ,i walked around its boundaries4 ,it was fifty-four feet long and seventy-two feet wide4 ,its front1 which faced the sea1 had a great many marble columns1 and it was built in two stories1 the upper of which was for the women4 ,the pillars are three feet thick1 smoothly finished and exquisitely carved4 ,the marble work is that common in ,rome shortly before the time of ,christ1 and much of it is uninjured4 ,so far only a small portion of the site of ,capernaum has been explored4 ,there are a thousand acres or so left that in all probability contain ruins which1 when exposed1 may cast new light upon the days and time of the ,saviour4 ,the ,franciscan monks will not permit relics to be taken away1 and they forbid the use of cameras4 ,father ,wendelin carries a long black snake whip with him1 and ,i am told that he uses it if he is not obeyed4 ,the other day a woman tourist brought in a camera under her coat and1 notwithstanding his objections1 took a snapshot1 whereupon he is said to have laid hold of her and thrown her out of the place4 ,i am stopping at ,tiberias in a little ,german hotel where ,i have a comfortable room looking out on the water4 ,tiberias is the largest settlement on the sea4 ,it lies on the western shore at the southern end1 within a mile or so of the ,horns of ,hattin where it is said ,christ delivered the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,it is only a short sail from where the ,jordan flows out to the ,dead ,sea1 and from ,semakh1 where the railroad now goes north on its way from ,haifa to ,damascus4 ,the city was the capital of ,galilee1 and it was at the height of its prosperity when ,christ was living at ,capernaum4 ,it was founded by ,herod ,antipas1 the son of ,herod1 the baby killer1 and was named after the ,roman ,emperor ,tiberias4 ,it was constructed while ,christ was living in ,nazareth1 and was a new and thriving city during ,his residence at ,capernaum4 ,it is doubtful that ,he even visited it1 for the ,bible does not mention ,his doing so4 ,the city had a palace and a race course in those days1 and after the destruction of ,jerusalem it became the chief seat of the ,jewish nation4 ,it is still one of the three holy cities of the ,jews and it has many ,israelites among its citizens4 ,they go about in long coats and caps bound with fur1 and are noted for their piety and for their knowledge of the ,talmud4 ,many of them are ,spanish ,jews who have come here to live on account of the holiness of the city4 ,the ,tiberias of to-day is not attractive4 ,it is a mass of gray stone and brick buildings1 with flat roofs painted white4 ,the streets are narrow and filthy and smell to heaven4 ,the ,arabs have a saying that the king of the fleas lives here4 ,the human population is something like eight thousand1 of whom about two thirds are ,jews and the remainder ,mohammedans and ,christians4 ,the ,jews have ten synagogues and there is also a ,mohammedan mosque4 ,the northern limits of the place are marked by the ruins of the ,roman town1 and the remains of its walls and a gate are still standing4 ,the hot springs on the shores of the lake a half mile from the city1 which were famous in the days of the ,romans1 are still used4 ,they are in many respects similar to those of ,carlsbad1 the waters containing sulphur1 chloride of magnesia1 and iron4 ,they are good for skin diseases1 and if they were under ,american management might be made to pay well4 ,one of the most interesting and valuable institutions in this city is the hospital belonging to the ,scottish missionaries4 ,it has thousands of patients a year and is doing great good4 ,i came here from ,nazareth riding over the mountains of ,galilee4 ,the road is fairly good1 although it is up and down hill all the way4 ,about six miles from ,nazareth ,i stopped at the village of ,cana where our ,lord was a guest at the wedding feast and turned the water into wine4 ,i even saw the stone jars or tubs which the people who own one of the churches there say were the jars used for that miracle4 ,they are kept inside the church1 and it took several fees to get to them4 ,they are great limestone receptacles1 looking much like mortars1 and it is likely that wheat was ground in them by means of a pestle4 ,i also visited the spring at ,cana4 ,as there is only one1 it must have been from there that the water which was turned into wine was obtained4 ,four camels1 six sheep1 and two cows were drinking at it as ,i stopped1 and a half-dozen girls with water-bags were waiting for their family supply4 ,it is probable that ,cana was much larger and more prosperous in the days of our ,saviour than now4 ,,chapter ,,xxiv ,,the ,,zionist ,,movement ,there are fifteen million ,jews in the world to-day1 scattered over the face of the earth4 ,their ancestors once lived and ruled in ,palestine1 a country now no bigger than our own state of ,vermont4 ,for centuries1 while peoples of alien faiths possessed their ancient land1 each ,jew kept warm in his bosom a belief that the ,promised ,land would one day be restored to him and the ,holy ,city rebuilt to the glory of ,jehovah4 ,during the last century ,jews the world over began to discuss practical means for making the age-long dream of their people come true4 ,this discussion grew into an organized movement which has rolled up in size like a snowball4 ,zionism1 as it is called1 is giving the statesmen of ,christendom1 as well as the ,jew and the ,mohammedan1 a mighty problem to wrestle with4 ,it involves the biggest colonization scheme since the settlement of ,america1 as well as religious and political controversies likely to keep the world stirred up for a good many years to come4 ,illustration3 ,the ,koran describes ,paradise as a place of green trees with a river flowing between--hence the ,arabs' devotion to ,damascus1 which they call the 8,pearl of the ,east0 ,illustration3 ,it was down this wall1 they say in ,damascus1 that the ,apostle ,paul was lowered in a basket at night when he escaped from his ,jewish enemies in that city ,illustration3 ,the ,street called ,straight1 the most famous in ,damascus1 like most of the old streets of the ,orient1 is made narrow to secure shade from the hot sun4 ,besides1 it is roofed over1 so that it is like a dimly lighted tunnel ,this little country has been the battleground of the nations since long before the time of ,moses4 ,egyptian and ,hittite1 ,assyrian1 ,persian and ,greek1 ,roman and ,arab1 the ,crusader and the ,turk have succeeded one another in their conquests4 ,in the ,world ,war another name was added to the long list1 that of the ,briton1 who drove out the ,turk4 ,under a mandate ,john ,bull took over the rule of ,palestine1 and the holy places of three great religions1 ,christianity1 ,mohammedanism1 and ,judaism1 came under his trusteeship4 ,the ,british ,government proclaimed its intention to 8favour the establishment in ,palestine of a national home for the ,jewish people0 and to 8use their best endeavour to facilitate the achievement of this object40 ,at the same time they promised that nothing should be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of the ,christians and the ,moslems in the ,holy ,land1 nor to hurt the position of ,jews in other countries4 ,in this way the ,british became the chief sponsors of ,zionism1 while other great nations1 including our own ,united ,states1 expressed themselves more or less formally in sympathy with the aims of the movement4 ,the ,british appointed a ,jew1 ,sir ,herbert ,samuel1 first ,high ,commissioner of ,palestine1 and promised to coperate with the international ,zionist organization in working out ,palestine affairs4 ,i have told you of the ,jewish colonies ,i have seen in the ,holy ,land4 ,when the first colony was founded there were not enough ,jews in all ,palestine to hold a prayer meeting4 ,under ,zionism their number rapidly increased1 and within three years after ,british control there were more than seventy-five thousand ,jews in the ,holy ,land1 with about sixteen thousand living in the colonies4 ,but the number of ,jews forms only about one tenth of the total population1 four fifths of whom are ,moslems1 with about the same number of native ,christians as ,jews4 ,after the war ,jews poured in for a time at the rate of fifteen hundred a month1 and thousands more are eager to come as soon as permitted4 ,the founder of the ,zionist movement was ,dr4 ,theodore ,herzl1 who called together the first world congress of ,jews4 ,he travelled over ,europe for many years1 getting the leading men of his time interested in ,zionism4 ,the ,pope received him1 and so did the ,kaiser1 while ,joseph ,chamberlain in ,england gave his support to the movement4 ,he had two interviews with the ,sultan of ,turkey1 ,abdul ,hamid1 on whom he made such an impression that the ,sultan once said3 8,that is a good man4 ,as he looks1 so ,i imagine the ,christ must have looked40 ,some of the ,jews called ,herzl the 8,twentieth ,century ,messiah40 ,i once had a talk with ,israel ,zangwill1 one of the most famous ,zionists1 about this ,jewish movement4 ,he said3 8,we ,jews have always hoped that ,palestine would again belong to us4 ,this hope has lasted for more than two thousand years1 and from time to time various projects based upon it have been formed to repossess the land4 ,nearly all of these have been visionary and many of them have been founded upon the second coming of a ,messiah who should suddenly rise and lead us1 in some miraculous way1 back to our ,mother ,country4 ,many ,jews confidently believe that will occur4 ,at present the ,jews are scattered all over the earth4 ,there are more than fifteen million of them4 ,about ten million are in ,russia and the other countries of eastern ,europe4 ,as it is now1 the ,jews are congested in the large cities4 ,london has many times the number in the ,holy ,land1 and there are at least twice as many ,jews in ,new ,york as the whole population of ,palestine4 ,chicago has a quarter of a million1 and ,philadelphia more than two hundred thousand4 ,new ,york ,city has the largest ,ghetto of the world1 and adds to it by thousands of immigrants a year4 8,we were once an agricultural and pastoral people10 continued ,mr4 ,zangwill1 8and we could make ,palestine again a land of milk and honey4 ,we should like to have the country as a ,jewish colony1 made up of our own people1 where we could govern ourselves in our own way4 ,we should not object to being colonially dependent upon some great power1 but we want home rule and a national home of our own40 ,there are really three kinds of ,zionists1 and the ,jews themselves are divided4 ,some would be satisfied to make ,jerusalem merely the centre of their religion and of ,hebrew culture4 ,a larger number want ,palestine to be a place of refuge1 where ,jews from all over the world may live in freedom from political1 religious1 or economic oppression4 ,but a still larger number will not be satisfied until there is set up in ,palestine a ,jewish state1 with ,jews in control of the land1 the government1 and the holy places4 ,these ,jews say they wish to do full justice to the other natives of ,palestine1 with whom they believe they can live in peace1 and expect the ,british to retain control until the ,jews form a majority of the population4 ,to put through this programme powerful ,jewish organizations have set out to raise a fund of one hundred and twenty-five million dollars in five years4 ,the non-,jewish people of ,palestine have objected to the ,zionist scheme1 and demanded of the ,british that all ,jewish immigration be stopped for ten years4 ,christians and ,moslems in ,palestine have wasted no love on one another1 but the prospect of a great wave of ,jewish settlers united them to the extent that a ,moslem-,christian league was formed1 whose members agreed to sell no land to ,jews4 ,nevertheless1 the ,jews have continued to increase their land holdings1 but the ,british have limited the number of ,jewish immigrants who can come into ,palestine4 ,at times the feeling between ,jew and non-,jew has been so acute as to result in riots in which many people were killed4 ,the ,moslems say that the ,jews have no right to ,palestine since their people have not lived there for nearly two thousand years4 ,the ,zionist programme1 they state1 is based on the theory that might makes right1 and they accuse the ,british of ignoring the wishes of the majority in ,palestine and consulting only the ,jews1 whom the ,moslems outnumber almost ten to one4 ,they complain that leaders of ,jewish organizations in other countries have more influence in ,palestine affairs than the native ,palestinians themselves1 and say that some of them are sending communists to the ,holy ,land to stir up class warfare4 ,the ,zionists feel that what the ,jews have already done in ,palestine goes far to justify their aim to make it a ,jewish homeland4 8,our people10 they say1 8have established over seventy colonies on land1 much of which was reclaimed from swamp and sand4 ,they have created gardens and orchards where once was waste4 ,they have started modern schools1 and the first act of the ,zionists under ,british control was to lay the cornerstone of a national ,jewish university in ,jerusalem4 ,they have put in sanitary improvements in their villages1 opened hospitals and given medical service to ,jew and ,gentile alike4 ,they have started new industries1 and are preparing to harness the water power of the ,jordan so as to make it possible to irrigate the land and furnish electricity for the whole country40 ,these things1 the ,zionists say1 are but the beginning of further benefits to come as the ,jews flock back to the ,promised ,land and work out their big programme4 ,there is plenty of room for ,jews and ,moslems1 according to ,zionists1 who estimate that the land could be made to support from three million to five million people4 ,but one fourth of the land is now in use1 and the population is only about fifty to the square mile4 ,the ,jews have begun to revive the ,hebrew language in ,palestine4 ,in ,jerusalem1 where most of the learned gather1 it is already spoken by many ,jews from different countries who find it their common tongue4 ,outside ,jerusalem it is not spoken so much1 but it is being taught in the ,jewish schools4 ,before the war1 ,german organizations backing certain colonies and schools tried to compel the use of ,german in the ,polytechnic ,institute built at the foot of ,mount ,carmel1 but succeeded only in starting a great quarrel in which they were utterly defeated4 ,with the revival of the ancient language has come an effort to revive ,hebrew art4 ,in the ,bezalel ,art and ,craft ,school of ,jerusalem characters of the old ,hebrew alphabet have been made the basis for new designs in weaving rugs and decorating vases4 ,young ,jewish painters have been attracted to ,palestine to take part in this revival1 and musicians have begun to collect the old ,hebrew melodies4 ,the ancient church council of the ,sanhedrin1 told of in the ,bible1 has been set up again in ,jerusalem1 with women admitted to its membership4 ,the ,hadassah ,medical ,organization in ,palestine1 formerly called the ,american ,medical ,unit1 now has three hospitals and a dispensary maintained at a cost said to be more than five hundred thousand dollars a year4 ,hadassah grew out of an ,american organization of ,jewish women4 ,ten years ago it was a small society of one hundred and ninety-three members4 ,to-day it is a national organization with a membership of fifteen thousand4 ,it is especially active in health work among children1 and in the care of mothers and infants1 and it teaches ,palestine girls to be nurses4 ,there were twenty-two girls in the first class graduated from the nurses' training school4 ,another thing the ,zionists have done to help their brethren in ,palestine is to organize a bank1 with a capital of #hjj1jjj4 ,they plan to make long-time loans to farmers who have had to depend in the past on loans from the ,jewish organizations backing the colonies1 or on private lenders in ,palestine4 ,the latter have charged interest at the rate of #aj per cent4 and more4 ,but the ,moslems say that all these activities on the part of the ,jew prove that political ,zionism aims at nothing less than ,jewish control of the ,holy ,land and everything and everybody in it4 ,there is a story of an ,american who found a ,jewish friend weeping at the 8,wailing ,place40 8,what is the matter with you80 he asked4 8,me8 ,i'm wailing60 8,what are you wailing for8 ,aren't there plenty of ,jews in ,jerusalem8 ,and haven't you got a ,jew for a governor80 8,yes1 ,i know1 but ,i want the ,mosque of ,omar40 ,there are also ,jews who favour a more moderate ,zionism1 and fear that setting up a ,jewish state will make trouble both in ,palestine and in the countries where ,jews are now citizens with a part in business and public affairs4 ,,chapter ,,xxv ,,the ,,world',s ,,oldest ,,city ,stand with me on the slope of the ,lebanon ,mountains and take a look over ,damascus4 ,we have climbed the road cut out for ,kaiser ,wilhelm1 the ,emperor of ,germany1 when he visited this region1 and are now on a bare lofty hill which the ,mohammedans consider one of the holy spots of the world4 ,it is where the prophet ,mohammed stood and gazed at that magnificent town1 the ,damascus of his day4 ,after staying here for hours1 he turned away with a sigh1 saying3 8,i dare not go in4 ,man can enter paradise but once1 and if ,i go into ,damascus1 this paradise on earth1 ,i shall not be able to enter the paradise of the hereafter40 ,according to the ,mohammedans1 ,abraham first received the divine revelation of the unity of ,god in ,damascus2 and ,josephus says that the town was founded by ,uz1 the great-grandson of ,noah4 ,the ,bible tells us that ,abraham had a steward who came from ,damascus1 and we know that ,king ,david besieged and conquered the place4 ,there is no doubt that it is one of the oldest towns1 if not the very oldest1 upon earth4 ,it was in existence before the days of ,rameses and ,thebes1 before ,alexandria sprang into greatness on the ,mediterranean shores1 and while ,nebuchadnezzar was chewing grass in the gardens of ,babylon4 ,it was old long before ,athens had begun to be1 was already gray-haired when ,rome was a baby1 and antedates any of the cities of the present4 ,it is now one of the most thriving centres of the ,mohammedan world4 ,illustration3 ,it is in the horse market that men foregather to trade and gossip or to enjoy a cooling drink from such a bottle as is shown here ,illustration3 8,o ,allah1 send customers10 cry the bread sellers in ,damascus1 as they squat in the street with their stock and scales ,illustration3 ,the beautiful rugs of the ,orient are all hand-made1 from carding and spinning the wool to the long months of weaving in the lovely patterns4 ,but there is more time in the ,east than we hustling ,westerners ever find ,damascus lies on the eastern side of the ,lebanon ,mountains about one hundred and fifty miles northeast of ,jerusalem1 and1 as the crow flies1 about fifty-three miles from the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,it is an oasis city surrounded by deserts4 ,it is fed by two cold1 clear rivers flowing out of great springs in the mountains of ,lebanon and making green this sandy plain in which they are lost4 ,these rivers are the ,abana and ,pharpar of the ,bible4 ,you remember how ,naaman1 the leper1 referred to them when ,elisha told him to go and wash in the ,jordan seven times and his flesh would be clean4 ,whereupon ,naaman replied3 8,are not ,abana and ,pharpar rivers of ,damascus better than all the waters of ,israel8 ,may ,i not wash in them and be clean80 ,so he turned and went away in a rage4 ,you remember also how one of his servants told ,naaman that ,elisha was asking a little thing of him and how he then went down and bathed in the murky ,jordan1 8and his flesh came again1 like unto the flesh of a little child1 and he was clean40 ,as we stand on the hill of ,mohammed at the northwest end of the city and look at ,damascus we do not wonder at ,naaman's contempt of the ,jordan4 ,we have seen that the latter is a winding1 rocky1 semi-alkaline stream which flows through a desert1 the great gorge or depression of ,ghor4 ,it has a scanty vegetation along its banks and flows through a valley of death to the great salt sea known as 8,the ,dead40 ,the ,abana1 or ,barada1 as it is now called1 and the ,pharpar1 now called ,barber1 are pure mountain streams4 ,the former is one of the most beautiful of the whole world4 ,i have travelled along it almost to its source4 ,it is a rushing river of pure1 clear green water which spreads life over all that it touches4 ,together with the ,barber it makes green the great plain which lies below us and builds up the orchards of almonds1 apricots1 apples1 and the rich crops which cover it1 as well as the white city of ,damascus rising in its centre4 ,now turn your eyes to the city itself4 ,there it lies under these magnificent mountains with its luxuriant gardens and orchards surrounded by deserts4 ,within and without silver poplars cast their green shadows over the houses4 ,the town has been compared to a pearl4 ,it is shaped very like one4 ,my guide1 ,shammas1 who stands beside me1 tells me that it looks like a camel1 and a second glance shows me the head and neck of the beast reaching out to a point where lies a railway station of the road going to ,mecca4 ,the road itself is the long neck of the camel and farther back is the body1 the minarets forming the hump4 8,now look again10 says ,shammas1 8and see if it is not like a fan60 8,very much so10 ,i reply1 8and it is also like a great spoon with a long slender handle and large oval bowl40 ,to come down to details1 ,damascus is an expanse of pearly white tinged with the pink of its roofs4 ,the buildings rise high over the green1 and out of them1 like fingers pointing to heaven1 are the minarets of two hundred mosques1 with the mighty dome of the ,great ,mosque in the centre4 ,at the right of the latter are the arched roofs of bazaars which have been famous for ages1 while away off from the rest is a big yellow building with a roof of red tiles4 ,that is the centre of ,moslem fanaticism1 where for centuries thousands of ,mohammedan soldiers have been quartered4 ,at times1 a few years ago1 even they have let loose their religious fury and slaughtered ,christians living in the city4 ,damascus is a ,mohammedan city4 ,it has about three hundred thousand people1 four fifths of whom follow the ,prophet4 ,it has also about thirty thousand ,greeks1 eight thousand ,jews1 and lesser numbers of ,syrians1 ,armenians1 ,persians1 and ,druses4 ,these people are very devout4 ,one sees them reading their ,korans in their shops1 and at the mosques ,i have observed a score or more of the ,faithful washing themselves before they go into their prayers4 ,the mosques are full of turbaned men1 old and young1 who pray singly and in groups1 and in many one finds companies of worshippers under a leader4 ,there are also many classes listening to the explanations of the ,koran by the priests1 and there are men reading by themselves4 ,but come down with me from the hill and take a stroll through the city4 ,this is ,sunday1 and we shall first visit the mosques4 ,there are seventy large ones1 where sermons are preached every ,friday1 and one hundred and seventy-seven which might be called chapels1 connected with which are ,mohammedan schools4 ,many of these mosques have libraries1 and in all of them the chief study is theology1 including the ,koran and the traditions of the prophets4 ,after that comes law1 then philosophy1 logic1 and grammar4 ,modern sciences are unknown1 and all other branches of learning are entirely neglected4 ,one of the chief centres of ,moslem religious life is the ,great ,mosque4 ,this is one of the finest of ,mohammedan churches4 ,it stands in the centre of the city and covers about seven acres1 or almost twice as much space as the ,capitol at ,washington4 ,in the great court paved with marble is a fountain1 said to mark the half-way station on the route from ,constantinople to ,mecca4 ,it is there that the worshippers bathe parts of their bodies before going to their prayers4 ,on the other side of this enormous court is the mosque proper1 the oblong floor of which covers an acre4 ,many great columns uphold its roof1 and other columns stand between it and the court4 ,entering this room1 we find two thousand men and perhaps a hundred women at worship4 ,nevertheless1 the building seems empty4 ,the worshippers are scattered over the floor4 ,the women are alone1 and the men dare not look at them4 ,they are closely veiled and do not notice us as we go by4 ,most of the men are on their knees or sitting upon the floor4 ,before coming into the church all have removed their shoes1 which now lie beside or in front of them4 ,the floor is covered with costly rugs1 presents from devout ,mohammedans4 ,think of roofing a large field1 upholding the roof by mighty columns1 and then carpeting that field with oriental rugs any one of which would be fit to hang upon your walls as a treasure1 and you have a suggestion of the picture now before us4 ,there are strange things in the mosque4 ,in its centre is a marble chapel supposed to stand over the ashes of the head of ,john the ,baptist4 ,men are sitting before the chapel with their heads toward ,mecca1 and they rise and fall as they pray to ,john the ,baptist1 the forerunner of ,christ1 and to ,mohammed as the prophet of ,god4 ,thus religion1 like politics1 makes strange bedfellows4 ,illustration3 ,the transportation monopoly of the ,bedouin and his camel is threatened to-day by the invading automobile and motor truck ,illustration3 ,at the end of the ,booksellers' ,bazaar looms the ,dome of the ,mosque1 built amid the ruins of a ,christian church1 which was itself preceded on the same site by a ,roman temple ,damascus is the heart of the ,mohammedan world4 ,at its back is ,persia1 altogether ,mohammedan4 ,at its south are ,palestine and ,arabia1 more ,moslem than ,christian1 while at the north are other realms of ,islam4 ,all around it the people are ,mohammedans1 who hate the ,christians and massacre them whenever they can4 ,this was the case in the spring of #aiji1 when thousands were killed and a terrible slaughter of ,christians by heathens took place in this region4 ,multitudes were massacred1 and it was only because the great ,christian nations of ,europe were afraid of their pocketbooks and of the loss of that balance of power which might result from a war that the ,turkish ,empire was not wiped out as a punishment therefor4 ,the matter was hushed up1 and but little of the true story was told in the papers4 ,i refer to the bloodshed throughout ,asia ,minor when the sultan1 ,abdul ,hamid1 was overthrown by the ,young ,turks and his brother1 ,mohammed ,v1 was put in his place4 ,another strange object in the ,great ,mosque is the holy tent of the pilgrim caravan4 ,this is used during the pilgrimage to ,mecca1 which generally starts at ,damascus4 ,every ,moslem is bound to make this pious journey at least once in his life1 and the followers of the ,prophet gather here from all directions for the trip to their holy city4 ,as they approach ,mecca they take off their clothes1 laying aside everything from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads4 ,they then put on aprons1 and carrying only a piece of cloth over the left shoulder1 walk into the city4 ,they march around the sacred ,kaaba and kiss the black stone4 ,they pelt ,satan with rocks in the ,valley of ,mina1 and end their pilgrimage with a great sacrificial feast1 at the end of their ,lent1 when the festival of ,beiram begins4 ,i have not seen these pilgrim caravans1 but they are said to be extremely interesting4 ,many of the rich go on camel litters something like the mule litters used in north ,china4 ,these are beds slung between poles which are fastened to camels1 one going before and the other behind and trained to keep step4 ,the camels are adorned for the occasion with coins1 shells1 and other ornaments1 besides hundreds of small bells which jingle as they march4 ,in advance of the procession is a large camel litter hung with green cloth and embroidered with gold4 ,this contains the green flag of the ,prophet and one of the oldest copies of the ,koran now in existence4 ,in addition to the worshippers themselves there is always an escort of soldiers and ,bedouins4 ,there are also many half-naked dervishes who sing and howl and cut themselves1 shouting out texts from the ,koran as they go on their way4 ,it is a question whether the railway from ,damascus to ,mecca will not cause this great caravan to become a thing of the past as far as the travel between ,damascus and ,mecca is concerned4 ,during my stay here ,i have gone out to the cemetery to see the tomb of ,mohammed's favourite daughter ,fatima4 ,mohammed had several wives in addition to the four which he allows to each of his followers4 ,his first wife was ,khadija1 the widow whose fortune made him prominent and whose servant he was4 ,as ,i remember it1 she was his first convert4 ,two of his other wives and ,fatima are buried here1 and every ,thursday many veiled women come to mourn at their graves4 ,fatima's tomb is a little domed mosque about fifteen feet square with a praying alcove facing toward ,mecca4 ,her body lies in a marble sarcophagus1 which stands on a pedestal covered with green velvet and with a piece of green cloth at its head4 ,as ,i looked at the tomb ,i saw several rags tied to the bars of the window and was told that they were put there as the pledges of sick persons1 showing that they would give money to the mosque if they should be cured4 ,the tomb of ,saladin1 the great ,mohammedan general who fought ,europe during the ,crusades1 is also in ,damascus4 ,it is in a small mausoleum attached to the ,great ,mosque4 ,at the head of the marble sarcophagus is a glass case in which lies the golden wreath placed on ,saladin's tomb by the ,german ,kaiser4 ,because this wreath had a cross worked into its design it gave deep offence to the ,damascenes1 who demanded its removal from the shrine4 ,but the ,kaiser's 8great and good friend10 ,sultan ,abdul ,hamid1 ordered it to remain1 as it was placed there by the ,emperor of ,germany4 ,i have spent some time tracing the footsteps of ,st4 ,paul1 the apostle4 ,you will remember that he was one of the ,jewish officials1 and was 8breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the ,lord0 when he got the high priest to give him letters to the synagogues of ,damascus1 that he might bring such ,christians as he found there to ,jerusalem for trial4 ,he was on his way here and was not far from the city when the light from heaven shone round him and blinded him1 and the ,lord said unto him3 ,i am ,jesus whom thou persecutest2 it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks4 ,you remember how the blind ,paul1 or ,saul1 as he was then called1 was led into ,damascus to the house of a man named ,ananias1 not the husband of ,sapphira1 however1 or any associate of the champion liar of history4 ,you recall1 how1 when he came there1 he again received his sight and1 being converted1 was baptized4 ,it was the house of this ,ananias1 according to ,shammas and the guide books1 that ,i visited the other day4 ,i found the ,ananias of the present by no means averse to a small gift of silver4 ,he took all my spare change and then asked for more4 ,i later discovered that the authenticity of the house is questioned and there is another ,ananias house1 which is now used as a chapel4 ,i looked for the house of ,naaman the ,syrian1 and was shown an old building occupied by lepers4 ,it was in the ,street called ,straight that ,ananias met ,paul4 ,this is one of the principal highways of the ,damascus of to-day4 ,it leads from the chief gate on the south to the bazaars and is about the only straight street in the city4 ,it goes right through ,damascus and is so wide that two or three carriages can pass on it4 ,it is the centre of traffic1 and while there ,i saw caravans of camels1 donkeys1 and horses bringing in and taking out all kinds of goods4 ,one line of camels was loaded with poplar trees as long as telegraph poles4 ,the ends of the poles dragged in the road as they walked4 ,behind them came donkeys with panniers of green cucumbers and horses loaded with baskets of ,jaffa oranges1 each as big as the head of a baby4 ,a mule followed the horses4 ,it was loaded with butter from the interior packed in black leather bottles of the shape and size of a tin dinner bucket4 ,st4 ,paul had a lively time in ,damascus4 ,he preached in the synagogue and confounded the ,jews4 ,after a while the ,jews took counsel to kill him1 and they watched the gates day and night for that purpose4 ,it was then that his friends took him by night and let him down over the wall in a basket4 ,this very place is now shown1 and ,i have made a photograph of the spot4 ,the wall is a great structure of stone with a mud parapet on top4 ,there is a house on the top of the wall at the place indicated4 ,this has windows with great bars across them1 and it is very easy to imagine how ,st4 ,paul might have been let down from such a place when he made his escape4 ,,chapter ,,xxvi ,,shopping ,,in ,,the ,,street ,,called ,,straight ,let us go this morning for a walk through the bazaars of this the oldest of all the world's cities4 ,they are more oriental than those of ,tunis or ,cairo and more quaint than those of ,constantinople4 ,take the ,street called ,straight1 up which ,st4 ,paul came to meet ,ananias4 ,it is a vaulted tunnel where the only light comes through little windows in the roof1 which rises to a height of about one hundred feet4 ,suppose you could cover lower ,broadway at the top of its third-story windows1 and in place of the doors and windows of plate-glass have the walls made up of cave-like stores opening out on the roadway4 ,let each store have a floor about as high above the street level as the seat of a chair1 and let it be filled with the most gorgeous goods of the ,orient4 ,let each have its turbaned or fez-capped merchant sitting on the floor at the front1 with workmen similarly dressed labouring away in the rear4 ,the bazaars of ,damascus are made up of many such vaulted streets so roofed that only dim light comes in through the little windows high up overhead4 ,the shops are mere holes in the walls1 but they are packed full of goods4 ,the walls between them are little more than partitions of boards1 and there is hardly a business establishment where the traditional bull of the china shop could turn round without losing his hide4 ,the customers bargain standing out in the roadway1 or sitting on the floors of the stores and hanging their heels in the street4 ,each trade has its own section and we walk for blocks filled with booths containing only one kind of goods4 ,here is the saddle bazaar4 ,the air is heavy with the rich smell of leather4 ,harness hangs from the walls1 and inside are saddles for camels1 donkeys1 and horses4 ,there are gay trappings for ,arabian steeds1 and leather buckets in which one can carry water with him over the desert4 ,there are also necklaces of blue beads to put on your horses to ward off the evil eye1 as well as other charms for the journey4 ,the harness shops are twelve feet deep and each is a little factory where two or three saddlers are at work4 ,in some places they are making harness of wool and in others trappings of leather beautifully decorated4 ,a little farther on we come to a bazaar selling panniers for camels and donkeys1 while not far away is a street where they handle nothing but shoes4 ,the cobblers are turning out footgear of wood1 wool1 and leather4 ,they are cutting out sandals somewhat like the rain shoes of ,japan4 ,the finer ones1 which are beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl1 are for the better class women4 ,such shoes are used at home and when madame goes to the bathhouse4 ,they are worn without stockings4 ,in another place the merchants are selling shoes of red leather such as are used by the country people and the poorer ,damascenes4 ,they are of goatskin1 camelskin1 or cowhide1 and have no heels4 ,the leather is not very well tanned1 the shoes being kept on the lasts until sold4 ,the average shoe shop is about fifteen feet wide1 ten feet deep1 and twelve feet in height4 ,the stock is hung to wooden nails driven into the walls both in and outside the shop4 ,the men customers stand in the street and try on the shoes without the assistance of the merchant4 ,the women examine the shoes through the eye slits of their veils and guess at the sizes4 ,a very odd boot is that worn by the ,bedouins4 ,it is of goatskin dyed yellow or red and has heels of camelhide with an iron strip running round each of them4 ,this boot reaches half way to the knee4 ,none of the shoes is made by machinery1 and most of them are sewed rather than pegged4 ,how would you like to have your hat blocked1 ironed1 and brushed for a cent8 ,that is what you can do in ,damascus4 ,the hat bazaar has scores of shops for the purpose4 ,the most common cap is the red fez1 a round felt bowl which fits tight around the head without rim or brim4 ,it is about five inches high1 and must be pressed every few days to keep it in shape4 ,the hatter has a zinc-covered table in which are several small holes filled with fires of burning charcoal4 ,he has brass frames or blocks over which the caps fit1 and shells of metal which may be clamped upon them to hold the fez in form4 ,after this the frame is laid over one of the fires1 and in a moment the heat gives the cap the latest and most fashionable shape4 ,other bazaars are devoted to the selling of silks and still others to the finest of cloths4 ,the wealthier ,mohammedans have their long robes made of the best possible stuffs1 for they delight in rich garments4 ,the women shop in these bazaars4 ,they peep out through their veils as they examine the goods and will bargain an hour in buying a needle4 ,i am told that they sometimes raise their veils to entice the merchants to lower their prices1 but if so1 ,i have not seen them1 and ,i have been told by my guide that if ,i wish to keep my head on my shoulders ,i had best turn my eyes in another direction4 ,there is one ,damascus bazaar where ,i walk carefully1 and as far as possible keep in midstreet4 ,it is called the ,louse ,market1 and you may know why when ,i tell you that it is devoted to second-hand clothes4 ,the bazaar is just back of the citadel and not far from the ,straight ,street4 ,from morning until evening it is filled with customers and dealers2 auctioneers walk back and forth through it1 each carrying a garment which he holds up1 asking for bids4 ,he praises his goods to the skies and tells the crowd that he is willing to sell them for a song4 ,yesterday ,i spent a short time in the booksellers' bazaar1 but my guide ,shammas dragged me away1 fearing that we might be insulted and mobbed4 ,the dealers are such strict ,mohammedans that they do not wish even to sell to the ,christians4 ,the shops are near the gate of the ,great ,mosque and among their wares are many copies of the ,koran4 ,picking one up1 ,i asked the merchant the price4 ,he scowled and angrily exclaimed3 8,put it down6 ,put it down6 ,we do not sell our holy books to the ,christians40 ,thereupon1 as ,i saw he was growing angry1 ,i dropped it1 saying3 8,we ,christians are glad to give or sell our ,bibles to any one1 and as for your ,korans1 ,i can buy them by the ton in ,new ,york or ,london40 ,the ,moslems here are noted for their hatred of ,christians1 and one of the bloodiest massacres of modern times occurred in ,damascus about sixty years ago4 ,the people are little changed to-day1 and they are about as ignorant as they were then4 ,the chief books sold are religious4 ,there are also some story books and copies of the 8,arabian ,nights10 either in parts or as a whole4 ,during our trip through the bazaars we find the tastes of the ,mohammedan stomach everywhere in evidence4 ,these people like good food1 and it seems to me they eat from morning till night4 ,pedlars carrying candy1 lemonade1 and cakes march through the streets crying their wares while bread men sit on the sidewalks with their stocks4 ,the most common bread is a flat1 round cake as thick as the buckwheats we have for breakfast1 and a foot or more in diameter4 ,these cakes are white or brown4 ,they are so pliable that they can be doubled up without breaking4 ,they are often used to pick the meats out of a stew4 ,the ,orientals do not use forks1 claiming that their own hands are much cleaner4 ,they have a saying that 8everyone knows whether he has washed his own hands1 but no one knows who washed the forks40 ,another kind of bread is like a gigantic shoe sole without the heel1 and another is a round biscuit about an inch thick4 ,but here comes a man selling candy4 ,take a bite of it and your mouth will flow water like the rivers which feed this city and make fertile its plains4 ,damascus is noted for its sweetmeats1 and its candies are shipped far and wide over the world4 ,the sweets are sold in the bazaars1 some of the merchants having large shops4 ,there is one dear old turbaned sheik who has a cell in the candy bazaar where you can buy nuts and fruits fit for the queen of the fairies4 ,his sugared almonds are the joy of the tourist1 and his ,turkish delight1 a soft1 sweet1 transparent paste1 with pistachios and other small nuts scattered through it1 is a dish for the gods4 ,stop a moment and listen to the cries of the pedlars4 ,shammas will interpret them for us4 ,here is a man selling bread hot from the oven4 ,he yells3 8,ya rezzak01 or1 8,god1 send me a customer10 and follows by showing a cake and saying1 8,all this for two cents40 ,another coming behind cries out in ,arabic3 8,buy my bread and the good ,god will nourish you10 and a third says3 8,my cakes are food for the swallows and the delight of tender and delicate girls40 ,here comes a lemonade man4 ,he has a big glass jar slung to his back with a neck so shaped that he can tilt its contents into a cup4 ,he has two brazen bowls which he holds in his hands and rattles as he shouts3 8,drink and refresh thy heart40 ,another pedlar has ice-cream the coolness of which he cries up in the words3 8,balak sunnak10 or 8,take care of your teeth10 meaning it is so cold it will make your teeth ache4 ,fruit is sold the same way1 as well as cooked meats of various kinds4 ,there is one salad which the men call out is so tender that if an old woman eats it she will find herself young in the morning4 ,a good deal of food is bought by the charitable and given to beggars4 ,some even buy bread for the dogs1 hoping thereby to acquire merit and thus pave their road to the ,mohammedan heaven4 ,making our way through the crowds we reach a region of cook shops1 restaurants1 and cafs not far from the butcher shops4 ,the latter sell most kinds of meat1 including camel1 beef1 mutton1 and lamb4 ,the mutton is fine4 ,the sheep are of the fat-tail variety1 and when skinned and dressed for the market their tails are left on4 ,these hang down over their backs in great lumps of fat1 looking like a loaf of fresh dough ready for baking4 ,sometimes they have the form of a heart four or five inches thick and eight inches wide4 ,such a tail will weigh fifteen pounds4 ,upon a live sheep it hangs down at the rear like a woolly apron1 and when raised looks like a miniature sail1 showing an expanse of bare white skin beneath4 ,another interesting part of business ,damascus is composed of long streets of cave-like vaults floored with cement and divided up into compartments piled high with grain1 beans1 or flour4 ,this is the grain bazaar4 ,one of the compartments may hold a hundred bushels of wheat and another a like quantity of oats1 barley1 or lentils4 ,there are bins filled with ,indian corn and bins of caraway seeds4 ,the grain lies on the floor and is scooped up and measured to order4 ,camels come in bringing great bags of wheat and go out carrying other grains to various parts of the city4 ,the country about ,damascus which can be irrigated is exceedingly rich and produces large crops4 ,a great deal of grain is brought from the plains beyond the ,jordan and on the east of the ,sea of ,galilee1 known as the hauran1 and this grain is shipped from ,damascus to other parts of ,syria and across the ,mediterranean to ,europe4 ,indeed1 the trade of ,damascus is extensive4 ,the city makes goods of various kinds which are shipped all over the world4 ,it is noted for its beautiful brass and silver ware1 its inlaid woodwork1 and its oriental rugs4 ,it has large caravan trade with ,persia and other parts of ,turkey1 and long lines of camels are always bringing in and carrying out goods4 ,there are some great buildings called khans devoted to wholesaling and warehousing4 ,i visited one of these4 ,it was shaped much like a mosque1 being lighted by nine great domes the tops of which were at least one hundred feet above the dirt floor4 ,the domes were upheld by stone pillars4 ,the floor1 which covered almost an acre1 was packed with merchandise4 ,in one part of it were bags of wheat piled high toward the roof2 in another hundreds of boxes of dates4 ,in other parts were barrels and crates of fruit and bales of oriental rugs laid one upon the other4 ,some of the bales were enormous1 one equalling a load for a two-horse wagon4 ,i was told that they came from ,bagdad4 ,there were a number of these khans in ,damascus at the time of ,christ1 and there are several now in use4 ,the space in them is rented out to merchants1 the owners doing a general warehousing business4 ,but come1 let us go to the silver bazaar4 ,this1 like the warehouse establishment1 is under one roof4 ,it is composed of scores of silversmith shops or booths scattered over a large room of more than an acre4 ,each merchant has his own little quarter4 ,he sits behind a desk or counter1 and has a rude1 old-fashioned safe at the rear4 ,at the right and left1 or still farther back1 are his mechanics1 who are working in silver and gold1 making all sorts of jewellery4 ,each has a little anvil before him and a miniature furnace with a blow pipe1 by which he melts and shapes the metal to the desired form4 ,the pounding can be heard everywhere4 ,we ask some of the merchants to show us their wares4 ,they bring out heavy chains of silver1 and gold rings set with diamonds and pearls and some magnificent pigeon-blood rubies4 ,there are millions of dollars' worth of jewellery under this roof4 ,the customers are both men and women1 the former in gowns and turbans and the latter in great black sheets with veils over their faces4 ,we stop and watch the buying and selling4 ,there is a woman looking at a bracelet of gold4 ,the jeweller weighs it on rude little scales and then adds the cost of the labour4 ,the woman is not satisfied with the price4 ,she calls him a thief1 and demands that he do not rob her children of bread4 ,it may be an hour before the bargain is made4 ,i am frequently asked what one can buy in these oriental cities which is worth while taking home4 ,damascus is a good shopping place for the tourist4 ,since it is somewhat off the main line of travel1 one can pick up oriental things comparatively cheap4 ,i have bought several rugs which have come here by caravan from ,bokhara1 two of which are at least one hundred years old4 ,i will not give the prices except to say that they are much below those at which they could be bought in ,new ,york1 and the merchant has agreed to pay the duties upon them and to deliver them to my house in ,washington4 ,among the many other things sold are silk head shawls such as are used by the ,bedouins1 and table covers of red or black woollen cloth embroidered with silk4 ,a great many ,americans take home brassware from ,damascus1 and not a few purchase swords inlaid with silver and with the ,damascus blades for which the city has been noted for ages4 ,some of these swords are imitations imported from ,germany1 while other 8oriental0 wares come from ,manchester1 being made especially for this trade4 ,indeed1 one must keep his eye open if he would buy genuine curios in any part of the world4 ,,chapter ,,xxvii ,,the ,,veiled ,,women ,,of ,,damascus ,ho6 ,ye bold1 bright-eyed1 fair-skinned girls of ,america6 ,forget the infinity of changing styles with which you are free to please us every year and take a look at your sisters of ,damascus in far-away ,syria4 ,how would you like to exchange your life for theirs8 ,how would you like to spend your days without showing your face to the light of the sun8 ,how would you like to go about in a great bag of black silk tied in at the waist so that it covers your form from the head to the feet except for a short1 thick veil of black through the meshes of which you can just feel your way along the street8 ,how would you like to be penned up in the back of your house1 or to have your front windows so latticed that you could see out only through holes as big around as a lead pencil8 ,aye1 more1 how would you like never to talk to any man but one of your own family1 and worse1 never even to be seen by any other man or boy8 ,this is the condition of the girls of this fanatical city of ,damascus4 ,it is the fate of millions of other women of the ,mohammedan world4 ,within the past thirty years ,i have visited every ,moslem country on earth1 and have worn out my eyes trying to see through the veils which hide the fair sex4 ,in ,morocco their faces are covered with cotton1 and they peep out through the crack made by pulling the cloth slightly apart in front of the face4 ,in ,kairouan the girls cover their faces with black crpe so thick that you cannot tell whether they are negroes or whites2 and in ,tunis they are so shrouded in balloon-like robes as hardly to be able to walk4 ,in ,zanzibar the girls wear bags which cover them to the feet1 and their only view of the world is through peepholes as big as a fifty-cent piece hedged across with lace netting so that no man shall see in4 ,in ,egypt the headdress comes down to the eyebrows1 and a veil extends from there to the knees1 with the exception of a crack for the eyes1 the crack being kept open by a gold or brass spool resting on the bridge of the nose4 ,in ,constantinople the fashionable ,turks are doing away with the veil or using thin white gauze through which the face can be plainly seen4 ,it is thus that the ladies of the harem of the ,sultan are dressed1 and thus the wives of all the rich men4 ,here in ,damascus the women stick to veils of flowered muslin or black crpe and wrap themselves in great billowy cloaks of black silk or calico4 ,these bulge out above and below where they are tied at the waist1 making each maiden look like two huge lumps of sausages4 ,every time ,i go through the city ,i see hundreds of them waddling along4 ,they throng the bazaars1 where they bob back and forth as they talk with the merchants4 ,they may be seen picking their way through the side streets or sitting on the floors of the mosques reading the ,koran and watching the men go through their prayers4 ,many of the shrouded figures are those of small girls4 ,they take the veil at eleven or twelve and keep it on after marriage and indeed until death4 ,illustration3 ,the street-dress of the woman of ,damascus is a bag of black silk tied in at the waist and a black veil so thick that she can hardly see her way about4 ,feminism and style-changes make little headway in ,moslem lands ,illustration3 ,i am five feet eight inches tall but could not reach to the upper edge of this fragment of one of the giant columns at ,baalbek4 ,once a centre of worship of ,baal1 there were built later temples to ,jupiter1 ,mercury1 ,venus1 and ,bacchus ,and then the houses6 ,all of the ,mohammedans have homes so latticed that the women cannot be seen from the streets4 ,in some cases the windows are built over the sidewalks1 hanging out like cages of wooden network4 ,this is true even in the new apartment houses which are now going up1 as well as in the huts of the poor1 although the latter seldom have windows except at the back4 ,the ordinary lattice is made of canelike rushes or sticks1 and preparing them is a special trade followed by many4 ,the rushes are brought in to ,damascus on the backs of donkeys1 which as they go fill the streets with their loads4 ,it behooves the ,mohammedan woman to be strict in her conduct4 ,the husband here has most of the rights1 and can divorce his wife1 or wives1 whenever he will4 ,he sometimes does so without thinking1 and that to his sorrow4 ,i heard of such a case yesterday4 ,according to the laws of ,damascus1 if a man wishes to get rid of his wife he has only to say1 8,i divorce you6 ,i divorce you6 ,i divorce you60 and the woman must leave4 ,once she has gone she cannot come back as a wife until after she has been married to someone else4 ,to get around this1 an angry husband1 relenting and longing for the dear departed1 arranges to marry her to a friend1 a dervish1 or some half-crazy man1 who for a sum will go through the ceremony of a wedding and immediately divorce the woman1 who can then be married again to her former husband4 ,in the case referred to the man had a petty quarrel with his wife1 and angrily muttered the words of divorce4 ,as soon as she had gone he repented1 and thereupon brought about her marriage with an alleged friend1 with the understanding that a divorce was to follow right after the ceremony4 ,the friend1 however1 refused to utter the words of divorce1 saying1 8,i like the woman and will keep her myself10 and so it is at this writing4 ,such divorces are always on the part of the husband4 ,as for the women1 they have more difficulty in getting rid of the marriage tie1 although they can do so provided the husband does not perform his duty to them or give them an equal amount of attention with the other wives of the family4 ,according to ,mohammed every man had the right to four wives1 but the ,koran provides that he must spend an equal time with each of them1 and in some places he is required to give each a separate establishment4 ,during my travels in the ,holy ,land ,i have picked up some interesting stories of marriage and divorce4 ,every sect has its own customs4 ,the ,jews can divorce easily1 and after that they can marry again4 ,the orthodox ,greeks can marry only three times1 and some of the ,christians are not allowed a divorce without cause4 ,in all of the ,jewish weddings the girl brings a dowry1 the amount of the dot being mentioned in the contract of marriage4 ,this contract is always signed in the presence of the rabbi1 and the wedding ceremony takes place under a tent in the court of the synagogue4 ,before marriage the orthodox bride is shaved from her head to her feet1 after which her head is always kept covered4 ,at the ceremony and after it they have music1 with drums1 cymbals1 and harps2 and many of the old-fashioned customs of ,bible times are observed4 ,the ,jews marry young1 and a girl is an old maid at twenty4 ,the ,mohammedans of the villages usually take wives in their early teens1 marriages at twelve years being not uncommon4 ,this is the case only with the girls4 ,the men are usually older1 and it is customary for mature men to marry young girls and to add to their harems as the first wives grow older4 ,in such cases the groom pays money to the father of the bride4 ,this is the reverse of the ,jewish marriages1 where the money goes to the groom4 ,the price for a ,moslem wife ranges from one hundred dollars upward1 according to the financial condition of the contracting parties4 ,the contracts are made by the older people of the family4 ,if there is a father he decides upon the marriage4 ,if the father is dead the eldest brother may act1 or in some cases the mother4 ,the customs as to the right of the family to dictate the marriage are rigid4 ,the other day a peasant living near ,jerusalem had a sister who ran away with her lover and married him4 ,this was after the family had objected to the match4 ,the peasant took a revolver and went after the bridal couple4 ,he caught up with his brother-in-law in ,jerusalem and shot him dead on the street4 ,when arrested he justified the crime and he is now imprisoned awaiting trial4 ,i am told he will get off with a slight punishment1 as he has acted within his rights according to the ,koran4 ,among the city ,mohammedans the bridegroom makes a present of a dowry sufficient to enable his bride to purchase her trousseau and household furniture4 ,he may give her six or eight hundred dollars1 the greater part of which will be paid to her nearest male relative before the wedding takes place4 ,on the other hand1 he and that relative may buy the outfit together1 making items of the various things and their cost4 ,often the whole dowry is not paid at once1 #be or #cj per cent4 being left until after the wedding4 ,this is not demanded except in case of divorce1 and it is considered a premium that will insure good treatment from the husband4 ,the bride seldom even sees the groom before the wedding1 and the couple never meet until that time4 ,the investigations of both families are carried on by the fathers and mothers independent of the real parties to the marriage4 ,when a boy is old enough to have a wife1 let us say at seventeen1 his parents begin to look about for a suitable girl4 ,the mother goes to the harems of her acquaintances1 and asks about the daughters4 ,she also visits the girls' schools1 and when she has found a maiden who she thinks may suit she invites the mother of the girl to meet her at the bath4 ,this is one of the chief places of gossip and pleasure and it is not uncommon for ladies to meet there4 ,to the bath comes the prospective bride with her mother for her first interview with her would-be mother-in-law4 ,the two talk and gossip together4 ,after the bath is over they have something to eat4 ,there is more talking1 and the girl is sized up mentally and physically4 ,upon her return home the mother of the groom tells her husband the result of her investigations1 and if he is pleased1 negotiations are begun with the parents of the bride4 ,if agreeable1 the dowry is fixed and the betrothal is made4 ,neither the marriage nor the betrothal can be consummated without the consent of the girl4 ,the man1 or a ,mohammedan priest1 appears at the door of the harem of the bride's mother4 ,the girl1 who is behind the door1 is asked if she will consent to the match4 ,she has to answer 8,i will60 three separate times1 after which the amount of the dowry may be paid over in the presence of witnesses4 ,illustration3 ,man is dwarfed by the enormous portal of the ,temple of ,bacchus considered the finest architectural feature of the structure4 ,this is one of the most beautiful and best preserved ruins in ,syria ,illustration3 ,standing out against the sky are these mighty columns1 all that remain of the fifty-four that once surrounded the ,great ,temple of the ,sun at ,baalbek4 ,they are visible to the traveller long before he reaches the ruins ,in all oriental countries the wedding ceremonies are very important4 ,the marriage is always an occasion of protracted festivities1 and not to be invited is to suffer a grave insult4 ,one of the proverbs here is1 8,he who does not invite me to his marriage will not have me at his funeral40 ,among the ,mohammedans the wedding ceremonies often last a week1 during which there is feasting on the part of both families4 ,the dinners are given before the wedding1 and at the time of the ceremony sums of money are thrown to the beggars4 ,the wedding feasts usually begin ,monday4 ,tuesday the bride is taken to the bath where there is a feast1 the bridegroom paying the expenses of the bathing and eating4 ,wednesday the bridegroom's women friends go to the house of the bride where they have a concert and dinner4 ,the fingernails and toenails of the bride are stained red with henna and they begin to deck her out for the wedding4 ,thursday a great procession escorts the bride to the groom's house where the two eat candy1 exchanging mouthfuls or bites1 the idea being that nothing but sweetness is hereafter to pass from the lips of one to the other4 ,the bridegroom has not seen the bride until this time4 ,he says a prayer in her presence1 kneeling on her bridal veil as he does so4 ,among the ,mohammedans of ,palestine1 says my guide ,shammas1 the wedding usually takes place at the mosque1 and the bridegroom meets his bride when she is on the way thither4 ,dressed and veiled in white1 she is carried under a canopy on the shoulders of four men4 ,at the mosque the wedding sermon is preached1 and at the end of this the bride goes to the house of her husband4 ,as she steps over the threshold she bends down and passes under two crossed swords upheld by his friends4 ,this means that if she is not true to her husband he will kill her4 ,she is taken first to the women's apartment or harem over the door of which has been placed a piece of leavened dough1 thus signifying that the home into which she has come will flourish4 ,in some cases the bride breaks a piece of leavened bread and gives it to the young people to eat4 ,after she has entered her own apartment in the groom's house there is a feast1 the guests sitting on the floor and eating course after course of meats and vegetables interspersed with candies and sirups4 ,in some cases the groom has to make the bride speak before the dinner will be served1 and it is a virtue with her to keep silent just as long as she can4 ,it is the general idea among ,christians that ,mohammedan wives have no rights which their husbands are bound to respect4 ,i am told this is not so1 and that the women here not infrequently rule their husbands4 ,the cost of living has increased so much within recent years that it is only a rich ,mohammedan who can afford several wives4 ,public sentiment as to the rights of women has risen1 and the man who abuses his wives is not considered respectable4 ,no man dares address a strange woman on the streets of any ,turkish city1 and in the best-regulated houses the husband does not enter the women's apartments when he knows he is not wanted1 although he has the legal right to go there at any time4 ,the ,mohammedan wife has the entire right and control of her own property1 and if she brings money into the family she does not hesitate to say so4 ,she has about as much power in the courts as our women have4 ,she can sue and be sued and can even enter a suit against her husband in regard to her own property4 ,she can make a will and leave her property as she pleases1 and she can force him to pay the dowry agreed upon4 ,when she marries he has to buy the wedding gown1 and if he divorces her she gets back her trousseau4 ,it is said that women are still bought and sold in the ,turkish possessions4 ,not long ago there was a regular trade in the black girls who were brought across the ,sahara from ,central ,africa and shipped through ,tripoli into ,syria and other parts of ,turkey4 ,before the ,english took hold of ,egypt this traffic was carried on through the ,nile ,valley and was winked at by the officials4 ,according to the law of the ,koran marriages with slaves are legal4 ,the wives of the ,sultans have usually been slaves brought in from ,georgia and ,circassia1 plump girls with fair complexions and red hair bringing the highest prices1 perhaps as much as the cost of half a dozen fine white horses4 ,i hear that ,circassian girls often welcomed being sold1 as they thus escaped the hardships of their own country4 ,such as could play on the zither and other musical instruments always brought more than the ignorant4 ,in the past1 five thousand dollars was not a high price for a ,circassian girl1 while any good-looking ,georgian maiden of twelve would bring two hundred dollars and upward4 ,the children of such slave wives are legitimate4 ,,chapter ,,xxviii ,,baalbek ,,the ,,wonderful ,i am in the ,valley of ,lebanon1 the high1 narrow plain which lies between the two ranges of the ,lebanon ,mountains4 ,the word ,lebanon means 8white10 perhaps because of the walls of chalk or limestone which are a feature of the whole range4 ,just now the highest peaks are white with snow4 ,these ranges extend north and south parallel with the coast of the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,beginning a little below the border of ,asia ,minor1 they lose themselves in the ,holy ,land4 ,in reading of them ,i have always thought they were only hills4 ,they are higher than any mountains of our country east of the ,mississippi1 and the average height of the range nearest the coast is a thousand feet greater than that of ,mount ,washington4 ,mount ,hermon is more than nine thousand feet high and ,jebel ,makmel measures ten thousand two hundred feet4 ,the elevation of the ,valley of ,lebanon itself is twice that of the topmost peaks of the ,blue ,ridge of ,virginia1 and it slopes from here to the north as far as ,aleppo and to the south beyond ,dan1 where rises the ,jordan4 ,in this little valley1 which is less than one hundred miles long and from five to eight miles wide1 walled by these mighty mountains1 lie the ruins of ,baalbek1 once the most wonderful temples known to the ages4 ,i have spent hours in wandering through them1 and their immensity and beauty steadily grow upon me4 ,i despair of being able to describe them and can only hope to give you bits of the details4 ,i have seen most of the world's mighty ruins4 ,in the past year ,i have wandered through the tombs of the ,mings outside ,mukden1 ,manchuria2 ,i have stood upon the ,temple of ,heaven in ,peking1 and have climbed the great ,chinese wall4 ,i have gone through the ,temples of ,karnak at the hundred-gated city of ,thebes far up the ,nile2 ,i have taken photographs of the ,colossi of ,memnon1 and have measured the stones of the ,pyramids with a two-foot rule4 ,not long ago ,i visited the ,temple of ,boro ,boedor in the heart of ,java to describe its three miles of unique carvings1 and last year ,i spent some time in the forts of the ,moguls at ,delhi and wrote of the ,taj ,mahal and its marvellous beauties4 ,i have also seen ,timgad1 the excavated city on the edge of the ,sahara1 and have lately gone through the ,colosseum at ,rome and inspected the equally imposing amphitheatre at ,el ,djem in the heart of the ,tunisian desert4 ,all these are wonderful1 but ,baalbek is their superior4 ,these ruins have never been so impressive as they are now4 ,for centuries most of them have been as much buried as is ,herculaneum1 and it was only when the ,emperor of ,germany made his tour through this part of the world that they began to be brought to the light of day4 ,i have marched in the ,kaiser's footsteps through ,palestine and have seen there the churches and other monuments which he had erected4 ,before he came to ,syria he stopped at ,constantinople with the ,sultan ,abdul ,hamid1 who gave him a permit to do about as he pleased4 ,as the ,kaiser travelled he flattered the ,mohammedans1 the ,christians1 and the ,jews4 ,he was alive to every possibility1 and he stamped 8,made in ,germany0 upon every city he visited4 ,in ,damascus he laid a golden wreath on the tomb of ,saladin1 the famous soldier who fought the ,crusaders2 and about ,jerusalem he built hospitals1 schools1 and a great sanatorium4 ,here at ,baalbek the ,sultan gave him permission to do anything he liked4 ,in the ,temple of the ,sun is a tablet bearing an inscription in ,german and ,arabic testifying his regard for the ,sultan and his pleasure at visiting the ruins4 ,shortly after leaving he sent ,german scientists1 who organized an army of natives and put them to work excavating the temples4 ,the ,germans laid down a railroad track for the dirt cars to carry away mountains of earth and dbris4 ,as a result of their work and modern machinery for lifting huge stones into place we have at last a view of these most wonderful temples more as they were in their glory4 ,but first let me tell you something about the origin of these structures and the gods to whom they were dedicated4 ,the ,arabs claim that this1 rather than ,damascus1 is the oldest city in the world4 ,they say that ,adam lived here1 and that it was between here and the ,mediterranean that ,cain killed ,abel4 ,one of ,adam's favourite residences was ,damascus1 and ,seth lived at ,nebi ,schitt in the ,lebanon ,mountains4 ,they will show you where ,noah was buried and the town in which ,ham lived4 ,they also think that ,nimrod reigned in this valley1 and they have a tradition that when an angel called upon him he threw the holy one into a blazing furnace from which he came out unharmed4 ,they locate the ,tower of ,babel at ,baalbek and believe that ,nimrod built it4 ,according to another legend1 ,abraham reigned at ,damascus and came here frequently4 ,it is also well known that ,solomon had a city named ,baalath1 in which other gods than ,jehovah were worshipped4 ,indeed1 it is said that ,solomon1 in order to please his concubines1 built a temple here and that he had a castle which he gave as a present to ,balkis1 the ,queen of ,sheba4 ,baalbek was well known in the days of the ,phnicians and was a great city in the time of ,christ4 ,it was about a hundred years after that that the finest of the temples1 the ruins of which we see to-day1 were constructed4 ,then the ,roman civilization was in the height of its glory1 and the emperors were building cities in north ,africa1 in ,asia ,minor1 and in other parts of the world4 ,the ,romans put up the temples here in honour of ,jupiter 7,baal71 which had in them smaller temples to ,venus and ,bacchus4 ,they worshipped ,baal1 the god of the sun1 as one of the greatest of their deities1 although they had other gods without number4 ,as to the worship of ,baal1 there have been gods of that name almost since the beginnings of history4 ,it is a question1 indeed1 whether the word ,baal did not mean 8lord10 being a general term for male gods of various kinds4 ,later on the ,greeks considered ,baal the god of the sun1 classing him with the god represented by ,helios1 in whose honour the city of ,heliopolis in ,egypt was built4 ,the worship of ,baal runs through the ,bible4 ,samuel rebuked the ,israelites for bowing down to him1 and ,jezebel had four hundred priests of ,baal who were confounded by ,elijah4 ,indeed1 it is a question whether ,beelzebub1 or the devil1 was not ,baalzebub4 ,here at ,baalbek the finest statue was that of this god4 ,it was of gold and represented a beardless young man clad in armour standing between two golden bulls4 ,he held a whip in his right hand and a thunderbolt and some ears of corn in his left4 ,there were also statues of ,mercury and ,venus1 a ,hall of ,bacchus1 and statues and statuettes of exquisite workmanship4 ,these images were destroyed by the early ,christians1 who threw down parts of the temples and broke up the carvings in their detestation of all pagan art4 ,it is impossible to give pictures of the ruins and of the mighty temples as they were in their wonderful beauty4 ,the ruins cover more than ten acres1 and the ,great ,temple alone was about three hundred feet long by one hundred and sixty feet wide4 ,it had a roof upheld by ,corinthian columns only1 six of which are now standing4 ,these columns are eighty feet high and twenty-two feet in circumference4 ,in entering the temples ,i went up a gigantic staircase1 a great part of which has been destroyed1 and came into what is known as the forecourt1 which is about two hundred feet wide1 and the floor of which was paved with mosaic4 ,we next went through another court1 known as the ,court of the ,altar1 which must cover five or six acres4 ,it is a mass of marble and granite1 gigantic columns and delicate carvings being thrown helter-skelter together4 ,beyond this and up a series of steps are the ruins of the ,great ,temple itself4 ,at the left is the exquisite ,temple of ,bacchus1 and everywhere are great shafts of marble so wonderfully carved that they would be treasures in any museum4 ,illustration3 ,the nomadic ,bedouins live in brown tents so low that the people have to stoop to get into them4 ,they camp wherever they find good grazing for their stock ,illustration3 ,the desolation of the once heavily wooded mountains of ,lebanon is emphasized by the lonely grove of cedars4 ,this grove1 far up among the snows1 is protected by a wall and contains four hundred very old trees ,all this1 however1 gives no idea of the construction4 ,people wonder how the mighty stones of the ,pyramids were put into place1 and books have been written to show how the obelisks were taken from the quarries to the sites where they were erected as monuments4 ,the building of the temples of ,baalbek was a far greater mechanical triumph4 ,the materials1 including columns weighing hundreds of tons1 had to be brought up the steep ,lebanon ,mountains and carried over passes higher than the tops of the ,alleghanies4 ,there is granite here which came from far up the ,nile2 there are marbles from ,greece1 and great limestone blocks from the quarries near by4 ,the temple has walls sixty feet high1 and the mighty columns--seven feet in diameter1 and1 including the pedestals and capitals1 as tall as an eight-story building--rest upon a platform which is more than fifty feet high4 ,these mighty pillars are put up in three sections each twenty feet or more in height and seven feet in diameter4 ,they are so put together that each column looks like one solid block4 ,in the walls of the temple foundation are what are1 ,i venture1 the biggest building blocks ever quarried4 ,one of the walls has three great limestone blocks each of which measures sixty-four feet long1 thirteen feet wide1 and twelve feet thick4 ,if such stones were placed end to end it would take only about eighty of them to make one mile4 ,these stones were brought from a quarry about a mile away4 ,some of them have been placed upon the walls at a distance of thirty or more feet from the ground1 and are so accurately laid that a knife blade cannot be driven between them4 ,i got an idea of the size of these blocks by visiting the quarries4 ,just outside that from which the stones came is one which was cut out of the rock1 but for some reason or other was not carried to the structure4 ,it was dragged only a few feet away from the virgin rock1 and to-day lies there on its side1 half buried in the earth4 ,upon its top ,i walked over it4 ,it is so wide that you could drive two motor cars abreast upon it without risk of falling over the edges1 and an ,english traveller here says that a cricket match might be played upon its face1 putting the stakes at the right distance apart and giving the bowler at least two feet at the end for his run4 ,this block is as smooth as a marble column and accurately square4 ,each side of it measures fourteen feet and it is about seventy feet long4 ,if it were stood on end inside a modern ten-story apartment house it would fill ten rooms one above the other1 each room fourteen feet square and seven feet high4 ,it has been estimated to weigh fifteen hundred tons and if cut up would make a good load for thirty flat cars4 ,think of moving stones like that out of the mountains and up and down hill for a mile without the aid of steam1 electricity1 or any kind of machinery6 ,that is the kind of work the ,romans did eighteen hundred years ago4 ,all through the temples you may see examples of such huge masses moved about and lifted into place4 ,there are carvings more beautiful than anything seen on our buildings to-day4 ,on some of the blocks still in the structure ,i saw bunches of grapes no bigger than my thumb as beautifully cut as though made by nature4 ,there were also ,cupids and cherubs exquisitely carved4 ,it was said of the artists who built the great temples of ,delhi and ,agra in ,india that they worked like ,titans and finished like jewellers4 ,the same was true of the ,romans of the reigns of ,antonius1 ,caracalla1 and ,nero4 ,i have taken photographs of some of the broken columns with myself standing beside them to give an idea of their size4 ,i am five feet eight inches tall and the large columns are fully two feet more in diameter4 ,some of the wonderful carvings are those which form the frieze above the great pillars two or three hundred feet high up in the air4 ,among them are the heads of gigantic lions1 each head as big as a flour barrel but polished like a fine marble mantel4 ,through the mouths of these lions emptied the drains of the roof4 ,the beauties of the temples will be preserved from now on4 ,they are under official guard1 and tickets which cost a dollar apiece are required of all who go in4 ,i was shown through by ,dr4 ,michel ,alouf1 an archologist1 who explained just how the temples looked in the past4 ,he showed me where the early ,christians had erected a church inside one temple1 defacing the carvings and breaking the noses of the beautiful statues4 ,they took pleasure in destroying the work wrought by heathen artists in honour of pagan gods4 ,next came the ,arabs1 who used the place as a fort1 throwing great round chunks of marble as big as footballs from its sheltering walls4 ,there are piles of these marble balls inside the temple to-day4 ,they were probably cut from the columns4 ,the ,arabs made a mosque in the temple4 ,they wiped out every trace of the ,christian religion and used a part of the church for a bath4 ,after them came an earthquake1 so that the ruins were mostly covered up until the ,germans began their excavations4 ,i am stopping here in the little town of ,baalbek1 which stands right on the edge of the ruins4 ,it has an excellent hotel1 and its people are hospitable4 ,its population of five or six thousand is made up of ,mohammedans and ,christians4 ,besides a small garrison of soldiers1 there are two ,greek ,catholic monasteries and several girls' schools4 ,the children followed us as we walked about through the ruins1 selling purses made of ,syrian silk into which they had woven a design of the six great columns of the temple4 ,they also asked for baksheesh1 and the begging palm was everywhere thrust out4 ,i am surprised at the scanty forestation of these mountains of ,lebanon4 ,i had expected to find them covered with woods1 whereas they are almost treeless4 ,their lower slopes are well cultivated and some of them are terraced almost to the top4 ,thousands of acres1 made up of little patches1 rise step-like one above another1 covering the hills for miles and miles4 ,these patches contain mulberry orchards and vineyards4 ,there are also peaches and apples1 and in the valleys are rich fields of wheat1 barley1 and clover4 ,the chief formation is limestone1 and though there are rocks everywhere1 the soil seems wonderfully rich4 ,the cedars of ,lebanon may have been great in the past1 but they have now almost disappeared4 ,the only ones left are situated about nine or ten hours from ,baalbek4 ,the trees grow in the thin soil1 which covers the white limestone1 the ground being coated with spines1 cones1 and leaves4 ,five are very ancient and of great girth1 but the tallest is not more than eighty feet high4 ,the largest of all is about fifteen feet thick1 so you see they are mere sprouts in comparison with the ,big ,trees of ,california and quite small as compared with the giants of ,washington and ,oregon4 ,the cedars which were taken for the temple at ,jerusalem probably came from the region where the old cedars stand1 although other parts of the ,lebanon ,mountains may then have been covered with woods4 ,the logs must have been cut in the forests and carried over the mountains forty or fifty miles to the seacoast4 ,the rafting was done under the direction of ,king ,hiram of ,tyre1 and the logs were probably towed down to ,jaffa1 and thence carried up the mountains of ,judea to ,jerusalem1 a distance of about forty miles4 ,the cedars bear cones about as large as a goose egg4 ,the leaves or spines of the cones are solid rather than detached1 as those of our cedars at home4 ,the wood is whitish in colour2 it is soft1 and for building is far inferior to cypress or pine4 ,illustration3 ,of the great cedars of ,lebanon which ,solomon used in building his temple1 only a few are left4 ,the ancient ,israelites regarded these trees as the ornaments of the mountains and the types of manly strength and beauty ,illustration3 ,the plain of ,beirut is covered with luxuriant gardens1 and tree-lined avenues lead out of the city4 ,beirut1 one of the oldest cities on the ,phnician ,coast1 is the metropolis of ,syria and ,lebanon and the seaport of ,damascus ,,chapter ,,xxix ,,across ,,the ,,lebanon ,,mountains ,,by ,,rail ,it seems almost sacrilegious to travel by rail over the highways of the ,bible4 ,the iron tracks are laid in the pathways of the prophets1 and the ghosts of the saints may be roused by the shriek of the locomotives4 ,the modern traveller can cover in a few hours by rail distances that were several days' journey in the times of our ,lord4 ,my first railroad trip in the ,holy ,land was from the port of ,jaffa up the mountains of ,judea to the city of ,jerusalem4 ,my second was on the ,mecca road from the lower end of the ,sea of ,galilee through the great plains of the ,hauran to ,damascus over the mountains of ,lebanon to ,beirut on the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,during the latter trip ,i went from ,rayak1 in the ,valley of ,lebanon1 between the two ranges of mountains1 along the road which has been built northward through the ,cle-,syria to ,aleppo4 ,all of these roads are comparatively new1 and some are still building4 ,the ,mecca line now runs as far south as ,medina1 where ,mohammed came after his flight from ,mecca1 and where his tomb is4 ,that city has something like forty thousand people and is one of the most fanatical of the ,moslem centres4 ,it will be the chief stopping place on the way to ,mecca4 ,mecca lies about two hundred and fifty miles still farther south and the track is being laid toward that point4 ,when the first surveys were made there were two ,christian civil engineers in the surveying party1 but the people were so intolerant that these men were kept hidden the greater part of the time and did their work inside the tents4 ,they were not allowed to spy out the land1 to see1 or be seen4 ,the ,bedouins are now causing the contractors considerable trouble4 ,the road will take a large part of the pilgrimage traffic1 which1 it has been estimated1 is worth to ,arabia some ten million dollars a year4 ,much of the money goes to the owners of the camels and the leaders of the caravans1 who are ,bedouins4 ,during the building of the road many of these have been employed in the construction and in supplying the other labourers with food4 ,as the present work has neared its completion1 many of the ,bedouins have lost their jobs4 ,they are objecting to the railway and have torn up the tracks in many places4 ,the result is a great unrest which threatens to cause serious disturbance4 ,the traffic on the ,constantinople-,damascus and ,mecca railways will be made up largely of men on their way to worship at ,mecca and ,medina4 ,now1 with nothing but camels to carry them1 it is estimated that about four hundred thousand go there every year1 and it is believed that the railway will increase the traffic from fifty to one hundred per cent4 ,christians and other unbelievers will not be carried to the holy cities1 although they may make tours to ,petra and other parts of ,arabia4 ,this ,mecca railway will have special accommodations for ,mohammedans4 ,certain of the carriages will be fitted up as mosques1 so that the travellers can perform their devotions during the journey4 ,the praying carriages will be luxuriously furnished4 ,the floors will be covered with ,persian carpets1 and around the sides will be painted verses from the ,koran in letters of gold4 ,a chart will indicate the direction of ,mecca1 so that the ,faithful can always face the right way when praying1 and there will also be a minaret on the top of the car six and a half feet high4 ,the ,mecca road is a narrow-gauge with ,french rolling stock4 ,the material has been imported from ,europe1 the ties being of iron to withstand the white ants1 which eat anything wooden4 ,one of the great difficulties of construction has been the lack of water4 ,the road goes for long stretches through the desert1 and many of the trains carry large tanks to keep the boilers full4 ,i travelled over a part of the ,mecca road on my way from the ,holy ,land north to ,damascus4 ,leaving ,tiberias in the early morning1 ,i was rowed by four lusty ,syrians across the ,sea of ,galilee to ,semakh1 which is the station on the lower end of that sea and the place where a branch line runs off to ,haifa4 ,from there northward we skirted the east side of the ,sea of ,galilee1 passing the hills upon which our ,saviour preached4 ,we rode up the valley of the ,yarmuk1 a stream almost as large as the ,jordan1 which loses itself in the ,jordan farther south4 ,we climbed the foothills of ,lebanon1 and at about three thousand feet above the surface of the ,sea of ,galilee reached the rich plain of ,hauran1 the great bread basket of the ,bedouins4 ,it grows wheat and other grain1 and the land near the track was covered with poppies1 golden daisies1 and wild red hollyhocks4 ,illustration3 ,the students of the ,american ,university at ,beirut number nearly a thousand1 and1 whether ,christian1 ,jew1 or ,moslem1 must study the ,bible ,illustration3 ,the stones for the ,tuberculosis ,hospital at ,juneh had to be carried up one at a time on the backs of camels ,illustration3 ,from ,beirut and its vicinity come nearly all of the ,syrian immigrants to the ,united ,states4 ,most of them are ,christians and many of them have felt the influence of the ,american ,university1 the centre of advanced thought in the ,near ,east ,we could see ,bedouin camps everywhere4 ,these nomads live in brown tents so low that the people have to stoop to get in4 ,outside each little group of tents was an inclosure for the stock1 and on the lands near by cattle and camels were grazing4 ,as we travelled we could see great flocks of black goats feeding on the sides of the ,lebanon ,mountains4 ,they hung to the cliffs1 looking much like flies on the wall4 ,there were also droves of black cattle and many flocks of fat-tailed white sheep4 ,the cars were crowded with ,turks1 ,syrians1 and ,bedouins1 but on the advice of a friend ,i gave the conductor a dollar1 and in return had a compartment all to myself4 ,baksheesh will do anything in ,syria4 ,as ,shammas1 my guide1 puts it3 8,the franc is the wheel upon which the world goes round40 ,this road to ,damascus1 beginning with the branch line to ,haifa1 skirts the edge of ,mount ,carmel1 where ,elijah lived in a cave and where he contended with the four hundred and fifty prophets of ,baal and caused their destruction4 ,it goes up the plain of ,esdraelon1 where the fair ,jezebel lived and over which ,jehu galloped to ,jezreel on his race for the throne4 ,it takes you in plain sight of ,mount ,tabor and under the hills of ,nazareth where the ,saviour's boyhood and young manhood were spent4 ,it crosses the spot where ,jael was camping when ,sisera came and she lulled him to sleep to drive the tent peg into his forehead4 ,then it goes on up to ,damascus over a route which was probably travelled by ,abraham1 ,david1 and ,solomon1 and by ,st4 ,paul when he was blinded by the great light4 ,the road to ,jerusalem goes over the plains where the ,israelites fought with the ,philistines1 through the country of ,samson1 which ,i have already described1 and near the place where ,david with his little stone slew the great ,goliath4 ,the railway from ,damascus to ,beirut shows you ,mount ,hermon1 so famed in the ,psalms1 and passes numerous places1 which1 according to the ,mohammedans1 were the homes and tombs of the prophets4 ,take1 for instance1 ,suk ,wady ,baroda1 a little valley oasis on the way to ,baalbek made up of flat-roofed mud houses surrounded by orchards and vineyards4 ,it is mentioned by ,josephus and is referred to in ,st4 ,luke as the home of the tetrarch ,lysanias4 ,the ,mohammedans say that ,adam lived in the mountain which looks down upon it1 and that it was near the oasis itself that ,cain became jealous of ,abel and slew him4 ,i have always thought that ,abel was killed with a club1 although ,i see now that the ,bible does not mention the weapon used in the murder4 ,the ,moslem legend says it was a stone4 ,the story is that ,adam had divided the world into two sections and had given one of them to each of his boys4 ,they had marked out their respective sections with stones1 when a dispute arose concerning the boundary line4 ,cain claimed that ,abel was inching on him1 whereupon hot words passed1 and ,cain threw a rock and struck ,abel in the temple and killed him4 ,according to the ,moslem tradition1 ,cain was filled with remorse4 ,he did not know what to do with his dead brother1 so he took the body on his back and carried it with him over the world for five hundred years4 ,at the end of that time he returned to this mountain1 where he saw two birds fighting4 ,at last one killed the other and then washed and buried the one slain4 ,cain did likewise with ,abel1 and straightway there sprang up seven oak trees1 which are pointed out to this day4 ,according to the same authorities1 ,seth1 ,adam's son1 who took the place of ,abel1 lived on the western slope of the ,lebanon range1 and his tomb is still there4 ,a mosque is built over it and the tomb may be seen through an iron grating4 ,it is eighty feet long1 but the people living in the village say that it was too short and that ,seth's legs had to be doubled up in order to fit4 ,not far away is the tomb of ,noah1 which is forty feet longer4 ,it also has a mosque connected with it4 ,the distance from ,damascus to ,beirut is ninety-one miles4 ,travellers are advised not to take the third class1 and women should always go first class4 ,the third class has compartments eight feet wide running across the cars at right angles with the engine4 ,each compartment has two cushioned benches facing each other1 its sides are walled with windows1 and there is a door at each end4 ,the conductor does not go through the cars1 but collects the tickets from the outside1 walking along a running board which extends the full length of the car and holding on to an iron rail fastened to the outside some distance above the step4 ,the road is picturesque and gives magnificent views of the ,lebanon ,mountains4 ,the track winds its way up and down the hills1 and the western side of the range is so steep that the cars are taken up on cogs after the same manner as on ,pike's ,peak1 ,mount ,washington1 and the ,rigi4 ,there are twenty-five stations1 mostly two-story buildings of stone4 ,the passengers are the conglomerate mixture of humanity found in this part of the ,orient4 ,there are scores of ,syrians in long coats and trousers1 some wearing red fezzes1 and others having turbans or handkerchiefs wrapped around their heads4 ,there are ,turkish officers in uniform1 with swords at their sides1 fez-capped boys in silk gowns1 and other ,moslems in turbans and gowns4 ,there are ,mohammedan women clad all in black and wearing black veils4 ,there are pretty ,greek girls with bare faces1 brown-skinned women from the mountains1 and ,bedouins1 who have ropes tied about the kerchiefs which half shroud their fierce features4 ,there are also ,persians1 ,druses1 and ,christians of all sorts and conditions4 ,the trains go slowly in climbing the mountain4 ,the average express makes less than sixteen miles an hour1 while the mixed train takes twelve hours to make the ninety-one miles4 ,for many years the ,european powers have been scheming for the right to build railroads in this part of the world4 ,one of the biggest and most talked-of projects is a line to open up the rich valley of the ,euphrates where ,babylon and ,nineveh once flourished4 ,it has some of the best lands on the face of the globe1 and it has been suggested that it was the site of the ,garden of ,eden4 ,the ,british are especially interested in the project because of their irrigation plans for ,mesopotamia headed by ,sir ,william ,willcocks1 the engineer for the ,aswan ,dam1 which has redeemed about seven million acres in ,egypt4 ,the ,germans won out in the scramble for the concession to build the road to ,bagdad4 ,the line was divided into sections and the ,germans pushed on the work rapidly4 ,another concession to part of this line was granted by the ,sultan to a group of ,americans1 but their plans fell through4 ,as to the resources to be developed by these new roads1 they are beyond description enormous4 ,they include rich deposits of coal1 oil1 and other minerals4 ,asia ,minor is rich agriculturally4 ,the plains of ,mesopotamia will raise anything that can be grown in ,egypt1 and the new irrigation schemes will make them as productive as they were when ,nebuchadnezzar was reigning at ,babylon4 ,in ancient times that country had a population of more than six million4 ,it has not one fourth as many to-day4 ,i am told that cotton will grow not only there but also throughout ,asia ,minor1 and it may be that one of the chief competitors of our ,southern plantations will eventually be found in this now almost waste but potentially rich part of the world4 ,the famous ,berlin-to-,bagdad scheme is not the only evidence of the ,german ,kaiser's desire to gobble up as much of the ,near ,east as possible4 ,i use the word 8gobble0 advisedly4 ,according to the ,century ,dictionary1 it means 8to swallow in large pieces1 to swallow hastily1 to seize upon with greed1 and to appropriate graspingly40 ,and that aptly describes the ,german methods4 ,i have seen ,german ,kultur at work all during this trip4 ,in the richest parts of ,palestine ,i saw their flourishing colonies4 ,at ,jerusalem ,i saw the great ,german church built under the very shadow of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 their huge church on ,mount ,zion beyond the ,tower of ,david1 and the enormous limestone hospice erected in honour of ,kaiserin ,augusta on a commanding slope of the ,mount of ,olives4 ,it is said that the money with which the site was bought and some of that used in the building was a silver wedding present to the ,empress4 ,it was known that she greatly loved ,palestine1 and her friends planned this memorial as a silver wedding gift4 ,the hospice is several hundred feet above ,jerusalem1 and standing upon its roof on a bright day one can look across the hills of ,judea and see the silvery thread of the ,jordan and the shining ,dead ,sea with the blue mountains of ,moab beyond4 ,the ,kaiser was no respecter of persons1 either living or dead4 ,the site of his big church was purchased by him of ,sultan ,abdul ,hamid when he visited him in ,constantinople4 ,he went there on his way to the ,holy ,land1 and while hobnobbing with the ,sultan got him to sell him this tract for twenty-four thousand dollars4 ,the land1 however1 was not large enough1 so the ,germans by a clever trick purchased for sixteen thousand dollars the ,american cemetery which adjoined the original tract4 ,the ,emperor of ,germany when he made his trip through the ,holy ,land created as great a sensation as ,theodore ,roosevelt when he cavorted through ,europe4 ,kaiser ,wilhelm and his empress started in at ,beirut and crossed the mountains of ,lebanon to ,baalbek and ,damascus4 ,they then returned to ,beirut and took ship down the coast1 past ,tyre and ,sidon1 to the ,bay of ,acre4 ,here horses were waiting for them and they rode down around the slopes of ,mount ,carmel1 over the plains of ,sharon to ,jaffa1 and thence up the hills of ,judea to ,jerusalem4 ,there were about a thousand in the party1 and it required one thousand two hundred and fifty mules and horses to carry them and their baggage4 ,the ,emperor himself had a staff of one hundred and twenty1 who ate at his own tables1 and there were in addition one hundred and forty naval and military officers4 ,the ,empress also had her ladies-in-waiting with her4 ,one hundred and seventy-five high ,turks and officials were supplied by the ,sultan as a special escort4 ,the ,emperor's tour was so arranged that he had four camps4 ,he slept in a different camp every night and had a new one for each meal4 ,although the journey was made in ,october1 the weather was hot1 and the chief trouble was to supply the expedition with water4 ,some died of thirst1 and between ,haifa and ,jaffa six horses dropped dead of sunstroke4 ,it was so hot that the trip to the ,dead ,sea and the ,jordan was not attempted1 but the ,emperor went to ,bethlehem and other places near by4 ,he remained seven days at ,jerusalem1 during which time he consummated his purchases of land4 ,in ,palestine ,i encountered a ,german tourist agency1 a competitor of ,thomas ,cook ,son4 ,this tourist agency had its own hotels at ,jaffa1 ,jerusalem1 and ,haifa1 and its own guides1 dragomans1 horses1 and carriages4 ,its men1 who thoroughly understood the country1 had established such relations with the ,bedouin tribes that they could take parties anywhere4 ,the agency's road mending and other activities had opened up many hitherto inaccessible parts of the country4 ,indeed1 the ,germans started a new roads movement in the ,holy ,land4 ,the first attempt was made when the ,kaiser went from ,jaffa to ,jerusalem4 ,the ,sultan had the highway repaired1 and when the ,germans travelled over it1 it was watered for the first time in its history1 being sprinkled from skin-bags carried from the shoulders of women and girls1 and filled at the springs1 wells1 and cisterns near by4 ,,chapter ,,xxx ,,american ,,leaven ,,in ,,the ,,near ,,east ,american education is revolutionizing the ,orient4 ,it has been one of the chief modernizing forces in ,egypt1 it had much to do with the revolution in ,persia1 and it is the basis of the reorganization of the whole ,turkish ,empire4 ,the first schools of ,egypt were started by the missionaries of the ,united ,presbyterian ,church1 whose educational institutions now cover the ,nile ,valley4 ,this church has schools in the ,sudan and a great ,american college at ,asyut1 several hundred miles from ,cairo4 ,the college was started in a donkey stable more than forty years ago1 and it has been turning out graduates ever since4 ,it has now more than one thousand students who are housed in ten large two-story buildings1 and it has three of the finest halls to be found in the ,east4 ,these are situated just outside ,asyut1 at the junction of the ,nile with the great canal north of that city4 ,the college has about three hundred women4 ,illustration3 ,these are not stones of the field1 but great blocks of marble1 many of them beautifully carved--the remains of the wondrous city of ,diana ,illustration3 ,storks build their nests in the palaces of ,ephesus and the peasants fence their fields with chunks of marble from its once magnificent temples ,illustration3 ,there is a great rustling as the silkworms attack their breakfast of mulberry leaves4 ,every year representatives of the silk industry in the ,lebanon go abroad to get worms for breeding1 as those bred in that region do not lay healthy eggs ,i visited the college at ,asyut not long ago4 ,it is full to overflowing1 and notwithstanding the new structure just completed it needs more money and more buildings4 ,it has a great prestige throughout ,egypt1 and with a little money its efficiency could easily be doubled4 ,the college is said to give a better education than the government institutions1 and that at the lowest possible cost4 ,the tuition is nominal4 ,for the poorest schools it is only about one dollar a term in money1 and the ordinary rate is about ten dollars a year4 ,the cost of the education varies with the taste of the students4 ,these are of all classes from the sons of the poorest fellah to the heir of the highest pasha or richest merchant4 ,there are three kinds of accommodations1 the cost of which ranges from thirty-five dollars a year upward4 ,the wealthy ,egyptian boy can have his own room1 or groups can live four in a room4 ,he can eat at the best table1 or he can get cheaper board with meat three or four times a week4 ,on the other hand1 he can work his way through college1 furnishing his own food1 buying vegetables and fish at very low cost4 ,many of the boys bring their bread from home4 ,it is made of ground corn or millet and baked in cakes an inch thick4 ,these cakes are toasted until they are as hard as stone1 in which shape they will go through the term4 ,before going to a meal the students dip their bread in buckets of water set out for the purpose1 and when it is soft carry it with them to the table4 ,the ,asyut institution has its graduates in all the government departments of ,egypt4 ,they are among the leading merchants of the country1 and every town has numbers of them4 ,many of them are ,copts and not a few are ,mohammedans4 ,i am told that there are more than fifteen thousand boys now being educated in the ,united ,presbyterian schools and colleges4 ,shortly before ,sultan ,abdul ,hamid was ousted by the ,young ,turk party and carried to his prison in ,saloniki1 he referred bitterly to the work that ,robert ,college had done in unsettling his empire4 ,said he3 8,that institution has cost me ,bulgaria1 and it is like to lose me my throne40 ,he was right4 ,robert ,college was founded in ,constantinople in #ahfc by a ,new ,york merchant named ,robert1 who gave a large part of his fortune to this institution4 ,he was aided by the ,reverend ,cyrus ,hamlin1 ,d4,d41 who was1 ,i think1 the real organizer4 ,since then its graduates have formed the leaven for new ideas throughout the ,near ,east4 ,some of its graduates organized the colleges and schools in ,bulgaria4 ,others have been teaching in schools throughout the ,turkish ,empire2 many have acted as officers of the ,government1 and some of the best leaders of ,turkey to-day got their education at ,robert ,college4 ,robert ,college has now five hundred or six hundred students1 including ,mohammedans1 ,jews1 ,armenians1 and ,russians1 as well as representatives of the other nations about4 ,the teaching is non-sectarian1 although all are required to attend daily prayers and go to services on ,sunday4 ,the college has won the approval of the ,government1 but the officials want it incorporated as a ,turkish institution so it will be subject to their laws4 ,to this the ,americans naturally object4 ,they say that they are organized under the laws of ,new ,york and they expect to stand by all the rights which they now enjoy as an ,american corporation under the protection of the ,united ,states ,government4 ,there is no doubt that the ,americans are sensible in preferring the protection of ,uncle ,sam to that of the ,sultan4 ,conditions are bound to be unsettled in this part of the world for years to come4 ,there will be revolutions and counter-revolutions before the ,turks come down to a solid1 substantial1 modern government4 ,there is always the fear that the college will be put under a strict censorship1 as used to be the case4 ,as it is now1 the students can read what books they like1 and there is little trouble as to the newspapers4 ,they can go where they please without passports1 and the present government seems to be doing all it can to promote education4 ,under the rgime of ,abdul ,hamid it was far different4 ,in his time every newspaper was carefully looked over by ,turkish officials1 and all sentences or words objectionable to the ,government were cut out4 ,this was true of papers coming in through the mail as well as of the native publications4 ,here in ,beirut a ,sunday weekly is published devoted largely to the life and sayings of our ,saviour4 ,the censors objected to it1 saying3 8,the paper is a dangerous one1 for in it they kill a ,king of the ,jews every week4 ,this might suggest the assassination of the ,sultan1 and we cannot permit it40 ,dr4 ,bliss1 the president of the ,american ,university of ,beirut1 once imported an old copy of ,shakespeare4 ,it was kept at the customs house1 the censor objecting to its importation4 ,said the latter3 8,shakespeare is not a good book for the ,turks4 ,it has in it the story of a man named ,macbeth who killed a king4 ,it would be a bad example for our people40 ,dr4 ,bliss succeeded in getting his ,shakespeare through by saying he had another copy of the same book1 which1 as it was already in the country1 could not be taken out1 and he would be glad to trade this for the new copy4 ,the censor consented1 accepted the ,shakespeare which cost a dollar1 and admitted the fine old edition instead4 ,at another time some ,new ,testaments sent to ,constantinople were held back by one of the censors because of the ,epistle of ,paul to the ,galatians4 ,galata is one of the divisions of ,constantinople1 and the censor asked3 8,who is this man ,paul1 and why is he writing to our people in ,galata80 ,he was with difficulty persuaded that ,st4 ,paul was dead and that his letter was not part of a plot4 ,there is a story that a textbook on chemistry was kept out because a censor objected to the term ,h,o1 saying that it seemed to mean that ,hamid ,,ii 7the ,sultan1 ,abdul ,hamid7 amounted to nothing4 ,in addition to ,robert ,college and the institution at ,asyut there is one here at ,beirut which is quite as important as either of the others4 ,i refer to the ,american ,university of ,beirut1 founded by ,americans in #ahfc1 which has become the ,harvard and ,yale of the ,near ,east4 ,it has had thousands of graduates1 and its doctors and lawyers stand at the heads of their professions in ,egypt1 ,syria1 ,turkey1 ,persia1 and ,india4 ,it has more than nine hundred students1 all ,orientals1 representing every part of the ,levant4 ,this institution was founded by ,presbyterians1 but the instruction is non-sectarian4 ,the faculty has about one hundred and twenty professors1 most of them ,americans1 and it is a thoroughly up-to-date university4 ,it has a medical department which1 with its hospitals1 treats thousands of patients a year4 ,it has physical1 chemical1 and other laboratories1 a large library1 and ethnological and industrial museums devoted to exhibits from ,syria and ,turkey4 ,illustration3 ,armenian children begin to make themselves useful at an early age4 ,centuries of hardships under anti-,christian rulers have made these people resourceful and self-reliant4 ,they are the shrewdest traders of the ,east ,illustration3 ,american relief in the ,near ,east takes the practical form of getting the people back to the land1 much of which has been devastated by one war after another ,during my stay here ,i have visited the college4 ,it is beautifully located1 the buildings being situated on the bluffs south of ,beirut and running from them down to the sea4 ,standing upon the campus1 which contains about fifty acres1 one faces the glorious ,mediterranean1 while at his back are the snow-capped mountains of ,lebanon with the rich vegetation climbing their slopes4 ,the institution has a gymnasium1 tennis courts1 and good athletic grounds4 ,its students play football1 baseball1 and cricket4 ,they are full of college spirit and have their college papers1 their college songs1 and their college yell4 ,the boys have silver cups and other trophies which are contended for by the various athletic teams1 and these ,persians1 ,greeks1 ,syrians1 ,arabs1 ,egyptians1 ,armenians1 and ,turks are being welded into one brotherhood by the hard knocks of football and the track4 ,the ,beirut ,university is an ,american college and a ,christian college as well1 but it does not attempt to proselytize1 and the ,moslem can come to it without changing his religion4 ,it insists only that everyone who goes through its courses shall attend chapel and the ,bible classes1 which study the ,bible as one of the great influences in the work of the world4 ,once the ,moslem students struck against these regulations4 ,they refused to go to chapel and took an oath not to attend the ,bible classes4 ,the strike created a sensation1 and for a time it seemed as though it might do serious damage4 ,the faculty1 however1 headed by the president1 ,dr4 ,howard ,s4 ,bliss1 stood firm1 saying that the school was a ,christian college4 ,they demanded that all students attend the religious services1 and the result was that most of the strikers came in1 and the college has gone along on its original lines4 ,in talking about this to the ,mohammedan students ,dr4 ,bliss said3 8,our college was established to give the ,mohammedan world the best the ,christian world has4 ,our aim is to make of you broad-minded1 intelligent men whether you continue to be ,moslems or become ,christians4 ,we believe that the best thing we have is our religion1 so we are bound to let you know what it is4 ,whether you accept it or not rests with yourselves4 ,if1 upon investigation1 you still think the ,moslem religion the best1 we believe that the knowledge you have of our religion will make you better and broader ,moslems4 ,religion is for man1 not man for religion1 and we want you to have the training which will make each one of you the best man1 whether he be ,christian or ,moslem40 ,to-day the ,mohammedan students attending the services look upon them as largely educational1 and they study the ,bible as history and literature4 ,the influence of colleges like this goes far and wide4 ,the students come from villages all over the ,turkish ,empire and from those of ,india and ,persia as well4 ,going home1 each forms a little hot-bed for the growth of independent thought4 ,civilized ideas are spread in other ways besides these4 ,one of the great means of such distribution is the annual pilgrimage to ,mecca1 which is attended by nearly half a million ,mohammedans from all parts of the ,orient4 ,at that time ,mecca becomes a great camp meeting or bush meeting1 such as we farmers have in ,virginia4 ,the people come together and gossip4 ,they discuss the crops and ask one another how they are getting along4 ,hassan ,ali of ,egypt says to ,mohammed of ,turkey1 8,how is business8 ,are you making money1 and how does your government treat you80 ,mohammed replies that the ,turks are taxed to death1 but they hope for much under the new ,sultan4 ,thereupon ,hassan says that the ,english have cut down the taxes in ,egypt and that the church has plenty of money in the treasury4 ,he tells how he has been able to send his boy to college1 and that he hopes he will some day be an official4 ,the ,turk1 thereupon1 longs for a better government4 ,at the same time the college students tell what they have learned1 and as a result the twentieth-century spirit of modern progress is stirring the ,mohammedan world4 ,in addition to the collegiate work great advances in the spread of our civilization are being made by the ,protestant missions4 ,there are now thousands of native ,christians in ,syria and from seventy-five to one hundred thousand native ,christians in the empire of ,turkey4 ,the ,american missionaries alone have more than one hundred schools1 with five or six thousand pupils1 and the ,english have many more4 ,here in ,beirut is the largest and most up-to-date publishing house in the ,orient4 ,it belongs to the ,american mission1 and annually turns out tens of thousands of ,bibles1 school textbooks1 and other works on religious and scientific subjects4 ,altogether1 it has published more than seven hundred different works in ,arabic1 and it is estimated that it has printed in the neighbourhood of a billion pages of one kind or other4 ,it issues around one hundred thousand volumes a year1 containing altogether something like thirty million pages4 ,its ,bibles published in ,arabic are sold throughout the ,mohammedan world4 ,the medical missionaries are doing a great deal in all parts of the ,orient4 ,i have seen their hospitals everywhere on my trips around the world4 ,they are to be found in all parts of ,india1 far up the ,nile ,valley1 and in the leading centres of the ,holy ,land4 ,one of the best ,i have visited is situated at ,tiberias1 on the ,sea of ,galilee1 and headed by ,dr4 ,torrence1 who has been treating the ,bedouins and others there for the last thirty years4 ,in my talk with him the question of tuberculosis came up1 and he described the evils of the great white plague as they are found in his region on the very edge of the desert4 ,he says tuberculosis is rife among the ,bedouins although they live out of doors in the purest air all the time4 ,he thinks that the disease is spread largely by the cattle4 ,about #ej per cent4 of the cows have tuberculosis1 and the people live chiefly on milk4 ,another doctor connected with the hospital tells me that ,syria had no consumption until about twenty-five years ago1 when the disease was brought in from the ,united ,states by natives who had emigrated to our country1 contracted consumption1 and brought it back home4 ,the ,syrians had no idea what it meant1 and it rapidly spread4 ,the sanitary conditions of this part of the world are bad1 the bacteria breed rapidly1 and the disease is sweeping the country4 ,and this brings me to a great work at ,juneau within a few miles of ,beirut4 ,this is a tuberculosis hospital built there by the ,church of the ,covenant at ,washington1 and in charge of ,dr4 ,mary ,eddy1 who has become famous throughout the ,near ,east for her work as a medical missionary4 ,miss ,eddy is the daughter of the ,rev4 ,william ,w4 ,eddy1 who came to ,syria many years ago and remained here until his death4 ,besides being a woman of fine education and great medical skill1 she is an expert on all matters connected with tuberculosis and its treatment4 ,illustration3 ,cradles in ,armenia have no sides1 a wide cloth band drawn tight keeping the baby from falling out ,illustration3 ,american flour sacks serve a double purpose among the ,armenians and ,syrians in time of distress ,illustration3 ,much of the wilderness of the ,jordan will be reclaimed by irrigation and forestation when the ,british-,zionist project for developing water power along the river is completed ,she is the only woman who has ever been granted an irade1 or certificate of protection1 from the ,sultan authorizing her to practise as a doctor everywhere throughout his dominions and directing that all good ,turks shall give her assistance as she goes on her way4 ,miss ,eddy has been working in ,syria for years and has been fighting the spread of consumption as best she could without any hospital facilities for her patients4 ,the people have come and camped near her house waiting treatment1 and the tents of the ,bedouins may be seen dotting the plains near where the hospital now is4 ,some of the best known men and women of our national capital have been interested in the building of this hospital and the support of its work4 ,,chapter ,,xxxi ,,at ,,the ,,shrine ,,of ,,diana ,,of ,,the ,,ephesians ,this morning we shall walk through the remains of the famed city of the ,ephesians4 ,we shall wander over the site of the great ,temple of ,diana1 tramp the ground where ,st4 ,john was living when he wrote his gospel1 and stand in the marble marketplace where ,st4 ,paul preached4 ,there is a tradition that the mother of our ,lord was buried here1 and that here lies also the dust of ,st4 ,timothy4 ,the ,ephesus of the past has been brought to the light of the present by the excavations of the ,austrians4 ,i have told you something of their work in the ,holy ,land1 and especially on the site of old ,jericho4 ,they have also dug up the ruins of other cities in ,asia1 and here at ,ephesus have uncovered what remains of the ,temple of ,diana and found a theatre which had seats for thirty thousand persons4 ,they have excavated the marble docks which led up to the city1 and have done much to show us what this great commercial centre of two thousand years ago must have been in the height of its glory4 ,but first let me tell you something of the ,ephesus of the days of ,st4 ,paul4 ,it lay here on the coast of ,asia ,minor1 just opposite ,greece1 in what was almost the centre of the then known world4 ,it was the chief ,roman city of ,asia4 ,it had a population of a million or more and was famous for its learning1 art1 and beautiful buildings4 ,it was far more magnificent than ,smyrna1 which was founded before it1 and in which it is said the poet ,homer was born4 ,ephesus dated back to a thousand years before ,christ4 ,some say it was founded by the ,amazons1 but we know that it was largely built up by ,greeks from the ,ionian ,islands over the way4 ,it was a great city in the days of ,crsus1 who besieged the town in the year #eaj1 ,b4,c42 and later it grew so famous that ,alexander the ,great wanted to change its name for his own4 ,among the wonders of ,ephesus was its temple to ,diana1 the favourite goddess of the city4 ,people from the corners of the earth came to worship her4 ,her temple was considered one of the seven wonders of the world4 ,it covered more than two acres1 and its mighty roof was upheld by one hundred and twenty-seven marble columns each as high as a six-story building4 ,the worship of the goddess was so famous that there grew up a business in making statues of her and manufacturing portable shrines which could be carried away by pilgrims4 ,athletic games were connected with the worship1 and the month of ,may was sacred to her4 ,the temple itself is referred to in the ,scriptures4 ,in the ,acts we read of 8the great goddess ,diana1 whom all ,asia and the world worshipped40 ,now let us have a look at the site of that temple to-day4 ,we have taken a special car at ,smyrna and have been pulled by a little ,french locomotive over the railroad to the station of ,ayasoluk forty-eight miles away across country4 ,we have gone through a land of vineyards and olives where baggy-trousered peasants are pruning the vines and working the fields4 ,they dig about the trees with three-lined hoes and till their crops with donkeys and bullocks4 ,the one-handled ploughs are about the same as those used in ancient days4 ,we go over the plains which must have fed the ,ephesians1 wind our way in and out through the hills1 and finally come to a little station where we get horses to carry us out through the valley to ,ephesus4 ,the site of the temple lies in a valley4 ,it is not far above the level of the sea1 which we can see shining in the sun not more than five miles away4 ,history says it was swampy and that the great structure was erected upon piles4 ,this statement is borne out by the present conditions of the site4 ,the excavation made in uncovering the ruins is now filled with water4 ,it is a miniature lake filled with broken columns and capitals lying half in and half out of the water4 ,we stand on the banks beside fluted columns of snow-white marble1 and see broken marble everywhere near4 ,that man who ploughs on the southern ridge of the sand turns up marble bits at every step of his bullocks1 and the girls behind him1 who are planting1 uncover stones from the temple at almost every stroke of their hoes4 ,as we look1 we see no sign of the activity which prevailed here two thousand years ago4 ,birds fly across the lake and sing in the trees bending over it4 ,a stork sits sleepily on a marble rock in its midst and a frog croaks out a welcome4 ,a red cow is grazing there on the edge of the water1 and at my right a hog is rooting in the dbris4 ,let us get on our horses and ride on down the valley to visit the theatre which once held the actors of the chief playhouse of ,asia4 ,think of a theatre seating thirty thousand4 ,it is only in recent years that we have built in the ,united ,states amphitheatres large enough to seat as many people as used to watch the performances here more than two thousand years ago4 ,this great open-air structure was built largely of marble and altogether of stone4 ,the entrance to the stage was through tunnels1 and the stage was upheld by marble columns4 ,the seats1 which were made of common stone covered with marble1 ran around the stage or rather the pit in the shape of a half moon1 rising high up the hills at the back4 ,they were in three stories and contained sixty-six rows4 ,i measured the outline of the stage4 ,it was about eighteen feet wide and six or seven feet high4 ,there are long underground passages leading to it1 and there were eight dressing rooms on two floors at the sides of the stage4 ,walking through the pit1 now filled with broken marble columns and blocks of marble beautifully carved1 ,i climbed down now and then and tried to imagine the audience and the acting going on upon the marble stage far below4 ,leaving the theatre1 ,i strolled about through the wide streets of marble1 which have been partially uncovered1 and made photographs of bits of the ruins4 ,there is enough of this fine stone here to build a structure equal to our national ,capitol at ,washington4 ,this is mixed with mosaic and the broken statues of the palaces of the past4 ,there are pieces of friezes1 columns1 and capitals lying out in the open2 there are torsos of statues the heads and feet of which have been broken off and carried away2 and also many exquisite carvings which would be treasures to any museum4 ,here lies a piece of marble drapery1 the remnants of the garment of a goddess2 there the broken-up limb of an athlete1 and farther on a beautiful bit from the front of the temple4 ,among the ruins are the remains of stores1 houses1 and markets4 ,i climbed over marble blocks along the street which led to the ship canal1 and stood among broken columns in what was once the stock exchange and wool market4 ,in one place is an artificial terrace where stood the great gymnasium1 and in another is a marketplace two hundred feet long1 surrounded by a portico1 back of which were the stalls of the marketmen4 ,in the mosaic floors of these stalls thirteen different kinds of marbles were used1 and marbles of various colours were employed throughout the structure4 ,to-day the peasants are working all over these ruins4 ,here they are planting grain1 and there1 cleaning the fields1 is a gang of a dozen girls working under a turbaned man in baggy trousers4 ,here women are digging2 farther on a man drives a camel harnessed to a one-handled plough4 ,the only town near ,ephesus is ,ayasoluk1 which has but a few hundred inhabitants4 ,it has1 perhaps1 a dozen small stores1 a railroad station1 and a hotel4 ,while at the station ,i saw a white1 fat lamb awaiting shipment4 ,it was tied to the platform1 and a card fastened to one horn bore the name of the commission merchant in ,smyrna to whom it was consigned4 ,just opposite the hotel are seven tall columns which once supported the great aqueduct which supplied ,ephesus with water4 ,each of these has now a stork's nest on its top1 and the great birds may be seen any day standing there4 ,i am told that they come here only for the winter1 and that they leave every spring for ,holland1 or perhaps for some other far-away part of the world1 every one of them carrying a baby4 ,before coming to ,ephesus ,i spent a day in ,smyrna1 whither ,i shall return to go on to ,constantinople and ,greece4 ,smyrna is the largest city in ,asia ,minor1 and has about the same position in the modern world that ,ephesus once had4 ,the chief port of this part of the ,levant1 it does a big business in shipping wool1 wine1 grapes1 olives1 and figs4 ,it has a foreign trade of about fifty million dollars a year1 and steamers from all parts of the ,mediterranean come to its docks4 ,the city lies at one end of the ,gulf of ,smyrna1 which is thirty-four miles long and surrounded by lofty silver-gray mountains some of them a mile high4 ,its harbour is excellent1 and the town has many modern buildings4 ,because of its importance in the trade of ,asia ,minor1 ,smyrna is a centre of political and commercial interests and the scene of fierce competition among the various nationalities4 ,among its people there are more ,greeks than ,turks4 ,while travelling in ,syria ,i saw many openings for ,american goods4 ,the farming there is after the methods of centuries ago1 and our ploughs1 reapers1 and other agricultural machines might be sold4 ,i understand that the more progressive of the native landlords are ready to buy4 ,one man1 who owns more than a thousand acres of rich grainland on the high plateau between the two ranges of the ,lebanon ,mountains1 has offered #ge per cent4 of the profits to any ,american company that will cultivate it for two or three years1 and will bring in ,american machinery4 ,the landlord also agrees1 upon the termination of the lease1 to pay for the machinery at the regular price4 ,some of the ,syrian farmers are now using ,american threshers and reapers1 and some are bringing in ,american ploughs4 ,the first thresher imported was upon the advice of our consul general at ,beirut4 ,he is a ,dakota man1 who understands the farming conditions in the ,northwest4 ,he tells me that the possibilities of raising grain in this part of the world are remarkable1 and that dry farming might be practised in many localities which now go to waste4 ,he thinks that old ,mesopotamia can be reclaimed by irrigation and a new ,egypt created there4 ,he says that as political conditions improve there will be many opportunities for commerce and industry1 and that ,american capital should take advantage of the situation4 ,syria and ,asia ,minor are now raising a great deal of silk1 which is sent to ,france and shipped from there to the ,united ,states4 ,the ,american residents tell me that there is no reason why we should not buy this raw silk direct1 thus saving the ,frenchman's profits and the double transportation charges4 ,i saw mulberry orchards everywhere during my travels in ,syria4 ,the plains about ,beirut are covered with them1 and they are to be found on both sides of the ,lebanon ,mountains4 ,when the trees have grown to the height of a man's head1 they are cut back4 ,green leaves from the new sprouts furnish food for millions of silkworms4 ,in coming from ,damascus ,i saw women and children picking the leaves to feed to the worms1 carrying them to sheds erected for the purpose4 ,raising the silkworms is largely in the hands of the women1 who take care of the trees and sell the cocoons4 ,from the ,lebanon mountain regions every year men1 specially appointed1 go to ,france to get the silkworm eggs4 ,for some reason those laid in the ,syrian mountains do not produce well4 ,illustration3 ,the first steel bridge across the ,river ,jordan was named in honour of ,general ,allenby4 ,under the ,british rgime motor launches ply along this most sacred stream in the world ,illustration3 ,jerusalem now has a speed law1 and its road signs are printed in the three official languages--,english1 ,hebrew1 and ,arabic--and ,french besides 8,he who plants an olive tree lays up riches for his children's children40 ,this saying expresses a current belief throughout the ,levant4 ,olives are the money crop of a great part of ,palestine1 ,syria1 and ,asia ,minor4 ,many of the trees are hundreds of years old1 and some of them were planted before ,columbus discovered ,america4 ,i am told of an orchard near ,tripoli1 in ,syria1 which the deeds show was established about five hundred years ago1 and the trees of which are still bearing4 ,all the way from ,jerusalem to the ,sea of ,galilee ,i saw olive trees that looked old enough to have been planted by ,jacob4 ,some of gigantic size were hollow and had been filled with stones to aid in their support4 ,many of the colonists of the ,holy ,land have set out new orchards1 and the ,americans who live at ,haifa have trees bearing fruit every year4 ,i am told that the crop is very profitable1 and that under reduced taxation many more trees will be planted4 ,the fruit is raised for the oil4 ,a ton of olives yields about seventy gallons of oil4 ,asia ,minor already leads the world in its production of olive oil1 producing about two or three hundred thousand more barrels per annum than either ,spain or ,italy4 ,another important crop of the region about ,smyrna is the fig1 which grows better here than in almost any other part of the globe4 ,more than three hundred thousand camel-loads are raised in some years1 and they are shipped all over the world4 ,the trees begin to bear in their sixth year1 and are at their best ten years after planting4 ,the figs ripen about the first of ,august1 and when fully matured fall to the ground4 ,they are dried in the sun1 then packed in bags for the market4 ,a great many of these figs go to ,america1 where you will find them in all the fruit and grocery stores4 ,our part of the crop is carefully packed1 there being several ,american firms here which do nothing else4 ,the figs are first sorted according to the thickness of the skin and size of the fruit4 ,the poorest are thrown away or used for distilling purposes1 and the best are put up for export in boxes and jars4 ,the price here varies from two to eight cents a pound1 the very finest of the figs bringing the latter figure4 ,a great deal of the packing is done in the city of ,smyrna to which the fruit is brought in from all parts of the country4 ,some of it comes on the railways1 on cars especially built for the traffic1 and some is carried on camels4 ,as it is important that the fruit be not bruised1 that carried in the cars is laid upon shelves built one above the other1 so that there is no danger of the figs being crushed or bruised4 ,,chapter ,,xxxii ,,armenia1 ,,the ,,suffering ,armenia is the ,job among peoples4 ,her frightful sufferings seem to have no end4 ,a little ,christian island in a vast sea of ,mohammedanism1 she has been swept by one great tidal wave of persecution after another4 ,before the eyes of the modern world1 in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries1 even1 a whole people has been robbed1 exiled1 and murdered1 while the great nations have looked on apparently helpless to bring to a permanent end the horrible atrocities committed by the 8unspeakable ,turk40 ,millions of dollars have been spent in the past for the aid of ,armenia1 millions more will be required before she is freed from famine and persecution4 ,vast sums have been donated by ,americans through their churches and missionary societies1 the ,red ,cross1 and other national and international organizations to help these people in their misery4 ,but lasting relief cannot come until ,armenia is enabled to set up a nation of her own once more1 or is brought under the protection of a strong ,christian power4 ,what the ,armenians have done under oppression shows that they have great possibilities as a race4 ,they are sometimes called the ,yankees of the ,orient4 ,they are the brightest1 brainiest1 and shrewdest of all the people of ,asia ,minor4 ,in business they are sharper than the ,jews or even the ,greeks4 ,the ,turks say1 8,twist a ,yankee and you make a ,jew1 twist a ,jew and you make an ,armenian40 ,the ,greeks say that 8one ,greek is equal to two ,jews1 but one ,armenian is equal to two ,greeks40 ,another current ,turkish proverb is1 8,from the ,greeks of ,athens1 from the ,jews of ,saloniki1 and from the ,armenians everywhere1 good ,lord deliver us60 ,the ,armenians are by no means confined to one part of the ,orient4 ,i have met them everywhere in the ,east and ,i have found them acting as heads of all kinds of businesses4 ,there are many rich ,armenians in ,india4 ,coming from ,singapore to ,calcutta ,i travelled with a wealthy ,armenian jeweller who told me he was on his way back from ,hong ,kong where he had gone to sell pearls to the ,chinese4 ,i found ,armenian conductors on the ,egyptian railways1 and when ,i went over the transcontinental railroad to ,paris the guards on the train and the men who took up my tickets were ,armenians who spoke ,english and ,french4 ,there are hundreds of thousands of ,armenians in ,europe4 ,there are a large number in ,persia1 and in different parts of ,turkey there are said to be about one million4 ,there are a great many in ,constantinople where they manage most of the banking business and own large mercantile establishments4 ,when ,i got money on my letter of credit in ,constantinople it was an ,armenian clerk who figured up the exchange and an ,armenian cashier who handed out the money4 ,whenever there are riots in that city nearly all the stores are closed because their ,armenian owners fear they may be looted by the mob4 ,when ,i visited the ,turkish government departments ,i found that1 though the chief officers were ,turks1 the clerks were in most cases ,armenians1 and the cleverest man ,i met in ,turkey was one of the ,sultan's secretaries1 a man of ,armenian birth4 ,there are also ,armenian engineers1 architects1 and doctors in ,constantinople4 ,the ,armenians of ,armenia proper1 however1 are almost all farmers1 most of whom have become poverty-stricken through the exorbitant taxes of the ,sultan4 ,at ,jerusalem ,i saw a large number of ,armenian pilgrims who had come from all parts of ,asia ,minor to pray at the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,they have a ,patriarch at ,jerusalem who leads them in these celebrations4 ,he is a tall1 thin man with a long gray beard and a face not unlike that of the typical ,georgia cracker4 ,he usually wears a long gown and has a little skull cap on the crown of his head4 ,during the ,easter celebration he wears a tiara blazing with diamonds and his gown is a gorgeous silk robe decorated with diamonds4 ,the ,armenian ,christians have doctrines much like those of the ,greek ,church4 ,they have monasteries and churches scattered throughout ,asia ,minor4 ,armenia was the first country in the world to adopt ,christianity as a state religion4 ,this she did at the beginning of the fourth century and twelve years before the conversion of the ,roman emperor1 ,constantine4 ,ever since she has been persecuted by a succession of enemies and conquerors of other faiths4 ,almost as soon as ,christianity had been adopted1 the ,armenians were commanded by the ,persians1 their overlords at that time1 to give up their faith and adopt the ,persian religion of fire-worship4 ,they replied3 8,no one can move us from our belief1 neither angels nor men1 fire nor sword4 ,here below we will choose no other ,god1 and in heaven no other ,lord but ,jesus ,christ40 ,and they have stuck to their declaration through all the horrors and persecutions brought upon them by ,persians1 ,saracens1 ,tartars1 ,mamelukes1 and ,turks4 ,at her height ,armenia was a flourishing country with a population of some thirty millions4 ,but from the time of the great dispersal that resulted from the invasion of the ,moslem hordes in the seventh century1 the ,armenians1 like the ,jews1 have been decimated1 their country has been ravaged1 and the people have been scattered all over ,europe and ,asia4 ,the ,armenians assert that their country is the holiest land upon earth4 ,it lies in ,asia ,minor1 southeast of the ,black ,sea and between it and ,persia4 ,mount ,ararat is situated in ,armenia1 and some of the monasteries claim to have pieces of the identical ark in which ,noah landed upon this mountain4 ,a ravine near by is pointed out as the site of ,noah's vineyard4 ,the vineyard has a monastery connected with it1 and the monks show a withered old vine which they assert is the very one from which ,noah brewed the wine that made him drunk4 ,he cursed it so effectually after he got over his spree that it has borne no grapes unto this day4 ,noah's wife is said to be buried on ,mount ,ararat4 ,the ,armenians trace their ancestry back to ,japheth in one great genealogical tree4 ,they also have a tradition that the ,garden of ,eden was located in ,armenia1 almost in the centre of the region where the worst massacres have occurred1 but it is now one of the barren parts of the country4 ,the ,armenians believe that the ,wise ,men of the ,east1 who followed the ,star of ,bethlehem to find the young ,christ1 came from their country and that the ,star first appeared in the heavens not far from ,mount ,ararat4 ,according to another curious ,armenian tradition1 when ,adam was in the ,garden of ,eden his body was covered with nails1 like those we have on our fingers and toes4 ,these nails overlapped each other like the scales of a fish1 thus giving him an invulnerable armour4 ,after the fall they all dropped off except those from the ends of his fingers and toes4 ,they remain to this day to remind man of his lost immortality4 ,the ,armenians say that when ,god made ,adam of clay1 he had a little piece left over4 ,he threw this upon the ground1 and as it fell it became gold and formed all the gold of the world4 ,these people are devoted to the ,bible1 and take their religion very seriously4 ,they could have made their peace with the ,turks long1 long ago if they had been willing to accept ,mohammedanism4 ,the condition of the women of ,armenia is said to be terrible4 ,they have no refuge from the ,turks1 who perpetrate all sorts of outrages upon them4 ,in some of the ,armenian cities during one of the massacres the girls were collected into the churches and kept there for days at the pleasure of the soldiers before they were murdered4 ,one statement described how sixty young brides were so treated and how the blood ran out under the church doors at the time of their massacre4 ,these ,armenian women are among the most attractive of the ,near ,east4 ,i have seen a number of them during my trip through ,asia ,minor4 ,they have large1 dark1 luminous eyes with long eyelashes1 and rich1 creamy complexions4 ,many of them have rosy cheeks and luscious red lips4 ,they are tall and straight1 but become fat soon after marriage4 ,not a few of them are married to ,turks4 ,these women have a dress of their own4 ,they wear red fez caps with long tassels much like some of the country girls of ,greece4 ,the richer ladies wear loose jackets lined with fur1 and long plain skirts of silk or fine wool4 ,in the province of ,van1 where many atrocities have been committed1 the girls wear under their skirts trousers which are tied at the ankles4 ,some have long1 sleeveless jackets1 or cloaks1 reaching almost to the feet and open at the sides up to the waists1 and others wear gorgeous headdresses1 covering the front of their caps with gold coins1 which hang down over their foreheads4 ,like the ,jewesses1 these girls often wear their whole dowries on their persons1 and in massacres like those which have so often occurred rings are torn from the ears1 arms are cut off for bracelets1 and many a woman is killed for her jewellery4 ,the poorer women are hard workers4 ,nearly every household has some kind of home industry whereby it adds to its income4 ,some of the finest embroideries we get from ,turkey are made by these clever ,armenian women1 the best of the work being done by hand in hovels4 ,the houses in which the ,armenians live are different in different countries4 ,in many of the cities of ,turkey there is an ,armenian quarter1 and the older ,armenian houses of ,smyrna are built like forts4 ,they have no windows facing the street1 and only of late years1 when the people have considered themselves safe from religious riots1 have they built houses more like the ,turks4 ,in ,armenia itself the poorer classes have homes which would be considered hardly fit for cows in ,america4 ,the cow1 in fact1 lives with the family4 ,the houses are all of one story1 and it is not uncommon to build a house against the side of a hill in order to save the making of a back wall4 ,the roofs are flat1 and are often covered with earth upon which grass and flowers grow1 and upon which the sheep are sometimes pastured4 ,the floors are usually sunken below the level of the roadway1 and the ordinary window is about the size of a porthole4 ,you go down steps to enter the house1 where you find a cow stable on one side and the kitchen and living quarters of the family on the other4 ,all the living arrangements are of the simplest and cheapest description4 ,each room has a stone fireplace where the cooking is done with cow dung mixed with straw4 ,there are no tables and very few chairs4 ,the animal heat of the cattle aids the fire in keeping the family warm4 ,the houses of the better class are more comfortable1 and in the big ,turkish cities some of the rich ,armenians have beautiful homes4 ,the ,armenian women are good housekeepers and much more cleanly than the ,turks4 ,even their hovels are kept clean4 ,they have a better home life than the ,turks4 ,a man can have but one wife1 but the families of several generations often live in one house4 ,if the daughter-in-law lives with them1 she is1 to a large extent1 the servant of her husband's family4 ,she has to obey her father-in-law1 and during the first days of her married life is not allowed to speak to her husband's parents or any of the family who are older than herself until her father-in-law gives her permission4 ,up to this time she wears a red veil1 as a badge of her subjection1 which is often kept on until her first baby is born4 ,armenian girls are married very young4 ,eleven or twelve is considered quite old enough1 and women still young often have sons twenty years old4 ,marriages are arranged by parents or by go-betweens4 ,the usual wedding day is ,monday1 and on the ,friday before the marriage the bride is taken to the bath with great ceremony4 ,on ,saturday she gives a big feast to her girl friends4 ,on ,sunday there is a feast for the boys1 and on ,monday the wedding takes place4 ,it usually occurs at the church1 where the priest blesses the ring and makes prayers over the wedding garments4 ,the numerous other ceremonies make the wedding last from three to eight days4 ,shortly after her return from the church the children present rush to pull off the bride's stockings1 in which have been hidden some coins for the occasion4 ,another curious custom is to place a baby boy on the knee of the bride1 as she sits beside the groom on a divan1 with the wish that she may become a happy mother4 ,while one reason for the hatred of the ,armenians is envy of their shrewdness and their wealth1 the chief cause of the ,turkish outrages is religious fanaticism4 ,the better classes of the ,turks and the more intelligent of the ,mohammedans would probably stop them if they could4 ,many of the high officials are afraid of the religious zeal of the people4 ,they realize that if the common people get the idea that they are false to their religion1 they are almost sure of assassination4 ,the ,imams and the ,sheiks1 or1 in other words1 the ,moslem priests1 are1 to a large extent1 the rulers of ,turkey4 ,they are in most cases ignorant and intolerant4 ,among the ,mohammedan fanatics there are a large number known as dervishes1 who roam about from place to place stirring up trouble4 ,they are walking delegates1 as it were1 for the killing of ,christians4 ,they stimulate the religious zeal of the people and make violent speeches against unbelievers4 ,they fast much and they have strange forms of worship4 ,one class1 known as the whirling dervishes1 may be seen in ,constantinople any ,friday going through their devotions4 ,they dress in long white robes fastened at the waists with black belts1 and wear high sugar-loaf hats4 ,they sing the ,koran as they whirl about in the mosques4 ,as they go on the chief priest makes prayers and they whirl faster and faster1 until at last their long skirts stand out like those of a ballet dancer4 ,their faces become crimson1 and some finally fall to the ground in fits4 ,another class of these fanatics are the howlers1 who have a great organization in ,turkey1 and have probably been largely concerned in inciting feeling against the ,armenians4 ,i have visited their mosques1 but ,i despair of adequately describing their religious gymnastics4 ,they work themselves into a frenzy1 jumping and bending1 and gasping and howling out the name of ,god4 ,the dervishes of the interior parts of ,turkey often take knives and cut themselves and each other in religious ecstasy4 ,they go into fits and foam at the mouth1 and most of them think that the killing of a ,christian is a sure passport to heaven4 ,i would say1 however1 that these people are the cranks of ,mohammedanism1 and that they are not a fair sample of the ,moslem world4 ,nevertheless1 they have had no small part in bringing about the miseries of ,armenia4 ,,chapter ,,xxxiii ,,palestine ,,and ,,syria ,,under ,,new ,,rulers ,switch on your radiophone and let us listen together this evening to a talk from ,jerusalem where ,john ,bull sits in the seats of the mighty and the voice of the terrible ,turk is no more heard in the land4 ,the ,holy ,city is quiet4 ,the women are sitting1 as of old1 on the housetops under the stars1 while across the valley on the ,mount of ,olives sparks from the wireless tower flash out to the corners of our modern world4 ,if we listen carefully we may hear the familiar chug-chug of an ,american automobile whose driver to-morrow will take a party of pilgrims over the road to ,bethlehem4 ,or perhaps he will start on the longer trip to the ruins of old ,jericho and the ,river ,jordan1 or even a tour of all the ,holy ,land1 most of which can now be reached in a motor car4 ,as we listen we learn that the ,high ,commissioner1 who rules in the name of ,his ,britannic ,majesty1 met to-day with his advisory council1 representing the people of ,palestine4 ,from the report of their proceedings we learn what is going on in the reborn ,promised ,land4 ,this council has ten members appointed by the ,commissioner4 ,four of them are ,moslems1 who make up four fifths of the population of ,palestine1 three are ,jews1 identified with the ,zionist movement1 and three are ,christians4 ,just as the membership of the advisory council is divided among the three groups for whom ,jerusalem is a holy place and a religious centre1 so1 too1 are the positions in the government to-day held by ,christians1 ,jews1 and ,mohammedans4 ,there are three official languages--,arabic1 ,english1 and ,hebrew4 ,the government1 we are told1 is in good condition1 and the country is self-supporting1 paying its way out of its revenues4 ,nevertheless1 the taxes with which the ,turks used to squeeze and harness the people have been reduced and some of them have been abolished4 ,at the same time1 where the ,turk and his tax-gatherers1 as the ,arabs say1 8never gave us so much as a drink of cold water10 the new rulers are providing much-needed improvements with the public funds4 ,before the ,british came the ,arabs had a saying that the ,turk would rule the ,holy ,land until the ,nile flowed into ,palestine4 ,this ancient prophecy has been almost literally fulfilled1 for when the ,british built the military railroad from ,egypt into ,palestine they laid all the way beside it a pipe-line carrying water pumped from the ,nile4 ,a great tank in the hills on the ,hebron road1 built by ,pontius ,pilate1 has been restored1 and now holds five million gallons of water1 which is piped into ,jerusalem4 ,the streets have been cleaned1 the beginnings of a sewerage system put in1 and the natives have started to learn the use of a covered garbage can4 ,even the mosquitoes1 descendants of those who bit the ,crusaders1 have been driven out and have gone to the other side of ,jordan to smite the ,bedouins4 ,plans for the further extension of the city beyond the walls have been prepared1 and its growth will be directed accordingly4 ,a native police force has been recruited to keep order in the place of the troops which have been gradually reduced in number4 ,all the holy places are still carefully protected4 ,the ,british were able to keep the ,mosque of ,omar under ,moslem guard by using soldiers from their own ,indian troops made up of followers of the ,prophet4 ,the men of a ,new ,zealand regiment who were ,masons held a meeting in the secret cavern under the ,holy ,rock in the ,mosque said to be the place where ,king ,solomon founded their order4 ,there were thirty-two ,masons from twenty-seven different lodges1 who took part in this meeting1 while an old sheik acted as doorkeeper4 ,the differences in religion keep bobbing up in ,jerusalem1 giving the ,british and the advisory council some ticklish questions to deal with4 ,for example1 when the military bands started to give concerts in a public square in the outer city1 they played three afternoons a week--,thursday1 ,saturday1 and ,sunday4 ,the ,grand ,mufti1 head of the ,jerusalem ,moslems1 solemnly protested1 saying the band played ,saturday for the ,jewish ,sabbath and on ,sunday for the ,christians1 but was slighting the ,mohammedans1 who observed ,friday4 ,so now the bands play four days a week4 ,another thing the ,british did gratified the ,christians4 ,under ,turkish rule the ,church of the ,nativity at ,bethlehem was disfigured by a wall separating the ,greek choir and chancel from the nave and basilica1 which is common to ,orthodox and ,catholic alike4 ,this wall they tore down1 so that now the whole church is open to view4 ,as a result of the war1 and the cruelties of the ,turks1 the population of ,jerusalem shrank from eighty thousand to sixty thousand1 while ,jaffa was almost depopulated4 ,with ,british control1 however1 the people flocked back again1 and a rapid increase is expected all through the ,holy ,land4 ,the country itself suffered almost as much as the people from the outrages of both the ,turks and the ,germans4 ,crops were seized to feed the soldiers1 while hundreds of thousands of olive and other trees were cut down to make fuel for locomotives4 ,the ,germans blasted out the trees with dynamite1 destroying the roots so that no sprouts could spring up4 ,whole sections of ,palestine were stripped bare1 and at the same time cattle and sheep were taken away and killed4 ,in some places the people burned nearly everything they had to keep the ,turks from getting their possessions4 ,the ,british are working on a vast scheme of reforestation in connection with their irrigation plans4 ,they are encouraging a project for building a dam in the ,river ,jordan1 above ,tiberias and the ,sea of ,galilee1 which will furnish power for irrigation pumps and light and energy for all ,palestine4 ,great nurseries have been established at ,gaza1 where ,samson threw down the temple of the ,philistines4 ,in one operation1 more than one hundred thousand timber trees and ninety thousand fruit trees were set out4 ,the new rulers of the ,holy ,land hope to restore agriculture1 which fell into decay under the ,turks1 chiefly on account of the excessive taxes on the farmers4 ,local meetings of natives have been held throughout the country1 to find out what the farmers needed most1 and to put them in touch with sources of supply4 ,there was found to be a great shortage of farm implements and machines1 such as mowers1 horse rakes1 and other equipment4 ,to encourage the natives1 the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to be loaned by the ,anglo-,egyptian ,bank of ,palestine for improvements on their lands4 ,within three years after the war ,palestine agriculture produced more than two million bushels of wheat1 one million bushels of barley1 one and one quarter million bushels of millet1 six thousand tons of grapes1 and one hundred and fifty thousand gallons of olive oil4 ,the number of sheep and goats was estimated at more than a quarter of a million of each4 ,figs are grown in upper ,galilee1 but not so many as will be the case when shipping facilities are provided4 ,for the second year under ,british control1 the import trade of ,palestine amounted to not quite twenty million dollars1 most of which was with ,great ,britain and ,egypt4 ,the people import foodstuffs such as rice and sugar1 and buy a great quantity of cotton goods4 ,some think that ,palestine may become a second ,switzerland and grow rich on the visitors to the country4 ,for many years both pilgrims and tourists have been going to the ,holy ,land by the thousands1 but little has ever been done for either their comfort or their convenience4 ,with the country under good management by the ,british1 and modern conditions provided1 more people will want to make the trip4 ,many thousands of ,palestinians could undoubtedly be employed at a profit in serving the visitors and selling them goods4 ,communications in ,palestine have been greatly improved and extended4 ,besides the military railway from ,egypt1 ,general ,allenby and the ,british built more than two hundred miles of highways1 and these are being added to all the time4 ,there are now four hundred and eighty miles of railroad track and five hundred and twenty-three miles of public highways4 ,the cars on the line from ,egypt to the ,holy ,land are comfortable1 and sleeping and eating accommodations are provided4 ,one may ride from ,cairo to ,ludd1 and there connect with the ,jaffa-,jerusalem line1 or continue on to ,haifa1 whence the journey may be continued for twelve hours over the ,french railroad to ,damascus4 ,every two weeks aeroplanes carry mail from ,egypt and ,palestine across the desert into ,mesopotamia1 where the ,british are developing the large interests they gained there as a result of the war4 ,the ,zionists have revived an old plan for a two-hundred-and-fifty-mile ship canal through ,palestine as a supplement to the ,suez ,canal1 but it does not seem likely that this scheme will be worked out with the ,british controlling ,palestine and the ,suez ,canal4 ,the ,british plan to extend into ,mesopotamia the railroad system already connecting ,palestine and ,egypt1 so as to link up the countries of three rivers1 the ,nile1 the ,jordan1 and the ,euphrates4 ,this will supplement the ,berlin-to-,bagdad line which the ,germans thought would give them control over a new eastern empire4 ,another project that is now much talked of is to dig a tunnel thirty-seven miles long under the hills to carry water from the streams along the coast of the ,mediterranean into the ,jordan4 ,the fact that the ,jordan is far below sea level makes this physically possible1 even if not economically practicable4 ,extensive improvements are planned for ,haifa1 which as a port and the terminus of the railroads to ,damascus and ,jerusalem will be an important place in the future4 ,the ,british also expect to empty into ships at ,haifa the oil they plan to pipe across the desert from ,mesopotamia4 ,haifa used to be great in ancient days1 when it was the chief landing place of the ,crusaders and the transfer point in the early trade between ,venice and the ,far ,east4 ,it is now predicted that its population of twenty thousand will increase to one hundred thousand within ten years4 ,the ,french have a mandate for ,syria1 as the ,british have for ,palestine1 and the boundaries of both regions have been redrawn4 ,damascus is included in the territory under ,french control4 ,syria is nominally independent1 and the natives have not been altogether satisfied with the way the ,french have governed their country since the ,sultan's power was overthrown4 ,very little has been left of the ,turkish possessions1 as ,armenia has been declared independent1 and the ,greeks given a footing in ,smyrna and the surrounding district4 ,once these regions become adjusted to the new conditions following the war1 it is believed they will enter upon a new era of prosperity and rapid development of their many rich resources4 ,,the ,,end ,,seeing ,,the ,,world ,,with ,,frank ,g4 ,,carpenter ,choosing a travelling companion is one of life's most trying moments4 ,the man with whom we feel we can be quite happy throughout a journey--whose tastes1 interests1 and viewpoint are like our own--is often hard to find4 ,millions of ,americans have found ,frank ,g4 ,carpenter their ideal fellow traveller4 ,reading ,carpenter has meant for them seeing the world1 and with him they have journeyed to all parts of the globe4 ,he never bores1 preaches1 or propagandizes1 but tells his readers what they want to know1 shows them what they want to see1 and makes them feel that they are there4 ,in order to extend this opportunity of seeing the world with ,carpenter1 ,doubleday1 ,page ,company have arranged to publish ,,carpenter',s ,,world ,,travels1 the story of his three hundred thousand miles of journeys over the globe1 of which this book1 8,the ,holy ,land and ,syria0 is the first volume4 ,succeeding volumes to be published immediately1 include3 ,from ,tangier to ,tripoli1 ,morocco1 ,algeria1 ,tunis1 ,tripoli1 and the ,sahara4 ,alaska1 ,our ,northern ,wonderland4 ,the ,end of the ,hemisphere1 ,chile and ,argentina4 ,from ,cairo to ,kisumu4 ,egypt1 the ,anglo-,egyptian ,sudan1 and ,british ,east ,africa1 and twenty other volumes1 covering the world4 ,these books are familiar talks about the countries and peoples of the earth1 with the author on the spot and the reader in his home4 ,carpenter makes his readers see what he sees1 and they feel they are on the spot with him4 ,this is the only work of its kind4 ,no other single author has visited all the countries of the world and written on the spot1 in plain and simple language1 the story of what he has found4 ,,carpenter',s ,,world ,,travels are not the casual record of incidents of the journey1 but the painstaking study of a trained observer1 devoting his life to the task of world-wide reporting4 ,each book is complete in itself2 together they form the most vivid1 interesting1 and understandable picture of our modern world yet published4 ,they are the fruit of more than thirty years of unparalleled success in writing for the ,american people through the medium of their greatest newspapers4 ,they are a fitting climax to ,mr4 ,carpenter's distinguished services to the teaching of geography in our public schools1 which have used some four million copies of the ,carpenter ,geographical ,readers4 ,in the present state of the world1 a knowledge of its countries and peoples is essential to an understanding of what is going on1 of how all that is happening affects us1 and why4 ,carpenter takes his readers to the lands of the news1 and makes more real the daily flashes by cable and radio4 ,a word to your bookseller1 or a line to the publishers1 will enable you to secure each volume of ,carpenter's ,world ,travels as it appears4 ,,bibliography ,an enormous number of books on the ,holy ,land have been written1 some few of which have become standard works1 in spite of having been written a generation ago4 ,among these the most familiar1 perhaps1 are ,dean ,stanley's 8,sinai and ,palestine10 in many editions1 and ,g4 ,a4 ,smith's 8,historical ,geography of the ,holy ,land10 thirteenth edition1 ,london1 #aijg1 and the same author's 8,atlas of the ,historical ,geography of the ,holy ,land10 ,london1 #aiae4 ,the following brief list is a selection from the most recent publications3 ,,baedeker4 8,syria and ,palestine0 ,guidebook4 ,london1 #aiab4 ,,bell1 ,,gertrude4 8,syria40 ,london1 #aiai4 ,,bentwich1 ,,norman4 8,palestine and the ,jews1 ,past1 ,present1 and ,future40 ,london1 #aiai4 ,,copping1 ,,arthur ,e4 8,a ,journalist in the ,holy ,land40 ,london1 #aiaa4 ,,gordon1 ,,ben ,l4 8,new ,judea3 ,jewish ,life in ,modern ,palestine40 ,philadelphia1 #aiai4 ,,grant1 ,,elihu4 8,peasantry of ,palestine40 ,new ,york1 #aijg4 ,,great ,,britain4 8,handbook of ,syria0 7including ,palestine7 ,prepared by ,naval ,intelligence ,division1 ,british ,admiralty4 ,london1 #aiba4 8,syria and ,palestine10 ,historical section ,british ,foreign ,office--,no4 #fj4 ,london1 #aiba4 ,,hichens1 ,,robert4 8,the ,holy ,land0 illus4 by ,jules ,gurin4 ,new ,york1 #aiaj4 ,,hilprecht1 ,h4 ,v4 8,explorations in ,bible ,lands during the #aith ,century40 ,philadelphia1 #aijc4 ,,huntington1 ,,ellsworth4 8,palestine and ,its ,transformation40 ,boston1 #aiaa4 ,,hyamson1 ,a4 ,m4 8,palestine3 the ,rebirth of an ,ancient ,people40 ,london1 #aiag4 ,,jastrow1 ,,morris4 8,zionism and the ,future of ,palestine40 ,new ,york1 #aiai4 ,,lees1 ,g4 ,,robinson4 8,village ,life in ,palestine40 ,london1 #aije4 ,,lock1 ,h4 ,o4 8,the ,conquest of ,palestine40 ,london1 #aibj4 ,,mudrum1 ,,nadra4 8,la ,syrie de ,demain40 ,paris1 #aiaf4 ,,maxwell1 ,,donald4 8,a ,painter in ,palestine40 ,london1 #aiba4 ,,pirie-,,gordon1 ,h4 8,guidebook to ,northern ,palestine and ,southern ,syria40 ,jerusalem1 #aibj4 8,guide ,book to ,central ,syria40 ,jerusalem1 #aibj4 ,,ruppin1 ,a4 8,syrien als ,wirthschaftsgebiet0 7,also in ,english74 ,berlin1 #aiag4 8,the ,jews of ,to-day40 ,new ,york1 #aiac4 ,,samne1 ,g4 8,la ,syrie40 ,paris1 #aiba4 ,,sampter1 ,,jessie1 ,editor4 8,a ,guide to ,zionism40 ,new ,york1 #aibj4 ,,sidebotham1 ,h4 8,england and ,palestine40 ,london1 #aiai4 ,,sokolow1 ,n4 8,history of ,zionism40 ,london and ,new ,york1 #aiai4 ,,szold1 ,,henrietta4 8,recent ,progress in ,palestine40 ,new ,york1 #aibj4 ,,wilbushewitz1 ,n4 8,the ,industrial ,development of ,palestine40 ,london1 #aibj4 ,,index ,abraham1 sacrificial rock of1 #fd4 ,agriculture1 in the ,land of ,goshen1 #f2 in ,palestine1 #aei4 ,allenby1 ,general1 the successful ,crusader1 #a4 ,alouf1 ,dr4 ,michel1 archologist at ,baalbek1 #bci4 ,american cemetery at ,jerusalem purchased by trickery by ,germans who remove bodies1 #dd1 #bej4 ,american colonies in the ,holy ,land1 #agb4 ,american education in the ,near ,east1 #beb4 ,american ,medical ,unit in ,palestine1 #bjb4 ,american store in ,jerusalem1 #agd4 ,american trade1 opportunities for1 in ,syria1 #bfg4 ,ananias1 house of1 at ,damascus1 #bab4 ,andromeda1 the rocks of1 #ah4 ,anglo-,israelite ,colonization ,society1 work of1 #agj1 #agf4 ,ararat1 ,mount1 in ,armenia1 #bgd4 ,armenia1 the sufferings of1 #bga4 ,armenian ,patriarch at ,jerusalem1 #bgc4 ,armenian women1 costumes of1 #bgf2 marriage customs1 #bgg4 ,armenians1 as sharp traders1 #bga4 ,ascension1 ,chapel of the1 #abg4 ,asyut1 ,american college at1 #beb4 ,ayasoluk1 railway station for ,ephesus1 #bfc1 #bff4 ,baal1 worship of1 #bce4 ,baalbek1 ruins of the ancient city1 #bcb4 ,babel1 ,tower of1 at ,baalbek1 #bcd4 ,bacchus1 temple of1 at ,baalbek1 #bcf4 ,banias1 at source of the ,jordan1 #acj4 ,baptisms in the ,jordan1 #ee4 ,bashan1 compared with ,bible times1 #cb4 ,bazaars of ,jerusalem1 #aaa4 ,beeroth1 #aee4 ,bees and honey of ,palestine1 #afd4 ,beirut1 ,american college at1 #bef2 college has largest publishing house in the ,orient1 #bei4 ,beitin1 the ancient ,bethel1 #aee4 ,berlin-to-,bagdad scheme1 ,germany's1 #bdi4 ,bethany1 of to-day1 #abc4 ,bethel1 now called ,beitin1 #aee4 ,bethlehem1 visits to1 #ach4 ,birthplace of ,christ1 the1 #add4 ,bliss1 ,dr4 ,howard ,s41 difficulties with the literary censorship1 #bee2 handles a strike of ,moslem students1 #beg4 ,boaz1 ,field of1 #adj1 #ada4 ,bomb for the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 #ajg4 ,bread bakers of ,jerusalem1 #aae4 ,brickmaking at ,bubastis1 #i4 ,bridge of ,jacob's ,daughters1 #aca4 ,british government of ,palestine and ,syria1 #bhj4 ,british mandate over ,palestine1 #aig4 ,bubastis1 city of cat worship1 #i4 ,caiaphas1 the house of1 #dd4 ,cain and ,abel1 ,moslem tradition of1 #bdf4 ,calvary1 the site as located by ,general ,gordon1 #df4 ,camels and their use1 #afd4 ,cana1 village of1 #aie4 ,candies of ,damascus1 #bah4 ,capernaum1 excavations at1 #aib4 ,carmelite nunnery on ,mount of ,olives1 #abf4 ,cat worship1 at ,bubastis1 #i4 ,catacombs of ,jerusalem1 #fj4 ,cave dwellers in ,jerusalem1 #ci4 ,cedars of ,lebanon1 #bdj4 ,cemeteries1 weddings in1 #hc4 ,censorship of reading matter by ,turkish officials1 #bee4 ,chapel of the ,ascension1 #abg4 ,chapel of the ,manger1 #adf4 ,children of the ,holy ,land1 #ahb4 ,christ1 ,tomb of1 #ij4 ,christians barred from railroads to ,mohammedan holy cities1 #bdb4 ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 #dh1 #hh4 ,church of the ,lord's ,prayer1 the1 #abf4 ,church of the ,nativity1 #add4 ,costumes of ,damascus women1 #bbd4 ,crucifixion1 relics of the1 #ia4 ,damascus1 the world's oldest city1 #bjd2 the heart of the ,mohammedan world1 #bji2 massacres of ,christians at1 in modern times1 #bji1 #bag2 bazaars of1 #bad2 foreign trade1 #bbj2 manufacture of jewellery1 #bba4 ,damascus-,beirut railway1 travels on1 #bdf4 ,david1 ,tower of1 #cf4 ,david-,goliath battlefield1 #be4 ,day of ,judgment1 the ,mohammedan belief1 #df4 ,dead ,sea1 the1 #abi1 #aca1 #ace4 ,dervishes1 fanaticism of the1 #bgh4 ,diana1 temple of1 at ,ephesus1 #bfc4 ,divorce1 in ,damascus1 #bbe4 ,donkeys1 their use in the ,holy ,land1 #afd4 ,dorcas1 the tomb of1 #ba4 ,easter ,week in ,jerusalem1 #dh1 #ee1 #hd4 ,ebal1 ,mount1 #aeg4 ,eddy1 ,dr4 ,mary1 work of1 as medical missionary1 #bfj4 ,education1 ,american1 in the ,near ,east1 #beb4 ,elijah1 the cave of1 #abb4 ,elisha1 the fountain of1 #abb4 ,ephesus1 excavations at1 #bfb4 ,eucalyptus1 introduction of the1 #agj4 ,evil ,eye1 belief in the1 #gh4 ,excavations1 at ,baalbek1 ,german1 #bcd2 at ,ephesus1 #bfb2 at ,jericho1 #aai4 ,farming in ,palestine1 #aei4 ,fat-tailed sheep1 #ada4 ,fatima1 tomb of1 at ,damascus1 #baj4 ,field of ,boaz1 #adj1 #ada4 ,field of ,peas1 the1 #adb4 ,field of the ,shepherds1 the1 #adb4 ,figs1 production of1 in ,syria1 #bfi4 ,fishermen of the ,sea of ,galilee1 #ahi4 ,flight into ,egypt1 the1 #aj4 ,flowers of ,palestine1 the1 #afe4 ,foot washing1 the ceremony of1 #ie4 ,franz ,josef1 costly gifts of1 to the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 #ej4 ,french-,jewish ,society1 work of1 #aga4 ,fuel1 scarcity of1 #cc4 ,gabriel's ,spring1 ,nazareth1 #ahj4 ,gadarenes1 land of the1 #ahh4 ,galilee1 ,sea of1 #aca1 #ahg4 ,garden of ,gethsemane1 the1 #abg4 ,german church at ,jerusalem1 #dc1 #bdi1 #bej4 ,german colonies in ,palestine1 #bdh4 ,german excavations at ,baalbek1 #bcd4 ,german hospice at ,jerusalem1 #bdi4 ,germany's methods in the ,near ,east1 #bdi4 ,gerizim1 ,mount1 ,samaritan ,passover sacrifice on1 #aej4 ,gethsemane1 ,garden of1 #df1 #abg4 ,gezer1 excavations at1 #bg4 ,gifts to the churches1 #ajh4 ,gihon1 ,pool of1 #aci4 ,gilead1 compared with ,bible times1 #cb4 ,gomorrah and ,sodom1 sites of1 #acg4 ,good ,samaritan ,inn1 the1 #abe4 ,gordon1 ,general1 site of ,calvary located by1 #df2 believed ,place of the ,skull the scene of the ,crucifixion1 #aed4 ,goshen1 in ,joseph's time and now1 #d2 a land of gardens1 #f4 ,graveyard marriages1 superstition regarding1 #hb4 ,great ,mosque1 the1 at ,damascus1 #bjg4 ,greek ,church1 a great factor in the religious life of the ,holy ,land1 #ec2 strength of1 #aja1 #aji4 ,hadassah ,medical ,organization1 work of1 in ,palestine1 #bjb4 ,hamlin1 ,rev4 ,cyrus1 organizer of ,robert ,college1 ,constantinople1 #bed4 ,hardegg1 ,american hotel keeper at ,jaffa1 #ai4 ,hebrew art1 revival of1 #bja4 ,herzl1 ,dr4 ,theodore1 founder of ,zionist movement1 #aih4 ,hezekiah1 ,pool of1 #ce1 #cf4 ,holy ,family1 route of1 into ,egypt1 #aj4 ,holy fire1 8miracle0 of the1 #ih4 ,holy ,land1 returned to ,christian and ,jew1 #a4 ,holy ,sepulchre1 ,church of the1 #dh1 #hh4 ,holy ,week1 in ,jerusalem1 #dh1 #ee1 #hd4 ,huleh1 ,lake1 #aca4 ,irrigation1 in ,mesopotamia1 ,british plans for1 #bdh2 in the ,land of ,goshen1 #f4 ,jacob's ,daughters1 ,bridge of1 #aca4 ,jacob's ,well1 #aeb4 ,jaffa1 the city of ,jonah1 #ad2 one of the world's worst harbours1 #af2 lumber for ,solomon's ,temple landed at1 #ag1 #ff1 #bda4 ,jaffa-,jerusalem railroad1 the1 #bf4 ,jaffa to ,jerusalem1 the journey from1 #cb4 ,jehoshaphat1 ,valley of1 #dd4 ,jeremiah1 ,lamentations of1 where written1 #df2 chanting of1 #gf4 ,jericho1 excavations at1 #aai2 arriving at1 #abc4 ,jerusalem1 growth of the city1 #cg2 materials used in house construction in1 #ch2 the mecca of millions1 #dj2 the building of the walls1 #de2 pilgrimage city of the world1 #dh2 ,jews barred from1 #fh2 mean temperature of1 #acj2 increase in population under the ,british1 #bhb4 ,jesus's ,spring1 in ,nazareth1 #ahj4 ,jewellery1 manufacture of1 in ,damascus1 #bba4 ,jewels bestowed by pilgrims to ,jerusalem1 #ej4 ,jewish ,colonies1 development of1 #afi4 ,jews1 coming into their own1 #fh2 classes of1 in ,palestine1 #fi2 dress and customs of1 #ga2 superstitions of1 #gh4 ,jonah1 story of1 #af4 ,jonah's city1 ,jaffa1 #ad4 ,jordan ,river1 long and crooked1 #cj2 the blessing of the water1 #ee2 baptisms in1 #ef2 travels along the1 #abi2 source of1 #acj4 ,jordan ,valley1 the1 #abi2 mean temperature of1 #acj4 ,judas's betrayal of ,christ1 spot of1 #abh4 ,judea1 via the railway1 #bc4 ,juneau1 tuberculosis hospital at1 #bfj4 ,kaiserin ,augusta1 hospice on ,mount of ,olives in honour of1 #bdi4 ,kedron1 gardens of1 #dd4 ,kedron1 ,valley of1 #aed4 ,kersting1 ,father1 excavations in ,nazareth1 #ahj4 ,lake ,huleh1 #aca4 ,lamentations of ,jeremiah1 where written1 #df2 chanting of the1 #gf4 ,lazarus1 tomb of1 #abc4 ,law of ,moses1 ,samaritan parchment of the1 #aej4 ,lebanon1 cedars of1 #bdj4 ,lebanon ,mountains1 scantily forested1 #bdj4 ,livestock in the ,land of ,goshen1 #f4 ,lord's ,prayer1 the ,church of the1 #abe4 ,lot's wife1 the pillar of salt1 #acg4 ,louse ,market1 ,damascus1 #bag4 ,machinery1 ,american1 needed in ,syria1 #bfg4 ,magi1 ,well of the1 #ada4 ,mandeville1 ,sir ,john1 first report of the cotton plant1 #e4 ,manger1 ,chapel of the1 #adf4 ,markets of ,jerusalem1 the1 #aag4 ,marriage and divorce customs of the ,holy ,land1 #bbf4 ,marriage at early age in ,palestine1 #ahd4 ,marriage customs in ,armenia1 #bgg4 ,mary and ,martha1 house of1 at ,bethany1 #abd4 ,mary's ,well1 ,nazareth1 #ahj4 ,masons1 meeting of1 in the ,mosque of ,omar1 #bhb4 ,massacres of ,christians in ,damascus in modern times1 #bji1 #bag4 ,mecca1 railroad to1 #bdb2 ,moslem pilgrimages to1 #bji2 pilgrimages to1 a means of distribution of civilized ideas1 #beh4 ,medical missionaries in the ,orient1 #bei4 ,mesopotamia1 ,british plans for irrigation in1 #bdh2 agricultural possibilities of1 #bfh4 8,miracle0 of the holy fire1 the1 #ih4 ,mizpah1 where ,saul was anointed king1 #be1 #aed4 ,moab1 compared with ,bible times1 #cb4 ,modern innovations in the ,holy ,land1 #a4 ,money changers1 customs of the1 #hg1 #aaa4 ,montefiore colonies at ,jerusalem1 #aga4 ,moriah1 ,mount1 #eg4 ,moses1 where found1 in the ,nile bulrushes1 #aa4 ,moses' ,tabernacle1 site of1 #fe4 ,mosque of ,omar1 water supply for1 #cd2 on site of ,solomon's ,temple1 #cf1 #dh2 history of1 #fb2 kept under ,moslem guard by the ,british1 #bhb4 ,mosques and praying carriages on ,mecca railway1 #bdc4 ,mount ,ebal1 #aeg4 ,mount ,moriah1 #eg4 ,mount ,nebo1 #abi1 #acd4 ,mount of ,olives1 #cj1 #abe4 ,mount ,scopus1 #aed4 ,naaman1 the ,syrian1 house of1 at ,damascus1 #bab4 ,nablus1 one of the oldest towns of history1 #aeg4 ,nativity1 ,church of the1 #add4 ,nazareth1 early home of the ,saviour1 #agg4 ,nebo1 ,mount1 #abi1 #acd4 ,noah1 tomb of1 #bdg4 ,obelisks1 ,american tourists at the1 #ab4 ,olive oil1 made in primitive manner1 #aaf4 ,olives1 production of1 in ,syria1 #bfi4 ,omar1 ,mosque of1 water supply for1 #cd2 on site of ,solomon's ,temple1 #cf1 #dh2 its history1 #fb2 kept under ,moslem guard by the ,british1 #bhb4 ,ornan1 the ,jebusite1 threshing-floor of1 #ei1 #fd4 ,palestine1 returned to ,christian and ,jew1 #a2 first view of its shores1 #ae2 comparative size1 #cj2 character of the country1 #ca2 farming in1 #aei2 under the ,british1 #bhj4 ,palestine ,exploration ,fund excavations at ,gezer1 #bg4 ,palm ,sunday in ,jerusalem1 #ib4 ,patriarch of ,jerusalem1 a talk with the1 #aja4 ,peas1 the ,field of1 #adb4 ,pilgrimages to the ,holy ,city1 #ad1 #dj1 #dh1 #di1 #ec4 ,pithom1 treasure city of ,pharaoh1 #h4 ,place of the ,skull1 the1 #df1 #aed4 ,pontius ,pilate1 house of1 #ic4 ,pool of ,gihon1 #aci4 ,pool of ,hezekiah1 #ce1 #cf4 ,pool of ,siloam1 #ce1 #ed4 ,pools of ,solomon1 now a poor water supply1 #cd4 ,quarrels between the sects1 #ajf4 ,rachel1 ,tomb of1 #adb4 ,railroads in the ,holy ,land1 #bdb4 ,rainfall1 scanty proportion of1 #cd4 ,rameses1 treasure city of ,pharaoh1 #h4 ,religions1 strength of the different1 #aaj4 ,robert ,college1 ,constantinople1 influence of1 #bec4 ,roses1 ,valley of1 #adj4 ,rothschild1 ,baron ,edward1 founds ,jewish colonies in ,palestine1 #aga1 #agd1 #agf4 ,ruins1 the world's mighty1 #bcc4 ,russian hospice1 the1 #ec4 ,russians1 chief pilgrims to the ,holy ,land1 #ec4 ,saladin1 tomb of1 at ,damascus1 #baa4 ,samaritans1 among the1 #adi4 ,samson's fight with the ,philistines1 place of1 #bf4 ,samuel1 ,tomb of1 #aed4 ,st4 ,helena1 locates place of the ,crucifixion1 #ea4 ,st4 ,stephen1 place of the stoning of1 #de4 ,st4 ,paul1 tracing footsteps of1 #baa2 place of his escape over wall of ,damascus1 #bac4 ,st4 ,peter and his dream1 #bj4 ,schools of ,nazareth1 the1 #ahd4 ,scopus1 ,mount1 #aed4 ,sea of ,galilee1 #aca1 #ahg4 ,seilum1 the ancient ,shiloh1 #aee4 ,sepulchre of ,christ1 the1 #ia4 ,seth1 tomb of1 #bdg4 ,shechem1 one of the oldest towns of history1 #aeg4 ,sheep1 the fat-tailed variety1 #ada1 #afj4 ,shepherds1 ,field of the1 #adb4 ,shiloh1 now called ,seilum1 #aee4 ,shops of ,jerusalem1 smallness of the1 #aac4 ,silk production in ,syria1 #bfh4 ,siloam1 ,pool of1 #ce1 #dd4 ,simon the ,tanner1 house of1 #bj4 ,skull1 ,place of the1 #aed4 ,smyrna1 largest city in ,asia ,minor1 #bfg4 ,sodom and ,gomorrah1 sites of1 #acg4 ,solomon1 ,pools of1 now a poor water supply1 #cd4 ,solomon's ,temple1 lumber for1 landed at ,jaffa1 #ag1 #ff1 #bda2 ,mosque of ,omar on site of1 #cf1 #dh2 site of1 #de2 holiest spot on the globe1 #eg2 dimensions of1 #fg4 ,souvenirs1 the purchase of1 #bbb4 ,spaffordites1 colony of the1 in ,palestine1 #agc4 ,sphinx1 legend of the ,holy ,family at the1 #aa4 ,stone of ,unction1 the1 #di1 #hi4 ,storekeepers of ,jerusalem1 #aaa4 ,street called ,straight1 the1 at ,damascus1 #bab2 shopping in1 #bad4 ,suk ,wadi ,baroda1 on ,damascus-,beirut railway1 #bdf4 ,superstitions of the ,jews1 #gh4 ,syria under the ,british1 #bhj4 ,tabernacle of ,moses1 site of1 #fe4 ,taxes and their collection in ,palestine1 #afg4 ,temples of ,baalbek1 #bcc4 ,tiberias on ,sea of ,galilee1 #aic4 ,tomb of ,christ1 the1 #ij2 of ,dorcas1 #ba2 ,fatima1 #baj2 of ,lazarus1 #abc2 of ,noah1 #bdg2 of ,rachel1 #adb2 of ,saladin1 #baa2 of ,samuel1 #aed2 of ,seth1 #bdg4 ,tower of ,babel1 at ,baalbek1 #bcd4 ,tower of ,david1 the1 #cf4 ,tuberculosis among the ,bedouin tribes1 #bfj4 ,unction1 ,stone of1 #di1 #hi4 ,united ,presbyterian ,church1 educational institutions of1 in ,nile ,valley1 #beb4 ,valley of ,roses1 #adj4 ,veiled women of ,damascus1 the1 #bbc4 ,virgin ,mary1 jewel-covered image of1 at ,jerusalem1 #ej4 ,washing the feet1 ceremony of1 #ie4 ,watch towers of ,jerusalem1 the1 #dc4 ,water supply1 by scanty wells and cisterns1 #cd4 ,weddings1 in cemeteries1 #hb4 ,well of the ,magi1 #ada4 ,wilhelm ,,ii1 breach in wall of ,jerusalem in honour of1 #aci2 places golden wreath on tomb of ,saladin1 #baa2 his trip through the ,holy ,land1 #bcc1 #bej4 ,women1 veiled1 of ,damascus1 #bbc4 ,women's rights in the ,holy ,land1 #bcj4 ,zagazig1 a famous cotton port1 #d4 ,zammarin1 ,jewish colony at1 #agd4 ,zangwill1 ,israel1 talk with on ,zionist movement1 #aih4 ,zion1 ,mount1 view from1 #cg2 on the slope of1 #dc4 ,zionist colonies in ,palestine1 #agj4 ,zionist movement1 the1 #aif4 ,zimpel1 originator of ,jaffa-,jerusalem railroad idea1 #bf4 ,zorah1 birthplace of ,samson1 #bg4