{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71363/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71363","id":"gutenberg_71363","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71363","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Travel Writing","Palestine -- Description and travel","Syria -- Description and travel"],"text":"CARPENTER\u2019S\n WORLD TRAVELS\n\n _Familiar Talks About Countries\n and Peoples_\n\n WITH THE AUTHOR ON THE SPOT AND\n THE READER IN HIS HOME, BASED\n ON THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND\n MILES OF TRAVEL\n OVER THE GLOBE\n\n\n\n\nTHE HOLY LAND AND SYRIA\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: CHRISTIANS RULE THE LAND OF CHRIST\n\nSeven hundred years of Moslem supremacy in the Holy Land ended with\nGeneral Allenby\u2019s modest entrance into Jerusalem. Then arose the cry.\n\u201cThe day of deliverance is come.\u201d]\n\n\n\n\n _CARPENTER\u2019S WORLD TRAVELS_\n\n THE HOLY LAND\n AND SYRIA\n\n BY\n FRANK G. CARPENTER\n LITT.D., F.R.G.S.\n\n [Illustration]\n\n NINETY-SIX PAGES OF\n ILLUSTRATIONS FROM\n ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS\n AND TWO MAPS IN COLOUR\n\n GARDEN CITY NEW YORK\n DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY\n 1923\n\n COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY\n FRANK G. CARPENTER\n ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION\n INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN\n\n PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES\n AT\n THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS. GARDEN CITY. N. Y.\n\n\n\n\nACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n\n\nIn the publication of this volume on the Holy Land and Syria, I wish\nto thank the Secretary of State for letters which have given me the\nassistance of our official representatives in the countries visited.\nI also thank our Secretary of Agriculture and our Secretary of Labour\nfor appointing me an Honorary Commissioner of their Departments in\nforeign lands. Their credentials have been of the greatest value, making\naccessible to me sources of information seldom opened to the ordinary\ntraveller.\n\nI wish to acknowledge also the valuable assistance and co\u00f6peration\nrendered by Mr. Dudley Harmon, my editor, and Miss Josephine Lehmann in\nthe revision of the notes dictated or penned by me on the ground.\n\nWhile most of the illustrations are from my own negatives, there are\ncertain photographs which have been supplied by the Near East Relief, the\nRed Cross, the Publishers\u2019 Photo Service, and the Zionist Organization of\nAmerica, all of which are protected by copyright.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n CHAPTER PAGE\n\n I JUST A WORD BEFORE WE START 1\n\n II IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN 4\n\n III THE CITY OF JONAH 14\n\n IV BY RAILWAY TO THE LAND OF JUDEA 23\n\n V FROM DAN TO BEERSHEBA 30\n\n VI JERUSALEM IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 36\n\n VII AROUND THE WALLS OF THE HOLY CITY 43\n\n VIII \u201cTHE TRIBES OF GOD GO THITHER\u201d 48\n\n IX ON THE SITE OF SOLOMON\u2019S TEMPLE 57\n\n X JEWS OF PALESTINE 68\n\n XI THE EVIL EYE 78\n\n XII EASTER IN JERUSALEM 84\n\n XIII WASHING THE FEET OF THE APOSTLES 95\n\n XIV A TALK WITH THE GREEK PATRIARCH 101\n\n XV AMONG THE MONEY CHANGERS 111\n\n XVI EXCAVATING OLD JERICHO 119\n\n XVII THE DEAD SEA AND THE JORDAN 129\n\n XVIII BETHLEHEM 138\n\n XIX AMONG THE SAMARITANS 149\n\n XX FARMING IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY 159\n\n XXI THE COLONIES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT 169\n\n XXII WHERE OUR SAVIOUR SPENT HIS BOYHOOD 177\n\n XXIII ON THE SEA OF GALILEE 187\n\n XXIV THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT 196\n\n XXV THE WORLD\u2019S OLDEST CITY 204\n\n XXVI SHOPPING IN THE STREET CALLED STRAIGHT 214\n\n XXVII THE VEILED WOMEN OF DAMASCUS 223\n\n XXVIII BAALBEK THE WONDERFUL 232\n\n XXIX ACROSS THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS BY RAIL 242\n\n XXX AMERICAN LEAVEN IN THE NEAR EAST 252\n\n XXXI AT THE SHRINE OF DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS 262\n\n XXXII ARMENIA, THE SUFFERING 271\n\n XXXIII PALESTINE AND SYRIA UNDER NEW RULERS 280\n\n SEEING THE WORLD 287\n\n BIBLIOGRAPHY 289\n\n INDEX 293\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n Christians rule the Land of Christ _Frontispiece_\n\n FACING PAGE\n\n Primitive water wheel in the Land of Goshen 8\n\n Through rocky wastes to the top of Mt. Sinai 9\n\n Egyptians toiling where the Israelites made bricks 16\n\n We go ashore in small boats at Jaffa 17\n\n House of Simon the Tanner 17\n\n The men of Palestine are very strong 20\n\n Cactus hedges are used instead of fences 21\n\n The crude plough of Palestine 28\n\n The children of the Holy Land 28\n\n A sheeted Balaam and his ass 29\n\n Fuel is scarce in the land of no woods 32\n\n The Pool of Hezekiah 33\n\n Airplane view of Jerusalem 36\n\n The Kaiser\u2019s breach in the Wall of Jerusalem 37\n\n The roofs of Jerusalem 44\n\n View of the Mt. of Olives 44\n\n Jerusalem seen from a bell tower 45\n\n Sheep and goats outside the walls 48\n\n Lepers beg at the Gates of Jerusalem 49\n\n The roads to Jaffa and Bethlehem 49\n\n Water carriers old and new 52\n\n \u201cGoing up to Jerusalem\u201d 53\n\n A donkey ambulance for pilgrims on the march 53\n\n Pilgrims bathing in the River Jordan 60\n\n Russian women walk from shrine to shrine 61\n\n The Mosque of Omar 64\n\n The Jews\u2019 wailing place 65\n\n A maid of Jerusalem 68\n\n Snow in the streets of Jerusalem 69\n\n Three learned Jews of the Holy City 76\n\n The Tower of David 77\n\n Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 80\n\n Keeping off the evil spirits 81\n\n Grandfather and grandson\u2014both beggars 84\n\n Pilgrims praying in the Via Dolorosa 85\n\n Waiting for the Holy Fire 92\n\n Gathering the olive crop 93\n\n The Church of the Lord\u2019s Prayer 96\n\n Washing the feet of the twelve bishops 97\n\n A tailor shop in Jerusalem 100\n\n The church of the best religious paintings 101\n\n Commercializing the holiness of the Holy City 108\n\n Moslem priest reading the Koran 108\n\n The biblical good measure 109\n\n Bethlehem maids 112\n\n Bushels of rosaries 113\n\n A Turkish restaurant in Jerusalem 116\n\n In the shoemaker\u2019s bazaar 116\n\n View of Bethany from hillside 117\n\n The Fountain of Elisha 124\n\n At the Tomb of Lazarus 125\n\n The Healing Stone on the way to Jordan 125\n\n The source of the Jordan at Banias 128\n\n Our escort to the River Jordan 129\n\n On the shores of the Dead Sea 132\n\n Fisherman and boat on the Jordan 132\n\n A street in Bethlehem 133\n\n Christmas Day services in Bethlehem 140\n\n Young women and their dowries 141\n\n At Jacob\u2019s Well 144\n\n The Sacred Scroll of the Samaritans 145\n\n The Feast of the Passover on Mt. Gerizim 148\n\n Pulling tares from the wheat 149\n\n The camel blubbers as his hair is clipped 149\n\n Why Palestinians use camels for ploughing 156\n\n Modern farm machinery in the Jewish colony 156\n\n The sheep that was lost is found 157\n\n Colonists terrace the hillsides with stone walls 160\n\n Picking almonds 161\n\n An avenue of cypresses and palms 164\n\n A carpenter shop in Nazareth 165\n\n Nazareth lies in a little amphitheatre 172\n\n The boys of Nazareth are friendly 172\n\n Mr. Carpenter and the Water Pot of Cana 173\n\n We cross the Sea of Galilee 176\n\n The arched Gate of Tiberias 177\n\n Fish from the Sea of Galilee 180\n\n Capernaum\u2014the city of prophecy fulfilled 180\n\n The colonists do much of their own work 181\n\n Making the bread of Bible times 188\n\n A colonist\u2019s home near Lake Merom 189\n\n A prayer niche in the Grand Mosque 192\n\n Where Fatima lies buried in Damascus 193\n\n A place of trees with a river flowing between 196\n\n The Wall of St. Paul in Damascus 196\n\n Shopping in the Street called Straight 197\n\n The men come together in the horse market 204\n\n \u201cO Allah, send customers,\u201d cry the bread-sellers 204\n\n Spinning wool into thread for a rug 205\n\n The transportation monopoly of the Bedouin 208\n\n At the end of the Bookseller\u2019s Bazaar 209\n\n The street dress of the women of Damascus 224\n\n Mr. Carpenter and the Columns at Baalbek 225\n\n The portal of the Temple of Bacchus 228\n\n The mighty columns of the Temple of the Sun 229\n\n The nomad Bedouins live in brown tents 236\n\n A lonely grove of Lebanon cedars 237\n\n Only a few of the great trees are left 240\n\n Tree-lined avenues lead out of Beirut 241\n\n The American University at Beirut 244\n\n Stones carried up on the backs of camels 244\n\n A view of Beirut 245\n\n The ruins of the City of Diana 252\n\n Storks build their nests in the palaces of Ephesus 252\n\n Giving the silkworms their breakfast 253\n\n Armenian children make themselves useful 256\n\n Getting the Armenians back to the land 257\n\n A cradle of Armenia 260\n\n American flour sacks serve a double purpose 260\n\n The water power of the Jordan will be developed 261\n\n The first steel bridge across the Jordan 268\n\n Jerusalem now has a speed law 269\n\n MAPS\n\n The Holy Land 24\n\n The Holy Land and Syria 40\n\n\n\n\nTHE HOLY LAND AND SYRIA\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nJUST A WORD BEFORE WE START\n\n\nBy the World War the Moslem was forced to the rear and Palestine has\nbecome more and more the possession of Christian and Jew. General Allenby\nand his troops have taken the part of Richard the Lion-hearted and the\nCrusaders, and Jerusalem is at last out of the hands of the followers of\nthe Prophet Mohammed. Among the innovations that followed are the removal\nof the tax gatherers who robbed the poor and the rich in the name of\nthe Sultan, the safeguarding of the roads from the wandering Bedouins,\nand the reclaiming of the soil, so that the country bids fair to become\nonce more the land of milk and honey that it was when it gladdened the\ntired eyes of the Israelites after their long wanderings in the desert\nof Sinai. Railways now cross the desert, connecting Palestine with Egypt\nand Turkey, and one may go on the cars from Cairo to Jerusalem and from\nParis, via Constantinople and Damascus, to Galilee.\n\nAt the same time the Holy Land of the Bible is the Holy Land of to-day.\nIt has the same skies as those under which the Wise Men followed the Star\nto the birthplace of Jesus. It has the same flowers as those trodden\nby Joseph and Mary, and the water in Jacob\u2019s Well is still sweet,\nnotwithstanding it is now compared with that of the Nile which flows\nin pipes over the desert almost to the Pool of Siloam. The sheep still\npasture on the hills as they did in the days of our Saviour, and boys and\ngirls may be seen picking the tares from the wheat. Asses like Balaam\u2019s\nstill carry their masters over the road, although their brays are now\nand then drowned in the horns of the automobiles; and the strange people\none constantly meets personify Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Rachel and\nRuth, and the other Bible characters who lived and loved in the days of\nthe Scriptures.\n\nAll these belong to the Palestine perennial, and to that Palestine belong\nthe talks of this book. They are based on the notes dictated to my\nstenographer or written by me in the midst of the scenes they describe.\nI give them as they came hot from the pen, changing only a line here and\nthere to accord with the changing conditions.\n\nWe start in the Land of Goshen which Joseph gave to his father and\nbrothers after he was sold to the Ishmaelites and carried down into\nEgypt, and enter Palestine at Jaffa, the city of Jonah and Simon the\nTanner. We cross the plains of Sharon by rail, and travel back and forth\nover the Holy Land from Beersheba to Dan. Jerusalem and Bethlehem,\nJericho and the Jordan, Shechem and Nazareth are among the places where\nwe linger longest, and it is on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee\nfrom Capernaum that we take the train for Damascus. In that city we go\nto the wall over which Saint Paul was let down in a basket, shop in\nthe Street called Straight, and then, crossing the Abana, one of the\nrivers that Naaman the Leper would have preferred to the Jordan, ascend\nthe mountains of Lebanon to the ruins of Baalbek. We next climb down\nto the Mediterranean Sea at Beirut and sail north to Smyrna to pay our\nrespects to the ruined shrine of the Goddess Diana on the site of old\nEphesus. After a peep at Asia Minor we take a ship for home. Throughout\nthe journey, the old is ever tramping on the heels of the new, and the\nPalestine of the future is seen through the veil of the Palestine of the\npast.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nIN THE LAND OF GOSHEN\n\n\nCome with me this bright Sunday morning for a look at the old Land of\nGoshen, where the Israelites settled when they first came into Egypt.\nI am writing this at Zagazig not far from the road down which Joseph\nwas carried by the caravan of Ishmaelites, or Bedouins, who had bought\nhim of his brothers and were on their way to sell him to Potiphar. It\nwas over that same road that the brothers of Joseph came to buy corn\nin the seven years of famine. It was probably near Zagazig that Joseph\nmet them and had the cup hidden in Benjamin\u2019s sack, and from Zagazig he\ncame out in his chariot to meet his old father Jacob when by his advice\nthe patriarch came into Egypt to live. Through him Goshen became a land\nof the Israelites, where they remained and prospered until he died, and\nthose \u201cwho knew not Joseph\u201d reigned in his stead.\n\nThe Land of Goshen is to-day one of the finest parts of the Nile Valley.\nMy whole way from Cairo to Zagazig was through rich crops of cotton,\nsugar cane, and clover. There was green everywhere, and I could ride from\nhere twenty miles more to the eastward before reaching the desert. The\nrailroad from Cairo to the Suez Canal goes directly through Goshen. It\nstrikes the canal at Ismailia and then branches off north and south,\nfollowing the canal to Suez on the Red Sea, and to Port Said on the\nMediterranean. The first section is over the road which led from Arabia\nto Memphis and Heliopolis, cities long since replaced by Cairo, the\nmetropolis of Egypt. Zagazig, where I am stopping, is one of the chief\ncities in the Delta. It is on the freshwater canal and the big irrigation\nditch which leads to the Nile. It is famous as a cotton port, and to-day\ncamels are coming into the town with bales on their backs, and long\ntrainloads are starting out for Alexandria and Port Said, whence the\ncotton will be shipped off to Europe and America.\n\nThe cotton scenes are features of the landscape unknown in the days of\nJoseph and Jacob. At that time the only clothes made in Egypt were of\nflax or wool. Nobody knew of the cotton plant, and it was not until the\nMiddle Ages that Europe learned anything about it. The first knowledge\nof it was brought by the traveller, Sir John Mandeville, who said that\nthe East Indians had a shrub or bush, half vegetable and half animal. It\nwas called the vegetable lamb of Tartary. According to Sir John, it was a\nplant which blossomed out at the top in a living sheep that bent down and\nate the grass growing luxuriantly about it. The sheep had a thick coat of\nwool, and from this came the cotton of India. Sir John wrote that this\nplant beast had flesh, bones, and blood, and that he had not only seen\nbut eaten it. He closed with the statement that all thought it wonderful\nbut that \u201cGod is marveyllous in his werkes.\u201d\n\nThis was about 1350 A.D., and many years before the real nature of cotton\nbecame known in Egypt and cotton seeds were planted. Now the crop is\ngrown everywhere in Goshen, and thrives on almost every spot where the\nfeet of the Israelites trod. It covers the Delta and large plantations\nhave been set out even in old Nubia and the Sudan. Cotton has supplanted\ngrain as a money-making crop and is worth far more than the grain that\nJoseph had cornered when the years of famine began.\n\nThis Land of Goshen is a fine stock country. Camels, buffaloes, and\ndonkeys are staked out in the fields, and flocks of sheep and goats feed\nthere, watched by shepherds. There are also droves of camels grazing\nor lying on the ground, chewing their cuds. All have their herdsmen.\nThere are no fences in Egypt; the fields are bounded by imaginary lines.\nSometimes the limits are marked by water ditches, or little embankments\nmade for irrigation.\n\nIt was as stock raisers that the Israelites came into Egypt. Perhaps it\nwas because they were a pastoral people that Joseph had Pharaoh give them\nthis Land of Goshen, the eastern part of which is fringed by the desert,\nwith patches of scanty vegetation where the stock could graze. The Bible\nsays that Joseph advised his brethren to say to Pharaoh, \u201cThy servants\u2019\ntrade hath been about cattle, from our youth even until now, both we and\nalso our fathers\u201d; for said he, \u201cEvery shepherd is an abomination unto\nthe Egyptians.\u201d\n\nTo-day the land is well cultivated. Most of the fields are kept like\ngardens, and I see half-naked men bending over and digging the soil\nwith great mattocks. Here the farmers are ploughing, using the same\none-handled plough of the days of the Scriptures. Some of them have\ndonkeys and buffaloes hitched together, while now and then one sees a\nplough dragged along by a cow and a camel. There is much artificial\nirrigation. Sometimes the water is lifted from level to level by men\nwith buckets and baskets to which ropes are slung. In other places it is\nraised by the _sakieh_, a rude wheel turned by the cogs of another wheel\nset at right angles to it. Clay jars are fastened on this perpendicular\nwheel, and as this moves through the water, the jars fill and empty\nthemselves into the troughs which lead to the little canals. The motive\npower of the _sakieh_ is a blindfolded camel, bullock, or donkey, the\nanimal going around like a horse in an old-fashioned bark mill. Many of\nthe fields are now under water and the silvery streams shine out through\nthe emerald green of the crops.\n\nWhen the Israelites first came to Goshen they probably lived in tents\nsuch as the Bedouins use to-day. These are made of sheep\u2019s wool or goat\u2019s\nhair rudely woven by hand. They are held up by ropes and poles and are so\nlow that the people must crawl into them. We know that Abraham lived in a\ntent, and it is likely that this was the case with Isaac and Jacob.\n\nAfter coming to Goshen the Israelites probably copied the houses of the\nEgyptians, building villages of mud huts not unlike those I now see.\nThese homes are rude to an extreme. Many of them are less than twenty\nfeet square; they have flat roofs and are often so low that I can see\nover them as I ride by on a camel. They have no gardens or lawns. Facing\nthe street, they are huddled together without regard to beauty or comfort.\n\nThe roofs form the woodyards of the people below. The only fuel they\nhave is cornstalks, straw, or the bushes from which the cotton has been\npicked. This stuff is tied up in bundles and laid away on the roofs until\nused.\n\nThere are but few trees to be seen. Now and then an acacia grows along\nthe roadway, and here and there are clumps of date palms. There are\noccasional fruit gardens, and I have seen many green orchards loaded with\noranges.\n\nThe roads are usually high above the rest of the country. They run along\nthe canals, and consist of the dirt banked up to hold back the waters.\nThe side roads are chiefly camel paths or foot paths, and one sees\neverywhere the traffic moving along through the fields. Even on the main\nroads there are few wagons. Most of the freight is carried on donkeys\nand camels, which are the common riding animals as well. Long-legged\nEgyptians in turbans and gowns sit on the rumps of little donkeys, their\nfeet almost dragging; and fierce-looking Bedouins, their headdresses tied\non with ropes, bob up and down as they ride on their camels, their heads\nbowing at every step of the beasts. There are camels loaded with alfalfa,\nthe grass so covering them that they look like haystacks on legs. There\nare donkeys laden with boxes and bags, and mules and bullocks carrying\nfreight of one kind or another. Out in the fields one now and then sees a\nbuffalo with a half-naked boy perched on it, and at nightfall the paths\nare lined with men coming from the fields riding these ungainly beasts\nand balancing their one-handled ploughs in front of them.\n\nIt was in Goshen that the Israelites worked after they were enslaved by\nthe Egyptians. Here they built for Pharaoh the treasure cities of Pithom\nand Rameses, referred to in Exodus, from which they were sent out to\nbuild other cities and towns in various parts of the Nile Valley.\n\n[Illustration: The Land of Goshen still gets much of its water by the\nprimitive wheel turned by a blindfolded and resentful camel. This is\nthe land which fed Jacob and his family through the years of famine in\nCanaan]\n\n[Illustration: It was through rocky wastes such as this that Moses\nclimbed to the top of Mount Sinai and there received the Ten\nCommandments, and there the Lord spoke with Moses \u201cface to face, as a man\nspeaketh unto his friend\u201d]\n\nThe arch\u00e6ologists now excavating in Egypt tell me that they frequently\nfind bricks which were undoubtedly made by them, and assert that the\nsun-dried bricks of to-day are practically the same as those the children\nof Israel moulded under the lash of their taskmasters.\n\nThis is true of the ruins of Bubastis, or the city of the worship of\nthe cat. The remains of this town, which was situated within a stone\u2019s\nthrow of the Zagazig of to-day, are still to be seen. Its many buildings\nof mud brick have crumbled almost to dust, but here and there the walls\nare plainly visible. There are several hundred acres of such ruins and I\nspent an hour or so to-day driving through them.\n\nBubastis dates back to the times when the Pyramids were young. It is\nsupposed to have been built by the Israelites, and was a great city until\nit was captured by the Persians about 352 B.C. It was noted for its\ntemples devoted to the cat-headed goddess. This lady had the form of a\nlioness with the head of a cat and held in one hand a lotus leaf as a\nsceptre. Herodotus tells of her and of this city, saying that the temples\nwere gorgeous and that the stone road leading to them was one thousand\neight hundred feet long. He says that as many as seven hundred thousand\nworshippers came to the annual festivities. He relates that many of the\nworshippers were women who often danced and acted \u201cin an unseemly manner.\u201d\n\nDriving out to the Bubastis, I found there a brickyard in full swing.\nIt was situated right on the edge of the ruins, and the _fellaheen_ of\nto-day were moulding the clay used by the Israelites of the past into\nbuilding material for the present. As I looked at them my mind went back\nto the days of the Pharaohs when Moses saw his people toiling under the\nlash. These men and women I watched were working under taskmasters or\noverseers. Their half-clad bodies were burnt black by the tropical sun\nand they looked not unlike slaves. Here they were grinding the mud, there\nthey were moulding it into bricks, while farther over they were piling up\nthose which had been dried in the sun. The bricks were carried by young\ngirls, bossed by a burly negro with a stick in his hand. At his direction\nthe girls took the bricks on their heads and carried them off on the\ntrot. By bribing the negro overseer I got a photograph of this scene,\nand I doubt not my picture gives a fair idea of what went on in those\nlong-ago days, when Pharaoh drove the Israelites to similar work.\n\nDown through Goshen came Joseph and Mary fleeing with the infant Saviour\nfrom the wrath of Herod, the baby killer. This was then on the main\nhighway from Palestine into Egypt, and there is no doubt that they\nstopped at Bubastis as they went on to Heliopolis. Not far from the\nobelisk of Heliopolis there is a tree under which Mary and Joseph and\nthe young Jesus are said to have rested. It is about five miles from\nCairo and guide books speak of it as one of the chief sights of Egypt. I\ndoubt the reliability of their statements. The tree may be the descendant\nof one which stood there in the time of Christ. It is an old sycamore\ngnarled with many years and scarred with the names of tourists. It is on\none of the estates of the Khedive, and may be seen through the bars of\na fence which has been built around it to keep off the relic hunters.\nDuring my visit there I tried to climb the fence in order to get a\nphotograph of it, but some of the Khedive\u2019s servants came up and warned\nme not to go in. The tree is surrounded by orange orchards which are\nirrigated by _sakiehs_ worked by water buffaloes with blankets over their\neyes.\n\nAs I went by I stopped at one of these _sakiehs_ and the men brought\nme some oranges from the Khedive\u2019s orchard, selling them at the rate\nof eight for ten cents. They were wonderfully refreshing, and as I sat\neating them in the shade of the trees outside the fence I wondered\nwhether Mary and Joseph had not perhaps thus quenched their thirst in the\nsame place nearly two thousand years ago. Any resting place must have\nbeen welcome after the long ride through the country to the edge of the\ngreat city of the sun.\n\nThere are other stories told of the stay of the Holy Family in Egypt. One\nis that Joseph and Mary took the infant Jesus out to the Pyramids, and\nfrom there to the Sphinx. It is said that Mary laid Him in the lap of the\nSphinx, and that He slept for a night on the paws of that mighty stone\nbeast, half lion, half woman.\n\nAs I travel through Egypt, these stories seem more vivid. I went down the\nother day to the banks of the Nile where the little baby Moses is said\nto have lain in the bulrushes in his boat of papyrus, and as I stood by\nthe obelisk at Heliopolis I was reminded of the Virgin and the Saviour\nby a young girl who had a baby in her arms. She must have been about the\nsame age that Mary was then, and the little one laughed and crowed as she\nrested there under the tropical sun. At the same time a score of other\nchildren ranging in age from two to twelve years gathered around me and\nposed for my camera in front of the obelisk. This great monolith was\nundoubtedly standing when our Saviour was carried through Egypt, and it\nwas erected long before the baby Moses was rescued from the waters of\nthe Nile. The great stone shaft seemed to tie the past and the present\ntogether, and the children of to-day brought to my mind those of the\ntimes of the Saviour.\n\nThe children were glad to pose for me, but as I snapped the camera they\nrushed to the front with hands outstretched, begging for _baksheesh_. I\nwas at a loss how to fee so many, and finally gave twenty-five cents to\nmy coachman and left him, to fight it out with the babies. The little\nones mobbed him and he had to threaten them with his carriage whip to\nkeep them away. He finally ended the trouble by giving each two children\none half a piastre, so that each received little more than one cent. This\nmade them quite happy.\n\nAs I was about to leave the obelisk a party of American tourists drove\nup. Among them was a smart twelve-year-old boy who put his hands in his\npockets and gazed up at the stone as though he were ready to buy it. As\nhe did so I said to him:\n\n\u201cHello, my little man, aren\u2019t you an American?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou bet I am,\u201d he promptly replied. \u201cI came from Chicago in the state of\nIllinois. You are English, aren\u2019t you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I am an American, and my home is in Washington.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d said the urchin. \u201cI know all about that place. The President\nlives there. Say, what is the name of your ball team?\u201d\n\nThat was the interesting thing to him. Out here under the shadow of an\nobelisk four thousand years old, on the spot where Joseph was married to\nAsenath; where Plato philosophized and where Moses played; within plain\nsight of the Pyramids and near enough almost to hear the whisper of the\nSphinx, he cared nothing for them. He was a live boy, and he wanted live\nthings. Therefore the pitchers, catchers, and shortstops of the great\nAmerican diamond were worth more to him than all the stories of history\nand all the mummies of the museums.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE CITY OF JONAH\n\n\nI have come up out of the land of Egypt, out of the Israelitish \u201chouse of\nbondage,\u201d and am to-day on the edge of the Promised Land. I am at Jaffa,\nthe ancient Joppa, and the port for the Holy City. When Jacob went down\nfrom the highlands of Samaria to the Land of Goshen to meet Joseph, his\njourney took several weeks. I made the trip in the opposite direction by\nland and sea in less than a day.\n\nI took the express train at Cairo and in four hours was landed at Port\nSaid, at the mouth of the Suez Canal, where I got a steamer which brought\nme to Jaffa. The whole way was through the lands of the Bible. We struck\nthe canal at Ismailia, about midway of the Isthmus of Suez, and thence\nrode northward along its banks to Port Said.\n\nOur steamer was crowded with pilgrims from Russia, Egypt, and north\nAfrica. There were many Americans, French, and Germans travelling first\nclass, and hundreds of Syrians and Egyptians going steerage. The Russian\npilgrims were particularly interesting to me. Old men and old women, with\nhonest faces full of intelligence and goodness, they held their religious\nservices all over the third-class portion of the ship, and I spent two\nhours watching them as one after another they turned their faces toward\nthe Holy City and prayed, crossing themselves, and now and then getting\ndown upon their knees and bumping their heads against the deck in their\nworship. They were curiously dressed and many of them wore long fur\ncoats. Some had high fur hats and looked as if they had just stepped out\nof one of Tolstoi\u2019s novels. I was especially impressed with the strength\nof character shown in their faces and with their magnificent physique.\nIf all of Russia\u2019s millions are of the same mould as those who make the\npilgrimage to Jerusalem, they will some day prove to the world that there\nis in them as good stuff as ever made history or built up a civilization.\nThe women, with their strong, motherly faces made heroic by toil and\nprivation, were equally as striking as the men. They were better looking\nthan any other peasant women I have ever seen, and the old saying of the\nGreeks came to me as I looked at them: \u201cIf strong be the frame of the\nmother, her sons shall make laws for the people.\u201d\n\nAs the ship approached the Holy Land the people broke out into prayers,\nand in some cases into tears. It is a religious pilgrimage for them and\nthey think, I doubt not, that in making it they are coming nearer to\nheaven.\n\nWe had our first view of the shores of Palestine at seven o\u2019clock in the\nmorning, after a night on the steamer. We had been awakened at six with\nthe cry that we were nearing shore, but this was a ruse of the captain to\nget breakfast out of the way before landing.\n\nWhen I came up on deck nothing but the sea was in sight. The sun was\nabout two hours high and the sky, a light blue with long streaks of\nfleecy white drawn like a half-veil over it, curved down into the ocean\nat the eastern horizon. As I looked I saw two lines of hazy gray rise up\nout of the water, which rippled in sapphire wavelets, caught by the sun.\nThe first line was the sandy beach that edges the rich plains of Sharon\nand the second the wall of smoky gray which marks the hills of Judea or\nthe highlands of Palestine. As we came nearer, these lines increased\nin size, until the first turned to dazzling white sand, out of which a\nlittle later the wooded green strip marking the port of Jaffa came into\nview. Nearer still we could see the shipping in the harbour, and above\nand behind it the walls of this, one of the oldest towns of the world.\n\nWe get some idea of the age of Jaffa from the story of Jonah; for the\nBible says that it was from here Jonah took passage upon the ship from\nwhich he was thrown into the sea into the mouth of the whale. He remained\nin the whale\u2019s belly for three days, during which time he prayed to the\nLord, and the Lord spake to the whale, whereupon he was vomited out upon\ndry land. Jonah was born about eight hundred and fifty years before\nChrist. He was a baby when, according to some authorities, Homer was\ntelling the story of the Iliad, and a hundred years had yet to elapse\nbefore the founding of Rome. I am not sure as to the exact spot where\nJonah was taken up by the sailors and thrown into the sea, but he is\nsaid to have been buried not far from Jerusalem, and there are dragomans\nwho will show you his tomb. Ever since Jonah\u2019s time sailors have been\nsuperstitious about having preachers along, thinking that such passengers\nbring bad luck to a ship.\n\n[Illustration: These brickmakers work under a taskmaster to-day just as\nthe Israelites toiled under the lash in this spot nearly four thousand\nyears ago. Here was built Bubastis, the ancient Egyptian city sacred to\nthe worship of the Cat]\n\n[Illustration: We go ashore in small boats at the city of Jonah, which\nrises almost straight out of the water\u2014but we see no whales]\n\n[Illustration: The best view of Jaffa is had from the roof of the House\nof Simon the tanner where St. Peter had the vision which led to the\npreaching of Christ to the Gentiles]\n\nThe harbour of Jaffa is one of the worst in the world. It is almost\nalways rough and often so much so that it is impossible to land. Upon\nour arrival there was such a swell that the boats which took us ashore\nbobbed up and down and the waves soaked our baggage.\n\nAs to Jonah himself and his narrow escape, one of our preachers on board\nhas quoted a new version of why he and the whale parted company:\n\n \u201cI threw up Jonah,\u201d said the whale,\n Who\u2019d lately come to town;\n \u201cI threw up Jonah,\n For I could not keep a good man down.\u201d\n\nIn coming in I looked for whales. There were none in sight, although I\nam told they are still to be seen in the Mediterranean. In their place,\nhowever, were many jellyfish of an opalescent blue. These fish were as\nbig as a football and of the shape of a mushroom. There were hundreds of\nthem floating about and bumping against the hull of our ship as we lay at\nanchor.\n\nBesides the story of Jonah there are many well-authenticated facts about\nJaffa which make it interesting. It has always been the chief port for\nthe Holy Land. It was at one time owned by the Ph\u0153nicians, and later,\nwhen Solomon built the temple, it was here that the timber used in its\nconstruction was landed. Most of this was cedar which came from the\nforests of Lebanon several hundred miles up the coast. The logs were\ndragged down the mountains and thrown into the sea at Tyre and Sidon.\nThey were there made into rafts and towed down to Jaffa, whence they were\ncarried up to Jerusalem by camels and men.\n\nJaffa was an important port in the days of the Crusades, and was fought\nfor again and again. At one time its walls were overthrown by Saladin,\nbut a little later they were rebuilt by Richard the Lion-hearted, the\nKing of England, who came here in a vain attempt to rescue the Holy\nSepulchre from the hands of the Turks. In addition to all this there\nis a tradition that Andromeda, the beautiful daughter of the mythical\nking of this country, was here chained to the rocks in order that she\nmight appease a huge sea serpent which threatened to eat up the people.\nWhile so imperilled she was rescued by Perseus, who killed the monster\nand married her. In Pliny\u2019s time the historians state that the chains\nby which Andromeda was bound to the rocks were still to be seen, and\nthat the bones of the sea serpent were carried to Rome and placed upon\nexhibition there.\n\nThe Jaffa of to-day stands upon a bluff washed by the Mediterranean Sea.\nThe city is built right on the rocks, with its yellow, white, and blue\nhouses coming down to the cliff edge. They rise up the steep sides of the\nbluff which makes a wall cutting off the view of the country behind. At\nthe south of the bluff, as far as one can see, are white sands. At the\nnorth are orange groves and then more sand.\n\nAs we left the ship we came down a gangway and were lifted into the\nboats. The third-class and steerage passengers were hung over the sides\nof the deck of the steamer by the arms, and dropped down into the\nboats, twelve or more feet below. Some of the women screamed as they\nfell, making the rocks re\u00ebcho with their cries as though the beautiful\nAndromeda were still chained there. We had no trouble with the customs,\nlargely, I believe, because our dragomans had given the officers a\nliberal amount of _baksheesh_. The examination was short, and within half\nan hour after landing we were comfortably housed at the Jerusalem Hotel.\nI mention this hotel because I found it was kept by a character who was\nfor a long time our American consular agent. His name is Hardegg, and\nhe spices his food with a religious doctrine of his own kind. The hotel\nrooms are not numbered 1, 2, 3, etc., but are named after the sons of\nIsrael and the various Old Testament prophets. Each of them contains a\nbook which Hardegg has compiled entitled \u201cBible Pills.\u201d It is composed of\ntexts from the Scriptures fitted to one\u2019s daily life.\n\nThe city of Jaffa has normally about fifty thousand inhabitants of whom\nthe majority are Mohammedans and the rest Christians and Jews. It has\nconsiderable trade and is rapidly growing. The rich plains of Sharon at\nthe back furnish sesame, grain, and olive oil, while the highlands of\nJudea and Samaria produce wool, just as they did in the times of our\nSaviour. All about the town are orange groves the fruit of which is\nshipped to all parts of the Mediterranean. The oranges are almost the\nshape of a lemon, but they are of a great size and sweet as honey. They\nare packed up in boxes at the groves and carried down to the harbour on\nthe backs of camels. I met the caravans of these huge beasts swaying\nalong as they made their way to the steamers.\n\nI was taken through the native quarters of Jaffa by a young Syrian named\nMoses. We went together through streets so narrow and winding that\ncarriages could not enter them, and at times we were altogether shaded\nby the houses, the roofs of which almost touched overhead. We entered\nseveral of the dwellings. Each consisted of but one room facing a court\nwhere the men, women, and children were herded together.\n\nThe house of Simon the Tanner was destroyed some centuries ago, but\nanother house, which is probably of the same character, stands on\nits site, and tanning is still done in the neighbourhood. At least,\nit seems so by the smells. This house is now used as a second-class\ninn. It is a rocky structure, built high up over the sea, with steps\noutside which lead to the second story and roof. I climbed to the top,\nand there saw about the same view as did St. Peter. In front of me the\nblue Mediterranean stretched out toward the west. At the north were the\nglistening sands reaching toward the ruins of C\u00e6sarea and the foothills\nof Mount Carmel, while at the south were the hills near which stood\nAskalon. It was here that St. Peter had that wonderful dream, in which he\nbeheld all the beasts of the world let down from heaven in a sheet, in\norder that he might eat of them. You remember that he refused, saying:\n\u201cNot so, Lord! for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.\u201d\n\nAnd then came a voice which said: \u201cWhat God hath cleansed that call not\nthou common.\u201d\n\nIt was these words that first led to the preaching of the Gospel to\nthe Gentiles, bringing about the conversion of Cornelius, the Roman\ncenturion, and later on the preaching of Christ to all the world.\n\nAs my guide refreshed my biblical memory with this story, he told me of\nan American who had visited this place with him last week. Said Moses:\n\n\u201cThis American was a funny man, and it seemed to me a foolish one. He was\nnot satisfied with seeing this house, but he asked me to show him the\nvision that St. Peter saw, and demanded to know what had become of the\nsheet. He said he did not think he ought to pay me unless I could show\nhim the vision, but I told him that I could not do that unless he had St.\nPeter\u2019s heart, and I was sure that he had not.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: The men of Palestine are very strong and carry amazing\nloads on their backs. Both men and women think little of walking twenty\nmiles a day. Many are too poor to keep even a donkey]\n\n[Illustration: Impenetrable hedges of giant cactus bushes intermingled\nwith thorn are often used as fences to separate land holdings. One seldom\nsees a man carrying a water jar, for that is \u201cwomen\u2019s work\u201d in the Holy\nLand]\n\nThis American was probably facetious, but his questions are not unlike\nthose of many of the tourists whose ignorance and superstition surpass\nbelief. Many of them credit the most extravagant stories of every guide,\nand go about kissing spots which they imagine to be hallowed by their\nconnection with the Bible, but of whose authenticity no one knows.\n\nThere is one thing I must not forget about Jaffa, and that is that here\nwas born the modern sewing bee, I might almost say the Woman\u2019s Missionary\nSociety. You have all heard of Dorcas, the queen of the needle, who was\nraised from the dead by St. Peter. She was noted for the garments she\nhad made for the poor, and at her funeral the people gathered round and\nshowed specimens of the needlework she had sewed and hemmed and stitched\nfor them.\n\nDorcas lived two or three miles outside Jaffa on a hill which has a\ncommanding view of the country for miles around. It overlooks the sea\nand land, including thousands of acres of orange groves and gardens\ncontaining all kinds of fruits. The site of her house is now occupied\nby a Russian Greek Catholic Church and a tomb has been erected over her\ngrave hard by.\n\nI drove out to the place in a carriage, winding my way in and out through\norange groves and up the hill to the church. Here I met a Russian priest,\nwho was acquiring merit by guarding the bones of the saint in whose\nhonour prayers are said daily. It was with him that I visited the tomb.\nIt is of stone and is roofed by a dome, the whole being covered with\nplaster. There is a door at the front, and by descending several steps\none can see the piece of mosaic which covers the spot where Dorcas lies.\nThere are catacombs to the right and left containing the bones of saints,\nand over the whole rise magnificent trees.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nBY RAILWAY TO THE LAND OF JUDEA\n\n\nTake a seat with me this morning in the railroad car which is just about\nleaving the seaport of Jaffa to go to Jerusalem. The distance by rail is\nonly fifty-four miles, but it will take us more than four hours. Crossing\nthe rich plains of Sharon, the road winds its way up the hills of Judea\nuntil it brings us to the Holy City, about twenty-five hundred feet above\nthe sea.\n\nThe cars are comfortable, but we have had to fight with the tourists\nand pilgrims for our seats near the windows. A German and a Greek on\nthe opposite side of the coach are still quarrelling for places, using\nlanguage not that of brotherly love. The German has just called the Greek\na swine, while the Greek has retaliated by simply calling the German a\ndog. But now they are quiet and we can enjoy the scenery as we go on.\n\nLeaving Jaffa we ride for some miles through orchards. There are orange\ngroves loaded with blossoms and fruit. There are orchards of olives,\npomegranates, and figs, and many gardens surrounded by cactus hedges\ntwice as high as our heads. Next we enter the rich plain where the\nPhilistines lived. The soil is brown and so fat that you have only to\ntickle it with the plough and it laughs with the harvest. You do not\nwonder that the Philistines fought for this fertile land.\n\nHere is a green field of wheat. The stalks stand as thick as grass, and\nrise and fall with the winds from the sea. There a native is ploughing\nwith a bullock and donkey harnessed together. The plough is the rude\nimplement of the Scriptures, and the dark-skinned farmer steadies it with\none hand, while he carries a goad in the other. Farther on are camels\ndragging the ploughs. In places we see flocks of fat sheep, herded by\nboys, and now and then pass a village of flat, white-walled houses with\nthick roofs of thatch on which the grass grows. Nearly every house has\na roof of sod about a foot deep, and as we near the hills, the towns on\ntheir sides rise up in green terraces.\n\nHere some shepherds in sheep-skin coats, with the wool inside, are\nwatching their flocks, and there, pulling up bunches of grass for her\ncattle, is a maiden who makes us think of Ruth gathering wheat in the\nharvest-fields of Boaz. Here and there throughout the plains of Sharon\nwe see the watch-towers built for soldiers posted to ensure the Turkish\nSultan\u2019s share of the farmers\u2019 crops.\n\nThe landscape here is far different from that of the United States.\nThere are no houses or barns standing alone in the fields. There are no\noutbuildings of any description, and no haystacks or strawstacks. The\npeople live in villages and go out to work in the fields. The only fences\nare cactus hedges, but most of the holdings are not fenced in at all.\n\n[Illustration: THE HOLY LAND]\n\nThe land is fertile clear to the mountains, a distance of perhaps twenty\nmiles. In the foothills there are patches of green, while higher up\nfields are here and there cut out of the rocks, which are built up to\nhold in the earth. I have never seen a country more rocky. The rough\nlands of the Blue Ridge are Nile farms compared to the hills through\nwhich our train climbs up to Jerusalem. In many places there is nothing\nbut rocks. The limestone strata are piled stone upon stone, looking like\nmighty monuments rising on the hills. In some places mountains rise\nin steps forming pyramids of white limestone, sparsely sprinkled with\npatches of grass and red poppies.\n\nAs we begin to ascend the hills of Judea, we come into the real land of\nthe Israelites. Our railroad winds in and out among little mountains and\nwe can see that in the past the whole country was terraced and that not a\nbit of land went to waste. What is now the grazing ground for sheep and\ncattle was once a garden.\n\nPalestine reminds us of other parts of the world. The rich fruit of the\norange groves of Jaffa makes us think of Florida. Were it not for the\nlack of fences and barns, the plains of Sharon might be a slice out of\nLancaster County, Pennsylvania, or the rich fields of the Scioto Valley\nin Ohio. These hills are very like Italy near Genoa, or south France\nabout Nice and Monte Carlo. The terraces are planted with olive trees and\nwe see gray-green olive orchards everywhere.\n\nAs we rise the air becomes purer and fresher. We pass the spot on which\nDavid is said to have killed Goliath, and see in the distance the town\nof Mizpah, where the Prophet anointed Saul king when the latter was out\nhunting his father\u2019s asses. When we see an old bearded and turbaned\nSyrian riding along on his donkey, we wonder if he may not be a second\nBalaam, and we almost expect his donkey to open its mouth and speak to\nits master.\n\nBut let me tell you something about the railroad up to Jerusalem. The\ntrack is narrow gauge, and the coaches are much like street cars, with\nlittle racks for baggage along each side under the roof. Each carriage\nis divided into compartments the sides of which are walled with windows.\nThe road has no tunnels, and it winds its way in and out as it climbs the\nhills. There are five stations between Jaffa and Jerusalem.\n\nThe total cost of the railroad was two million dollars, or a little less\nthan forty thousand dollars per mile. The idea of the road was originated\nby an American, a civil engineer named Zimpel, who came to Palestine as a\npedlar of a patent medicine which he called \u201cSunlight Pills.\u201d He brought\nthe scheme before the Sultan at Constantinople, but failed to get the\nconcession to build it. After his death the matter was taken up by the\nFrench, who put the line through.\n\nThis was the first railroad built in Syria, and it is the father of a\nsystem which is now opening up a great part of the country. One section\nis the road building from Damascus toward Mecca, and connected with it\nare others which will eventually join the Holy Land to the valley of\nthe Euphrates, as well as to Asia Minor and Turkey. The rates for both\npassengers and freight are much higher than in the United States.\n\nAs it goes up the mountains, the railway twists this way and that. It\ncrawls along the sides of the hills with horseshoe curves here and there.\nThe whole journey is over historic ground. We cross the plains where\nSamson fought with the Philistines, slaying a thousand of them with the\njawbone of an ass. We see the place where he tied the firebrands to the\ntails of three hundred foxes and let them loose to burn up the harvest. A\nlittle farther on we enter the valley of Sorek, where the wicked Delilah\ncut off the hair of the strong man as he lay asleep in her lap, and away\nup on the side of the hill we can see the town of Zorah, where Samson was\nborn. At the station of Deir Aban, where Samuel raised his Ebenezer, a\ncrowd of children comes to the trains with bouquets of wild flowers. The\nboys whine for _baksheesh_. We wonder whether there may not be an infant\nSamson among them.\n\nIt was in Zorah that Samson was buried, and the guides will show you his\ntomb. Farther along the road we pass through a great gorge in the cliffs,\non the north side of which, near the top, is a cave, where Samson lived,\nand I verily believe if we should offer the guides sufficient reward they\nwould find us his bones or some pieces of brass from the gates of the\ncity of Gaza, which, you remember, he carried away on his shoulders.\n\nIn our ride up to Jerusalem we go by the ancient city of Gezer. It is\nmarked by a mound which has several buildings upon it, including the dome\nof a Mohammedan mosque. The ground about it has been dug over and over,\nand the ruins discovered have excited the religious and scientific world.\n\nThe excavations made by the Palestine Exploration Fund show it to be one\nof the oldest of cities. The scientists have gone down into the earth at\nthis point, finding one city built upon the ruins of another, down to\nthe seventh city, which seems to have been occupied by the cave dwellers\nof the Flint or Stone Age, a period before recorded history began. In\nthese cave dwellings pottery and flint instruments were discovered. A\nburial place of that ancient race was opened up and remains were found\nwhich show that the cave dwellers practised cremation. In one of the six\nother cities, higher up, bronze tools were discovered, and higher still\nthe relics of an ancient Egyptian civilization. In one of the caves\nwere found large jars containing the skeletons of infants that had been\nsacrificed to some pagan idol, probably during the Canaanite period. In\nanother was a cistern, the mouth of which was guarded by the skulls of\ntwo young girls, and inside which were fourteen skeletons, one that of a\ngirl of sixteen who had been sawn asunder.\n\nThe King of Gezer was defeated by Joshua, and later the city was\ncaptured by a king of Egypt, who was one of Solomon\u2019s three hundred-odd\nfathers-in-law. The story is that Pharaoh gave Gezer to Solomon as a\ndowry with his daughter, and that Solomon rebuilt the city. At the time\nof the Crusades Richard C\u0153ur de Lion and Saladin fought over it, and it\nwas an important fortress at the time of the Maccabees.\n\nThe arch\u00e6ologists of the Palestine Exploration Fund have discovered\nbronze pots, ivory tablets, statues, and jewels and other treasures\nof a half-dozen different periods of history. In one of the cities a\ncomplete olive press made of stone was unearthed, and in another an\nEgyptian statuette about four thousand years old. The figure was that\nof a man with a beard and a wig. Bronze tweezers were found as well as\nmany articles of Greek and Roman times. One of the most interesting\ndiscoveries was a reservoir with a capacity of four million gallons.\nAnother was a place supposed to belong to one of the Maccabees.\n\n[Illustration: Camels and donkeys, as well as bullocks, are hitched to\nthe low, one-handled wooden ploughs of Palestine, the same to-day as\ncenturies ago]\n\n[Illustration: The children are what we like best in the Holy Land, even\nthough they have generally learned from their elders the habit of begging\nfor _backsheesh_]\n\n[Illustration: The ass of this sheeted Balaam opens his mouth but only a\nbray comes forth. The roads are so fearful that many places may not be\nreached by wheeled vehicles and the sure-footed donkey is usually the\nbest mount]\n\nThe Palestine Exploration Fund is not a religious body, but rather a\nscientific and historical society. It has spent about fourteen thousand\ndollars a year on such work, most of the sums being collected in amounts\nof five dollars or less from English and Americans all over the world.\nThe Fund has made great discoveries in Jerusalem. It has surveyed and\nmapped a great part of Palestine and has added many Bible sites to those\nalready known.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nFROM DAN TO BEERSHEBA\n\n\nThe size of Palestine is surprising to every visitor. You know it is\nsmall, but you cannot appreciate how small it is until you have travelled\nover it.\n\nThen you see why it has been called \u201cthe least of all lands.\u201d The whole\ncountry does not average more than fifty miles wide, and it is only\nabout a hundred and forty miles long. You could lose it in many of the\ncounties of Texas, and on some of its mountains you can look from one\nside of it to the other. Standing on the Mount of Olives, just outside\nof Jerusalem, I could see the Mediterranean on the west and on the east\nthe Dead Sea and the River Jordan. From Dan to Beersheba is not as far\nas from New York to Washington, and the \u201cstormy banks\u201d of the Jordan\ninclose a stream across many parts of which you can easily throw a stone,\nand which though it winds in and out like a corkscrew, is not over two\nhundred miles long. The Mount of Olives, upon which Jesus was taken by\nthe Devil, is described as \u201can exceeding high mountain,\u201d but it is only\nabout twenty-seven hundred feet high and would be no more than a hill\nin the Rockies. \u201cAll the kingdoms of the world\u201d which Satan showed him\nconsisted of a few half-barren hills and some fertile plains, which\ntogether would not make more than a good-sized Western county. With an\naeroplane we could fly across the whole of Palestine in less than an\nhour. Including Syria, which takes in the mountains of Lebanon and much\nother country in addition to Palestine proper, it is not as long as from\nNew York to Pittsburgh. It begins at the boundary of the French Mandate\nof Syria on the north, and extends from there southward along the line of\nthe Mediterranean Sea until it is lost in the sands of Arabia.\n\nThough it has bulked so large in history and religion, the Holy Land\nitself is not as big as Rhode Island, while all Palestine is only about\nthe size of Vermont. If you could take it up and stretch it over the\nUnited States it would hardly make a patch of court plaster on Uncle\nSam\u2019s body. Dropped down upon New England, with one end at Boston, the\nother would be at Mount Washington, and most of the country would not\nbe wider than from Boston to Springfield. If spread out upon northern\nIllinois the whole might be included inside a line drawn from Chicago to\nAurora and thence to Decatur and back to Chicago.\n\nThe Bible has called this little territory a land of milk and honey.\nThe expression must have been used by contrast to the dreary sand of\nthe Sinai desert, through which the Israelites travelled on their way\nhither. As I know from former travels, it is more rocky than any part\nof the Alleghanies; and the Blue Ridge of Virginia, which is covered\nwith stones, is the Mississippi Valley compared with it. The country\nhas a backbone of mountains comprising the hills of Judea, Samaria,\nand Galilee, with a low coastal plain, where the Philistines lived,\nextending to the Mediterranean Sea. On the other side of the backbone\nis the great ditch in which lie the Sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, and\nthe Dead Sea, with the winding Jordan running from one to the other.\nThis ditch is below the level of the sea and parts of it have the\nhottest and most oppressive climate on earth. On the opposite side of\nthe Jordan toward the east is a country much richer than Palestine. It\nis composed of highlands from two thousand to three thousand feet above\nsea level, giving excellent pasture and, in the north, large crops of\nwheat. This was the Bashan, Gilead, and Moab of the Bible, and it is now\ninhabited chiefly by Mohammedan Bedouins, who live in tents, driving\ntheir camels, cattle, and sheep from place to place. In the past it was\nthickly populated, and arch\u00e6ologists have uncovered the ruined cities of\nthe people who used to live there. Palestine, on the other hand, could\nnever have had a very large population, and the \u201chosts\u201d spoken of in the\nScriptures would dwindle by comparison with the numbers of people we are\nused to nowadays.\n\nThe trip from Jaffa to Jerusalem gives us a fair idea of the character of\nthe country. The coastal plain is typical of the richest part. Its soil\nis a chocolate brown, the grass is as green as that of Egypt, and there\nare great orchards of olives and fruits of all kinds. The roads are lined\nwith rich red poppies and there are wild flowers on all sides.\n\nClimbing the hills is like jumping from the Nile Valley into the desert.\nThere is nothing but rocks with a sparse vegetation scattered here and\nthere through them. The limestone crops out everywhere, and in places\nheaps of stones have been thrown up to make little fields. Such fields\nare fenced with stone walls. There are also corrals for the sheep made in\nthis way.\n\n[Illustration: Fuel is so scarce in this land of no woods that even roots\nand twigs bring good prices. Two years of poor olive crops often drive\nthe peasants to cutting down their precious olive trees and selling them]\n\n[Illustration: The Pool of Hezekiah, opened by an ancient Hebrew king in\nthe city of Jerusalem, is fed by a fountain in the hills. Not until the\nBritish came did the city have an adequate water-supply. One old Arab\nsaid, \u201cFor four hundred years, the Turks did not give us so much as a cup\nof cold water\u201d]\n\nPalestine has no woods. There are no groves or bushes. Almost the only\ntrees are fruit trees, with now and then a funereal cypress in a garden.\nOur consul tells me that the country has two groves which the people call\nforests. One of these contains forty scrub oaks and the other is not\nquite so large. He says that a few years ago there was some brush on the\nhillside, but that the people have even dug up the roots and sold them\nfor fuel.\n\nIndeed, fuel is one of the most costly things in this country. It\nis so expensive that it is seldom used except for cooking, and that\nnotwithstanding the fact that the climate is cold. Wood is so valuable\nthat the older olive trees are being cut down, and it is feared that the\nolive orchards will gradually disappear. These old trees are often of\nconsiderable thickness, but they are only twenty or thirty feet tall so\nthat one will supply but a small amount of firewood. The olive tree is as\nhard as the apple and far more knotted and gnarly. Its wood is heavy and\nis sold by the ton. It is brought in on the backs of donkeys and camels\nand every stick has to pay a tax before it gets inside the gates of\nJerusalem.\n\nA common fuel is charcoal, made mostly of olive wood. It is made chiefly\nat Hebron, about twenty-three miles south of Jerusalem, near the cave\nwhere Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are buried and where tradition says Adam\ndied. Hebron, which is about five hundred feet higher than Jerusalem, has\nbig orchards of olives, almonds, and apples, the brush and the dead wood\nof which are used to make charcoal.\n\nThe use of coal is almost out of the question on account of the high\nrates over the railroads. The same charge is made for carrying coal as\nfor carrying silk. Such coal as comes here is in the shape of briquettes\nand sells for high prices.\n\nAnother lack from which the Holy Land suffers is water. The rainfall in\nthe southern sections is something like six inches and upward a year,\nthe amount gradually increasing as one goes northward toward Galilee.\nThe country has always been one of pools and wells, and every house in\nJerusalem has its roofs so made that they drain into cisterns placed in\nthe courts. In dry seasons water is sold, and the man who has a spare\ncistern gets a big price for his surplus.\n\nNearly all the wells of the olden times remain, and are pointed out by\nthe dragomans. One can drink from the well where Christ met the Samaritan\nwoman, and from many cisterns scattered over the country. Most of them\nare shaped like great pears.\n\nWhen the pools of Solomon were connected with Jerusalem it was thought\nthat they would supply the city with water. These pools are on the\nhighlands between Bethlehem and Hebron. They are cut out of the solid\nrock, and it is said that they originally held about forty million\ngallons. There are three of them, ranging in height from three hundred\nand eighty to five hundred and eighty feet. They lie in terraces one\nabove the other, being of varying widths. The depths are from twenty-five\nto fifty feet. If they were in good condition they could supply a vast\ndeal of water, but as it is, the aqueducts which Solomon built to\nJerusalem have gone to ruin, and there is now only a four-inch iron pipe\nrunning from them to the city. The pipe comes in near the Dung Gate and\ngoes from there to the temple platform. I stumbled over it the other day.\nI am told that the water is used almost altogether for the Mosque of\nOmar, although it is connected with the fountains of the city, which are\nonly occasionally allowed to play.\n\nIn addition to these pools there are many others in and about Jerusalem.\nThe Pool of Hezekiah is in the heart of the city, not far from the Church\nof the Holy Sepulchre; and the Pool of Siloam, where Our Lord sent the\nblind man to wash, is in the valley of Jehoshaphat, outside the walls.\n\nJust now the Holy Land is suffering from drought and the people are\npraying for rain. We have had one or two showers in the last few days,\nbut more is needed or the crops will fail. Most of the inhabitants of\nJerusalem are great believers in prayer, and Mohammedans, Christians, and\nJews are all holding services at which they ask the Lord to send water.\n\nWe had a slight rain yesterday and more is expected. The people evidently\nthink their prayers will be answered. As I walked through David Street\nI heard two Mohammedans talking. Their language was Arabic, but my\ndragomans told me that one had just said to the other:\n\n\u201cHow good God is, after all. We have prayed for the rain and, lo, it has\ncome.\u201d\n\nWhen the first shower began to fall I was standing in a doorway. A little\ngirl, perhaps eight years old, passed by with a platter of bread on her\nhead. The rain was pouring down upon it and she was wet to the skin, but\nnevertheless she was singing. I asked my guide the words of her song. He\nreplied: \u201cShe cries: \u2018Praise God for the rain! Praise God for the rain!\nPraise God for the rain!\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nJERUSALEM IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY\n\n\nI write these words on the housetop of a bishop\u2019s residence on the summit\nof Mount Zion and in the centre of the Holy City. My typewriter stands\nwithin thirty feet of the great square Tower of David the base of which\nwas undoubtedly built before the time of Christ. At my left, surrounded\nby the yellow stone walls of the houses, is the dark green pool Hezekiah\nmade to supply Jerusalem with water in case of siege, and beyond it, out\nof the jumble of buildings, shines the huge bronze dome erected over\nthe spot where Christ was crucified. Not half a mile away on a plateau\ncovering thirty-five acres is a big octagonal tower with a bulbous\nbronze dome. That is the Mosque of Omar which rises on the very site of\nSolomon\u2019s temple. At its left is the church built over the Roman mosaic\nfloor of the house of Pontius Pilate.\n\nJerusalem lies in a nest of mountains. It is built on an irregular\nplateau with valleys all about it and steep hills rising straight up from\nthese to the city and to the higher hills on the opposite sides. The site\nof the city runs over height and hollow, and was probably chosen for the\ncapital of Judea on account of the great gorges about it, by which it\ncould be the more easily defended against attack.\n\n[Illustration: Jerusalem lies in a nest of hills which seem flattened out\nwhen viewed from an airplane. It is on a plateau twenty-five hundred feet\nabove sea-level, and the city is divided into four quarters, each on its\nown hill]\n\n[Illustration: The walls of the Holy City were breached at the Jaffa\ngate to provide a special entrance for the German Kaiser when he visited\nJerusalem. He was arrayed as a crusading knight and rode a prancing\nsnow-white steed]\n\nAround the edge of the plateau is a wall about thirty feet high enclosing\nthe Jerusalem of to-day. The wall runs along the rims of the valleys,\nclimbing up hill and down, making its way around the Holy City until it\ncomes again to the Jaffa Gate which is just below me.\n\nThe Holy City now covers twice as much space as it did when I was first\nhere a good many years ago. It has doubled in size and has some sixty\nthousand people. At that time most of the inhabitants were crowded\ntogether inside the walls. They are crowded still, but to the north,\nsouth, and west large Jewish settlements have sprung up, and among\nand beyond them have been built great hospices, hospitals, convents,\ncathedrals, and hotels, so that the population outside the walls almost\nequals that within. The new buildings have extended to the Mount of\nOlives, and are working their way toward the east along the road to Jaffa.\n\nSeated here upon the site of King David\u2019s palace, I see the whole city\nspread out beneath me. What a curious place it is! In my tours of the\nworld I have found no spot so full of strange sights and picturesque\ncharacters, so different in most particulars from every other town of the\nworld. Aside from its wonderfully interesting historical associations,\nJerusalem has a character of its own. It looks more like a great\nhoneycomb than a city. The houses are piled one above the other in\nall sorts of irregularities. If you would take a half-section of land\nand scatter over it gigantic packing boxes just as you find them in a\ndown-town alley, you might get some idea of Jerusalem as it looks to me\nfrom Mount Zion. These houses have no chimneys and their stone roofs\nare almost flat. Many of the roofs have in the centre little domes that\nremind me of beehives. If the town were on a level these domes would\nlook like the haycocks in a meadow at harvest time.\n\nThe wood used in the construction of Jerusalem would not last an American\nfamily a winter. Yellow limestone is the sole building material. The\nroofs, walls, and floors of these thousands of houses are of this cold,\nyellowish-white rock. Even in the Bishop\u2019s mansion, which is one of the\nfinest in the city, I step out of my bed on to a stone floor and walk to\nmy breakfast down stone steps and through stone halls.\n\nNow look at the streets with me. They are narrow and winding and some are\nbuilt over, so that going through them is like passing through tunnels or\nsubterranean caves.\n\nIndeed, Jerusalem is a city of cave dwellers. Many of the stores and\nhouses are little more than holes in the rocks. I visited a native inn\nyesterday right in the heart of the town. It consisted of a series of\nvaulted chambers which looked much like caves. In one cave were four\ndonkeys, two camels, and a party of Bedouins. In another were a dozen\nJews from Samaria, and in a third were some men and camels who had just\ncome from beyond the Jordan. The only sign of modern times was an English\nlamp burning American kerosene oil. Through my guide I chatted with the\nkeeper of the stable, or inn, as it was called, and he told me that his\ncharge for feeding and washing a donkey or a horse was five cents a day.\n\nJerusalem of to-day is founded upon the remains of the Jerusalems of the\npast, and the excavations have unearthed houses and temples far below the\nstreets of the present. The original floor and court of the house in\nwhich Pontius Pilate examined the Christ is much lower than the level of\nthe present city, and mosaics and marbles, including carvings of various\nkinds and Greek and Roman capitals and columns, are frequently uncovered\nin digging the foundations for new buildings.\n\nThere are many caves outside of Jerusalem and people live in some of\nthem. The tombs of the kings on the edge of the city have been cut out of\nthe solid rock, and some of them are so large that a city house could be\ndropped into one and not touch the walls. An excavation of the Pool of\nBethesda has shown that it is eighty feet deep and covers nearly an acre.\nRight under the temple platform are enormous caverns known as Solomon\u2019s\nStables, and near by there is a space honeycombed with vast tanks which\nwill hold millions of gallons of water.\n\nAll of the water for the Holy City comes down in rain, and the trees and\ngardens of the town can be numbered on your fingers. The surrounding\nhills are almost as barren as some of the rocky slopes of New England,\nand the only foliage visible is the dark silvery green of the orchards\non the Mount of Olives and along the hills between Jaffa and Bethlehem.\nThe only grass to be seen is an acre or so of common inside the walls\nof the temple plateau, and here and there a house top, which by age has\ngathered a coating of dirt from the dust of the city, and on which the\ngreen grass has sprouted. Occasionally I see ruined arches, too dangerous\nto be inhabited by the bees of this human hive, on which grow moss and\ngrass. There is one green bushy tree at the base of Mount Calvary, and\na solitary palm beside the business street named after King David looks\nout over the city. Jerusalem is not an attractive looking town, and\nthe glare from its cream-white buildings lying under the rays of this\ntropical sun makes my eyes sore.\n\nJerusalem is the Mecca of millions of souls. It is to hundreds of\nmillions the holiest spot on the face of the earth. Everywhere buildings\nhave gone up both to accommodate pilgrims and to mark the most sacred\nplaces. On the very top of the Mount of Olives a great Russian church\nlifts its swelling domes toward heaven. In the Garden of Gethsemane,\nwhere Christ spent that night of \u201cagony and bloody sweat\u201d before His\ncrucifixion, there is a resting place for pilgrims. The Roman Catholics\nhave fifteen hundred brothers and sisters in their monasteries and\nconvents, while the old Armenian church can accommodate a hundred and\neighty monks and two thousand pilgrims. There are Greek Christians here\nby the thousands and Egyptian Copts by the hundreds. There are Abyssinian\npriests with faces as black as your hat. Indeed, among the worshippers\nwho gather around the Holy Sepulchre you may see every costume and\nhear every language. Furthermore, the Jews are fast coming back into\nPalestine, and Jerusalem is again becoming a city of the Children of\nIsrael.\n\n[Illustration: THE HOLY LAND AND SYRIA]\n\nBut let us come down from our housetop and take a walk through the crowd.\nWe are at the Jaffa Gate, which leads to the railroad station a half mile\nfrom the walls. It is also at the end of the roads to Bethlehem, Hebron,\nand Jaffa, and is the main business gate of the city. It is always\nthronged, and the people who go in and out come from all parts of the\nworld. They are of all colours\u2014blacks, browns, yellows, and whites\u2014and\nnumber a dozen different nationalities from the near-by parts of Asia,\nEurope, and Africa. Here comes a donkey led by a fat, bare-footed Turk\nin a yellow gown and red turban. His beast is loaded with wood which he\nis bringing into the city for sale. The wood is the roots of olive trees\nand his donkey load is worth twenty-five cents. He is stopped by the\ncustoms officer at the gate and pays a tax of three cents. Behind him\ncomes a porter with a bag half as big as a hogshead fastened to the small\nof his back. Inside the bag is a basket filled with the flat cakes which\nform the bread of the city.\n\nNow turn to the right and look at that Syrian Bedouin riding a gray\nArabian pony. There is a gun on his back and he wears a black-and-white\nwoollen blanket. His head is covered with a great yellow handkerchief\nbound about the crown with two strands of hair cord the size of your\nfinger. Sitting as straight as a ramrod, he looks with fierce black eyes\nat the crowd about him. Behind him come three camels laden with the\noranges of Jaffa. Each beast has a cartload of the great yellow balls in\nthe two crates which hang over his back, and he grumbles and whines as\nhis barefooted driver drags him along by a string tied to his nose.\n\nAs we look we see the figures of the Old and New Testaments crowding\naround us. There are peasants who might have been among the disciples,\nand gray-bearded men who would pass for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We see\nboys with coats of many colours, which remind us of Joseph, and shepherds\ndriving sheep into market who probably came from the very plains near\nBethlehem where similar shepherds were watching their flocks when the\nheavenly host appeared.\n\nLet us take a seat with those Syrians on the porch of the coffee house\noutside the gate and make further sketches of those who go in. Here come\ntwo figures dressed all in white. They look like walking bed ticks bound\naround at the middle, or, better, like the ghosts of a sheet and pillow\ncase party. They are Mohammedan women, and it is against their ironclad\ncustom for them to go out unveiled. They have wrapped their bodies in\nsheets the folds of which they hold close together over their faces,\nleaving only a crack by which they may see to pick their way through the\ncrowd.\n\nBehind them is a girl with bare face. She wears a round cap which extends\na foot above her rosy brown forehead, and she has a headdress of white\ncotton. Her gown is a gray chemise which falls almost to her feet, and\nwhich has a wide hem of red and blue silk embroidery. She is a Bethlehem\nmaiden wearing the shawl made with her own hands for her wedding.\nSuch shawls are much prized by tourists, and the best of them bring\ntwenty-five dollars apiece in the stores.\n\nBut here are some women in long coats and high boots. They have calico\ngowns under their coats which reach half way down the calf. Their heads\nare covered with handkerchiefs, and their faces are bronzed by the sun.\nEach has a staff in her hand and a bag on her back, and is marching along\nat the rate of four miles an hour. They are dusty and dirty, and look\nweary and worn. Those are peasant women, pilgrims from Russia, who are\nmaking their way from shrine to shrine. They have tramped this morning\nout to Bethlehem, and to-morrow will probably be on their way to the\nJordan.\n\nBut let us leave here and take a walk about the walls of the Holy City.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nAROUND THE WALLS OF THE HOLY CITY\n\n\nI have tramped about the walls of Jerusalem on foot and have ridden round\nthem upon donkeys. Let us make the trip on foot.\n\nSome of the walls which still stand were laid up by Solomon, others\nwere erected by Herod the Great, who built David\u2019s Tower, and others by\nAgrippa only a few years after Christ\u2019s death.\n\nWe walk across the road leading to Bethlehem, down which the Wise Men of\nthe East rode on their way to the birthplace of the Saviour, and picking\nour steps through a caravan of camels lying there, climb up the slope of\nMount Zion. There is a moat at the foot of the tower which is one hundred\nfeet wide and thirty feet deep, and the wall rises perhaps one hundred\nfeet above this. There are olive trees between the road and the walls,\nand as we go we see ragged donkeys feeding among them.\n\nNow we have passed the moat and come close to the wall. Though its lower\nportions are about two thousand years old, the stones are as firm as when\nthey were laid.\n\nGoing onward, we pass tower after tower running fifteen or twenty feet\nout from the wall and rising five or six feet above it. These towers were\nused for the archers and watchmen stationed there on the lookout for the\nenemy.\n\nA little beyond David\u2019s Tower, almost against the walls, is the great\nchurch built by the Germans. Its site commands a view over the whole of\nJerusalem and was sold to the Kaiser of Germany by the Sultan of Turkey.\nA part of the churchyard is the American cemetery, which was sold by\nour consul. Its sale caused great excitement among the Americans at\nJerusalem, and the American colony here protested against the removal of\ntheir dead, which they said was done after dark. The bodies were taken up\nand carried to the English cemetery.\n\nContinuing our walk we hug the wall looking down into the Valley of\nHinnom until we come to Zion Gate, and a little farther on to the Dung\nGate. Below this in the Valley of Jehoshaphat lies the Pool of Siloam. At\nthe Zion Gate a group of lepers are begging. They are ragged and filthy\nand hold out the stumps of their hands asking for alms. On the inside of\nthis gate stood the house of Caiaphas, where Peter three times denied\nthat he was one of the disciples of Christ, before the cock crowed.\n\nAs we go on we see chickens scratching in the earth outside the wall, and\nas we look at the gardens on the slopes of Kedron or Jehoshaphat observe\nthat the land is still rich. There are cows away down in the valley and\nthe bees are buzzing on the cacti and wild flowers on the slopes. In some\nfavoured spots the Holy Land is still one of milk and honey. The villages\nnear Jerusalem have dairies which supply excellent butter, and the honey,\nwhich is largely made of orange blossoms, is delicious. It is served\nevery day at all the hotels, usually in the liquid form rather than in\nthe comb.\n\n[Illustration: The houses of Jerusalem are of limestone with flat roofs\nconstructed to catch the rain water. The better houses have little domes\non them]\n\n[Illustration: The Mount of Olives is climbed by walled and winding roads\nand marked with many churches and chapels. Here Jesus often walked with\nHis disciples, and here He brooded over the city that rejected Him]\n\n[Illustration: The Holy City is a beautifully framed picture when viewed\nfrom a bell tower on the Mount of Olives. Across the foreground stretches\nthe wall of the inclosure of the Mosque of Omar]\n\nThe slopes of the Valley of Jehoshaphat are now spotted with red.\nThousands of poppies and anemones grow upon the ridges between the\ngardens, and the peasants are working the crops. They use plenty of\nfertilizer and, strange to say, most of that which comes from the city\nis taken out through the Dung Gate. It may be from this that it got its\nname. It is a great square hole in the wall just large enough for men and\nbeasts to pass in and out. It is not far from the temple platform and\nwithin a stone\u2019s throw of the Jews\u2019 wailing place.\n\nThe southeastern corner of the walls of Jerusalem, and, indeed, a large\nportion of the eastern walls, are a part of the plateau upon which\nSolomon\u2019s Temple once stood. In almost the middle of the eastern side\nof the temple is what is known as the Golden Gate, through which Christ\nis said to have made his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It has\nbeen walled up and the Mohammedans say that it will not be opened until\nthe Judgment Day. A little farther on, at the corner of the temple, is\nSt. Stephen\u2019s Gate, which some say was the place where St. Stephen was\nstoned. Another legend is that the place of the stoning was near the\nGrotto of Jeremiah, in Solomon\u2019s quarries, farther along around the\nwalls. The tradition is that Stephen was here brought to the brow of the\nhill and thrown over a precipice. His hands were tied, and after he had\nfallen heavy blocks of stone were rolled down upon him from the brow of\nthe hill.\n\nThe walls near the Temple are among the first that were built. They are\nin fine condition to-day, parts of them having been recently repaired.\nThe stones are of bright yellow limestone laid in white mortar. Those\nat the bottom, which were laid up by Solomon, are of enormous size, one\nbeing about fifty feet long and about fifteen feet high and evidently\ncut from the bed rock upon which the wall stands.\n\nRight at the Temple the walls rise almost precipitously from the Valley\nof Jehoshaphat, and I judge they are one hundred feet high. They are\nin excellent condition throughout. The towers are almost perfect, and,\nalthough the vegetation is growing in the cracks, most of the masonry\nlooks comparatively new.\n\nA curious feature of the walls of Jerusalem is a stone block as big\naround as a flour barrel which juts out from that part above which stands\nthe Mosque of Omar to a distance of perhaps fifteen feet. This block or\npillar hangs right over the rocky Valley of Jehoshaphat. According to the\nbelief of the Moslems, Mohammed will sit astride this pillar at the Day\nof Judgment, and Christ will have His seat on the Mount of Olives on the\nopposite side of the valley. There will be a fine wire stretched from the\npillar across to the mountain, and upon this wire all mankind must walk\non its way to eternity. As the people of the various religions go those\nwho believe in Mohammedanism will be upheld by the angels and will reach\nsafely the opposite side, whence they will ascend into Heaven. The others\nwill drop down into the valley and perish.\n\nThere are cemeteries for both the Jews and the Mohammedans outside\nthe walls and not far from the Mosque. The Mohammedan cemetery, which\nlies close to the walls, is just opposite the Garden of Gethsemane and\nincludes the Place of the Skull where General Gordon located the site of\nCalvary. This site is now surrounded by a wall and fence, and Christians\nare not permitted to enter it. Within it is the grotto where Jeremiah\nis said to have written his Lamentations, and not far away, near the\nDamascus Gate, are Solomon\u2019s quarries.\n\nOur walk has brought us back once more to the Jaffa Gate, where we join a\npilgrim-throng entering the Holy City.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\n\u201cTHE TRIBES OF GOD GO THITHER\u201d\n\n\n Jerusalem a city is\n Compactly built together;\n Unto this place the tribes go up\n The tribes of God go thither.\n\nThe Holy Land is hallowed ground for three great religions of the world.\nJews, Moslems, Christians\u2014all of them worshippers of only one god\u2014do\nreverence at its shrines. Jerusalem is the pilgrimage city of the world.\nSacred to the Christians, the centre of Jewish religious devotion and\nnational dreams, it is also a second Mecca to the Mohammedans. The\nMoslems locate the judgment seat upon the walls surrounding the Mosque\nof Omar, which stands on the site of Solomon\u2019s great temple. They make\ntheir pilgrimages from all parts of the Mohammedan world to worship at\nthis mosque, and prostrate themselves before the sacred rock within it\nas they do before the holy black stone of Mecca. The prophet Mohammed\nhimself said that Jerusalem was the holiest place in the world, and that\none prayer here was worth a thousand elsewhere.\n\n[Illustration: Outside of the walls of Jerusalem one often sees flocks of\nsheep being driven in to market. Nearly every flock has its goats, which\nare usually black. Palestinian shepherds go before their sheep, inducing\nthem to follow by calling to them]\n\n[Illustration: Lepers beg at the gates of Jerusalem, under the walls of\ngreat stone blocks finely joined together]\n\n[Illustration: Down the hill from under the walls of Jerusalem goes the\nroad to Jaffa and the sea: to the right is the way to Bethlehem]\n\nThe Christians of the Eastern churches are brought up in much the same\nfaith. They believe that the prayers said within the walls of the Church\nof the Holy Sepulchre at the foot of Mount Calvary have a wonderful\nefficacy, and they gather in Jerusalem every Easter by the tens of\nthousands. From the wilds of Abyssinia, from the flat plains of Egypt,\nfrom the mountain fastnesses of Greece, and from all over Russia, even\nto the borders of Siberia, they come to drop their tears upon the tomb,\nand to live over the terrible events of Passion Week. They come from all\nparts of Asia Minor, and the Syrians and the Armenians jostle the Copts\nand the Arabians on their way to prayers.\n\nIn recent years Latin pilgrimages from western Europe and America have\nbeen increasing. Bands of Christians come from Italy, France, Spain,\nand the United States. I was in Jerusalem when the first pilgrimage\nwas made by a body of Christians from America to the Holy City. More\nthan one hundred men and women from all sections of the United States,\nunder the leadership of the Bishop of Tennessee, took part in the Latin\ncelebrations in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.\n\nMany of these pilgrims are extremely superstitious. Most of them believe\nthat every spot pointed out by the monks is the actual locality of the\nevent alleged to have occurred there. They walk over the Holy Land\nwith staffs in their hands, and kneel down and kiss the places where\nthey believe Jesus trod. They even kiss the stones of the streets of\nJerusalem, forgetting or not knowing that there have been three or four\nJerusalems buried below the site of the present one.\n\nI have seen pilgrims crawling on their knees through the Church of the\nHoly Sepulchre. Creeping into the vestibule, they kiss the Stone of\nUnction upon which it is claimed the body of Christ was anointed for\nburial.\n\nNear the Stone of Unction is the spot on which it is said the Virgin Mary\nstood while Christ was on the cross. It also is worn away by kissing.\nGoing on into the great rotunda and turning to the right we reach a\nchurch belonging to the Greeks at the front of which stands a column as\nhigh as a chair and about as big around as a four-gallon crock. This is\nthe centre of the world, and is honoured as such. I saw Russian peasant\ngirls kissing it, and farther on observed them kissing holy place after\nholy place until it seemed to me that their lips must wear out. Kisses\nare pressed upon these spots by thousands of mouths every day, and if\nevery lip leaves its microbes all the diseases of the world must be in\nthe bacteria here.\n\nIt is hard to estimate the value of the offerings the pilgrims lay on\nthese shrines. Those who come are of all classes, and some bring the\nsavings of years. The poor lay their pennies in the hands of the priests\nand drop them in the slot boxes which may be seen at almost every\ncorner. There is much gold, and there are treasures in precious stones.\nA life-sized image of the Virgin Mary which I saw in the Greek church\nwas covered with diamonds. The image was made of wax, and was dressed\nin satins and silks. Its face was painted. An oval pearl as big as the\nend of my thumb hung on the forehead, while on the waxen fingers were\na score or more rings. Some of the rings were set with diamonds, some\nwith sapphires and rubies, and others with opals. Opals in Palestine are\nlooked upon as the sign of good luck and not bad, as with us.\n\nMost of the rings were costly and each was presented to the Virgin as\na love offering. On the silken lap of the image lay a great golden\nheart as thick as my fist and about six inches in width. It was studded\nwith emeralds and diamonds. The heart was a present from Franz Josef,\nEmperor of Austria, who made many costly gifts to the Church of the Holy\nSepulchre. In the grotto of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem is\na similar statue, even more gorgeously decorated, although some of the\njewels are said to be paste.\n\nThe Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a hotbed of superstition. It is\nsupposed to stand on the spot where Christ was crucified. The Bible tells\nus that this was outside Jerusalem, but the Church of the Sepulchre is\nto-day far within the walls. This, however, is not a proof that the\nlocation is incorrect, for the walls of Jerusalem have been thrown down\nand rebuilt again and again, especially those on Mount Zion where the\ngreat church stands. The hill where Christ was crucified was made up\nof terraces of rock, and that is the nature of the foundation of this\nchurch. The place was located by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine\nthe Great, who came here about three hundred years after Christ died, and\nfound what was said to be the true cross among the rubbish on the side of\nthe hill. She had the cross dug out and carried to Constantinople, whence\nlater on some pieces of it were sent to Rome. One section as long as\nyour arm is said to be in Jerusalem, and there are so many other pieces\nscattered over the world that I venture you could build a house with them.\n\nShortly after this discovery, a church was erected on the spot, and since\nthen others have been built, destroyed, and rebuilt, until we now have\nthis great edifice which covers, I should say, an area of several acres.\nIt is surmounted by a cross rising from a dome as big as that of our\nNational Capitol.\n\nThe Church of the Holy Sepulchre is not beautiful and its position in\nthe heart of Jerusalem, surrounded by bazaars, convents, monasteries,\nand hotels, is by no means imposing. The front of it is covered with\ncarvings, some of which are from ancient temples, and over the doors are\nbas-reliefs of scenes from the Bible. One of these represents the raising\nof Lazarus, with the Saviour standing at the front and Mary at His feet.\nAt the command of Christ, Lazarus is seen rising from the dead, while in\nthe background are spectators, some of whom are holding their noses as an\nevidence, perhaps, of the corruption which had begun to take place before\nLazarus was brought to life.\n\nUnder the dome of the church lies the tomb of the Saviour. It is enclosed\nin a chapel of an ivory-white marble, which stands in the centre of\nthe rotunda. This chapel is perhaps twenty feet high, twenty-six feet\nlong, and seventeen feet wide. Entering through a door so low that you\nhave to stoop to go in, you finally come into a chamber six feet square\nand lighted only by candles. This is the alleged tomb of the Saviour.\nOver it is a marble slab covered with glass to keep the kisses of the\npilgrims from wearing the stone. There are always priests here, and all\nwho come in are sprinkled with holy water. Every worshipper brings with\nhim rosaries, beads, and holy pictures which are laid upon the tomb to\nbe blessed. I saw one old woman totter in with a half bushel bag full of\nrosaries on her back; a frowsy-bearded man came with her, bearing all\nhe could carry. Spreading these out on the slab, they knelt, while the\npriest sprinkled the beads and gave them his blessing. Before leaving\nthey dropped some coins into his hand. They were Russians and will\nprobably carry these rosaries back home to their friends.\n\n[Illustration: The modern American oil can competes with the ancient\nwater bottle. The small boy scorns, like his father, to be seen carrying\na little water at a time, though he may proudly stagger along with a\nheavy skin holding several gallons]\n\n\u201cGOING UP TO JERUSALEM\u201d\n\n[Illustration: These Russian pilgrims carry their food and cooking\nutensils with them. Undismayed by poverty and difficulties they press on\nupheld by their unquestioning faith]\n\n[Illustration: A donkey ambulance is provided in case a pilgrim falls ill\non the march]\n\nFor years more Russians have made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land than\nalmost any other people on the globe. Fifty or sixty thousand of them\ncome here every season. They are brought in by the shipload at Easter\ntime and during the whole spring bodies of pilgrims can be seen going on\nfoot from shrine to shrine throughout Palestine.\n\nMany of the pilgrims land at Haifa, the most northern port of the\ncountry. From there they walk over the mountains of Galilee, stopping at\nNazareth and then going on to Tiberius. They stop and pray at every holy\nspot and often kiss the ground where they think Jesus or the saints have\ntrod. From the Sea of Galilee they make their way back to Nazareth, and\nthence go across the plain of Esdraelon and through Samaria to Jerusalem.\nI have seen thousands of them at Bethlehem and have met them tramping the\nweary road to the Dead Sea and the Jordan.\n\nThese Russians belong to the Greek Church, which owns most of the\nmonasteries and convents of this country, and which has, all told,\nproperty amounting to millions, including some of the best real estate\nin Jerusalem. It has a great hospice outside the walls of Jerusalem as\nwell as a magnificent church on top of the Mount of Olives. It has other\nsimilar institutions elsewhere, and is a great factor in the religious\nlife of the Holy Land.\n\nThe Russians have here what is perhaps the largest hotel of the world.\nTen thousand people can sleep there in a single night, and it has,\nbesides, separate buildings for families. It is known as the Russian\nHospice and lies at the west outside the city wall. It covers a space of\nten acres or more and has a high wall about it.\n\nEntering the gates of this hospice, one finds himself surrounded by\nRussians and Russian scenes. It is a slice of the land of the White\nBear dropped down in Judea. There is nothing Syrian in sight. The men\ndress in caps, long coats, and trousers tucked into high boots. They are\nlong-bearded, long-haired, and fair-faced. There are many red heads among\nthem and none seems to know of the razor. The women are clad in coarse\ngowns ending at six inches or more from the ankle. Most of them wear\nboots, but some wear straw shoes, and wrap cloths around their legs in\nplace of stockings. They have handkerchiefs tied about their heads, and\ntheir features are usually as hard and rough as those of the men.\n\nBut suppose we go into the women\u2019s quarters of this mighty hotel. The\nbuilding is cut up into stalls which run from one side of it to the\nother. These tunnel-like rooms are lighted at the end, and standing in\na central hall it seems as though the windows were at least two hundred\nfeet distant. Each vault, which is eight feet wide and fifteen feet\nhigh, is filled from end to end with rough bunks of pine boards. Upon\nthe boards is straw matting, and a space six feet square forms the bed\nand home of each woman. At the back of this she piles up the bread, tea,\nand other belongings she has brought with her from Russia. She sleeps\nstretched out on the board in the clothing she wears in the daytime. The\nquarters devoted to the men are of similar nature while those for the\nfamilies differ only in that the spaces are larger.\n\nThese pilgrims bring their bread and tea with them from Russia. In\naddition to this they have a few vegetables which they buy of the\nnatives. They cook with oil stoves. When on the march each carries some\nbread along with her and a pan out of which to drink and in which to\nmake tea.\n\nIn some parts of the inclosure we can see families at their meals. The\nmen, women, and children sit on the ground around a pot of soup. Each has\nhis own piece of bread and a spoon. They wash their own clothes, using\ndishpans as tubs. The pans are as big as a bicycle wheel and four inches\ndeep. The washing is done with cold water, which is free in the hospice,\nbut which outside would cost two cents a gallon.\n\nThese Russian pilgrims are very religious. They are mostly poor, and\nmany have been saving a lifetime in order that they might make this tour\nto the Holy Land. They undergo all sorts of hardships and spend their\ntime in fasting and prayer. They have a church inside the hospice where\nservices are held twice a day. I have attended the church several times.\nIt is always full of people standing or kneeling. They cross themselves\nagain and again as the service goes on, and now and then get down and bow\ntheir heads to the floor. There are similar services in the other Greek\nchurches. I attended one on the Mount of Olives where the reading of the\nScriptures and the singing were done by Russian nuns dressed in black\nwith stove-pipe hats without brims crowning their heads. The hats ended\nin a cape or veil which fell down the back. The faces of the nuns were\nuncovered and spiritual looking. Their singing was exceedingly sweet, and\nthe service was impressive. The pilgrims who listened knelt and now and\nthen kissed the bare floor.\n\nAt Easter time the water of the River Jordan is blessed by the high\npriest of the Church, and there are many priests to baptize the Faithful\nin the sacred river. The women and men dress in white garments and go\ninto the water together. They change their clothes on the shore. The\ngarments they wear in the water are usually shrouds, which they have\nbrought from home with them for this purpose, and which they intend to\ntake back to be used at their burials.\n\nThe scenes of these baptisms make one think of a picnic. The men, women,\nand children rush about, some laughing and screaming, and others quietly\ntalking. The priests dip each three times in the Jordan, giving their\nblessing as they do so. After baptism some soak other shrouds in the\nriver to consecrate them that they may carry them home to their friends.\nThey also drink of the dirty water and bottle it up to take home. Some of\nthe pilgrims are old and have to be lifted in and out of the river. The\ncurrent is swift, and frequently men are drowned.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nON THE SITE OF SOLOMON\u2019S TEMPLE\n\n\nI want to take you this morning to the summit of Mount Moriah and show\nyou the site of Solomon\u2019s Temple. It is on the same spot where Abraham,\nat the command of the Lord, was about to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,\nwhen he was told to desist and shown the ram with its horns caught in the\nthicket behind him. It is the place where the wisdom of the boy Christ\nastonished the wise men; where David, Solomon, and Elijah used to pray,\nand where, according to the Mohammedans, the blast of the trumpet will\nsound forth at the Day of Judgment. The spot is sacred to both Christians\nand Moslems. Indeed, it may be called the holiest on the face of the\nglobe.\n\nThe geologists say that Mount Moriah is one of the two oldest parts of\nthe world, the other being Mount Sinai, upon which Moses received the Ten\nCommandments. They prove this by the rocks, saying that when the world\nwas thrown off by the sun and floated about in its nebulous state through\nthe air the parts which first solidified were the summit of Sinai and the\nrock which now stands inside the mosque on the top of Moriah. There is\nalso a Jewish tradition that as the Lord saw the solid earth rising out\nof chaos He blessed these two spots and said:\n\n\u201cThey shall be great in the history of the human race, which I shall\ncreate, and upon one of them shall my holy city be built.\u201d\n\nMount Moriah is on the eastern edge of Jerusalem proper. It is just\nopposite the Mount of Olives and above the Garden of Gethsemane across\nthe Valley of Jehoshaphat. Its top is a plateau containing thirty-five\nacres, or about one seventh of the whole of Jerusalem, inside the walls.\nThe walls partially bound this plateau, and in them at the northeast\ncorner of the city is the gate through which St. Stephen is said to have\npassed when he was stoned to death by the Jews. Across from the plateau\nand far down below it is the Jews\u2019 wailing place. Hugging it on the west,\nsouth, and north are the box-shaped limestone houses which form the\ngreater part of Jerusalem.\n\nIn going to it we leave our hotel on Mount Zion and make our way down\nDavid Street through a horde of pilgrims of all colours and races. We\npass the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, go through a bazaar where men\nand women, sitting on the ground, are selling glass bracelets and beads\nfrom Hebron, past shops selling candles to be burnt at the tomb of our\nSaviour, and on through a vaulted tunnel-like street which was once the\ncotton bazaar, but which now sells everything else. Ascending a stairway\nat the end of this tunnel, we find ourselves on the plateau now occupied\nby the Mosque of Omar, but formerly the site of the Temple of Solomon.\n\nThis plateau rises in terraces. We come first on to the level, which\nwas known as the Court of the Gentiles, and was open to Jew and Gentile\nalike. From this we go up to the Court of the Israelites and then to the\nCourt of the Priests, which is now under the great Mosque of Omar. In\nthe latter court stood the open-air altar for burnt offerings, the very\nrock upon which Abraham tied Isaac when he was about to sacrifice him in\nobedience to the Lord\u2019s command.\n\nThe great flat rock on the summit of Mount Moriah over which the dome of\nthe Mosque of Omar now rises was the ancient threshing-floor of Ornan the\nJebusite. In many parts of Palestine to-day a flat rock or a hard piece\nof ground is selected as a threshing-floor upon which the ripe grain is\nlaid down to be trodden out by cattle or mules. David purchased this\nparticular floor from Ornan as an offering to the Lord so that the people\nmight be freed from a terrible pestilence then raging in Jerusalem. The\nBible account continues: \u201cThen David said, This is the house of the Lord\nGod and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.\u201d And right\naway he began preparations for the temple which was actually built on\nthis spot by his son Solomon.\n\nThe Moslems have their own tradition regarding this rock. Since ancient\ntimes it has been the custom in the Holy Land to bring the harvested\ngrain to the community threshing-floor, which is soon walled with\ntoppling piles of sheaves, each pile belonging to a different farmer.\nThe owners of the wheat sleep on the threshing-floor at night so as to\nkeep watch over their property. According to the Mohammedan story, two\nbrothers, one married, the other a bachelor, lay down to sleep beside\ntheir respective piles. The married brother, waking in the night, began\nto think how much grain he had and then of his brother\u2019s lot compared\nwith his own.\n\n\u201cPoor fellow,\u201d said the married man, \u201che has no wife and children to\ncomfort him and make his life happy. To even things up a little I will\nslip over and add some of my sheaves to his and he will never know I have\ngiven them to him.\u201d\n\nThis he did, and then fell fast asleep again.\n\nA little later the bachelor brother woke and thought of his great stacks\nof grain and how he, being unmarried, needed so much less than his\nbrother.\n\n\u201cPoor fellow,\u201d thought he, \u201cI who am free have much more than I need, I\nwill give him some of my grain while he sleeps, for he would never take\nit from me if he knew I was giving it.\u201d\n\nSo he transferred a generous portion of wheat from his heap to his\nbrother\u2019s.\n\nIn the morning both were astonished to find their piles exactly the same\nsize as they had been the night before. Then a prophet appeared to them\nand told them what had passed in the night. He said that God, who had\nseen and approved the evidences of their brotherly kindness, had decided\nto make this threshing-floor the place of prayer for the whole world.\n\n[Illustration: Priests of the Greek Church bless the waters of the Jordan\nat Easter, when hundreds of pilgrims bathe in the river, many of them\nclad in their burial shrouds. Across the Jordan Joshua led his hosts\ndry-shod to the assault on Jericho]\n\n[Illustration: Sturdy character shows in the faces of these Russian\nwomen, who patiently trudge from shrine to shrine. The Russians are\nperhaps the most devout of all the thousands of pilgrims who come to the\nLand of Christ]\n\nDirectly under the plateau on which Solomon\u2019s Temple stood is a great\ncatacomb, which once formed a part of one of the Jerusalems of the past.\nLet us first visit these underground caves before going into the mosque.\nDescending the steps, we come into a wilderness of vaults with roofs\nupheld by pillars and arches of stone. Some of the stone blocks are of\nenormous size. I have measured one which is eight feet wide and fifteen\nfeet high. These stones are beautifully laid. They are closely joined\nand show mechanical ingenuity in their construction. The pillars are\nabout four feet square, and some of them have holes bored through the\ncorners. It is claimed that the vaults were constructed by Solomon for\nhis stables, and that the holes in the columns were the tying places for\nthe horses. In some of them are stone mangers, which the guides say were\nused long ago. Others claim that this stable story is a fiction, and that\nthe excavations were made in erecting the Temple and the great columns\nput up to sustain its platform. However that may be, the architecture is\nwonderful for that time, or, indeed, for our own. There are altogether\na hundred or more vaults, and the mighty stones which wall them are so\nheavy that it would be impossible to handle them nowadays without the use\nof machinery.\n\nSince the site of Solomon\u2019s Temple is now a Mohammedan shrine, and under\ntheir control, Christians cannot visit this place unless they first\nobtain an official permit. This I obtained through our American consul,\nwho not only arranged for a soldier to escort us, but sent along his\nchief _kavass_, so that we have two guards with us as we walk about. The\n_kavass_ is a sort of majordomo of the consul. He has two of them, tall,\nstraight Syrians attired more gorgeously than Solomon in all his glory.\nThey wear vests covered with bands of gold embroidery, with long, flowing\nsleeves like those of the ladies of the Middle Ages. They wear big, baggy\ntrousers, each pair of which would make two full suits for a fat man.\nThey have enormous scimitar-like swords at their sides and carry ebony\nstaffs as thick as the handle of a baseball bat topped with great knobs\nof silver as big as your fist. The United States Government furnishes the\noutfits, except for the swords. Formerly, whenever our consul came out\nof the cavernous region of his hotel or walked down the narrow stone\nstairs of his office, these two gaudy officials preceded him, making\nthe pavements ring with their staffs as they cleared his path. When he\nstepped across the way to church, though the streets were deserted and a\nbaby might go about without danger, a _kavass_ always went with him and\nwaited outside the building until His Excellency was ready to return.\nSuch extreme pomp as this has, however, begun to go out of style, though\nthe consul still has his strikingly garbed _kavasses_ to lend the dignity\nexpected of Uncle Sam\u2019s representatives.\n\nThe Mosque of Omar was supposed by the Crusaders to be Solomon\u2019s Temple.\nThis is not so, of course, as the original building was destroyed long\nbefore their time. It is now believed to have been built by a Moslem\ngovernor in the seventh century. But before that, and soon after\nJerusalem was destroyed in the first century after Christ, the Roman\nEmperor Hadrian is known to have built on this site a temple to Jupiter.\nIt is believed that some of the pillars in the present mosque came from\na church erected on Mount Zion by the Christian Emperor Justinian. The\nmosque is one of the finest specimens of Byzantine architecture.\n\nImagine a mighty dome of greenish copper on the top of which is a golden\ncrescent. Let this be as large as or larger than that of the Capitol at\nWashington, and let it rest upon a vast octagonal temple walled with\ntiles so fine that any one of them would be prized as a piece of rare\nchina. Let there be a dado of marble below the tiles and a wide frieze\nabove them inlaid with texts from the Koran in Arabic characters, and let\nthe whole be entered by mighty doors over which are beautifully carved\narches, and you have a faint idea of the Dome of the Rock, another name\nby which this mosque is known.\n\nHere may be seen striking evidences of the belief of the Mohammedans as\nto Christ and the prophets. They believe in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,\nand class Jesus as one of the prophets, although not so high as Mohammed.\nAmong the verses of the Koran on the front of the mosque is one reading:\n\n The Messiah, Jesus, is only the son of Mary, the Ambassador of\n God, and His word which He deposited in Mary. Believe, then, in\n God and His Ambassador, and do not maintain that in one there\n are three.\n\nAnother reads:\n\n Blessings be on me in the day of my birth and my death. He is\n Jesus, the Son of Mary, the word of truth, concerning whom some\n are in doubt.\n\nThere are other passages of the Koran which tell the stories of Abraham,\nIsaac, and Jacob, and the Mohammedans reverence this spot in connection\nwith them.\n\nLet us take off our shoes and go in. The floor of the mosque is holy\nground, so none is permitted to enter except in his stockings or bare\nfeet. The inside is even more beautiful than the outside. The walls and\nroofs are a mass of carvings and mosaics. The mosaic is made up of bits\nof gold and glass, the latter of many colours, all so delicately put\ntogether that they form beautiful pictures. Each bit is only as big as\nthe head of a nail, or smaller, and thousands of them are required to\nmake a single picture. The columns upholding the roof are of marble, and\nthe floor is of marble carpeted with old rugs from Turkey and Persia.\n\nRight in the centre of the mosque is the huge rock upon which Abraham\nbuilt his altar for Isaac, and upon which Ornan\u2019s cattle threshed his\ngrain, and where, the Mohammedans say, the Angel Gabriel will stand when\nhe blows the last trump calling the people to judgment. At that time,\naccording to Moslem belief, the souls of the human race will rush to this\nspot and present themselves before Mohammed and Christ, who will pass on\ntheir virtues and sins. After that all must go to the Pillar of Judgment\nand cross on the wire rope to the Mount of Olives. According to another\nMohammedan story, the Moslems will be turned into fleas, and Mohammed\nhimself into a sheep, in which form he will ascend to heaven with the\nfaithful fleas in his wool.\n\nThe rock is esteemed sacred by every Mohammedan. It is surrounded by an\niron stockade which none is allowed to enter. It is about forty feet long\nand sixty feet wide, and rises some six feet out of the floor. It fills\nthe whole inclosure and comes so close to the fence that one can touch\nit, or, if he is devout, as are most of the worshippers we see in the\nmosque, he can put his mouth through the bars and impress a kiss upon it.\n\nAs we walk about the fence examining the rock our turbaned guide shows\nus its wonders. \u201cHere,\u201d says he, pointing to a round hole in one of the\nsides, \u201cis the mark of Mohammed\u2019s heel. It was from that spot that the\nholy Prophet ascended to heaven, and as he rose the rock started to go up\nwith him holding fast to his heel. The Angel Gabriel had to put his hand\nupon it to keep it down, and here,\u201d pointing to five curious marks, \u201care\nthe places where Gabriel\u2019s fingers rested when he did so.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Moslem pilgrims pray at the Mosque of Omar, which occupies\nthe site of Solomon\u2019s Temple. It is said that no faithful Jew will enter\nits inclosure, for fear of treading on the spot where once was the Holy\nof Holies]\n\n[Illustration: Every Friday devout Jews weep under the walls of the\nMosque of Omar, mourning the loss of their temple. They repeat for hours\ntheir litany: \u201cFor the temple that is desolate.... We sit in solitude and\nmourn\u201d]\n\nA little farther on the guide tells us that this rock is the centre of\nthe earth, and that some believe it to be the gate of hell. He shows us\na plate of jasper as big as a checker board, in which are three golden\nnails, saying that the plate originally contained nineteen nails which\nMohammed had driven into it. One nail drops out at the end of each age\nof the Moslem cycle, and when the last nail is gone the end of the world\nwill occur. The guide offers to let me pull out the last three nails for\na dollar apiece, but I have no desire to hasten the Judgment Day, and\ntherefore refuse. In that way I save the world.\n\n\u201cThe devil got at this plate one day,\u201d so our consular _kavass_ tells me,\n\u201cand was jerking out the nails at a great rate when the Angel Gabriel\ncaught him and pulled him away.\u201d\n\nThese stories are silly, but they are only a few of many which are told\nus when we are inside the mosque. Nevertheless, the average Mohammedan\nof this side of the world believes them, and we see bearded, gowned,\nand turbaned men and white-sheeted, veiled women praying over these\nholy places. They kiss the marks of Mohammed\u2019s footprints and run their\nhandkerchiefs and beads over the rock. They pray as they do so, for the\nProphet said that one prayer here is worth a thousand uttered anywhere\nelse, and he prayed here himself.\n\nThe greatest interest of Mount Moriah, however, arises from the fact that\nwe know this was the actual site of Solomon\u2019s Temple as well as that of\nthe two other Jewish temples which succeeded it. The first house of God\nerected by the Israelites was the Tabernacle. This was constructed at\nthe direction of Moses just after he had received the Commandments. It\nis said to have been just about half the size of the Temple of Solomon,\nalthough there are passages in the Scriptures which lead us to think the\nlatter must have been very much larger. The Tabernacle was a movable\nbuilding. It was about fifty feet long and sixteen or seventeen feet\nwide. The roof and walls were formed of curtains made of linen or wool\nbeautifully sewed and fastened in places with gold buckles. There were\nalso curtains of goat\u2019s hair and of ram\u2019s wool dyed red. Some suppose the\nroof of the Tabernacle to have been flat, and others that it was ridged\nlike a tent, with a cube inside about sixteen feet square, which was the\nHoly of Holies. In the latter were the Ark of the Covenant and the Tables\nof the Law.\n\nSolomon\u2019s Temple was planned by David, who collected much of the material\nused. Solomon himself made a bargain with Hiram, King of Tyre, to aid him\nin supplying the timber and certain classes of the mechanics. Hiram was a\nPh\u0153nician king who lived up the coast and who controlled the forests of\nLebanon. He gave Solomon a concession of certain tracts of cedar and fir,\nand the Hebrew king sent men in parties of ten thousand each to go to the\nmountains and cut down the trees. The servants of Hiram helped them, and\nthey carried the lumber to the shores of the Mediterranean and floated\nit down to Jaffa, whence it was brought up to Jerusalem. The Bible says\nthat Solomon gave King Hiram every year two thousand measures of wheat\nand twenty measures of oil as his part of the contract, and that the two\nkings were associated together.\n\nThe first temple was begun by Solomon more than twenty-nine hundred years\nago, and it took seven years to build it. I have translated some of its\ndimensions into feet. The cubit, which was then the unit of measurement,\nwas as long as the distance from a man\u2019s elbow to the tip of his middle\nfinger, and varied from eighteen to twenty-one inches. Putting the\ncubit at twenty inches the ground plan of the Temple was sixty-six feet\nwide and one hundred and thirty-three feet long, and according to some\nstatements its height was fifty feet, although one of the roofs rose\neight feet and the other sixteen above the inside walls. There is another\nplace in the Bible in which it is stated that the height of the porch was\none hundred and twenty cubits, which would make it two hundred feet high.\n\nThe Temple of Solomon had disappeared long before Christ was born. It\nwas destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, 596 B.C., and a new building was not\nerected until the Jews came back from their captivity at Babylon. This\nwas also destroyed many years later and a third and last temple was\nerected by Herod the Great eighteen years before Christ. In that temple\noccurred the scenes of Christ\u2019s ministry. It was there that He talked\nwith the priests as a boy of twelve, and from there He drove out the\nmoney changers.\n\nThe Temple of Herod is said to have been much finer than Solomon\u2019s. It\nhas been described by Josephus, who probably had a ground plan of the\nbuilding before him when he wrote. He says that the space it covered was\nabout twice as large as that of the old temple. It was of much the same\nstyle as the Temple of Solomon, but its approaches were more imposing,\nand it doubtless displayed all the architectural beauties of the time,\nwhich was one of magnificent buildings.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nJEWS OF JERUSALEM\n\n\nThe Jews are rapidly coming into their own. The Holy City now contains\nsome thirty thousand of them; they form about half of its whole\npopulation. They have acquired the right to own land in Palestine, and\nthey can come and go as they please. This has not always been the case.\nJewish immigration used to be prohibited, and such Jews as bought real\nestate had to purchase and hold it under other names.\n\nUntil the last decade of the nineteenth century the Turkish Government\nhad a rule that no Jew might come into Palestine and stay there longer\nthan three weeks. The restrictions were given up largely through the\nactivities of Mr. Gilman, a former American consul to Jerusalem. When\nhe came to the Holy City it was the policy of the representatives of\nthe other foreign governments there to aid the Turkish authorities in\nexpelling immigrant Jews. Shortly after his arrival he was advised by the\nSultan\u2019s officials that some American Jews were overstaying their time\nin the Holy Land and was requested to direct them to leave. He replied\nthat such action was entirely contrary to the spirit of our government\nwhich is founded on religious toleration and freedom, and after some\nnegotiations the American Jews were allowed to remain. Soon after this\nthe British consul, acting under instructions from the British minister\nat Constantinople, took the same stand, and the other leading governments\nfollowed suit. Seventy-five years ago there were only thirty-two Jewish\nfamilies in all Jerusalem and only three thousand in all Palestine.\n\n[Illustration: Christian sects may quarrel over their holy places,\nJews may clamour for their national home in Palestine, while the Arabs\nproclaim that the land is theirs. Neither politics nor religion disturbs\nthis maid of modern Jerusalem]\n\n[Illustration: Snow is almost unknown in these grass-grown vaulted\nstreets, beneath which lie buried the ruins of the Jerusalems of the\npast. The streets Christ trod are twenty to eighty feet below the city of\nto-day]\n\nNow there are sixty-odd thousand in the Holy Land and, as I have said,\nJews make up half the population of the Holy City. The Jews here are now\nengaging in trade, and already control a large part of the business of\nJerusalem.\n\nForty different languages are spoken among the Jews of Palestine, and\nthere are many who cannot understand one another. In the main there are\nthree separate classes: First is the Ashkenazim, made up of Jews from\nRussia, Poland, Austria, and Germany. These people are much like the\nlower-class Jews of America, and their common language is Yiddish. The\nsecond class is the Sephardim. They are Spanish Jews, descendants of\nthose who came here centuries ago. These Jews speak a mixture of Spanish\nand Hebrew. The third class is the Eastern Jews, made up of Israelites\nfrom Syria, Persia, Arabia, and Central Asia. They speak Arabic and look\nmuch like Moslems.\n\nThe American Jews are comparatively few, and it is seldom that you\nmeet one born in the United States. Those who claim to be American\ncitizens are chiefly natives who have gone to the United States to\nget naturalization papers, and then returned here to live. Many of\nthem are frauds, and our consul believes that some of them bought\ntheir naturalization papers without ever leaving Palestine. American\ncitizenship is an especially valuable badge of protection in this part\nof the world. Said our consul to me:\n\n\u201cOur citizenship has been used to carry on frauds. When I first came\nhere I found it serving as a cloak for crime. One man who claimed to be\nan American was acting as receiver of stolen cattle, and selling them\nopenly. He carried on a big business, and although the officials were\naware of his criminal practices they could not arrest him. This was so\nbecause of a difference between our government and that of Turkey.\n\n\u201cThe treaties provide that the offences of Americans against the Turks\nmay be punished only by the American consul, and we contended that\nthis gave us the right of trial in such cases. The Turkish Government\ncontended that all such offenders must be tried in the Turkish courts,\nand as neither government would give in, it was impossible to convict and\npunish without bringing about international complications. As soon as I\ncame I decided to stop it and told the man I would arrest and convict him\nby means of American witnesses. The result was that he did not wait for\ntrial, but skipped out of the country.\u201d\n\nMost of the Jews here pride themselves on their piety. They think\nthemselves above the Jew who has suffered long contamination by mixing\nwith foreigners, and some of them especially despise the American.\nMeeting one on the street they may slap him on the stomach and sneeringly\nask how much pork he ate when he was in the United States. In making\nthis statement I refer to the fanatics who are composed more especially\nof the Spaniards and the members of the Ashkenazim. These people have\ninner circles of religious aristocracy, some of whom are supposed to\nhave magic powers of healing. Among them are many men of education and\nculture, men who know the Bible from beginning to end, and who speak\nseveral languages. One can tell nothing of the culture of the Jerusalem\nJew by his dress, for a dirty, ragged old man is often a great scholar.\n\nThe dress here is about the same among all classes of the Israelites.\nThe boys and the men wear coats without belts which reach from the neck\nto the feet. They are full, and are slightly open at the front, showing\ngowns under them. Many of the Spanish Jews wear black turbans or velvet\ncaps with a wide fringe of fur outside. Some wear broad-brimmed felt hats\nwhich come far down over the forehead, half hiding the ears. They do not\nshave, for a long beard is a sign of wisdom, dignity, and piety. They\nwear the hair long, with a curly lock on each side of the face, in front\nof the ears. These locks often reach down to the breast, and are allowed\nto grow, according to a saying in Scriptures, which reads, \u201cThou must not\nmar the corners of thy beard.\u201d\n\nMany of the Jews never cut the hair in front of the ears for fear of\ntouching the beard, and I see boys with the rest of the head shaved and\nthese two earlocks left.\n\nThese Jerusalem Jews have fine faces. Many of them have high foreheads,\nstrong noses and mouths, and beautiful eyes. Some are fair and others\nhave olive complexions. Their hair is of all colours from jet black to\nblond and fiery red, and there are many old men with beards of silver.\n\nIndeed many of the Jews of the Holy City are old men and old women who\nhave come here to die. Jerusalem is to many of the Jews what Benares is\nto the Hindu. They have a superstition that this city is on the direct\nroad to heaven and that they must come here in order to attain paradise.\nI am told that many of the Jews of this city believe that if they should\ndie in other lands they will be dragged under the earth through the globe\nto the Mount of Olives, where the Resurrection is to take place. The\nJewish cemetery on the side of the mountain contains thousands of tombs.\nIt is said that soil from that spot is sent all over the world to be\nput in Jewish coffins. Not a few of the old men who live here have left\ntheir business to come. Some have given their estates to their sons and\nrelatives, and receive allowances from them. Not long ago one such came\nto the American consul, and said that he would like to leave some money\nto found a synagogue in Jerusalem. He looked dirty and ragged, and the\nconsul asked what he had to leave. He replied that he owned under other\nnames six good houses in Jerusalem and that the money to buy them had\nbeen saved out of an allowance of a thousand dollars a year which his\nsons in New York had been sending him.\n\nThe Jews of Jerusalem are far more particular as to the observances\nof their religion than the Jews of America. There are more than one\nhundred synagogues in this city, in all of which worship is held on the\nSabbath. I have attended many of the services and have generally found\nthe synagogues full. The men read Hebrew aloud. They come in their best\nclothing, and some of the old men are gorgeous in their rich gowns of\nvelvet and silk.\n\nThe Sabbath here begins Friday night and does not end until six o\u2019clock\nSaturday. It begins just as soon as the stars can be seen Friday, after\nwhich no work of any kind must be done. Neither fire nor lamp may be\nlighted, so most of the people light their lamps before the dark comes\nand hire Gentiles to come in at bedtime to blow them out. The meals for\nthe Sabbath are all cooked beforehand, and if there are any hot dishes\nthey must be cooked by the Gentiles.\n\nThe orthodox Jew here will not carry a bucket, an umbrella, or even a\nbaby on the Sabbath day. I have just heard of a boy who was given a new\nsuit of clothes on Saturday, his Sabbath. The gift was made by one of the\nAmerican colony outside the walls, and the people there watched to see\nhow the boy could stick to his religion and still carry his new clothes\nhome. After pondering some time, he finally put the clothes on and wore\nthem, thus escaping the sin of carrying them on God\u2019s holy day.\n\nThe Jews here have a slaughter house of their own. Indeed, they kill\nall of the cattle of Jerusalem, serving the Gentiles free of charge, in\norder that there may be no danger of sinning by eating animals improperly\nkilled. The city abattoirs are on the road to Jericho across the valley\nof Jehoshaphat, on the southern slope of the Mount of Olives. The cattle\nand sheep are brought there and passed upon by the Jewish rabbis. They\nare then killed and skinned according to the Mosaic law, and the meat\nis stamped by the rabbis before it is offered for sale in the cities. A\nspecial stamp is placed on all that supplied to the Jews, and such meat,\nstrange to say, brings about twice as much per pound as that sold to the\nGentiles.\n\nIf the meat is good to eat it is known as _kosher_. If not killed\naccording to the regulations, it is called _tarif_, and no Jew will\ntouch it. The killing is done by the rabbinical butcher, who cuts the\nanimal\u2019s throat with one stroke of the knife, going just deep enough\nnot to touch the bones. The law provides not only that the meat must\nbe healthy, but that no bone must be scratched, cut, or broken, and if\nthe butcher\u2019s knife slips and cuts off a bit of bone, even though it be\nno thicker than a sheet of paper, the whole carcass is regarded as bad\nand fit only for the Gentiles. The Jews eat cattle and sheep, but they\nwill not touch the meat of pigs or game. Said one of the sportsmen of\nPalestine to me:\n\n\u201cIf the Jews ate game they would clean out our partridges and other birds\nin a season. But as it is, there is always good shooting.\u201d\n\nMost of the Jews here will not eat the hind quarters of any animal, and\nthe hind legs and loins are sold to the Gentiles. The Spanish Jews say\nthat those who eat pork will be damned, but they get around eating rump\nsteak by pulling out the white sinews or scraping off the red particles\nof the meat and making what we know as Salisbury steaks from them.\n\nThe Jewish quarter of Jerusalem is confined to the southeastern part\nof the city. It is near the great platform on which Solomon\u2019s Temple\nstood and inside the Dung Gate. It is a dirty, squalid, poverty-stricken\nsection. Many of the Jews here are mendicants, who live on the alms\nsent in by the Jews from the outside. At fixed hours of the day bread\nis given away at certain places and the people come for it in crowds.\nThere are funds which are supplied at regular intervals to those who need\nthem, and much of the population is supported this way. They might be\ncalled educated paupers. Many of these people are desperately poor. I\nvisited a number of the houses, finding family after family each living\nin cave-like rooms no larger than a hall bedroom and lighted only by a\ndoor at the front. In such dwellings the floors and walls are of stone,\nand about the only furniture is the beds, which are for the grown-ups\nonly. The children sleep on the floor. The kitchen is often on a porch\noutside the house, and the water comes from a court in which is a well or\ncistern. This well may be used by a half-dozen different families, and\nits surroundings are unsanitary to an extreme.\n\nOn the doorposts of each of these dwellings, whether it be of one room\nor more, is tacked up a roll of white parchment six inches long. This\ncontains the name of Jehovah and the Ten Commandments. Every Jew here\nwears the Commandments tied upon his arm under his coat, and some have\nphylacteries, or strips of parchment with texts upon them, about their\nforeheads.\n\nOne of the strangest sights of Jerusalem is the Jews\u2019 wailing place,\nwhere every Friday afternoon and Saturday morning certain sects meet on\nthe outside of the walls of the Mosque of Omar and with their heads bent\nagainst the stones sorrow over the loss of Jerusalem and pray God to give\nthe land back to His chosen people. This custom has been observed since\nthe days of the Middle Ages and it is one of the saddest of sights. I\nvisited it last week. In a narrow alley surrounded by miserable houses\u2014on\nstone flags which have been worn with the bare feet of thousands of\nJews\u2014against a wall of great blocks of marble which reached for fifty or\nmore feet about them, a line of men in long gowns and of women with head\nshawls stood with their heads bowed, praying and weeping. Many of the\nmen had white beards and the long curly locks which fell down in front of\ntheir ears were silver. Others were just in their prime. There were also\nyoung men and young girls. Not a few of the male mourners wore European\nclothes, and I saw one woman wailing in a hat and gown of Parisian\ndesign. Most of the women, however, were dressed in Jewish costume with\nshawls wrapped around their heads.\n\nEach of the mourners had a book in his hand and read the Lamentations of\nJeremiah, swaying back and forth as he did so. Now and then the whole\nparty broke out into a chant, a gray-haired rabbi acting as leader and\nthe rest coming in on the refrain. The substance of one of the chants was\nas follows:\n\n O Lord, we pray thee have mercy on Zion,\n Gather the children of Jerusalem together!\n May the kingdom soon return to Zion!\n Comfort those who mourn over Jerusalem,\n And let the branch of Jesse spring up in Zion!\n\nStill more affecting was this one:\n\n _Leader_\u2014For the palace that lies desolate.\n _Response_\u2014We sit in solitude and mourn.\n _Leader_\u2014For our Majesty that is departed.\n _Response_\u2014We sit in solitude and mourn.\n _Leader_\u2014For the walls that are destroyed.\n _Response_\u2014We sit in solitude and mourn.\n _Leader_\u2014For our great men who lie dead.\n _Response_\u2014We sit in solitude and mourn.\n _Leader_\u2014For our priests who have stumbled.\n _Response_\u2014We sit in solitude and mourn.\n\nThe effect of this chant cannot be appreciated unless you hear it.\nThe old men, the weeping women who kiss the stones of the wall that\nseparates them from what was once the site of Solomon\u2019s Temple, and\nthat is even now the holiest spot on the earth to the Jew, the genuine\nfeeling expressed by all and the faith they show in thus coming here week\nafter week and year after year, are most wonderfully impressive. It is\nindeed one of the strange sights of this strangest of cities. A nation is\nmourned for.\n\n[Illustration: Many learned Jews come to end their days in the Holy City.\nThe raggedest man may be the greatest scholar. Some of them have returned\nfrom America whence their successful sons send funds for their support in\nthe land of their fathers]\n\n[Illustration: The Tower of David was standing here when Christ walked in\nZion. Jerusalem, like other ancient cities, was surrounded by walls for\nits defence, with towers here and there along their course]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE EVIL EYE\n\n\nThe Evil Eye is abroad in the Holy Land, and a glance from it will bring\nyou misfortune. It will lame your horse, cow, or camel, and it may cause\nyour child to sicken or die. It can ruin your health or your business,\nand it may even send your soul to eternal damnation. Those who possess\nthe evil eye are devils incarnate, but you cannot tell who they are.\nThey go about in the shape of innocent-looking men, women, and children,\nso you will not realize that their spells have been cast upon you until\nmisfortune comes.\n\nThe belief exists throughout Palestine and is common all over this\npart of the world. Every house in Jerusalem, whether Jew, Moslem, or\nChristian, contains charms to ward off such spells. Every man, woman, and\nchild carries a talisman to keep off the witches. Some of these charms\nare in the shape of a hand, because of an old Jewish saying that the hand\nof God will arrest all disasters, and a Mohammedan habit of calling upon\nthe hand of Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, to guard the Faithful\nfrom evil. Silver hands are sold as charms, and the wealthier classes\nwear hands of gold inside the necks of their gowns. Every Jerusalem\nhouse has a painting or carving of a hand on its front door to keep off\nthe evil eye; and even in the new houses which are now going up they\nare putting hands over the windows as well as at the front doors. Over\ntheir doors hang bags of charms containing an egg, a piece of alum, some\ngarlic, and a large blue bead.\n\nBlue is believed to be a colour which frightens the devil. These people\nthink that anything blue will ward off the evil eye, and for this reason\nhorses, donkeys, and camels have strings of blue beads round their\nnecks. Every horse and donkey that I have ridden since I set foot in the\nHoly Land has been decorated with beads, and in a carriage trip that I\nrecently took across country, changing my teams three times, every horse\nwe drove had a blue necklace. One was a three-year-old colt, which was\nlively and skittish. He wore several strands of blue beads, each as big\nas the nail of my thumb. As he jumped about he broke the string and the\nbeads fell off and were lost. The driver went back to look for them, but\nhunted in vain, and was troubled during the rest of the day. When toward\nevening the colt got a stone in his foot and went lame, he said it was\nthe evil eye, which might have been kept off had the beads not been lost.\n\nI see many children here wearing blue beads, some of which are the shape\nof an eye. There is one special kind made in Hebron which is considered\nmost effective. It is a bead of blue glass of the shape of a hand with\nfive fingers. It is worn as a charm. Some of the children are clad in\nblue gowns with white circles stamped on them. Every store has some blue\ninside it, and in some a silver hand is hung up on the walls. Every bride\nwears blue beads at her wedding, and in wedding processions salt, rice,\nand sugar plums are thrown at the bride and bridegroom to keep off the\nevil eye and bring luck.\n\nI have been warned that I should always have some alum in my pocket,\nfor this is a charm which will keep away witches. It is usually carried\nalong with the beads. Some beads are made with a small piece of alum\ninside them, and people who are ashamed to show their belief in the beads\noften carry alum in their pockets. If a child goes out without charms the\nmother is greatly alarmed, and if she thinks that someone has cast an\nevil eye on it she burns a bit of the child\u2019s clothes with incense and a\nsmall piece of alum. She first prays over the child, waving the bit of\nstuff and the alum about as she does so. She then throws the charm into\nan open fire and holds the child over it. As the alum burns it gives\noff a smoke which takes certain shapes, and the mother believes that by\nlooking at them she can learn who has cast the evil eye on her child. The\nsame rite is gone through with by pretty girls who feel ill on coming\nhome from a call. They work this charm to find out who has cast a spell\non them.\n\nOne of the commonest safeguards against the evil eye is a text from the\nBible or the Koran such as: \u201cBreak down the spell of the Eye\u201d; or \u201cBy the\nblessings of God.\u201d These phrases written in Arabic characters are framed\nand hung up in many of the houses. They are also carved upon furniture.\n\nThe Jews carry about texts of the Scriptures. The Christians have relics\nof saints, and some of the natives here think they have pieces of the\ntrue cross.\n\nIt is customary to use the name of God at the beginning of every sentence\nwhich contains the name of one\u2019s friend.\n\n[Illustration: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the centre of\nsuperstition in Jerusalem, where imagination sets the only limit to\nstories told to the tourists\u2014and implicitly believed by many of them]\n\n[Illustration: The women of the Holy Land are great believers in the\npower of the Evil Eye and wear blue beads and other charms to keep the\nspirits away. Bits of alum, which is supposed to be especially effective,\nare often worn in little bags around the neck]\n\nThe people of Palestine do not like to hear themselves complimented\nunless at the same time you use the name of God. Otherwise they believe\nsuch expressions are bound to bring misfortunes and possibly troubles and\ndeath. If you call a boy or a girl pretty its mother\u2019s heart is filled\nwith terror, and she straightway throws out her hand, extending the index\nand little finger in a way supposed to ward off the devil and to prevent\nthe evil consequences of your remark. If you wish to praise the beauty of\na child you must begin the sentence with, \u201cMay God surround thee.\u201d After\nthat you may go on as you please. If you pat the child on the head and\nfail to use this sentence, the mother upon returning home will take the\nchild into a room and put it in the middle of the floor. She will then\ntake a shovel and gather some dust from each of the four corners, and\nthrow it into the fire, crying: \u201cFie on thee, evil eye.\u201d\n\nSimilar precautions should be taken in admiring a horse or a donkey, and\nthere are ways of keeping the evil eye away from them. If a man has a\nspirited horse which he fears the people may admire, he carries with him\nsome salt. As he rides through the crowds he will now and then sprinkle a\nlittle salt under the feet of the horse, especially if he sees the crowd\nlooking at it. If any one asks whether he will sell the animal he must\nanswer yes, but if asked what he will take he makes the price so high\nthat the man cannot buy. At such times he usually requests the would-be\npurchaser to stop thinking of his horse for fear it may bring misfortune.\n\nAnother superstition regarding salt relates to babies at birth. It is\nsprinkled over their bodies to keep off the devil, and is used at all\nother ceremonies connected with children.\n\nThe power of the evil eye is also possessed by spirits who inhabit\nhuman beings. The people here believe in one class of spirits who live\nunderground but who are fed by those on earth. They are said to come\nup and take the wheat from the threshing-floors and the bread from the\novens, and the only way to keep them from doing so is to utter a sentence\nfrom the Koran or Bible as you put the bread in to bake, or spread out\nthe grain. These same spirits hover about the fire, and if you quench it\nwithout asking Mohammed to protect you the spirits are liable to beat you\nor perhaps lame you for life.\n\nThese underground spirits are known as the jinn. Their favourite place of\nresidence is below the front doorsteps, for which reason women are not\nallowed to sit there. The jinn, or genii, are supposed to be an organized\nbody, having a sultan, a court, and regular officials. They keep guard on\nthe food stores and are on the whole fairly good fellows. They are said\nto be fond of human company. It is even whispered that they sometimes\nassume human shape and marry mortals. They are believed to be most common\nin Egypt. One may attract a jinn by whistling, and it is said that the\ngirls here frequently whistle. Some of the men of Palestine are jealous\nof the jinn, thinking they have association with their wives, and some\nwill not look at a real woman for fear the jinn girls, who they imagine\nare in love with them, will object.\n\nOne of the queer superstitions here in Jerusalem is the idea that a\nmarriage in a cemetery will propitiate the Lord and cause Him to favour\nHis people. This is believed by the native Jews, and several cemetery\nweddings have recently occurred on account of the drought. Palestine\nhas had no rain for weeks and the crops are drying up. The people are\nwildly excited over the prospect. There is also an epidemic of infantile\nparalysis, which has been carrying off the children. The people think\nthat God is angry with them, and perhaps wroth because the graveyard\nmarriages have been too few. To pacify Him they have had weddings in the\ncemeteries, though a graveyard is considered a most unlucky place for\nstarting upon the life matrimonial. Indeed, it so unlucky that brides\nand grooms have to be hired to get married there. At a marriage which\ntook place this week the couple received two hundred dollars in gold,\nbesides food for two years, as a present for having the ceremony in the\ncemetery. In this case the groom was a Jew from Yemen, Arabia, and the\nbride a Jewess from Aleppo, in Syria. The bride was late coming, and the\nthree thousand worshippers who had assembled to see the ceremony had to\nwait for two hours. She was finally carried in under a canopy, and took\nher stand on one side of an open grave while the bridegroom stood on the\nother. Standing thus they exchanged marriage vows. Two more cemetery\nweddings are planned, but it is difficult to get willing couples, as such\nmarriages are supposed to be disastrous. Nevertheless, the charm seems to\nbe working. The wind has changed since the first ceremony took place, and\nit may rain by and by.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nEASTER IN JERUSALEM\n\n\nAt no time in the whole year is the Holy City so interesting as during\nEaster Week. Jerusalem seems always filled to overflowing, but during\nHoly Week it is crowded and jammed with people for days and nights on end\nto a degree that it is impossible to describe.\n\nI had the good fortune to be here during the most remarkable Easter that\nJerusalem ever had, when by a curious coincidence the calendars of the\nvarious sects fixed the holy feasts on the same days, and the Jewish\nPassover and the Mohammedan festival of Nebu Musa, or the pilgrimage from\nthe Mosque of Omar to the tomb of Moses, came during Easter Week. These\ncelebrations packed the narrow, vaulted, winding streets of Jerusalem\nwith a jam of crushed and crushing humanity. They filled the monasteries\nwhich surround the walls with tens of thousands of pilgrims, and clothed\nthe Holy City in a greater variety of colours than were in the coat which\nJacob gave to his favourite son Joseph.\n\nThe walls of Jerusalem enclose an area of not more than three hundred\nacres of ground, made up of hill and hollow, all filled with the\nflat-roofed box-like houses. There is no regularity in the city. The\nstreets wind in and out and up and down, now becoming narrow, murky\ntunnels, and now roofed with the blue sky of Palestine. They are so\nnarrow that through most of them no wheeled vehicle can go, and standing\nin the middle of many of them you can touch the walls on both sides with\nyour outstretched hands. It is in such streets that the thousands move to\nand fro at Easter.\n\n[Illustration: Grandfather and grandson\u2014and both are followers of the\nancient profession of begging. Under Turkish taxation the Palestinians\nwere reduced to such dire poverty that asking alms is considered no\ndisgrace]\n\n[Illustration: Where Christ rested when carrying the Cross to Calvary\npilgrims now stop to pray in the Via Dolorosa]\n\nI doubt whether there is a town of five hundred population in the United\nStates which is built upon three hundred acres of land. Here there are\nover one hundred times that many people, and the Easter visitors swell\nthe number to as many more. During Holy Week the bulk of this mass of\nhumanity crowds into the section of the city surrounding the Church of\nthe Holy Sepulchre. There seem to be scores of thousands of worshippers\nin an area less than that of a city block, and the two or three narrow\nstreets leading to the sanctuary become so crowded that Moslem soldiers\nmust be constantly on guard to keep them in order. The gay colours of\nthe clothes of the Orient turn the streets into a flowing mass of broken\nrainbows, and the jabber of a score of languages makes a noise quite as\nremarkable as that heard at the Tower of Babel.\n\nLet me show you David Street as it looked to me the day after Palm\nSunday. David Street is the narrow way leading from Jaffa Gate down\ninto the city. It is about ten feet wide, and we go through it into the\nChristian Street, which, by a second turn, brings us to the Church of\nthe Holy Sepulchre. At the top is the Tower of David, a square stone\nstructure one hundred feet high, a part of which was in existence before\nthe Christian Era. In the large square in front of this is the vegetable\nmarket of Jerusalem, where pedlars from Bethlehem and elsewhere sit on\nthe stones with their baskets about them. Standing with our backs to the\ntower, as far as we can see, we look upon a moving mass of pilgrims and\nnatives of all ages and colours and costumes.\n\nTwenty different nations are represented in the faces which look toward\nus. Here is an Ethiopian priest, in a tall black cap and a long black\ngown, whose black eyes are set in features as shiny as oiled ebony. He\nis one of the Abyssinian fathers and has his place in the ceremonies at\nEaster. That mahogany-faced man in a yellow gown is a Persian, and the\nfierce-looking Ishmaelite behind him, in a blanket of black-and-white\nstripes, his bronzed face crowned by a yellow silk handkerchief, is a\nBedouin; he is of the Moslem faith, and is on his way to worship at the\nmosque. Behind him comes a woman in a white sheet. Her features are\ncovered with a yellow gauze cloth with red leaves printed upon it; she is\nthe wife of a Mohammedan merchant, and her face is not to be seen outside\nthe harem. That slender, black-eyed girl, with the dark roses in her\ncheeks, is the daughter of a Polish Jew. Her cap is black, and, like all\nof her sisters, she wears a little silk flowered shawl.\n\nSome of the prettiest women in the world are peddling vegetables about\nyou. As you note their complexions you can hardly realize that they live\nunder the fierce sun of the tropics. Their skins are as fair as the\ncheeks of the girls of Dublin, and their regular features would make them\nbeauties in America. They wear high caps bound round with silver coins,\nrow after row rising up from their foreheads against a background of\nblack velvet.\n\nHere is a crowd of Russian peasants. The honest bronzed faces of the\nwomen look out under the brown handkerchiefs tied about their heads in\nplace of bonnets, and their short dresses of cheap cotton or wool come\nhalf way down over their high-topped boots. The men have tall fur caps,\nand their coats are made with skirts as full as the petticoats of the\nwomen. The faces of both sexes are strong, with honesty and industry\nshowing in every line. They cross themselves as two Greek priests pass\nthem.\n\nLet us push our way through the crowd. That tall soldier in red fez and\nEuropean uniform breaks the way for us. We pass good-natured Moslems and\nJews; we are jostled by Bedouin girls in gypsy dress, and by Bethlehem\nshepherds clad in sheep-skins. Going by the market women squatting at\nthe turning, we follow the crowd and pass on to the entrance of one of\nthe tunnel-like bazaars. Leaving this, we turn into another arch at the\nright, and diving through vaulted, twisting caves of stores, we go down\nsome steps, past the money-changers, who sit at the street corners with\nlittle glass-covered boxes of gold and silver coins before them. Brushing\nby dozens of beggars we arrive at last in the court in front of the great\nChurch of the Holy Sepulchre. Now we are in the heart of the Jerusalem of\nEaster.\n\nThis court is where the multitude stood to see the crucifixion of our\nLord. On the opposite side from the entrance, in a corner of the Church\nof the Holy Sepulchre, is the Rock of Calvary, and the buildings which\nsurround it are the convents and monasteries of the various Christian\nsects.\n\nA stream of worshippers of all nations passes continuously among the\nhordes of beggars and pedlars squatting on the stones. Here a young\nSyrian is selling candles of all kinds and sizes, from tapers no bigger\nthan your little finger to great cylinders as thick as your arm, to\npilgrims who go to burn them before the altars within the sepulchre.\n\nThere is a rosary pedlar doing a rushing business. She is a Bethlehem\ngirl with two bushels of beads. They are made of olive wood and of the\npips of the olive itself, as well as of mother-of-pearl. All around you\nare the characters of the Scriptures. Here is a dark-brown man whose\nface reminds you of that of Judas in Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s \u201cLast Supper.\u201d\nHe is peddling little crosses of mother-of-pearl. Here is a woman with\na face as beautifully sad as that of Mary Magdalene, and there is an\nold man selling pictures of the church dignitaries, whose patriarchal\nbeard and honest eyes make you think of Abraham. There are pedlars of\nbrass rings and glass bracelets from Hebron. The crier of drinks in bare\nfeet and blue gown, with his skin water bottle on his back, passes along\nannouncing his wares by clinking his two brass drinking-cups together.\n\nThe crowd moves on in a never-ending stream toward the door of the\nchurch. It is the same, morning and evening, day in and day out.\nThousands upon thousands of footsteps have worn the flag stones to the\nsmoothness of marble, and on and on they come, year after year and\ngeneration after generation. We enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,\nthe church which these people believe covers the spot where Christ was\ncrucified and where His tomb is kept. It is the church that Constantine\nbuilt, the church for which the Crusaders fought, the shrine where the\nreligious of all Christendom would bow.\n\nIt is a vast building of yellow limestone rising out of and above a\njumble of houses in front of the court, with a dome a little smaller than\nthat of our Capitol at Washington. At one side a chapel rises above the\nother parts of the structure to the second story, and the whole stands\nupon hill and valley so that the chapel rests upon a rock high above the\nlevel of the ground floor. This rock is supposed to be Calvary, upon\nwhich stood the cross of Christ. Around the rotunda extends a series of\nbuildings, consisting of gaudily decorated churches and chapels of a\ndozen different denominations and sects. A wide vaulted aisle runs around\nbetween these and the rotunda into which they open.\n\nEntering, we go through a high-arched door past a ledge cut into the wall\nat the right where Mohammedan officers smoke long-stemmed water-pipes\nwhile they sit with their legs crossed and direct the soldiers posted\nhere to keep the crowds in order. We go into a great square vestibule in\nthe centre of which, with rows of immense candles at its head and foot,\nthere lies under a long row of beautiful brass lamps a rectangular stone\nof rose-coloured marble about eight feet long and four feet wide. It is\nfour inches above the floor, and around its edges burn the wax tapers of\nworshippers. This is the Stone of Unction on which it is said the body of\nthe Lord was laid when it was anointed for burial.\n\nPilgrim after pilgrim walks forward and prostrates himself before it.\nEach one gets down on his knees, and bows his head to the floor, then\nleans over and kisses the stone. As we come closer we see that the\nmarble has been worn rough by the pressure of human lips. As we stand\nand watch the earnest worshippers who pray before it, we cannot but be\nimpressed with their faith. An old peasant woman in black, who trembles\nas she puts her long thin hands caressingly on the marble, bends over\nand touches it again and again with her withered lips. A pretty boy of\nten crosses himself and kneels beside his Armenian mother while they go\nthrough their devotions together. Another pilgrim lays his beads on the\nslab, that they may be blessed by the contact, and crosses himself as he\nrises. Now there kneels a family of Greeks, the men in the ballet-girl\ncostume of the Albanians, followed by a richly dressed lady who lays some\ncakes of incense on the slab, and prays long before it. Behind her come\ntwo Russian women with long strips of white linen in their hands. Waiting\nuntil the crowd has partially thinned, they measure the stone with this\ncloth, and cut it into strips of just the size of the slab. They rub\nthese strips over the stone, praying as they do so, for these are to be\ntheir winding sheets, and they believe that, buried in them, they will\nrest more easily in their graves. It is difficult to appreciate the\nsolemnity of the worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.\n\nThere is superstition mixed with earnest, honest faith, as is so often\nthe case in the poor, weak human brain, even in those who lay claim to\ngreater intellectuality than these poor pilgrims.\n\nThese tens of thousands of pilgrims continue to pray as they rise from\nthe Stone of Unction, and then with bowed heads walk on into the great\nrotunda of the church itself. Here in the very centre rises an oblong\nmarble structure about thirty feet high, twenty-five feet long, and\nseventeen feet wide. The marble is yellow with age and the architecture\nof the building is rude rather than artistic. This is the tomb of Christ.\nIt is more like a chapel than a tomb, and its fronts and sides are\ncovered with candles. Curious brass lamps, with glass globes of different\ncolours, hang like a frieze around its alabaster top, and between these\nare oil paintings of scriptural scenes. In its front, in gold pillars\nas tall as a man, are columns of painted wax each six inches thick and\ntwelve feet high. At the top of each of these a flame trembles.\n\nAt Easter there flows through its low door an endless stream of humanity.\nWe enter through a vestibule so dark that we can hardly see the features\nof the people around us, and find the same kissing and praying going\non. Upon the column of marble about three feet high, standing in the\ncentre of the vestibule, thousands of kisses are pressed every day. Into\nits top is set a piece of the stone which was rolled from the door of\nChrist\u2019s tomb. The stones walling the tomb are very thick, and the door\nis so narrow that only one man can enter it at a time, and so low that\neven boys bow their heads in going in. The space within is so small\nthat it will hold only four persons at once. It is dimly lighted with\ncandles, and a Greek priest in cap and gown is always on guard. At the\nright of the room, set into the wall, there is a marble slab of purest\nwhite resting upon another slab about four feet high and forming a box\nor ledge. This box is supposed to have been the sepulchre of Christ, to\nthe people of the Christian world the holiest of the holy places of the\nearth. The worshippers here pray and drop their tears, and men reverently\nback their way out to give place to others. All of the Christian\nsects claim a right to the tomb, and it is free of access to every\ndenomination.\n\nThe chapels of the various churches opening into the rotunda are\ngorgeously decorated, and each sect has some relic of the Crucifixion\nwhich people consider their especial charge and which they guard with\nthe greatest reverence. One chapel contains the stocks in which some of\nthe saints were imprisoned, and the chapel of the Syrians has the tomb\nof Nicodemus and of Joseph of Arimathea. The Latins have the column\nof the scourging. The Greeks, who have the finest chapel of all those\nsurrounding the rotunda, are first, both in wealth and power, in the\nChurch of the Sepulchre.\n\nThe Oriental Christians are very superstitious, and have implicit faith\nin all the stories connected with the Sepulchre. They believe that the\nceremonies of Easter carry with them saving grace, and during this Holy\nWeek they are in a state of religious frenzy. The officers of the various\nchurches do all they can to increase this excitement, with the result\nthat there is a series of religious pageants in which each patriarch and\nhis bishops try to outshine the other churches in splendour and gorgeous\nceremonials. The competition is so great that at times the various sects\nbreak out into unchristian fights, and once there was a riot in the Holy\nSepulchre in which more than three hundred pilgrims were suffocated or\ntrampled to death.\n\nDuring the ceremonies of Easter, companies of soldiers are stationed in\nthe more holy places of Jerusalem, and several companies surround the\nvarious patriarchs in their church exercises.\n\n[Illustration: Waiting for the Holy Fire to come down from Heaven, a\n\u201cmiracle\u201d celebrated by the Greek Church during Easter Week. From the\ncandle mysteriously lighted inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,\nothers are lighted in rapid succession]\n\n[Illustration: The use of ladders to gather the olive crop has replaced\nthe old, wasteful method of beating the trees to shake off the fruit. The\nolive grows best where its roots can find their way into the crevices of\na rock]\n\nThe celebrations begin with Palm Sunday. The patriarchs bless the palms\nwhich are distributed by the thousands to the people. Every man, woman,\nand child in Jerusalem seems to be waving palm branches, and the court\nand Church of the Sepulchre are filled with green. The Greek Patriarch\nand his bishops march three times around the grand aisle outside of the\nrotunda of the church, bearing a cross of gold and preceded by clouds\nof incense from urns carried by the bishops in gorgeous white brocaded\nsilk gowns covered with roses of red and gold. In the procession there\nare a score or more of bishops with crosses of diamonds six inches long\nupon their breasts, and with their long hair flowing from under their\nhigh caps and down upon their shoulders. The Greek Patriarch, the central\nfigure of all of these celebrations and the head of the Greek Church in\nPalestine and Arabia, carries the gold cross-like staff of his office. He\nis dressed in the most gorgeous of gowns of cloth of gold and silver, and\nupon his handsome gray head is his cap of high place\u2014a great dome-like\ntiara of silver and gold, fairly blazing with diamonds, emeralds, and\nrubies, each of them worth a fortune.\n\nEvery day of Holy Week has its ceremonies, and between times the pilgrims\nvisit the spots made sacred by association with Christ\u2019s life about\nJerusalem. They kiss the ground on which Stephen was stoned; they visit\nthe monastery which now stands on the floor of the house of Pontius\nPilate; they pray before Christ\u2019s prison, and they hold services all\nalong the Via Dolorosa, kneeling and praying at the various stations.\n\nThe Easter festival itself is not so wonderful in comparison with the\nservices of the week. The day is ushered in with the ringing of bells.\nThe Russian pilgrims rush into each other\u2019s arms and give the \u201ckiss\nof peace.\u201d The Easter celebrations are more notable for the display\nof fine vestments and gorgeous plate than for the excellence of the\nmusic or unusual features in the ceremonies. The Latin churches hold\ntheir services in front of the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, the Latin\nPatriarch officiating. There is a solemn high mass in front of the\nSepulchre, and after this the Patriarch and bishops, followed by the\ncrowd bearing lighted candles, march around the Church of the Holy\nSepulchre, chanting and offering up their prayers on the spots made\nsacred by their association with the Saviour\u2019s death and burial. The\nceremonies of the Greek Church come later, when all over the hills about\nJerusalem can be heard the voices of the people and the sound of the\nbells pealing forth the song of the risen Saviour.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nWASHING THE FEET OF THE APOSTLES\n\n\nTwo of the great sights of Easter in Jerusalem are the foot-washing on\nHoly Thursday and the \u201cmiracle\u201d of the descent of holy fire from heaven\non Easter Eve. During my visits to Jerusalem I have seen both ceremonies.\n\nThe washing takes place in the open air at the door of the Church of the\nHoly Sepulchre. The Greek Patriarch washes the feet of twelve of his\nbishops in commemoration of the foot-washing of the apostles by Christ\nafter the Last Supper.\n\nBy dawn of Holy Thursday, at the time I last saw this rite, the court was\npacked, and for hours before the ceremony began the streets were jammed\nwith a crowd of Mohammedans and Christians, of Orientals and Occidentals,\nsuch as you will see nowhere else in the world. Many of the pilgrims\nslept in the court all night in order to be sure of places. In the centre\nof the court stood an oval rostrum about four feet above the stones.\nAround its floor ran an iron railing enclosing a space about eight feet\nwide and twelve feet long. Inside the railing and running around it were\nseats, and at the back a gold and white armchair cushioned with red\nsatin. This stage was for the ceremony, and the chair the throne of the\nPatriarch. The other seats were for the bishops. Around this platform, to\nkeep back the crowd, was a guard of soldiers, and back of these, in a\nsolid mass, were the people.\n\nFrom my seat on a housetop I looked with wonder at the twenty thousand\npeople below. The steps leading to the chapel of Mount Calvary were\nfilled with Mohammedan women in sheet-like gowns with veiled faces, and\nevery niche and corner of the buildings surrounding the court was covered\nby Greek men and boys holding on to the walls as best they could. The\nledges of the convent were filled with Syrians, and even the roof of the\nSepulchre itself had its coping of picturesque humanity.\n\nThere was a stir in the crowd. I looked toward the door of the church.\nPreceded by two fierce-looking Syrian _kavasses_ with swords at their\nsides and carrying silver-headed staffs, came the bishops and in their\nmidst the stately figure of the Patriarch himself. The grand procession\npassed slowly and majestically through the mass of people. A wonderful\nsilence succeeded the tumult as the bishops mounted the steps of the\nrostrum. The Patriarch took his seat on his chair of state and the twelve\nbishops arranged themselves on each side. They were fine-looking men, all\nof them, with their full silken beards and their gorgeous robes.\n\nPresently a chanting solo was heard from the convent on the courtyard.\nThere against the wall in an improvised pulpit above the heads of the\nmultitude a Greek priest in black cap and gown stood with a gold-plated\nbook open on a rack in front of him. His chant continued during the\ngreater part of the proceedings. A priest brought to the rostrum a large\ngolden pitcher in a basin of gold as big as a foot-bath and placed it in\nfront of the Patriarch. As His Beatitude and the bishops rose, there was\na waving of the crosses formed of candles, a passing of the hands this\nway and that, and a great deal of bowing, which was understood only by\nthe Greeks and the Russians.\n\n[Illustration: The Church of the Pater Noster, on the Mount of Olives,\ncontains tablets of the Lord\u2019s Prayer in thirty-two languages]\n\n[Illustration: With towel and basin the Greek Patriarch washes the feet\nof his twelve bishops each Easter Week, thus commemorating Christ\u2019s\nwashing of the feet of His apostles. The bishop representing Peter always\nraises objections, which the Patriarch overrules]\n\nThen the Patriarch prepared for the washing. Standing in front of his\nchair, he first took off his great dome of a hat. As he did so his long\ngray locks fell down almost to his waist and his fair, open, dignified\nface shone out under the sun. He next laid off his grand gown; piece by\npiece the cloth of gold was removed, until at last he stood forth in a\nwhite robe of the finest cream-coloured silk cr\u00eape bound round the waist\nwith a gold-and-white girdle. In this still grand attire personating\nthe Saviour, he took a long Turkish bath towel and twisted it about his\nloins. Then stooping over he poured the water from the gold pitcher into\nthe basin.\n\nThe twelve bishops, in the meantime, were busy getting their feet out of\ntheir English congress-gaiters and pulling off their white cotton socks\nfor the washing. Each bared one foot and held it out to be washed as the\nPatriarch came around with the basin. The Patriarch did the washing very\nquickly, rubbing each foot with water and drying it with a towel. As he\nfinished he bent over and kissed the foot he had washed and then went\non to the next. The last bishop represented St. Peter, and, after the\nexample of Peter of the past, he objected to having his feet washed by\nthe Lord; he rose and gesticulated violently. But the Patriarch opened\nthe Bible and read to him the admonition of Christ to Peter, shaking his\nhand at Peter as he did so. A moment later Peter sat down humbly and\nsubmitted to the washing.\n\nAt this moment the bells of the Greek churches all over Jerusalem burst\nout in a chorus of rejoicing. The preacher against the wall chanted\nlouder than ever, while the great crowd surged this way and that in their\nefforts to get nearer the platform. The Patriarch descended, the bishops\nfollowed, and in double file they marched out through the crowd, with the\n_kavasses_ clearing the way. A priest carried in front of the Patriarch\na vase of the holy water in which the feet were washed, and into this\nHis Beatitude dipped a great bouquet of roses with which he sprinkled\nthe water over the crowd. The people held up their faces to catch\nthe purifying drops and rushed to the platform to wipe up with their\nhandkerchiefs what was spilled on the floor. Those who succeeded in thus\nwetting their handkerchiefs then pressed them over their faces.\n\nThe \u201cmiracle\u201d of the holy fire also takes place in the church in front\nof the tomb two days after the foot-washing ceremony. The Latin churches\nhave not taken part in it for more than three hundred years. The Roman\nCatholics protest against it, and it is now managed entirely by the\nGreeks and the other sects of the Orient.\n\nThe Greeks say that the \u201cmiracle\u201d has been celebrated ever since the days\nof the apostles. It is mentioned in theological literature as far back\nas the ninth century, and in the twelfth century it was made use of to\narouse a religious fervour against the enemies of Christianity. Most of\nthe pilgrims of the Eastern churches believe that the fire actually comes\ndown from heaven and that they are able to ignite their candles from\nflames sent by God.\n\nThis sacred fire appears in the tomb of the Holy Sepulchre precisely\nat two o\u2019clock in the afternoon of the Saturday before Easter. On the\nmorning of that day all of the lights of the church are put out, and the\npeople stand for hours and wait for the great event. There are holes\nin the walls of the Sepulchre itself, and through these the candles of\nbelievers are passed to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is inside. He\nlights them with the sacred flame as soon as it appears and hands them\nout burning. Other candles are lighted from these, and runners carry the\nholy fire all over Palestine, to Bethlehem and to Nazareth, and to the\nSea of Galilee.\n\nThe night before the miracle hundreds sleep in different chapels and in\nthe rotunda, in order to hold good places for the morrow, and during the\nday the churches are thronged to such an extent that people are often\ninjured by the crush. In the morning everyone has a bunch of candles in\nhis hand. There are ten thousand dozens of candles in the crowd, and all\nare to be lighted within an hour with fire from heaven, as they believe.\n\nWhen the ceremonies begin, the Greek Patriarch and his bishops in\ngorgeous dresses march three times round the Sepulchre with banners,\npraying. They ask God to send down the fire, and their march is preceded\nby a flag and a cross. There is chanting and crossing, and then the Copts\nfollow their Ethiopian Patriarch, gorgeous in his gold cap and gown. Now\nthere is silence, and the only sound is that of the squeezing mass as it\nbreathlessly watches.\n\nThe Patriarch has entered the Sepulchre, and the fire is expected from\nheaven. No one seems to suspect that it comes from his matches, and the\nscratching, if there be any, is not heard. It appears to be all dark\nwithin the walls of the Sepulchre. Suddenly there is a great shout. A\nfaint light shines out through the holes. The soldiers struggle to keep\nthe crowd back. Men with whips push this way and that, making roads\nthrough the mass which the soldiers try to keep clear. The priests stand\nat the holes in the walls, and great bunches of candles are passed in.\nThey are handed out lighted, and fleet runners seize them and dash to the\nvarious chapels. The Copt chapel at the back of the Sepulchre flames with\nlights, and in less time than it takes for me to write this sentence,\nthe whole of the mass below me is a blaze of fire. Every man, woman, and\nchild holds a lighted candle, and many are hauled up by strings from one\ngallery to the other. A priest creeps along the roof of the chapel of the\nSepulchre. He lights the hundreds of lamps and candles upon its edges;\nand as I look over it I see that the Greek chapel beyond now blazes with\nthousands of coloured lights. The lamps over the whole of the great\nchurch are burning. The smoke comes up in great clouds, and the air is\nperceptibly warmer.\n\nIt is just seven minutes by my watch since the first candle was lighted,\nand in fifteen minutes the sacred fire will be all over Jerusalem.\n\n[Illustration: Ready-mades have not yet arrived in the Near East.\nJerusalem tailors sit at the doors of their tiny dark shops on ledges two\nfeet above the street level. Customers must stand outside to bargain and\nbe measured]\n\n[Illustration: The Greek Church has the finest collection of religious\npaintings in all Jerusalem. This has long been the richest and most\npowerful of the Christian sects in the Holy City and has roused much\nantagonism in the other churches]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nA TALK WITH THE GREEK PATRIARCH\n\n\nI have just had an audience with one of the chief religious functionaries\nof the oriental world. The Patriarch of Jerusalem is first in the Church\nof the Holy Sepulchre, and as the head of the Greek Church in Syria,\nPalestine, and Arabia, he is the pope of the East. Most of the people\nof Russia belong to what was once a part of the Greek Church, and it\nhas other millions of members in Greece, Turkey, and Asia Minor. As a\nresult of immigration, there are also hundreds of Greek churches in the\nUnited States. It is the most powerful and the richest church of all the\ndenominations represented in Jerusalem.\n\nThere is no king in the world who appears in such splendour upon state\noccasions as the Patriarch of Jerusalem. He wears cloth of gold and his\ngreat hat is covered with magnificent diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The\nbishops who march with him have crosses of diamonds hanging about their\nnecks, and their dresses are of gold and silver brocade. The mitre and\nother church insignia are of solid gold and silver. In the treasury of\nthe Greek Church here there are jewels which would make the treasures of\nmany a palace seem commonplace, for the rich men and the kings of the\nworld have for generations been giving to this collection, thinking that\nin so doing they have been buying their way into heaven.\n\nThe Greek Church has a score of monasteries and convents in the Holy City\nwhere it can accommodate pilgrims by the thousands. Its believers come to\nworship here from the borders of Siberia, from the isles of Greece, and\nfrom the wilds of Arabia, and as I write there are thousands of Russian\npilgrims paying their devotions in the gorgeous Greek chapel of the\nChurch of the Holy Sepulchre. The Greek Church has a faith which might be\ncalled a cross between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. It differs\nfrom Catholicism chiefly in denying the spiritual supremacy of the Pope,\nin not demanding the celibacy of the clergy, except the bishops, and in\nauthorizing all of its people to read the Scriptures. It claims to be the\noriginal Christian church and says that the Roman Catholics broke away\nfrom it. The dispute between the two branches of the Church arose three\nor four hundred years after Christ. It was a question as to what should\nbe the rank of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and as the Pope would\nnot give in the trouble began. It continued off and on until about 1000\nA.D., when the two churches broke apart, and from that time the Greek\nChurch has existed on its own footing.\n\nThe head of the Greek Church is the Patriarch of Constantinople, and\nunder him are the patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria. Since\nthe sixteenth century, the Russian branch has been independent of the\nmain body. These patriarchs are elected by the clergy and the laity. They\nhave limited terms of office, but the Patriarch\u2019s power over the people\nhere in Jerusalem is to a large extent that of a judge as well as of a\npope.\n\nBut let me tell you about my talk with His Beatitude. It was arranged\nby one of the church and the audience took place in the Patriarch\u2019s\nhouse, a great stone building near the Pool of Hezekiah and not far from\nthe Church of the Sepulchre. His Beatitude lives there with one hundred\nmonks, and I saw many fine-looking Greek priests as I went up the stairs\nof rose-coloured marble. I passed through several rooms filled with\nhigh-capped, black-gowned ecclesiastics, and as I waited priests and\nbishops from the four quarters of Greek Catholicism passed in and out.\nOne of the priests, who spoke English, went with me into the audience\nchamber and gave me a seat at the right of the throne. He asked me to\nwait, telling me that the Patriarch would be in shortly.\n\nMeantime, there were others who had come for an audience, and the chairs\nabout the long table in the centre of the room were soon filled. Most of\nthe men were bearded priests dressed in black gowns and high caps.\n\nAs we waited a servant brought in a silver tray containing a plate of\nrose-and-white cubes of Turkish delight and several glasses of water.\nUpon the tray were many silver forks, each having two fine tines as long\nas my little finger. As the candy was passed each one of us took a fork\nand stabbed it into a cube of the sweets, and thus conveyed it to the\nmouth. It was delicious.\n\nBy and by the Patriarch entered. He talked first with some of the\npriests, so I had a good chance to study him. Imagine a tall,\nfull-bearded, fair-faced man of middle age dressed in a long black gown\nand a rimless black hat which rises eight inches over his forehead.\n\nThe gown, which is cut full, falls to his feet. His cap is draped with\nblack cloth which covers his shoulders, and about his neck is a long,\nheavy gold chain to which hangs an ivory medallion as big as the palm of\nyour hand. The rim of this medallion is studded with diamonds and inside\nthe rim is a painting of the Madonna with the Holy Child in her arms.\n\nI watched the Patriarch as he talked. He gestured now and then and I saw\nthat his hands were soft and his nails well kept. His face changed with\nthe subject and the man he spoke to. At times he was serious, again his\neyes sparkled with animation, and now and then he broke into a smile.\n\nMy talk with him was through the Greek priest, who spoke English. I asked\nHis Beatitude about the condition of the Church. He spoke of many sects\nof Christians now in the Holy Land, saying that they were gradually\ngrowing more liberal, and that they would work more in harmony than they\nhad in the past.\n\nI asked about the life of the priests and whether he thought it was as\npious as that of the hermits who lived in the second and third centuries\nafter Christ. He replied that he doubted whether man was as good now as\nthen, but that the Church was doing what it could to bring him back to\nthe faith. He said he believed that the time would come when all mankind\nwould be Christian, although that time would probably be far in the\nfuture. I was surprised to hear him speak well of the Protestants and say\nthat all Christian sects would eventually unite and work together as one\nfor the salvation of man.\n\nHis Beatitude was much interested in America and at my request gave me\nthe blessing which he gives to all true believers, saying that I must\ntransmit it to the American people, each of whom could regard it as being\nmade especially for him. This blessing was given to me in a golden frame.\nThe words are printed in Greek in letters of gold. Literally translated,\nit reads:\n\n Almighty God, the Father of Mercy and God of Prayer, bless,\n purify, and strengthen these Thy disciples who now bow before\n Thee.\n\n From every wicked work withdraw them, and in every right action\n give them Thy aid.\n\n Make all things smooth to each according to his wants. Be with\n those travelling upon the water and upon the land. Comfort the\n poor and heal the sick.\n\n We praise Thee, Our Father, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,\n the source of all graciousness and glory.\n\n And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God\n the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.\n Amen.\n\nThen there was a little more talk about the Greek Church and a second\nservant came in with another tray more elaborate than was the first\none. Upon this were wine glasses filled with a liquor the colour of the\ndark moss rose. It was flavoured with peppermint and had the rich, oily\nstrength of age. Though scarcely more than three thimblefuls, it brought\na pleasant warmth to the whole frame five minutes after it was drunk, and\nthe discussion of the doctrines of the Greek Church fell on my ear like\nthe poetry of Moore.\n\nThis refreshment was followed a few moments later by a third servant\nwho brought in Turkish coffee served in little cups of fine china, each\nthe size of the smallest egg cup. The coffee was as thick as Vermont\nmolasses. It was sweet and delicious and was served without cream. After\ncoffee is served in Jerusalem the caller can politely terminate his\nvisit. We sipped the aromatic liquid and then arose to say good-bye.\nThis we said in American style, shaking hands with \u201cHis Blessedness\u201d and\nreceiving from him a present of a Bethlehem egg. My egg lies before me as\nI write. Its ground is the same red as the coloured eggs of the American\nEaster, but this red is covered with etchings and on one side there is\na rude picture of Christ ascending to heaven, with the cross in the\nbackground and with the Virgin Mary holding up her hands in adoration. On\nthe other side in a wreath of olive branches is the date.\n\nThere is room in Palestine for the Patriarch\u2019s hope that some day the\nChristian sects will get along better together than is now the case. The\nHoly Land often boils and seethes with the quarrels of the religious\nfanatics. Almost every sacred place in the country is claimed at the same\ntime by the Greeks, Latins, Armenians, and Copts. Some of the holiest\nspots are divided up, and lines are drawn here and there indicating the\nsect to which each part belongs. The various denominations are frequently\ndivided among themselves as to who shall control the monasteries,\nconvents, and other institutions belonging to them, and quarrelling even\ngoes on over the very spot where Christ was born and upon that where it\nis supposed the Crucifixion took place.\n\nThese quarrels are sometimes serious. Knives have been drawn and people\nhave been killed in these religious riots. Some years ago a monk was\nshot by an American pilgrim in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem,\nand more recently a gigantic candle was sent to Jerusalem addressed to\nthe care of certain priests. This candle was nine feet high and two feet\nthick, and as far as its outward appearance was concerned seemed to be\nentirely of wax. It was shipped in from abroad, and was intended to be\nlighted inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and to burn there while\nthe Easter celebrations were at their height. At that time the church\nwould have been filled with Greeks, Armenians, Latins, and Abyssinians.\nWhen the candle came to Jaffa, the customs officers held it for duties,\nand sent word to the priests to come and get it. When they failed to\nappear it was cut open and five thousand little dynamite balls were found\ninside it. Had it exploded at the time of the ceremonies ten thousand or\nmore people would have been in danger of losing their lives.\n\nThat candle might have been sent by a Greek who was disgruntled at the\nChurch, and in his desire for revenge cared not how many he killed. I am\ntold that some of the factions in the Greek Church have refused to go\nto the Church of the Holy Sepulchre until their wrongs are righted. The\nGreeks who are natives of Palestine claim that they have the sole right\nto the church and church property. There have already been numerous riots\nbetween these Greeks and the foreign monks, and at one time the people\ndemanded that the Patriarch of the Greek Church resign.\n\nThe fight among the Greeks is to some extent sentimental, but it is also\nsaid to be largely one for the loaves and fishes. The Greeks are the\nmost powerful religious body in Palestine, and their property runs high\ninto the millions. Scattered over the Holy Land from Dan to Beersheba\nare their monasteries, convents, and hospices, to all of which pilgrims\nwho travel over the country make contributions. Some of the places are\nso valuable that the priests in charge are said to pay a lump sum of a\nthousand dollars or more a year for the privilege of presiding at them,\nexpecting to recoup themselves from the gifts of the pilgrims. Here in\nJerusalem there are thirty-five Greek monasteries and other big buildings\nmanaged by six hundred monks.\n\nThe Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the greater part of which belongs to\nthe Greeks, brings in tens of thousands of dollars every year to the\nChurch. There are thousands of Russians who make pilgrimages to this\ncity, and each is expected to leave an offering according to his wealth\nand spiritual desires.\n\nThe Greek Church also owns the shops of a bazaar near the Holy Sepulchre\nand holds the titles to the most valuable of the buildings about the\nJaffa Gate and David\u2019s Tower, including the Grand New Hotel building.\n\nThe native monks say that the Greek priests who have come in from\nConstantinople, Athens, Smyrna, the Isle of Samos, and other places now\nhold all the fat jobs, and that they themselves are compelled to work for\nonly a few dollars a month. They do the pastoral work of the villages\nand act as the priests of the towns. On the other hand, the outsiders\nhave amassed fortunes. They pretend to be hermits and devoted to fasting\nand prayer, but they are accused of living luxuriously and of keeping\nestablishments by no means as good as they should be.\n\n[Illustration: Outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, candle sellers,\nrosary pedlars, and hawkers of relics trade on the holiness of the Holy\nCity]\n\n[Illustration: The Moslem who knows his Koran by heart commands the\nrespect of the Faithful. In many Mohammedan schools it is the sole\ntextbook]\n\n[Illustration: The Palestinians never buy grain by the sack, for they\nwant to see just how much they are getting. The merchant shakes the full\nmeasure, then heaps up the top with his hands. This is the Biblical \u201cgood\nmeasure pressed down, shaken together and running over\u201d]\n\nIndeed, the fights among the warring Christians have sometimes been so\nbad that the Mohammedan soldiers here had to use whips to keep them in\norder. I have seen Moslem soldiers in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre\nat Easter time whipping the quarrelling Greeks, Armenians, and Copts in\norder to separate them. It is not an uncommon thing for blood to pollute\nthe Holy Sepulchre on festal days.\n\nConditions are especially bad at Easter time when the thousands belonging\nto the different sects go marching about singing their fanatical songs\nand denouncing each other. One of their cries is: \u201cThis is the tomb of\n_our_ Lord.\u201d Another is: \u201cOh, Jews! Jews! your feasts are the feasts of\npigs.\u201d\n\nAs they go the Greeks jostle the Armenians and the Abyssinians bump\nagainst the Latins. Not long since the followers of one sect set fire to\nsome rich hangings that had been placed in a grotto of the church by the\nfollowers of another sect. The fire spread, the church was filled with\nsmoke, and it narrowly escaped being burned.\n\nThe Greeks of Palestine claim that they have the right to all the\nchurches, convents, and monasteries belonging to their church in the\nHoly Land. They demand that the money changers, as they call the foreign\npriests, be whipped out of the temple, and that the gifts of the pilgrims\nbe applied to the building of hospitals, old-age homes, and schools for\ntheir children. This movement is not confined to Jerusalem, but extends\nthroughout Palestine and has the approval of the best element of the\ncommunities.\n\nUntil recent years we have had so few Greek Christians in the United\nStates that it is hard for us to appreciate what the Greek Church\nmeans. It is one of the strong churches of the world. It has altogether\nabout one hundred and twenty million members, or one fifth of all\nthe Christians on earth, and more than two thirds as many as all the\nProtestants. I have before me the latest statistics of religious\ndenominations. There are in the world two hundred million Roman\nCatholics, about one hundred and sixty million Protestants, one hundred\nand twenty million Greek Christians\u2014five hundred thousand who belong to\nthe Church of Abyssinia\u2014and about seven hundred thousand Armenians. The\nsum total of Christians is less than six hundred million, and less than\none third of the population of the world.\n\nOn the other hand, there are three hundred and ten million who worship\nConfucius, two hundred and fifteen million Hindus, two hundred and thirty\nmillion Mohammedans, and one hundred and forty-seven million Buddhists.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nAMONG THE MONEY CHANGERS\n\n\nIf you would be cheated out of your eyeteeth, come to Jerusalem. Its\nbazaars are filled with tricksters and traders, and it has its usurers\nand money changers as in the days of the Saviour. The people prey upon\nthe pilgrims and tourists. Their main object is to get gain, and they\nwork the holiness of the Holy City for all it is worth. They sell candles\nwhich if burnt in the Church of the Sepulchre will carry away your sins\nin their smoke; and rosaries upon which if you count your prayers you may\nbe sure of their ascending to heaven.\n\nThe rosary business is a big factor in Jerusalem. The beads are cut out\nin great quantities at Bethlehem and are shipped abroad by the millions.\nThey are sent to the Holy City for sale, and there are some stores which\nhave nothing else except perhaps crucifixes and collection plates.\n\nThe merchants who sell rosaries are often great rascals. I know one, a\nBethlehemite, who has just received a lesson which he is not likely soon\nto forget. The man\u2019s rosary store is situated down Christian Street, not\nfar from the place where you turn in to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.\nHis lesson came from a Jesuit priest, who lives in Chicago, and who\nis just now starting home. The holy father had come into the shop to\nbuy some rosaries to carry back to his friends. He had picked out a\nhalf-dozen beautiful ones, and had paid the price without bargaining. As\nthe storekeeper wrapped up his purchase, the priest looked at him out\nof the tail of his eye and saw him slip under the counter the rosaries\nselected and put some cheaper ones in their place. The Jesuit said\nnothing, but he took up several beautiful carvings representing the\nCrucifixion and Ascension, each of which was worth about twice as much as\nthe rosaries he had chosen. Handing these to the man, he told him to wrap\nthem up. This being done, he took both parcels and started out of the\nstore. The Bethlehemite merchant ran after him, and told him he had not\npaid for the carvings. The father replied:\n\n\u201cMy friend, I saw you change those rosaries and give me the cheaper ones,\nand you may consider this a judgment of God upon you for cheating. I\nshall keep these carvings, and if you do not immediately return to your\nstore I will report you to the Mohammedan courts.\u201d\n\nThe man, seeing he was caught, let the priest go.\n\nAnother large business is the selling of candles. Jerusalem is full of\nshrines, and the pilgrims buy candles to burn at the holy places. They\nset them up at the score or more sacred spots in the Church of the Holy\nSepulchre and at the stations along the Via Dolorosa where Christ walked\non His way to Golgotha. They carry them to the Mount of Olives and to\nthe Garden of Gethsemane. Some buy several candles for each shrine, and\nthe richer purchase some of enormous size and many colours. The candle\nbusiness is especially brisk at Easter time.\n\n[Illustration: Bethlehem maids are the prettiest in all Palestine. They\nbring fresh vegetables into Jerusalem each day and sell them in the\nmarkets]\n\n[Illustration: The rosaries sold by the bushel in Jerusalem are made in\nBethlehem of carved olive wood and of mother-of-pearl from the United\nStates. Besides the thousands sold to tourists quantities are exported\nevery year]\n\nAs I have said before, many of the streets are vaulted over, and we often\npass for a half-mile through what might be called a subterranean cavern\nlighted by openings from the top and pierced at the sides with cavelike\nstores. The smallest business shops in the world are in Jerusalem. A\ngreat many of the stores are no bigger than a dry-goods box. They have\nno windows. I stopped this afternoon before a shoe repair shop, and, out\nof curiosity, took its measurements. It was a hole in the wall with its\nbottom edge four feet above the cobblestone street. A rude stone two\nfeet high was the step by which the shoemaker crawled in. It was just\nthree feet wide, five feet high, and eight feet deep. It was as dark as a\npocket, and the shoemaker squatting in the entrance with a board on his\nlap filled it completely. He was working at a pair of rough Bedouin shoes\nthe owner of which sat cross-legged and in his bare feet in the street\noutside. As the cobbler waxed his thread he was careful to move his hands\ntoward the street and back into the shop. The place was so small that had\nhe pulled his thread in the ordinary way he would have barked his elbows\nagainst the walls.\n\nNext to this shoe shop there was a Jerusalem restaurant. It was an oval\nhole cut into the hill twelve feet high, eight feet wide, and forty feet\ndeep. At the front was the cooking stove of Jerusalem, a rude slab of\nlimestone with holes cut in the top as big around as a workman\u2019s dinner\nbucket, and with other holes piercing these from the sides. A few inches\nfrom the top of each hole was a rude iron grating upon which the charcoal\nwas laid. The draft which came in from below kept the fire going. The\nslab was mounted on cord-wood posts and had five fireplaces. At the back\na rough table without a cloth was set for the guests. The only chairs\nwere little stools a foot high and about a foot square the seats of\nwhich were of woven cords.\n\nEach kind of business, or trade, has its own bazaar. There is a\nshoemaker\u2019s bazaar where scores of cobblers are working. At the entrance\nto each cavelike shop two shoemakers sit sewing away with untanned\ncalfskin aprons tight about them. Between them on a block of wood, an\nolive tree stump it may be, rests a slab of white marble. This is the\nshoemakers\u2019 bench, upon which they pound the wet leather to make it soft\nwith what looks like a brass paper weight. It is as big around as a\ntumbler and of about the same height, tapering from the top to the bottom.\n\nThe shoes are all made with needle and thread. The soles are of camel\nhide and the uppers of kidskin or goatskin. These are the common shoes of\nthe peasant. As I watched the cobblers I asked about their wages and was\ntold they received from forty to sixty cents for labouring from sunrise\nto sunset.\n\nIn another street tinsmiths are at work making pots and pans out of oil\ncans. Their shops are not much bigger than cupboards, and the workmen are\nlong-bearded men in fez caps and gowns.\n\nFarther on is the grain market, consisting of many great vaulted chambers\none or more of which belongs to each merchant. The vaults are filled with\npiles of wheat, corn, barley, oats, and millet spread out on the floor.\nThe grain is sold by measure. I saw a Bedouin come in to buy two bushels\nof oats. It was dipped out by the peck, the merchant shaking the measure\nto make the grain solid, and then heaping up the top with his hands so\nthat the oats formed a cone. This was the \u201cgood measure pressed down,\nshaken together, and running over,\u201d as mentioned in St. Luke. The people\nhere never buy grain by the sack, for they want to see it measured out\nbefore their eyes. But I am told that the grain sellers are sometimes\nable to impose upon those who purchase, making them think they get more\nthan they really do.\n\nMuch of the grain of the Holy City is ground at home and a great deal\nof that of Palestine is made into flour with hand mills. Some flour is\nimported and some is ground in mills worked by camels or donkeys. In\nbaking bread the dough is kneaded at home and brought in great lumps to\nthe public ovens to be found in almost every street. They are cave-like\nvaults running down below the street level. At the back of each vault is\nthe oven with a sort of well before its open door. In the well stands the\nbaker with a long paddle in his hand upon which he puts in and takes out\nthe loaves. I have seen many bakeries of this kind. The fuel is olive\nwood, and the oven floor is marked out in blocks, so that the baking of\neach family may be put on a separate block. The loaves are about an inch\nthick and the size of a tea plate. Each has a hole in the centre. The\nbaker gets a few cents for each half-dozen loaves, or he may instead take\na toll of one loaf for each dozen. Before starting the baking he greases\nthe floor of the oven with olive oil.\n\nThe reason for these public bakeries is the great cost of fuel. The Arabs\nhave a proverb showing that such baking is the cheapest. This runs: \u201cSend\nyour bread to the oven of the baker even though he should eat the half of\nit.\u201d\n\nI frequently see boys carrying dough to these bakeries, or bringing bread\nhome from them. They use trays which they bear on their heads. Ancient\nJerusalem had its Bakers\u2019 Street, for we read that King Zedekiah put the\nprophet Jeremiah into the court of the prison and commanded that they\n\u201cshould give him daily a piece of bread out of the Bakers\u2019 Street.\u201d\n\nDuring my stay in Jerusalem I have enjoyed the salad which is served at\nthe hotel with an olive oil dressing. This is a land of olives and the\noil is delicious. It is as clear as honey with a tint like the green of\nchartreuse. I say I have enjoyed it, but I doubt whether I shall enjoy it\nhereafter. Why? I have seen how it is made.\n\nCome with me to an oil mill which is kept in a cave just off David\nStreet, not more than a stone\u2019s throw from the Pool of Hezekiah. At the\nside of the door there is a stone ledge. In the centre of this is a hole\nas big around as a flour barrel in which, with his clothes tied up about\nhis waist, with bare legs and bare feet, stands a sweating Ethiopian\ntreading the oil out of the ground olives. Peeping over into the well in\nwhich he is standing, we see that he has a linen cloth laid on the top of\nthe mushy mixture. He tramps this cloth into the olives with his feet and\ntaking it up wet, wrings out the oil into a red clay basin from whence it\nis poured into pots to be strained for the market.\n\nFarther back stand a camel and a very small, knotty little donkey\nmunching away while the mill is not going. These animals grind up the\nolives, and in another cave opening into this we can see the mill itself.\nIt is much like a horsepower grist mill, or the bark mill of a country\ntannery, and the camel and donkey walk round and round in a circle\nhitched to a bar which turns the mill. Their food is a brown cake made\nfrom what is left of the olives after the oil has been pressed out of\nthem.\n\n[Illustration: In the Turkish restaurants food is cooked over holes in\na limestone slab, while below the charcoal fire is fed through other\nopenings which also make the draught]\n\n[Illustration: During the day the low cavelike shop of the Jerusalem\nshoemaker opens directly upon the street. At night it is closed by two\nswinging doors on rude hinges]\n\n[Illustration: Christ\u2019s happiest hours were spent with his friends at\nBethany, the village where He lived when He was teaching in Jerusalem\nnear by. Here the \u201ctomb of Lazarus\u201d and the \u201chouse of Martha and Mary\u201d\nare pointed out to the traveller]\n\nBut let us go to market at the Jaffa Gate and see what the people have\nbrought in from the country for sale. There are scores of women with\nbaskets of vegetables before them. They have lettuce and eggplants and\nbeautiful cauliflowers with heads as white as snow. They have lemons and\noranges from Jaffa and apples and pears from the highlands of Judea.\nMany of the sellers are Bethlehem girls. Here are people selling beads,\nalthough most of the bead sellers are about the Church of the Holy\nSepulchre. Many of the beads are of glass and come from Hebron, not far\nfrom the cave which is Abraham\u2019s tomb. Hebron is the chief town of south\nPalestine and is a manufacturing centre. It makes lamps and bottles as\nwell as glass trinkets and glass beads, which are sold all over the Holy\nLand.\n\nThe cock which reminded St. Peter of his denial of his Master has many\ndescendants. You may see some of them in this market, tied by the legs\nand lying on the stones. The Holy City has no ordinance against crowing\ncocks, and nearly every family here keeps its own rooster. There are so\nmany that the city resounds with their music, and about daybreak they\nstart up a concert which murders sleep. I am living in the heart of\nJerusalem\u2014I might as well be in a barnyard. The rooster symphony begins\nwith sunrise and keeps on until evening, and then the donkeys and camels\ntake up the strain. The donkeys bray louder than did Balaam\u2019s ass, and\nthe camels whine and grumble all night. In addition to these noises,\nthere are others which trouble the tourists. The people rise with the\nchickens and the stone streets re\u00ebcho their steps. The birds sing and\nthe pedlars shout. At the same time the bells begin ringing to show that\nit is day, and the trumpets of the soldiers in David\u2019s Tower add to the\ndin. One can easily sleep in a railroad depot or near a boiler factory,\nfor the noises there are of one or two kinds and the ear comes to know\nthem. Here there is a new sound every minute.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nEXCAVATING OLD JERICHO\n\n\nTo-day I have walked through streets which were probably thronged when\nMoses and the Israelites were wandering in the Wilderness, and have\ntramped up and down staircases of clay built hundreds of years before\nChrist was born. I have been in the ruins of old Jericho, the city Joshua\ncaptured over three thousand years ago, now brought to light again by\nmodern excavations.\n\nThe place is only about fourteen miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies.\nIt lies on a little plateau, just under the mountain upon which it is\nsaid our Lord was tempted by the devil and promised the world. It is\nabout three miles from the present town of Jericho, where I am stopping,\nand within easy access of it.\n\nThe excavations at Jericho are the work of the Austrian Ministry of\nEducation. When they dug into what seemed only mounds of earth the\nremains of a great fortified city were found. This city was undoubtedly\nthe Jericho of Canaan. It lies on a height surrounded by great walls some\nof which are of stone. It has inner walls and a citadel and was flanked\nwith strong towers. The heart of the city is about twelve hundred feet\nlong and five hundred and twenty-five feet wide.\n\nMany of the houses have been unearthed. In one of them, which is supposed\nto have been built twenty-seven hundred years ago, there was found an\nuncovered courtyard. The house seems to have been abandoned during a\nfire, and for some reason or other is better preserved than most of the\nothers. It contained a red sandstone mill for grinding meal and water\nvessels of various shapes. It had plates and jugs as well as lamps and\niron vessels with handles of deer horn.\n\nIn going through the ruins I crunched over bushels of pottery broken in\npieces. I saw water jars chipped and cracked. Each had a clay stopper as\nbig as a tomato with a hole through the centre. There are hundreds of\nthese stoppers lying on the ground. There are also stone mortars which\nwere used for grinding grain, and the remains of amphor\u00e6, or huge jars\nwith necks and side handles, which were buried in the earth and used to\nhold wine or grain. Most of the pottery is covered with a white glaze,\nand some of it has vertical stripes of yellow painted upon it.\n\nIn the buildings the stone walls are constructed without angles, the\ncracks being filled in with smaller stones. I am told that the work was\ndone with tools of bronze, and that some of it dates back before history.\nThe centre of the city is on an egg-shaped plateau just above the plain\nof the Jordan.\n\nIt is difficult in wandering through these ruins of mud, brick, and rough\nstone to realize that here was once a magnificent city. The Jericho of\nJoshua\u2019s day was not magnificent in our sense of the word, although it\ncovered a large area and had a great many people. There are no remnants\nof great marble columns, and it is said that Jericho had disappeared long\nbefore Christ came and that another city had taken its place situated in\nthis same Jordan Valley. The Jericho of Christ had a theatre, a circus,\nand a university. It ranked with Jerusalem as one of the important places\nin Palestine. Surrounded by irrigated gardens, it was known as the City\nof Palms. It had grown up in Roman times, and Mark Antony thought so much\nof it that he gave it as a present to Cleopatra, who collected quite\na revenue from the balsam groves near by, which furnished the gum of\ncommerce. Cotton was raised here at that time, and this region was then a\nwinter resort for Jerusalem. Herod the Great had palaces in Jericho. It\nis said that he died here, although he was buried near Hebron. We know\nthat our Saviour came to Jericho, and here He healed the blind. He did\nnot stay in the city, but dwelt outside in the house of Zaccheus, who was\na collector of taxes for the Roman Government and therefore not popular\nwith the Jews. I refer to Zaccheus the dwarf. He was so short that he\nfeared he would not be able to see the Christ over the heads of the crowd\nand, as you remember from the verse in the old primer:\n\n Zaccheus he did climb a tree\n His Lord to see.\n\nThe ruins I have been exploring represent not the city of Christ\u2019s time,\nbut that of the day of Joshua and Rahab. You remember Rahab, the fair\nlady, not so good as she should have been, who lived upon the walls of\nJericho, and who hid Joshua\u2019s spies under the stalks of flax she had\nstored up on her roof. She told them of the terror which prevailed in\nthe city over the expected attack of Joshua, and made them promise to\nsave her when Jericho was taken. The spies arranged with her that she\nshould tie some red thread to the bars of her window so that her house\nmight be spared. She then let them down by a cord through the window,\nand they escaped and reported to Joshua. That was a good day\u2019s work\nfor Rahab. The promise of the spies was carried out by the Israelites.\nMoreover, she married one of the princes of Judah, a man named Salmon,\nand thereby became one of the most famous women of the ancestral tree of\nthe Israelites. She was the mother of Boaz, the husband of Ruth, and King\nDavid was one of her great-great-grandchildren. On the next step of her\ngenealogical ladder we find King Solomon, while away down the centuries\nlater comes the name of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and of the family of\nChrist. In the first chapter of Matthew are given the generations from\nAbraham to the birth of our Saviour, in which are mentioned the names of\nonly four women: Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, who had been the\nwife of Uriah and became the mother of Solomon.\n\nRight under old Jericho is the fountain of Elisha which the prophet made\nsweet by throwing salt into it. It is not far from the spot where he was\nmocked by the children who cried after him: \u201cGo up, thou bald head.\u201d\nThereupon, say the Scriptures, the prophet turned and \u201ccursed them in the\nname of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the woods and\ntare forty and two children of them.\u201d\n\nIt is said that the place where Elijah was carried up in a whirlwind to\nheaven was not far from Jericho, and on my way down here from Jerusalem I\nsaw the cave in which the prophet is supposed to have been fed by ravens.\nIt is in the Wady Kelt, a great dry rocky canyon with high walls. The\ncave is half way up the side of the gorge and partly hidden by the\nmonastery which the Greeks have built there.\n\nBut let me tell you how I came down to Jericho. The way from Jerusalem is\nthrough the wilderness of Judea, over one of the roughest and stoniest\nlands of the world. There is but little green to be seen and the glare\nis intense. The dust of the limestone and chalk road is so thick that\nit gets into eyes, mouth, and nostrils. This road, which is the chief\nhighway from the Jordan to the Holy City, is travelled by thousands. The\ntraffic was even greater in the time of Christ, for the Jordan Valley was\nthen covered with irrigated farms and the rich men of Jerusalem had their\nwinter homes there.\n\nI left Jerusalem in a carriage, going out through the Damascus Gate,\ncrossing the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and skirting the Garden of Gethsemane\nat the foot of the Mount of Olives.\n\nMy carriage was an easy victoria drawn by three Arabian horses, and the\ncoachman was a Syrian Jehu with hair as red and a face as fair as my own.\nI had a soldier with me to keep off the robbers. He was furnished by the\ngovernment of Jerusalem at a cost of three dollars and was under the\ndirect command of the sheik here at Jericho. This soldier carried a gun\nand sword, and went ahead, nominally to clear the road. Every party I met\non the way, including a company of hunters from Jerusalem on their way\nfor game in the lands beyond the Jordan, had an escort of soldiers.\n\nI stopped at Bethany to look at Lazarus\u2019s tomb, and was reminded of how\nMark Twain said that he would \u201crather sleep in the tomb than in any other\nhouse in the place.\u201d The Bethany of to-day is a dirty, ragged village of\nforty or fifty stone huts inhabited by perhaps three hundred people. The\nhouses stand on the side of a hill, rising one over the other. The people\nare small farmers who cultivate patches of stony land and little orchards\nof olives and figs. They have cows and make butter for Jerusalem. They\nare all Mohammedans, and their children call out for _baksheesh_.\n\nEntering the town, I took a look at the tomb. It is a sort of cavern cut\nout of limestone and entered by steep steps. It belongs to the Franciscan\nmonks, who often say mass there.\n\nThe house of Mary and Martha, where Christ stopped, is said to have\nbeen in an inclosure now full of brambles and wild cactus. There is no\nbuilding left, although the guides point out a pile of stones which they\nsay was once a part of the wall.\n\nOn the way to Bethany I was shown the site of the fig tree which was\ncursed by the Saviour and thereafter never bore fruit. There are many\nfig trees about, and orchards of them are to be found in most parts of\nthe Holy Land. It was on the road to Bethany that Christ is said to have\nmounted the colt which carried him on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem\non Palm Sunday.\n\nShortly after I left Bethany I saw a curious sight by the roadside. This\nwas a man leaning backward over a great gray boulder and rubbing himself\nviolently upon it. There were some stones on top of the rock and I\nobserved that the man added another stone to the pile and that he kissed\nthe rock as he left. I asked my guide the secret of his actions. He\nreplied: \u201cThat stone is called the Father of Rocks, and it is said to be\na sure cure for backache. The people here think that any one so afflicted\nwill be cured if he can rub his sore back against it.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Tradition says that by a miracle the prophet Elisha\npurified the waters of this fountain. Excavations on the hillside above\nhave uncovered the foundations of the old city walls of Jericho, over\nwhich Rahab let down the two spies of Joshua]\n\n[Illustration: At the Tomb of Lazarus there are always natives waiting to\nbe photographed\u2014for _backsheesh_]\n\n[Illustration: His back hurts him, and he is rubbing it against the\nhealing stone on the way to Jordan, believing this will work a cure]\n\nA little farther on I stopped for a bottle of ginger pop and a cracker\nat the Good Samaritan Inn, which stands on the traditional site where\nlay the man who fell among thieves when the priest and the Levite passed\nhim by on the other side. It is right on the road about half way between\nJerusalem and Jericho. There was a crowd in the inn while I waited, among\nthem a Syrian peasant who had been robbed by a party of Bedouins. The man\nwas covered with wounds, and was crying and sobbing as he told how he had\nbeen attacked and robbed of the money which he had just received from the\nsale of some sheep. Much of this country is unsafe, and no one who has\nmoney dares travel alone. All the way to the Jordan I met little caravans\non their way to Jerusalem. In every party there were some men with guns\non their backs. The guns were often old-fashioned flintlock muskets. I\npassed some donkey trains taking bags of charcoal from beyond the Jordan,\nand a caravan of camels each of which bore two great bags of wheat slung\nover his back. The drivers of both donkeys and camels were armed. They\nhad come from the land of Moab, and were now going up through Judea.\n\nBefore starting on my way to the Jordan I spent several hours on the\nMount of Olives. This mountain is two hundred feet higher than the hills\nupon which Jerusalem stands. It is directly opposite the city, being\nseparated from it by the Valley of Jehoshaphat or Kedron, and it can be\neasily reached. There are good roads up the Mount of Olives, and one can\nnow ride to most of the holy places.\n\nWith the prosperity which is coming to Palestine the Mount of Olives is\nrapidly changing. Its slopes are cultivated, the rocks are being picked\nup and laid in stone fences, and the cleared spots planted to crops and\nto orchards. There were many olive orchards on this mount in the days\nof the Saviour, who came here frequently to get away from the crowds of\nthe city. The soil seems fertile, and the crops upon the mountain grow\nluxuriantly. There are green patches of wheat, barley, and oats, while\nhere and there are carob trees, with pods like those which furnished the\nfood for the prodigal son when he ate with the swine.\n\nThe Mount of Olives is now spotted with churches and chapels. It has\nmonasteries and convents, a great Russian church, and several hospices,\nincluding the huge sanitarium built in honour of Augusta, Empress of\nGermany. One of the most interesting of these institutions is a Carmelite\nnunnery, which has been erected over the spot where tradition says Christ\ntaught the Lord\u2019s Prayer to His disciples. The church here is called \u201cThe\nChurch of the Lord\u2019s Prayer,\u201d and has in its court tablets inscribed\nwith the prayer in thirty-two different languages. I visited the chapel\nof the nunnery, where prayers go up every day and night and every hour\nof the day all the year through. The nuns so divide their time that one\nis always praying. They kneel behind a screen and are not to be seen by\nvisitors. This church is one of the quietest and most solemn of all in\nthe Holy Land. After the noisy scenes which take place about the Holy\nSepulchre it is a relief.\n\nThe Carmelite nuns are devout. They do not go out of the nunnery except\nit be absolutely necessary. Even when they walk in its garden they wear\nsuch heavy veils that they have to hold them out from their faces to\nsee where they are going. My guide tells me that each nun digs her own\ngrave, and that when she is about to die she is dressed in her shroud and\ncarried into the church in order that she may pass away there.\n\nIn the floor of the Chapel of the Ascension near the nunnery is a spot\nwhich looks like a footprint, and is said to be the place where the foot\nof the Saviour rested before He ascended to heaven. The chapel belongs\nto the Mohammedans and is let out at times to the Christians. But to me\nthe Garden of Gethsemane was more interesting. It lies at the foot of the\nMount of Olives, just off the Jericho road. It is surrounded by a wall\nof yellow limestone twelve feet high and about four feet thick. On the\noutside of it, in the shade of the wall, sat a score of lepers who held\nout their hands for alms as we passed. They were dirty and filthy and\ntheir disease had made them repulsive sights. Some had no fingers, some\nno noses, and one held out a tin can tied to the stump of her wrist from\nwhich the hand had dropped off.\n\nThe garden goes up the side of the mountain. It is almost square and does\nnot cover two acres. It is cut up into flower beds bordered by inverted\nbeer and wine bottles. There are eight old olive trees, pansies of all\nshades of the rainbow, and many beautiful flowers, as well as dark\ncypress trees. The garden belongs to the Franciscan monks who opened the\ngate at our knock. The gate is a mere hole in the wall, so low that all\nwho enter must stoop. It is closed by an iron door, with a round black\nbar of iron, ten inches long, as a knocker.\n\nJust back of the entrance to the garden is a ledge of limestone where\nthe disciples are said to have slept during the night of the agony, and\nperhaps one hundred feet farther away stands a column which tradition\nsays marks the spot where Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss. Both of\nthese places have been worn smooth by the lips of thousands of pilgrims.\n\n[Illustration: The source of the Jordan at Banias is one of the largest\nsprings in the world. The Jordan is rightly named the \u201cdown-comer,\u201d for\nin its winding course of two hundred and forty miles it drops from the\nmountains to the Dead Sea, nearly thirteen hundred feet below sea-level]\n\n[Illustration: We need an escort for the trip over the barren wastes to\nthe River Jordan, for Bedouin brigands still occasionally relieve the\nunwary tourist of his valuables]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nTHE DEAD SEA AND THE JORDAN\n\n\nThe Jordan! How shall I make you see it as it winds its way through this\ngreat gash in the thirsty face of old Mother Earth?\n\nAll day long I have been travelling upon its banks in the lower part of\nits course. I have visited the ford where Joshua crossed with his army\nof Jews when he took possession of Canaan; have stood on the spot where\nit is said that Jesus was baptized of John, and have gone over the place\nwhere the waters were parted by the cloak of Elijah. Here at Jericho I am\nwithin a short gallop of the Dead Sea, into which the Jordan flows, and\nsitting on the steps of my hotel I can see Mount Nebo, where Moses stood\nwhen he viewed the Promised Land, which he was not to enter. In former\ntravels I have seen the Jordan, near the Sea of Galilee, and have been\nnot far from its source in the Lebanon Mountains.\n\nThe Jordan Valley is the cellar of the world. It is a great trench, which\nbegins a thousand or more feet above the sea in the Lebanon Mountains,\nand within a distance of one hundred and sixty miles, as the crow flies,\ncuts its way down to thirteen hundred feet below sea level, where it ends\nin the Dead Sea. The bottom of that sea is a half mile below the surface\nof the Mediterranean, and in Jericho, where I am writing, we are almost\nfour thousand feet below the highest point in Jerusalem. There is no\nother part of the earth uncovered by water where for an equal distance\nthe land is sunken even two hundred feet below the level of the ocean.\nThis is the strangest trough of the world. Though often associated with\nthe idea of going to heaven, the Valley of the Jordan is emblematic of\nhell. Most of it is as parched as the dry sands of the Sahara, and just\nnow its heat is as torrid as Tophet. The plain over which I rode to-day\non my way to the river was covered with thorn bushes. The only green I\nsaw after leaving the irrigated farms about Jericho was that bordering\nthe gully through which the Jordan runs. For the rest, the alkaline earth\ncut up by the floods into castles and mounds, makes bare gullies and\nhills of all sizes and shapes.\n\nThe mean temperature of Jerusalem, only fourteen miles away, is 64\u00b0\nFahrenheit. It is temperate throughout the year and snow falls there in\nthe winter. The heat here is as great as that of the centre of Nubia. For\nsix months in the year the mean temperature in the Jordan Valley averages\n100\u00b0 Fahrenheit.\n\nBut this is not the character of the whole course of the Jordan. Let me\ngive you a bird\u2019s-eye view of the river, or, better, let us suppose we\nhave taken an aeroplane and are going from its source in the Lebanon\nMountains to where it loses itself in the great sea of salt below here.\nIt rises on the foot of Mount Hermon, whose peak is covered with snow the\ngreater part of the year. It has two or three different sources. One is\nnear Dan, and higher up is another at Banias, near the spot where Christ\nsaid: \u201cThou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, and the\ngates of hell shall not prevail against it.\u201d\n\nIt is at Banias that the Jordan has its chief source. It comes from a\ncave in the limestone rock which is now choked up with stones, but out of\nwhich the water flows in a great volume, cold, sweet, and pure. There are\ntrees about the cave and the stream runs through a beautiful park down to\nLake Huleh, which is only seven feet above the sea. The spring of Banias\nhas always been noted for its sweetness and purity. It is said the waters\nand cave were formerly dedicated to the god Pan, and that from him came\nthe name Banias, or Panias. Greek tablets have been found near by, and\nruined temples and columns show that the place was once the site of a\nconsiderable city. It has now only a mud village of about fifty huts.\n\nFlying down to Lake Huleh, we see a marshy catch basin into which run\nother streams and from which the Jordan flows out. There is little\nactivity about the lake. Near it live a few Bedouins whose only business\nseems to be making mats of the papyrus reeds growing on the shores. These\nare the waters of Merom beside which Joshua and his men of war battled\nwith the Canaanites for the Promised Land.\n\nA little farther down is the main crossing to Damascus. The place is\nknown as the Bridge of Jacob\u2019s Daughters, and the stream is here on the\nlevel of the sea. It drops six hundred and eighty feet in the next nine\nmiles, falling in a series of twenty-seven cascades.\n\nThe remainder of the Jordan\u2019s course runs between the seas of life and\ndeath. I refer to the Sea of Galilee at the north and the Dead Sea at\nthe south. The first, though somewhat brackish, is full of fish and\nsurrounded by verdure. The other is saltier than any other water on\nearth, and so bitter and poisonous that no living thing can exist within\nit. The distance between these two seas in a straight line north and\nsouth is about sixty-five miles, and the slope from one to the other\nis almost twelve feet to the mile, or over six hundred and sixty feet.\nConnecting them is this great trough of the Jordan, from one to sixteen\nmiles wide. Through it flows the sacred river, twisting about like a\ncorkscrew, and making so many turnings that it flows more than two\nhundred miles in an airline distance of only sixty miles. It runs with\ngreat force and there are numerous falls where electric plants might be\nput in. The land on each side might be turned into rich farms if it could\nonly have water, and it may be that the good fairy of electricity will\nsome time bring the dead earth to life.\n\nThere are some farms in the upper part of the course of the Jordan and\nthere is a sugar plantation half way between Galilee and the Dead Sea,\nwhere soldiers work as labourers. There are small fields of grain,\nincluding millet, wheat, and barley here and there, and I am told that\nrice and indigo can be grown.\n\nDown near the Dead Sea there is considerable cultivation on the Jericho\nplain. The land is irrigated by a stream from the mountains of Judea\nand by the spring of Elisha. It is cut up into small patches covered\nwith orange groves, almond orchards, and vineyards. Much of the fruit\ngoes up to Jerusalem. There are also fields of eggplants, tomatoes, and\nmelons, and dates could undoubtedly be grown. All the way from here to\nold Jericho, a distance of about three miles, are orchards, vineyards,\nand gardens. They are fenced with thorn bushes, the thorns on which are\ngreat hooks turning inward. They are said to be the same thorns as those\nof which the crown of our Saviour was made.\n\n[Illustration: A thick mist always hangs over the weird waters of the\nDead Sea, while intense heat and insect pests make its shores almost\nintolerable]\n\n[Illustration: The current is swift in this place and we hire a fisherman\nto take us across the Jordan. Under Turkish rule the river was considered\nthe personal property of the Sultan, who allowed no pleasure craft upon\nit]\n\n[Illustration: Bethlehem is a maze of narrow, winding streets, lined with\nbox-like houses having flat grass-grown roofs and overhanging windows.\nHere Rachel died and was buried; here dwelt Ruth and Boaz, and here were\nborn David and the Saviour]\n\nThe Jordan is not navigable. Along its whole course it has no wharves, no\nboats, and no cities or villages of any account. It has numerous fords\nbut no bridges of any size. The wooden bridge about six miles above the\nDead Sea is a toll bridge, with fords above and below it. The people use\nit only when the river is high. At other times the caravans save the toll\nby passing through the fords.\n\nOn its course from Galilee to the Dead Sea the river narrows and widens.\nNow it is a swift, black, sullen current flowing between ugly mud banks\ncovered with refuse, now it comes close to the mountains which border the\nvalley on either side, and down here at the Dead Sea it reaches a width\nof five hundred feet, being so shallow that you could almost wade across\nit.\n\nThe water gathers the denudations of the mountains. It changes in colour\nfrom season to season, and in the spring spreads out in floods over the\nvalley. It is said that the parting of the water in order that Joshua and\nthe Israelites might pass over was when the river was at its highest.\n\nAt this point in its course it is not a sweet water. It has gathered the\nsalts from this arid country and is so full of organic matter that those\nwho carry it home for baptisms have to boil and filter it to get rid of\nits disagreeable smell. I have several canteens which I filled myself\nfrom the stream, or rather with the water which I brought in wine bottles\nfrom the Jordan and had boiled and filtered before it was put into the\ncans. If I ever have a grandchild it shall be baptized with this water.\nI bought the canteens at the Jordan Hotel here at Jericho where they are\nkept on hand to be sold to the tourists and pilgrims. A vast number of\nthem are carried away every year.\n\nLet us go from Jericho to the land where the Moabites live on the other\nside of the river. It is only a few miles away, and we can drive there\nin a carriage. As we start, the great white blazing sun is climbing the\nblue above Mount Nebo, and the faint streak of the Dead Sea, with the\nhaze that hangs always over it, can be seen down the valley. Our soldier\ngallops in front to scare off the Bedouins and we wind our way lazily in\nand out through the wheat fields. Leaving these we enter a desert on the\nedge of which stands Gilgal, where the Israelites first encamped after\ncrossing the Jordan, and then go on through thorny scrub among gullies\nand hills until we approach the long fringes of thicket which border the\nriver. There is more vegetation as we near this, and we go through the\nbushes until we come to a creek no wider than a city street. It looks\nlike some of the small streams of our central states. I know many such\nin Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio, and there is one of just about the same\nsize which goes by the name of Goose Creek in Loudoun County, Virginia.\nThe Rhine and the Hudson, the Potomac, or even the Shenandoah, could\nswallow the Jordan without bulging, and just now it is so small that in\nthe United States it would not be called a river at all.\n\nNevertheless, the current is swift at this place and we hire a fisherman\nto take us across. He charges twenty-five cents for the boat, and for\nthis rows us up and down stream for an hour. He stands up as he rows and\nleans on the oars. We go to the other side of the Jordan and climb out\nthrough the willows. How quiet it is! The only sounds are the ripple of\nthe stream as it washes the banks and the songs of sweet-voiced birds\nin the trees at our left. As we return we lean over and bathe our hands\nin the Jordan. The water is cold. When taken up in a bottle it looks\nlike weak milk. We taste it. It is acrid and salty and we spit it out in\ndisgust.\n\nHere Christ is said to have been baptized of John. At this place, which\nis about three miles from the Dead Sea, the water at ordinary times\nis four or five feet deep. Most of the pilgrims come here, and it is\nthe scene of tens of thousands of baptisms a year. The chief time of\nbaptizing is Easter, when the Russians come by the thousands and when\nother members of the Greek Church unite with them in a great caravan\nwhich journeys here and camps.\n\nLeaving the Jordan we make our way down the valley to the Dead Sea. The\nroad goes through the thorn bushes and twists about through the barren\nhills. The land is salty and alkaline and all nature is dead. How hot the\nsun is, and how glaring! Our eyes smart, and horrid flies crawl with legs\nof glue over our faces. We try to brush them off but they alight and bite\nus again.\n\nNow we are on the shore of the sea, which is covered with pebbles and\ndriftwood. It looks more like a lake than a sea, and is just about the\nsize of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. It is only fifty miles long and ten\nmiles in width and we can see from one side of it to the other.\n\nThe Dead Sea lies between stony mountains. On the east are the desert\nhills of Moab, where Ruth was born and Moses is buried, and on the west\nlie those of Judea where the children of Israel came after Moses had\npointed out to them the Promised Land. There are openings at the north\nand south, and away at the southwest are works for evaporating the water\nto make salt.\n\nThe Dead Sea has no outlet. The water evaporates so fast that it is\nusually misty here. It is estimated that over six million tons of water\nflow into it daily. Nevertheless, its level changes only a little\nthroughout the year, and that at the times of the flood.\n\nNow dip up some of the water in your hand and taste it. It burns your\ntongue and your lips. It is as bitter as gall. If you drank a glass of it\nyou would probably die. It is the saltiest water on earth. If you will\ntake a gallon and boil it down, you will find that one fourth of the\ncontents is solid. It is six times as salty as the water of the ocean,\nand a cubic mile of it would contain nine hundred million tons of mineral\nmatter. The sum is so staggering that you cannot comprehend it, but at\nninety tons to the car it would take ten million cars to carry that much,\nand if your cars were a little under forty feet long the train required\nfor the load would reach eighty miles. There is asphalt or pitch in the\nbottom of the lake and the water has other minerals in addition to salt.\nIndeed, the salt proper left after boiling comprises only about 7 per\ncent. of the whole.\n\nIf you would further test the water, take an egg and drop it into the\nsea. It will float, leaving one third of the egg above the surface. A\nfresh egg will sink in fresh water, and we break our egg to be sure it is\nfresh.\n\nAnother test. Let us strip off our clothing and go in for a swim. You do\nnot know how to swim? That makes no difference in this salty sea. The\nwater is so heavy you could not sink if you tried. You can lie on your\nback and float all day long. You can stand upright and tread, but it is\nalmost impossible to maintain such a position. Your feet have a tendency\nto fly to the surface, and you bob up and down like \u201cthe monkey on the\nstick.\u201d Now try to swim. Your feet fly out of the water and you cannot\nmake any headway. Now let us wade out and let the sun dry our skins.\nWe feel as if we had been painted with mucilage. We are gummy and oily\nand incrusted with salt. We were scratched as we came through the thorn\nbushes and the salt got into the wounds and they are burning like fire.\nWe shall not be happy until we can get some fresh water to wash off the\nsalt.\n\nAn interesting thing about the Dead Sea is the fact that on its shores\nwere the sites of the ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, the two towns which\nbecame so wicked that the Lord rained fire and brimstone upon them. There\nare said to be sulphur springs in the country about, and it may have been\na volcano which caused the destruction.\n\nIt was right here on the plain of the Jordan that the nephew of Abraham\nand the cousin of Ishmael and Isaac, the good man Lot, had his estate.\nIt was in Sodom that he lived, one of the richest of its citizens, and\nthe only just man in the city. From there he went out with Mrs. Lot and\nthe two girls. And it is said to be at the southwest end of the lake, not\nfar away, that Madame Lot turned and looked back and, as we may suppose,\nlonged for the fleshpots. And lo! she became a pillar of salt. There are\nstill deposits of rock-salt at that end of the lake, and the guides now\nshow the remains of a pillar which they say was once Mrs. Lot, but which\nhas been licked by the camels until it has almost disappeared.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nBETHLEHEM\n\n\nDuring my several trips to Palestine I have visited Bethlehem, where our\nSaviour was born, and have lived for days in Nazareth, where His boyhood\nwas spent. I have gone over much of the road Joseph and Mary followed\nwhen they carried the child into Egypt, and have crossed the mountains of\nSamaria from Galilee to Jerusalem, where He went as a boy of twelve and\nwas found teaching the doctrine in Solomon\u2019s Temple.\n\nI have even climbed the hills and gone into the wilderness where our Lord\nwas tempted of the devil after those forty days of hunger and thirst.\nAt Capernaum I saw the recently excavated marble synagogue where some\nof His first preaching was done. I have climbed to the top of the hill\nabove the Sea of Galilee, where He delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and\nhave picked flowers from the rolling green sward below, where the miracle\nof the loaves and fishes was performed. Not far from that place, on the\nopposite shore, may be seen a steep hill down which rushed the swine\npossessed of the devils our Saviour had cast out of the Gadarene man. I\nhave been in Bethany, where lived Mary and Martha, and have sat under the\ntrees in the Garden of Gethsemane.\n\nMany of these places are about the same as they were when our Saviour\nwas alive. Some have been covered with churches and convents, but the\nwarring sects of Christians have not been able to change the bright sky.\nNature is the same now as it was then. The same flowers bloom and the\nsame birds sing. Besides, it is not so long, after all, since Jesus was\nborn in Bethlehem. The average lifetime of a man is not much more than\nwas that of our Saviour. He lived thirty-three years. It would take only\nfifty-eight such lifetimes to cover the period between now and the birth\nof Christ. Each of us has a relative who is, perhaps, sixty-five years\nold. The lives of thirty such men would, if joined together, reach back\nto the days of King Herod.\n\nWe shall take carriages for our trip from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. We\nstart at the Jaffa Gate, next David\u2019s Tower, on the top of Mount Zion,\nnear where, it is claimed, the Crucifixion took place. The gate was\nwidened by the breach in the wall made in honour of Kaiser Wilhelm of\nGermany, so all sorts of vehicles can now go through it. As we leave\nthe gate we pass coffee houses where people of a dozen different\nnationalities are drinking, go by the railroad station, where a puffing\nlocomotive is just in from the Mediterranean, skirt the valley of Hinnom,\nin which is the Pool of Gihon, where David was anointed, and a little\nlater on stop near the village where King Saul was crowned.\n\nThe road is excellent. It is of hard limestone walled on each side by\nlimestone fences and backed by green fields now covered with the dust of\nthe highway. The traffic is constant, so that the air is white with dust.\nIt fills our eyes, mouths, and nostrils, and makes us look like millers.\nWe cover our eyes with smoked glasses to keep out the glare. The road\nis dazzling white, the fences are white, a white dust covers the green\nof the fields. As we are going toward the south, the sun is full in our\nfaces. It is hot, although a cold wind is blowing over these hills of\nJudea which whirls the dust around and sends columns of it into the air.\n\nSoon after leaving Jerusalem we cross a depression carpeted with green,\nwhich is known as the Valley of Roses. Farther on are olive groves, and\nas we near Bethlehem there are great fields of green. At the left we can\nsee the plain where the young widow Ruth garnered wheat for old Boaz and\nthus got food and a husband.\n\nAll the way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem crops are growing. There are\nsigns of increased cultivation, and every bit of available land is being\nset out in orchards and gardens. I went over the same road twenty-odd\nyears ago. Then the country was bare rocks with bits of grass here\nand there. To-day the land is divided into fields. The surface rocks\nhave been gathered together and laid up in fences as high as my head.\nThe cleared land is now planted in wheat, corn, and barley. New olive\norchards are rising, while many of the old ones still stand. The trunks\nof the old trees are knotted and gnarled, but the leaves are of green\ndusted with silver, and I am told they still bear fruit. I photographed\none tree not more than thirty feet high which had a trunk as thick as a\nhogshead and branches which shaded a large tract of ground. The soil of\nPalestine is as fertile to-day as it was when Joshua led the Israelites\nacross it, and barring the fences, I doubt not the landscape is about the\nsame now as it was when Christ was born.\n\n[Illustration: Christmas is long drawn out at Bethlehem. First come the\nLatin ceremonies on December 25; fourteen days later the Greek Church\ncelebrates; and thirteen days later comes the Armenian feast]\n\n[Illustration: Young women in Bethlehem proudly wear their\ndowries\u2014necklaces and fillets of coins, and beautifully embroidered\nshawls, which may mean over a year of painstaking needlework]\n\nEvery bit of the way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem is historic ground. Over\nthis same road Abraham travelled to Mount Moriah. Along it came the\nWise Men of the East following the Star on their way to the stable where\nJesus was born. They had called upon crafty King Herod at Jerusalem to\nask about the King of the Jews. He had told them to find where He was\nborn, that he might come and worship Him. The road goes by a well where\nit is said these Wise Men stopped to drink. It is known as the \u201cWell of\nthe Magi,\u201d and is near an olive grove on the east side of the road. It is\ncovered with a marble slab as big around as a cart wheel with a hole cut\nin the centre through which the water is raised by a bucket and rope. The\nstone is polished by the kisses of pilgrims.\n\nThe story is that the Wise Men as they trudged along in the gathering\ntwilight sat down by this well to rest. When they stooped forward to draw\nsome water to drink, they saw reflected in its mirror-like surface the\nguiding Star. They looked toward the heavens, and then, in the words of\nthe Scripture:\n\n Lo, the star which they saw in the East went before them, until\n it came and stood over where the young child was.\n\nIt was not far from here that I caught my first sight of the field where\nthe shepherds lay when the angel and the heavenly host announced Christ\u2019s\nbirth to them. It is said to be the field of Boaz upon which Ruth gleaned\nher wheat. It lies across the valley to the east of Bethlehem. There is a\nlittle village in front of it, and a part of the field is covered by an\nolive grove. I saw the sheep feeding upon it, and as I rode to Bethlehem\nI passed flocks of them being driven to the Jerusalem markets. They were\nof the fat-tailed variety, some of their tails weighing, I venture,\nfifteen pounds each. The drivers were kind-eyed and gentle in their\nmanners and as they went by us they cried out _Neharak sa\u2019id_, or \u201cMay\nthy day be happy!\u201d To this we replied _Neharak sa\u2019id umubarak_ which in\nArabic means \u201cMay thy day also be happy and blessed.\u201d\n\nThe shepherds were dressed in long gowns and wore handkerchiefs about\ntheir heads as turbans. Some of them wore sheepskins, and it is probable\nthat they were clad much the same as those who \u201ccame with haste\u201d and\nfound the infant Jesus lying in a manger. There is a chapel now in the\nField of the Shepherds, and for centuries a church and a monastery stood\non the spot.\n\nSoon after leaving Jerusalem we pass a hill on the left of the road,\nwhere, the guide says, stood the building in which Judas Iscariot sold\nhis Lord for thirty pieces of silver. Not far away is an old olive tree\nupon which the pilgrims are told Judas hanged himself in his remorse\nafter the Crucifixion.\n\nGoing onward about four miles from Jerusalem we come to a building which\nhas just received a fresh coat of whitewash. It is known as the Tomb\nof Rachel, and covers the spot where she is said to be buried. Not far\nfrom it David had his fight with Goliath, the ten-foot giant of the\nScriptures. I am not sure as to the locality, but there are millions of\nstones there to-day, and plenty of ammunition for the slings of an army\nof Davids. Indeed, there is hardly a field on the hills of Judea which\nis not covered with stones of one size or another, and the shepherds use\nslings to this day.\n\nAnd speaking of stones reminds me of the Field of Peas, which lies not\nfar from Bethlehem. It is a tract on the side of a hill where the stones\nare so thick that if it were planted to corn you would have to carry\nearth to cover the grains. As the story goes, our Lord was passing by\nhere when He saw a man sowing grain. He stopped and asked him what he\nwas sowing. The man replied \u201cstones.\u201d And thereupon the seed peas in his\nbag turned to stones, and all that he had sown did the same. Some of the\nstones now on the field are gathered up and peddled to pilgrims as relics.\n\nI had one such pedlar follow me half the way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.\nHe was a turbaned Syrian boy on a donkey, who had to gallop to keep up\nwith my carriage. To this the donkey objected, and the boy kept him up\nto his work with a stick as long as a husking peg and equally sharp. He\ninserted this under the saddle, behind him, and then using it as a lever,\npulled on the other end of the peg, forcing its sharp point into the\nanimal\u2019s flesh. At every such pull the donkey kicked up its heels and\nincreased its speed, while the rider bobbed up and down, and his long,\nfull-trousered legs stood straight out.\n\nClimbing the hill, we come into the town of Bethlehem. We find ourselves\nin a maze of box-like, one-, two-, and three-story limestone houses.\nThey stand close to the edges of winding streets, which are here and\nthere arched over to shut out the sun. The town, which has about fifteen\nthousand inhabitants, is probably ten times as large as it was when\nChrist was born. Its chief revenue comes from its association with the\nChristian religion and the fact that Christ was born here. There are\nthousands of tourists who visit the birthplace of the Saviour every year,\nand the chief business of the Bethlehemites is making rosaries, crosses,\nand articles of wood and mother-of-pearl for sale to the pilgrims as well\nas for shipment abroad. I was surprised to learn that the mother-of-pearl\nused is imported from the United States, where it is known as \u201cpearl\nwaste.\u201d Shells are carved and sold to tourists in Jerusalem and\nelsewhere, and the Palestine beads, so largely used as rosaries, both\nby Mohammedans and Christians, are made here. These beads are filed out\nof oyster shells until they are the right size. Holes are then drilled\nin them and they are polished by shaking them about in crockery vessels\nwith a little water. After this they are treated in a weak solution of\nnitric acid, polished again, and strung on cords of silk or wire. Crosses\nand hearts are made of mother-of-pearl, and sometimes a little image\nof the Saviour is attached to the rosary. Much of this work is done by\nwomen and girls, who receive from twelve to twenty-five cents a day. It\nis estimated that the total production of such wares sells for in the\nneighbourhood of two hundred thousand dollars a year, and that something\nlike thirty thousand dollars\u2019 worth are shipped to the United States\nannually.\n\nThe grotto or cave in which Christ was born is in the very heart of the\nBethlehem of to-day. There is an open square in front of it surrounded\nby stores and schools, and a great church known as the Church of the\nNativity has been built over it. The church is entered by a door which\nlooks like a square hole cut through a stone wall. It is so low that\nall who enter, even the children, must stoop. As I started to go in I\nsaw a Bethlehem woman with a baby in her arms standing outside. The\nbaby was small, and I could imagine the woman as Mary and the child as\nthe Saviour. Taking a coin out of my pocket, I asked her to pose for\nmy camera. She did so, carrying the child into the sun. Near by, in the\nshadow of the church, was a bearded Syrian in turban and gown, and at\nfirst I thought he might make a good Joseph to pose with my Mary. Upon\nbringing him into the light, however, I found that he was a beggar and\nwould not fit into the picture, so I enriched him with a gift of five\ncents and sent him back to his seat.\n\n[Illustration: Ropes used by generations of drawers of water have\nfurrowed the stones of Jacob\u2019s Well where Christ talked with the woman of\nSamaria. Over it the Greeks have recently erected a stone chapel]\n\n[Illustration: There are left in Palestine less than two hundred\nSamaritans, whose High Priest guards the ancient scroll of the first\nfive books of the Bible, which they claim is the original version of the\nPentateuch]\n\nOne part of the Church of the Nativity is controlled by the Armenians and\nLatins, another by the Greeks, and there are soldiers on hand to keep the\nworshippers in order. These two sects fight for the right to take care of\nthe birthplace of Jesus, and not long ago a controversy arose over which\nshould clean one of the windows. Both the Armenians and the Greeks were\nquarrelling over it when the Mohammedan authorities came in and forbade\neither sect to touch it. Therefore, that window remained unwashed.\n\nThe stable is under the church. It is reached by a winding staircase\ngoing down into a cave floored with marble about twelve feet wide and\nforty feet long. Thirty-two lamps burn day and night within it. Set in\nthe marble pavement is a star over which there is an inscription stating\nthat on that spot the Virgin Mary gave birth to Christ. This star is\nheld down by nails. Once the Armenian who had the right to clean it was\nworking away when he knocked off the head of one of the nails. This\ncaused a great commotion. The Greeks, Latins, and Armenians began to\nfight over it, and the governor of Jerusalem, to settle the dispute,\ncalled in a blacksmith to drill out the old nail and put in a new one.\nThe blacksmith proved to be a member of one of the quarrelling sects. In\norder to settle the trouble the governor called in a gypsy, who had no\nreligious standing whatever, and he replaced the nail without opposition.\n\nAt one side of the cave is a recess called the Chapel of the Manger,\nwhere it is said the Saviour was laid after His birth. The manger is\nof brown-and-white marble, and a wax doll lies in it representing the\nChrist. The Latins claim that they have the original manger in one of\ntheir cathedrals in Rome. It is shown every Christmas.\n\nAs I stood in the stable not far from the manger, a party of twenty\nFranciscan monks came in and knelt down and sang a service concerning the\nNativity. They were burly men with shaved heads and long beards. They\nwore long gowns and their heads and feet were bare. They knelt upon the\nfloor as they sang, and at the end each bowed down and kissed the star\nmarking the spot of Christ\u2019s birth.\n\nThis Bethlehem grotto, if indeed it was ever used as a stable, has been\nso changed by the decorations that it is impossible to conceive it to be\nthe place of the Nativity. It is probably a fraud, as is also the well at\none side of the crypt where the water is said to have burst forth from\nthe naked rock for the use of the Holy Family. I looked down into this\nwell. It is said that the star, that guided the Magi fell into it, but\nthat it is only visible to the eye of a virgin.\n\nI tried in vain to imagine the scenes of Christ\u2019s birth. The decorations\nwere out of all keeping with the place, and the warring Christians\nprevented reverent thought. I got a better idea by going into some of\nthe actual stables which are in use in Palestine to-day, and which\nare just about the same now as they were nineteen hundred years ago. I\nremember one such stable near Jerusalem. It was a cave with a floor of\nrough stone, divided into chambers or stalls, which opened into a sort\nof court. There were men and women sleeping on the floors of the courts,\nwith the animals eating out of their stone boxes or mangers about them.\nThe people had no bedclothing except their blankets, and ate their meals\non the floor. It was on such a floor that Mary had to lie, because there\nwas no room at the inn, and the manger in which the baby Christ lay was\nprobably a hollowed-out stone box such as those in which the donkeys were\neating. Within this stable I saw a Bedouin woman with a sleeping baby on\nher knee. She had just been feeding the child and one breast peeped out\nbetween the folds of her coarse, rough gown. Her arms were bare to the\nshoulders and there were bracelets upon her wrists. Her face was as sweet\nas that of any Madonna I have ever seen upon canvas, and her baby, still\nin its swaddling clothes, looked as pure and as innocent as the most\nfamous representation of the infant Christ.\n\nIt was in such stable that the Wise Men knelt and presented their gifts.\nIt was there that the shepherds came, and it was there that our Redeemer\nfirst saw the light of this world.\n\nHere at Bethlehem occurred the slaughter of the innocents. King Herod had\nlearned that the Saviour was born, and he thought that if this infant\nKing of the Jews still lived at Bethlehem he would make sure of His\ndeath. So his soldiers killed all the children under two years of age. In\na place here, which the guides tell you was used for storing the bodies,\nthere are oil paintings horribly done depicting the killing. Bethlehem\nwas so small that it must have been difficult to hide the infant Christ\nfrom the men sent by King Herod to search for Him, and it is no wonder\nthat Joseph and Mary took the Holy Child and fled with Him to Egypt.\n\nThe Bethlehem of to-day has entirely recovered from the massacre of\nHerod. Its streets swarm with babies many of whom are not as clean as\nthey should be. There are many older children as well, and all howl for\n_baksheesh_. The Bethlehemites are noted for their beauty, especially the\ngirls, who are fair-skinned and bright-eyed. Their plump, well-rounded\nforms are clad in long gowns of white linen so beautifully embroidered in\nsilk that one dress requires many months\u2019 work. The main part of their\ncostume is much like a lady\u2019s nightgown. The gown falls to the feet,\nbeing open at the front in a narrow slit as far down as the breast. Over\nthe gowns they wear sleeveless coats of dark red stripes and cover their\nheads with shawls of linen embroidered in silk. Each girl has necklaces\nof coins and a headdress decorated with coins of silver or gold. They do\nnot cover their faces, and their features are usually refined. They are\nvery intelligent, and in trading with them I find that they generally get\nthe best of the bargain.\n\n[Illustration: The Samaritans dress in white for the Feast of the\nPassover on their holy hill of Mt. Gerizim, where lambs are killed as\nin the days of Aaron. They are very poor and greatly despised by the\northodox Jews]\n\n[Illustration: Pulling tares from the wheat is the children\u2019s task. If\nthey are not removed the bread will be bitter]\n\n[Illustration: The camel blubbers and bawls as his hair is clipped off to\nmake tents for his master]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nAMONG THE SAMARITANS\n\n\nI have just had an interview with a lineal descendant of Aaron, the\nbrother of Moses. I refer to Jacob, the high priest of the Samaritans.\nHe belongs to the tribe of the Levites, who in ancient times were at the\nhead of the priesthood, and he claims a genealogical tree reaching from\nthat day to this. His family has lived in Palestine for more than three\nthousand years, and high priest has succeeded high priest until this man\ntook the position at the age of fifteen, succeeding his childless uncle.\nHe is now almost eighty, and he looks, I imagine, as Aaron and Moses may\nhave looked in the latter part of their lives. Over six feet tall, he has\nthe face and form of a prophet. His long beard falls down upon his chest\nand his scholarly face is refined and spiritual looking.\n\nI met Jacob here at Nablus on the site of old Shechem, within a stone\u2019s\nthrow of the well where Christ talked with the woman of Samaria. It is\nnot far from a farm which Abraham owned, and about on the spot where\nJoshua gathered together the tribes of Israel and read them the law of\nMoses.\n\nOur conversation took place in the heart of the city in the synagogue of\nthe Samaritans. I had to go through vaulted passageways and cave-like\nstreets to reach it. I had an interpreter with me, and as we talked the\nhigh priest showed me what he said were the original parchments of\nthe five books of Moses as they were written by Abou, the son of Ben\nHassan, the son of Eleazar, who, you remember, was one of the two sons\nof Aaron by Elisheba, his wife. The high priest tells me that these five\nmanuscripts were written only twelve years after the Israelites came into\nthe Promised Land, and that they are now nearly four thousand years old.\nThey are the oldest Bible manuscripts in existence. They are written in\nthe Hebrew of the times of Moses, upon long sheets of parchment about two\nfeet in width. The scrolls are rolled upon three rods each tipped with\na silver knob as big as a teacup, and they can be rolled and unrolled\nas they are read. The ink is still clear and the letters are distinct\nalthough the parchment is yellow with age. The manuscript is treasured\nby the Samaritans, being kept in a brass case inlaid with gold. It is\nsaid to have been dug up about three hundred years ago, and has formed a\nsubject of controversy among oriental scholars. The Samaritans believe\nthat it was written by the grandson of Aaron, as the high priest here\nclaims; but the Jews reject it as false, denouncing the Samaritans as\npagan outcasts from the tribes of the Children of Israel.\n\nI was surprised to find that there were any Samaritans living. I had\nsupposed that they had been swallowed up by the people of other faiths. I\nfind, however, that there are about two hundred in Nablus, and that they\npractise the same religion as they did when Christ came.\n\nThey annually celebrate the feasts of the Passover and Pentecost on Mount\nGerizim. These feasts are different from those of the latter-day Jews.\nAt the time of Jesus the Feast of the Passover was eaten reclining and\nas though at the end of a journey rather than at the beginning. The\nSamaritans eat their Passover with their shoes bound upon their feet and\nstaves in their hand as though ready to start out on their wanderings in\nthe wilderness.\n\nThey do this on the top of the mountain, going up there _en masse_ and\ncamping in tents. They smear the blood of the sacrifice upon the tents\nto commemorate the passage of the angel of death over the houses of\nIsrael. They dress in white garments and kill the animals which are burnt\naccording to the methods in use when Aaron lived. The sacrifice consists\nof buck lambs each of which is carefully examined that it may be without\nwound or blemish. At a given signal the throats of the lambs are cut,\nand at the same time some of the blood is caught in tin tubs and smeared\nover the tents. As the blood flows the people shout out again and again\nthe words \u201cThere is but one God.\u201d At the same time there is a service,\nbeginning with a hymn praising Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and followed by\na prayer of thanksgiving.\n\nThe meat for the sacrifice is cooked over a fire in the earth. As soon\nas the animals are killed they are scalded and the wool is pulled off.\nThe entrails are removed and salted. A pole is thrust through each lamb,\nand it is laid on the hot coals of a fire made in a trench. The meat is\nthen covered with brush and earth. As it cooks, the people continue to\npray, and keep on praying until the sunset approaches. At ten minutes\nafter sunset they begin to eat the meat, throwing the bones into the fire\nwithout breaking them.\n\nIn my talk with the high priest he contended that the Samaritans were the\nonly true Israelites, and spoke of the prophet Samuel as a sorcerer. He\npaid his respects to the Jews in no measured terms. He gave me a little\nbook he had written concerning the religion of the Samaritans, and at the\nclose was by no means averse to a present of silver for which he thanked\nme in a dignified way. After I returned to my camp on the outside of\nNablus some of his followers brought me his photograph and a model of the\nfive books of Moses which they offered to sell for a song. The Samaritans\nare exceedingly poor and are despised by both Moslems and Jews.\n\nIt was at Jacob\u2019s Well, not far from Nablus, that Christ met the\nSamaritan woman and told her of the water of which, if one drinketh, he\nshall never thirst, but there \u201cshall be in him a well of water springing\nup into everlasting life.\u201d You will find the story in the fourth chapter\nof St. John. This well is one of the holy sites of Palestine about which\nthere can be no doubt. The village of Sychar corresponds to the village\nof Askar, which stands on Mount Ebal, perhaps a thousand feet away from\nthe well where the Samaritan woman lived. The well itself lies just below\nthe road from Jerusalem. I went through an olive orchard to reach it. It\nis surrounded by a wall and is in the middle of a garden now owned by\nthe Greek Church, which has made it a resting place for pilgrims. Over\nit they have built a stone chapel where services are held several times\nevery day.\n\nSome of the priests went with us down the steps to the well. It lies\nright in the floor of the chapel and is about three feet in diameter,\nbuilt up with stones. One of the monks brought a pan tied to a rope in\nsuch a way that it remained level. Upon this he placed a lighted candle\nand then slowly lowered it into the well. It descended perhaps sixty feet\nbefore it came to the water. The sill of the well is of marble and shows\nthe marks of the ropes which for ages have been let down into it. It is\nsome distance above the floor and may have been the original stone upon\nwhich Christ sat at that weary hour of noon.\n\nJacob\u2019s Well has been known and visited by pilgrims for many years. It\nprobably used to be even with the surface of the earth, but the d\u00e9bris\nand earth-washings from the mountains near by have filled up the valley,\nand it is now considerably below the present ground level. Excavations\nhave uncovered in the garden the remains of a church which was built over\nthe well some fifteen hundred years ago. I found immense granite columns\nlying in the garden as well as many pieces of the stone wall of the\nchurch.\n\nWhile I was here a party of travellers conducted by one of the great\ntourist agencies arrived. They were Americans \u201cdoing\u201d the Holy Land at so\nmuch per day, and they were bound to get the worth of their money. One I\nshall never forget. He had such a gigantic frame that I shall call him\nGoliath. When the party went down to the well the services in the chapel\nhad just begun, and after pointing out the hole in the floor, the guide\nbrought them out. As they came into the churchyard I heard Goliath remark:\n\n\u201cI ain\u2019t satisfied.\u201d\n\n\u201cAbout what?\u201d said the guide.\n\n\u201cI ain\u2019t satisfied about that well. How do I know there\u2019s a well there?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou saw it,\u201d said the guide.\n\n\u201cNaw, I only saw a hole in the floor. How do I know there\u2019s a well? How\ndo I know it has water? I tell you I ain\u2019t satisfied. Here I come five\nthousand miles to see Jacob\u2019s Well, and how can I prove that I\u2019ve saw\nit?\u201d\n\nThe man protested so much that the guide took him back, stopped the\nservice, and had them let down the candle. Further than that, he brought\nup some of the water which Goliath drank at a gulp. I have run across\nthis huge doubting Thomas before on the trip. He would not believe in the\nspot where our Lord was baptized in the Jordan, saying that the banks\nwere too steep, and that if he couldn\u2019t crawl down them no one, not even\nJohn the Baptist, could do so.\n\nIt took me just one day to come from Jerusalem to Shechem. My outfit was\na three-horse team harnessed to an American wagon. The horses were good,\nand we drove up hill and down on the trot. We started at Jaffa Gate,\npassed the Place of the Skull, where General Gordon thought the Saviour\nwas crucified, and then crossed the valley of Kedron. We climbed Mount\nScopus, which joins Olivet, and rode under the hill on top of which was\nMizpah, where Samuel was buried and Saul was publicly chosen King of\nthe Jews. There is a mosque on that spot and the place is holy to Jews,\nChristians, and Moslems alike, all of whom worship at Samuel\u2019s tomb.\nMizpah lies on a peak about three thousand feet above the Mediterranean,\nand on one of the highest of the Judean mountains. Here an army of\ncrusaders stood with Richard the Lion-Hearted and got their first sight\nof Jerusalem. As they looked King Richard knelt down and thus prayed:\n\n\u201cO Lord God, I pray Thee that I may never again see Thy Holy City if I\nmay not recover it from the hands of thine enemies.\u201d\n\nThat prayer was uttered seven centuries ago when Jerusalem had already\nbeen in the hands of the Mohammedans for about six hundred years.\n\nThe road we took to Samaria was the one over which came the boy Christ\nand the Holy Family when they travelled up to Jerusalem to celebrate\nthe Passover. It is one of the highways of the Holy Land, and is still\ntravelled by thousands. About ten miles beyond Mount Scopus we stopped\nat Beeroth, a stone village surrounded by green orchards of figs and\npomegranates. Tradition says that Nablus is the place where Joseph\nand Mary as they were returning to Nazareth discovered that their\ntwelve-year-old boy was not with them and went back to find Him teaching\nthe wise men in the temple.\n\nA little farther on we came to Bethel where the Benjamites lived, where\nAbraham reared an altar and called on the name of the Lord, and where\nJacob took stones for his pillow and dreamed that he saw the ladder\nextending to heaven and the angels ascending and descending thereon. The\nname Bethel, which means the House of God, has been changed to Beitin. It\nis a poor stone village of about five hundred people, with a ruined tower\nand a church.\n\nShiloh, just off the road a little farther on toward Samaria, is now\ncalled Seilun, and, as Jeremiah prophesied, it is nothing but ruins.\nWhere it stood is a mound covered with d\u00e9bris, broken columns, and\nrubbish, so that one is reminded of the passage: \u201cBut go ye now unto\n... Shiloh ... and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people\nIsrael.\u201d\n\nNevertheless, Shiloh is one of the most interesting spots of the country.\nHere Eli dwelt and here Hannah came every year with a new coat for her\nlittle son Samuel, whom she had given up to the Lord. It was here that\nJoshua divided the land and the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant.\n\nI am surprised at the caravans which are continually crossing these\nPalestine mountains. There seems to be a great trade north and south, and\nthe roads are full of odd-looking people. On my way here I saw crowds of\nmen and women on donkeys coming up to Jerusalem. Some were from Galilee,\nothers from Damascus, and not a few from the mountains of Lebanon. One\ncrowd told us that its people were Mohammedans, and that they were making\na pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the tomb of Moses. There were many women\namong them. They sat astride upon donkeys and some of them carried babies\nin their arms.\n\nWe passed many camels. Some were loaded with white building stone slung\nin a network of rope on each side of their humps. They were carrying the\nstone to Jerusalem. Others were ridden by women and men. I saw one with\ntwo veiled women clad all in black on its back and two boxes below them,\neach box holding a baby.\n\nAnother party was composed of Samaritan women on their way to a Moslem\nfestival. They were red haired and as straight as royal palm trees.\nThey carried their baggage in bundles on top of their heads and walked\nsingle file. Behind them were women from Lebanon walking barefooted and\nsinging in Arabic. They were tattooed on lips, chin, and cheeks, and\ntheir bare heads were frowsy and dusty. They were clad in long cotton\ngowns embroidered with red. Only a few were good looking and all seemed\nprematurely old.\n\n[Illustration: When a Palestinian was asked why he did not use horses for\nploughing he said: \u201cThey walk too fast; I would have to hurry to keep up\u201d]\n\n[Illustration: But the Jewish colonists have lost no time in adopting\nmodern farm machinery on their lands, with most gratifying results]\n\n[Illustration: The sheep that was lost is found by the roadside, and the\nshepherd is all smiles. At night, several shepherds will gather their\nsheep in one place. In the morning each calls to his own charges, who\nknow his voice and will always come to him]\n\nI am now living in my tents outside this old town of Shechem. My\ncamp faces Mount Ebal, and above me is Gerizim, the holy hill of the\nSamaritans. It is very near the spot where the laws of Moses were read by\nJoshua to the assembled Children of Israel. The country is in the shape\nof a great amphitheatre of which the hills form the walls. These hills\nare, it is said, a natural sounding board, so that one can talk on one\nmountain and be heard on the other, and for this reason the place was\nchosen for reading the laws.\n\nShechem, or Nablus, is one of the oldest towns in history. It was founded\nlong before Jerusalem was built and even before Jacob\u2019s time. It is\nwithin about six miles of the city of Samaria, where Ahab had his ivory\npalace and where Herod the Great owned a royal mansion. Here, so it\nis said, he gave that birthday party at which his stepdaughter Salome\ndanced. You remember the story. Her dancing, which I doubt not was that\nof the nautch girl, so delighted King Herod that he told her she should\nhave whatever she asked, even to the half of his kingdom. She thereupon,\nas her mother insisted, demanded the head of John the Baptist, who was\nlying in prison near by, and this bloody gift was brought in on a great\nplate or charger.\n\nThere is a Spanish legend that Salome, as divine punishment for causing\nthe murder of John the Baptist, was herself beheaded some years later.\nAccording to the story, she married a Roman general and went to live in\nSpain. While skating on a river there she fell in, and her body is said\nto have struck the edge of the ice with such force as to sever her neck,\nand her head went skidding over the frozen surface.\n\nThe old town of Samaria has long since fallen to ruin. Its site is a\nmound with some broken pillars and other d\u00e9bris lying near it and an\nolive orchard not far away in which more of the columns are still to be\nseen.\n\nAs for Nablus, it thrives, and is one of the liveliest towns in the Holy\nLand. It is the chief commercial centre between Damascus and Jerusalem,\nand its population of thirty thousand is almost entirely Mohammedan.\nThere are some Jewish merchants, but neither Jews nor Christians are\nmuch welcomed. I have been told to watch out as I go through its narrow,\nfilthy streets and to take care not to provoke any one. Several times\nthe boys have thrown stones at our party, and men spit as we pass them.\nPeople yell out \u201cNazarenes\u201d at us, and my guide refuses to let me\nphotograph them, saying picture-taking would surely get us into trouble.\nThe city is so fanatical that even the Christian women go about with\nveils over their faces. The English nurse who is working here in the\nCharity Hospital is veiled like a Mohammedan when she goes out on the\nstreet. Otherwise she would cause much comment, and her reputation and\nwork would be ruined.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nFARMING IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY\n\n\nI give you to-day some bits of Palestine out of doors. Within the past\nfew weeks, keeping away from the cities and towns, I have watched the\nshepherds and farmers. I have seen the real Palestine, with the same\nsky, the same rocks and hills, and the same carpet of wild flowers as in\nthe days of our Lord. I have talked with the farmers in the fields, have\nridden side by side with the modern Balaam as he climbed the hills on\nhis ass, and have even put my hand to ploughs such as were used in the\ntimes of the Scriptures, and with a goad have pricked on the bullocks and\ndonkeys as they turned up the sod.\n\nThe Palestine of the Bible was a land of the farmer. The Children of\nIsrael and their leaders were brought up or worked on the farm. Abraham\nhad numerous sheep and so had Isaac and Jacob. Saul was the son of old\nFarmer Kish, and he was hunting his father\u2019s asses when he was met by\nSamuel, the prophet, who gave him a kingdom. David was watching the sheep\nwhen Farmer Jesse, his father, sent him to the battle, where with his\nsling he killed the mighty Goliath. Lot was one of the richest farmers\nthe Jordan Valley has known, and as for Job, who lived in old Uz, he was\nthe cattle king of his time, owning seven thousand sheep, three thousand\ncamels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses. It was in\none farm village, Bethlehem, that our Saviour was born, and in another\nfarming settlement, Nazareth, that He grew up to manhood. A great part of\nHis life was spent in going about among the shepherds and farmers, and in\nHis preaching most of the examples and figures in His parables were drawn\nfrom things of the soil.\n\nThe most common sight out of doors in the Holy Land is the sheep. They\nare everywhere. You find them on the rich plains where the Philistines\nlived; they feed among the rocks on the slopes of the Judean mountains,\nand spot the wilderness all the way down to Jericho; they graze on\nevery part of Samaria and Galilee and almost everywhere on the plain of\nEsdraelon. They are always watched over by shepherds who often drive them\nto new feeding grounds. The greater part of this country is mountainous.\nLimestone rocks cover the soil, which is so thin that if you could pare\nit off for a depth of eight inches there would be nothing but stone. It\nis different in the plains and the valleys, but the hills are terraces of\nrock covered with boulders and sprinkled here and there with patches of\nearth. Yet the least bit of soil will grow luxuriant grass, and the sheep\nseem to grow fat on the stones.\n\nI remember some flocks I saw on my way to the Jordan. They were composed\nof heavy-wooled animals with tails of fat hanging down like aprons\nbehind them. The best of them weighed two hundred pounds each, and the\naverage was fatter and finer than the best sheep of America. Some were\nwhite-wooled and some brown, and some had brown heads and white bodies.\nI have tasted the mutton; it is excellent, being the choicest meat to be\nhad at the hotels.\n\n[Illustration: The colonists terrace the hillsides to hold back the\nsoil with stones cleared from the fields, once thought too rocky for\ncultivation. Many neglected and treeless hills have been utterly denuded\nof earth by the rains of centuries]\n\n[Illustration: Almonds have proved a paying proposition for Jewish\ncolonists in Palestine, where they have long been cultivated. When Jacob\ndesired his sons to take into Egypt of the best fruits of Canaan, he\nmentioned the almond]\n\nThe shepherds are about the same all over Palestine, kindly eyed men with\nfair faces bronzed by the sun. They stay out all day on the hills with\nthe sheep, driving them into the villages at night. Each shepherd has his\nstaff and his scrip, a little bag of dried skin. He uses a sling as David\ndid to send a pebble just in front of any straying sheep so as to turn\nit back. The strings of the slings are of goat hair, and the pad for the\nstone is of the same material, often made with a slit in the middle so\nthat when a pebble is put in the sling fits close like a bag. Such slings\nare now used in fights between the boys of the villages, who practise to\nsee who can throw stones the farthest.\n\nThe wool of the Palestine sheep is especially fine. It brings a higher\nprice than that of Damascus, and something like a million dollars\u2019 worth\nof it is exported a year. The shearing is done by hand, and much of the\nwool is sold unwashed. Some is washed after shearing, the work being done\nby women.\n\nNearly every flock of sheep has its goats. They are usually black so they\ncan be picked out from the sheep at a great distance. Some of the goats\nproduce excellent milk, the best as much as three quarts a day.\n\nThere is a great deal in the Bible about the sheepfolds. These are common\nin Palestine. In the villages they are often corrals and sometimes they\nare caves on the hills. The village folds are closed at night, and the\nshepherds keep the keys. Those of the mountains are usually open and the\nsheep go in and out as they will.\n\nIn some parts of the country the shepherds pasture their flocks\nseparately by day, but at evening several of them often bring their sheep\ntogether in a large open field or a spot sheltered from the winds. Then\neach of the four or five men will take turns at keeping watch while the\nothers sleep, curled up in their sheepskins. The shepherds to whom the\n\u201cglad tidings\u201d came on the first Christmas Eve were thus guarding their\nflocks by night. In the morning each shepherd calls out to his sheep, and\nthey, knowing his voice, come to him until he has his whole flock around\nhim again. They will pay no heed to the same call if it is uttered by a\nstranger or another shepherd. Often to make sure his sheep are all there\nand also to see that they are all right the shepherd causes them to pass\nunder his rod between him and a rock. He can thus count them, and if one\nis limping or sickly he can pull it out of line with the crook of his\nstaff and give it special care.\n\nThe Palestine shepherd does not use his staff to drive his charges, for\nhe always goes before with the sheep following him. The club or crook\nhe carries is for protection and defence of his flock. If they are\nfrightened the sight of the crook on his shoulder calms their panic. One\nis reminded of the words of the Psalmist: \u201cThy rod and thy staff they\ncomfort me.\u201d\n\nOne of the most important duties of the shepherd is to water the flock.\nHe does this at streams or wells. At the wells the women draw the water\nfor the sheep as they did in Bible times. They use bags of goatskin\nuntanned. The skin is taken almost whole from the goats, and the legs and\nother openings are tied up so that it will hold water. One hole is left\nat the throat into which the water is poured. The water for the household\nis carried in such bags, a network of ropes being wrapped around a skin\nso that it can be rested upon the back, the bag being supported by\na rope around the forehead. The water-bag of the ordinary size, when\nfilled, weighs at least fifty pounds. The women go along with their heads\nbent far over, carrying water to their village homes. They do this day\nafter day all their lives long. This is one of the most common sights of\nthe Holy Land.\n\nIndeed these Palestine peasants are strong men and women. The men bear\nastonishing weights, and nobody thinks anything of walking twenty miles\nand more in a day. One naturally asks as to their diet. This is largely\nrice, vegetables, nuts, and the whole-meal unleavened bread of the\ncountry baked in flat cakes as in Bible days. Meat is a rare luxury. The\nArabic name for bread is _aish_, which means life, and to the peasants of\nthe Holy Land it is the staff of life. They have even a sort of reverence\nfor it. No one will trample a fallen crumb into the dust, and even the\nsmallest bit dropped or thrown away by a careless child will be picked\nup and lodged in a crack of a stone or wall so the birds may get it.\nTomatoes, squash, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, and eggplant are common\nvegetables. There is a saying of the eggplant that there are so many\ndifferent ways of preparing it that if during the eggplant season a woman\nsays to her husband, \u201cI know not what to provide for dinner,\u201d he has\nsufficient cause for divorcing her.\n\nGrapes not quite ripe are much relished when eaten with salt. Cucumbers\ntake much the place of apples with us. Coffee is considered a necessity.\nIt is bought in the raw berry and a housekeeper is judged by her skill in\nroasting and preparing it. Even if a family cannot afford it for every\nday it must be on hand for guests. Men often carry some coffee berries in\ntheir pockets for use at friendly gatherings, and wherever men meet for\nbusiness or ceremony coffee is expected.\n\nThe Palestine of to-day is a land of donkeys and camels. I suppose the\nlatter are about the same as those owned by Job. They are raised in\nBeersheba, where the people live largely on their milk. The camel is the\nfreight car of Palestine. In going over the country I have seen many\ncaravans of them. On the way to Zammarin we passed some camels which\nthe Bedouin drivers were shearing. They were clipping the wool from the\nkneeling beasts, which cried and moaned and now and then uttered shrieks\nas the shears nipped off bits of their flesh. Not a few actually shed\ntears. The wool of these camels is woven into a coarse cloth used for\nmaking the coverings of the Bedouin tents.\n\nAs far as I can see the camels of the Holy Land have no easy job. They\ncarry loads of three or four hundred pounds each, and on short trips\ntheir packs are left on day and night. They begin to work at three years,\nand often last until they are twenty-five years of age.\n\nThe donkeys are much cheaper than camels. They are the draft animals\nof the poor, and are used by the farmers for carrying vegetables and\nwood into market. I see them loaded with olive roots on their way to\nJerusalem, and now and then pass a donkey caravan, every animal carrying\na bag of grain which has been balanced upon his back and which the driver\nholds there as he goes up the steep hills.\n\n[Illustration: With cypresses and palms Jewish colonists have beautified\nthis plantation near Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. The Jews answer the\nobjections of the Arabs to their settlements by pointing out how they\nhave \u201cmade the desert bloom like the rose\u201d]\n\n[Illustration: Carpenters of Nazareth and their shops are much the same\nto-day as when Joseph plied his trade and the boy Jesus helped him.\nNazareth is a mountain village of some eight thousand people\u2014Greeks,\nMoslems, Maronites, Roman Catholics, and about a hundred Protestants]\n\nPalestine is often called \u201cthe land of milk and honey.\u201d This it was in\nthe past, and this, so far at least as the honey is concerned, it may\nbe again. I have already referred to the delicious honey served at the\nhotel in Jerusalem. Modern bee-keeping was started in Palestine by an\nenterprising Swiss in one of the Jewish colonies. His bees were kept in\nhives made of terra-cotta jars, which were moved to different pastures\nseveral times during a season so as to get the benefit of different kinds\nof flowers. The average yield of honey per hive is about one hundred\npounds, and the product is delicious.\n\nAs to the Palestine flowers, I cannot describe them. There are said to\nbe more than three thousand varieties. Crossing the upper plains of\nSharon I rode through great fields of daisies as yellow as buttercups.\nThere were greenish-white flowers carpeting the roadside, and among them\npoppies, gladioli, and lilies. In the gardens at Zammarin are geraniums\nas large as rose bushes and on the sides of the hills wild flowers of\nevery description. There are yellow violets, and pink and blue blossoms\nwhose names I know not. There is also a red flower called \u201cthe blood\ndrop of Christ.\u201d It is said to have sprung up on the spots where dropped\nthe blood of our Saviour as He carried the cross. In a single day\u2019s\ntravel over the Samaritan mountains I counted thirty-five different wild\nflowers. At one place I saw what looked like piles of Bermuda onions\npulled up along the roadside. There were bushels of them, and I supposed\nthey had been spilled out by a broken-down caravan. \u201cThose are lily bulbs\nwhich the farmers have dug out of the fields,\u201d said my guide, and farther\non I saw the men digging. The lilies are yellow and white and grow wild.\n\u201cThey toil not, neither do they spin,\u201d but they cause the farmer to toil\nand are one of the pests he has to get rid of.\n\nThere are but few farms of large size in the Holy Land. The chief\ncultivated patches on the mountains are those which have been cleared of\nstones. They are often no bigger than a parlour rug and seldom contain\nmore than three or four acres. Such fields frequently have stone walls\nabout them. Down in the valleys and on the plains of the Philistines\nthe farms are not separated by fences and are much larger. They are\nplanted to wheat, beans, and barley, and grow luxuriant crops. One of\nthe interesting scenes of the wheat fields is often referred to in the\nBible. This is pulling the tares, the seeds of which, if left, will make\nthe flour bitter. Gangs of girls are engaged in this business all over\nPalestine. Each gang works under an overseer, and the girls bend half\ndouble as they pull the weeds from the wheat. It is said that a farmer\u2019s\nenemies even to-day sometimes sow tares in his wheat, just as in the\nparable.\n\nSpeaking of wheat, it is claimed that Palestine is one of the places in\nwhich that grain originated. There is wild wheat here to-day, and the\nagricultural experts are investigating to find out what can be done with\nthe other wild grains found in different parts of this country.\n\nThe ploughs of the Holy Land are about the same now as those used in the\ndays of the Bible. They are crude affairs, made of wood tipped with iron,\nto which oxen and bullocks are yoked with a rough piece of wood fastened\nto the necks of the animals. Sometimes the yoke is tilted at an angle\nof forty-five degrees, reaching from the neck of a camel down to that\nof a donkey. Donkeys and cows are also harnessed together, and bullocks\nand camels. The plough ends in a point like that of a pickaxe. It only\nscratches the soil, and nowhere goes very deep. The furrows are so narrow\nthat many ploughs are required for large fields. The ploughmen wear long\ngowns, and on their heads are cloths bound round with rope. They wear\nrough shoes or go barefoot.\n\nMuch of the land in the mountainous parts is so rocky that ploughs are\nnot used. The earth is broken up with mattocks or hoes and all the crops\nare cultivated by hand. Nevertheless, this limestone soil is so rich that\nit will often produce several crops in one year. Figs, olives, and other\nfruits flourish. There are olive orchards everywhere. They cover the\nsides of the hills and are near every farm village. I was hardly out of\nsight of them on my way from Shechem to Mount Carmel. A great quantity of\noil is exported.\n\nThe curse of the Palestine farmer has long been the Mohammedan tax\ngatherer and assessor. These men have squeezed the heart out of both the\nfarmer and his crop. The tax assessors have gone out over the country\nin the blossom time of the olive orchards and levied on each tree the\ncash tax to be paid no matter how the crop finally turned out. The olive\nharvest often fails in Palestine, so rather than pay unjust and excessive\ntaxes the discouraged farmers have sometimes simply cut down trees and\nsold both wood and roots.\n\nIt is not only the olive orchards that have suffered from this kind of\ntaxation. One eighth of the annual yield of every crop has been taken\nfrom the people. The custom of selling to the highest bidder the right to\ncollect the taxes in a given district has, of course, made things worse.\nIn their determination to get back the money they paid the government and\na handsome profit for themselves besides, these men have had no mercy on\nthe farmer. The bundles of grain brought to the village threshing-floors\nand put up in stacks of eight have been closely watched by the tax\ngatherers and their agents.\n\nBesides these farm taxes, the people have suffered from a head tax of two\ndollars on every male member of the community from birth to death, from\nthe salt tax, from taxes on imports, and on everything that a man eats,\ndrinks, or wears.\n\nOnce freed from oppressive taxation and its farmers given a fair chance,\nthere is no doubt that Palestine will produce many times what it has done\nunder Turkish rule.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nTHE COLONIES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT\n\n\nJews in the Holy Land are bringing to life again the Palestine of the\npast. They are proving that their ancient \u201cland of milk and honey\u201d can\nbe made to bloom and prosper. Gathered together in colonies, they are\nintroducing modern farming methods and showing what can be done under\nproper conditions.\n\nThe trim Jewish villages built by the colonists are a refreshing sight in\ncontrast to the dirty Arab settlements and their more or less desolate\nsurroundings. The energy and alertness of many of the settlers are\nalso noticeable as compared with the natives who have been content for\ncenturies to do no more than their fathers have done before them and in\nthe same ways.\n\nAt first most of the Jews came to Palestine only for the sake of ending\ntheir days in the land of their fathers. They were a sort of resident\npilgrims. Others came to get away from oppression and persecution.\nGradually the success of the farm colonies attracted the attention of\nJews all over the world, and regularly organized movements for planting\nJewish settlements in the Holy Land sprang up. More and more colonists\nbegan to come because they wanted to get on the land and saw in Palestine\nchances of greater freedom and success in life than in the crowded\nstreets and small shops of European cities. Colonies were set up under\nall sorts of schemes and plans, and while there have been some failures,\nmany have been quite successful.\n\nWhen groups of colonists first come out they frequently live in tents,\nand even before they build permanent houses set to work starting\nnurseries, planting trees, draining swamps, picking up stones, and\notherwise preparing the land for cultivation. Millions and millions of\nstones have been picked up from the rock-strewn hillsides of Palestine,\npiled into baskets, and then carried off and laid up to form terraces to\nkeep the soil from being washed away or to make walls like those so often\nseen on New England farms.\n\nThere is a tree here called the \u201cJews\u2019 tree,\u201d because the colonists have\nplanted so many of them on their lands. This is the eucalyptus, first\nbrought to Palestine by the Jewish settlers. As this tree absorbs a great\ndeal of moisture it is a good one to plant in swampy land, and, as has\nbeen found in other countries, by helping to drain the marshes it is a\nfactor in keeping down malaria. Besides giving shade in this land of\nglaring sun, it furnishes wood for orange boxes and may in time be grown\nto such an extent as to increase the scanty fuel supply.\n\nSome of these farm colonies are in Galilee, some in Judea, and a very\nlarge one is not far from the seaport of Jaffa.\n\nThe latter is known as the Rishon le Zion, or \u201cthe first colony of Zion.\u201d\nIt supports a village of about twelve hundred people, who cultivate three\nthousand acres, on which are grown almonds, oranges, and other fruits,\nespecially grapes. This colony annually makes millions of gallons of\nwine and it exports great quantities of Jaffa oranges. I am told that\nits wine cellars are the third largest in the world. It was founded by\nthe Rothschilds to give persecuted Russian Jews a refuge, and afterward\nmanaged by the Hirsch colonization fund. It is run at a profit. The other\ncolonies are similar to it, and some of them nearly as large. Each has a\nschool, a drug store, a hospital, and a synagogue.\n\nThe Sir Moses Montefiore colonies and schools at Jerusalem are doing\ngood work, and the French-Jewish Society, which has a million members,\nmaintains a number of schools, including manual training schools for\ngirls and boys. If the students do well they are given capital to start\nout with and are established in little shops of their own. In some of\nthese schools the children are so poor that they are furnished one meal a\nday and one suit of clothes every year.\n\nAnother colony, Tel Aviv, or \u201cThe Hill of the Ears of Grain,\u201d has a high\nschool graduates from which have been admitted to Columbia and other\nAmerican universities. The only language spoken in this school is Hebrew,\nwhich is being revived as the language of a great many of the Jews who\nhave settled in the Promised Land. The colony of Gederah is celebrated\nfor its large flock of doves, which are the common property of the\ncommunity. Rechoboth, founded in 1890, was the first colony to introduce\nJewish workmen with success.\n\nWhile the Jews of ancient Palestine were farmers, it is now nearly two\nthousand years since they have had any land of their own to develop. When\nthey were driven out of their country by their conquerors, they were\nscattered over the world, and took refuge in the cities where most of\nthem have been living ever since. There they became a people of traders\nand shopkeepers, and because of this fact many have believed that the\nJewish colonies in the Holy Land could never succeed.\n\nThe Arabs in Palestine have a saying that the love of trading is in the\nblood of a Jew and that he can\u2019t help wanting to be a merchant any more\nthan he can help wanting to possess the Holy Land. They say that a few\nyears after coming to Palestine a Jewish colonist will be found looking\nout of the back windows of his house at a gang of Arabs doing his farm\nwork, while in his front windows he displays, not his farm products, but\ngoods he has bought for sale. Many of the Jewish settlers did, in fact,\nfind it difficult to take up farm work, and were inclined to hire Arabs\nwho would work for lower wages than Jews. This led to friction between\nJews and Arabs, but now more and more of the colonists are doing their\nown farm work, road making, carpentering, and other manual labour. The\ncolonists have also learned that the most scientific farming methods pay\nbest, and are developing schools where their young people are taught how\nto get the most out of the land.\n\nThe Jews of other lands are liberal in their gifts to the Jews of\nPalestine, and, besides helping to set up the colonies, have established\nschools and hospitals in and about Jerusalem. One of the sources from\nwhich money comes for the settlement and advancement of the Jewish\ncolonies is a fund collected from the synagogues of the United States,\nwhich is regularly sent from New York to the Holy Land. Jews all over our\ncountry contribute to it.\n\n[Illustration: Nazareth lies in a little amphitheatre of hills with a\nrugged arena. There is hardly a level spot in the whole town]\n\n[Illustration: The boys of Nazareth are friendly, but in fanatical Nablus\nthey throw stones at Christians]\n\n[Illustration: The stone pot by which Mr. Carpenter is standing is\nclaimed by the Greeks to be the one that contained the water that Christ\nturned into wine at the marriage feast at Cana of Galilee]\n\nThere have been several American colonies in the Holy Land, but the only\none that has made any impression or lasted for any long time is that\nknown for some years as the Spaffordites. It was founded by Dr. and Mrs.\nSpafford, who belonged to a Presbyterian church in Chicago. They left\nthe church and came to Jerusalem, saying that they intended to devote\ntheir wealth and their lives to working for Christ in the Holy Land.\nThey persuaded fourteen adults and five children to come with them, and\ntogether they founded a colony which has lasted until now.\n\nThat was 1881. To-day the colony has members from all parts of the\nUnion. There are a number from New England, some from the South, several\nfrom Kansas and Nebraska, and quite a delegation from Philadelphia and\nChicago. I have talked with them about their beliefs. They say they\nare Christians and that they believe in the Bible interpreted as it is\nprinted. They take the Golden Rule as their motto and try to live up\nto it. They say they have no hobbies, and that their Christianity is a\npractical faith.\n\nThis colony lives together as a community, its members holding all things\nin common. At first they threw their money into a common fund, and lived\nwithout working. Finding, however, that this fund was soon spent, they\nestablished a business of their own and are now self-supporting. They\nhave their own house outside the walls, where they live very comfortably,\neating at a common table with worship morning and evening. They\nfrequently take Americans in as paying guests, charging less than the\nprevailing hotel rates for much better quarters. They also have a bakery\nfrom which they sell bread and cake; a shoe shop, and an art school,\nwhere girls are taught painting and drawing. They have factories where\nthey make desks, boxes, and other beautiful things of olive wood; and a\nweaving establishment where cloths of wool and linen are made.\n\nSome years ago they also established what is known as the American store.\nThis is near the Jaffa Gate inside Jerusalem, and right on the way from\nthat gate to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.\n\nThis store is about the only one-price establishment in the Holy Land.\nIn all other places three times what is expected is asked, and one has\nto dicker and bargain and beat down the merchants. In the American store\none can buy photographs and slides of the Holy Land, brass work from\nDamascus, rugs from Persia and Turkey, and any sort of curio made in the\ncountry.\n\nDuring my stay in Jerusalem I several times visited this colony, and\nwas delighted with the peace, quiet, and brotherly love which seem to\nprevail. Its members are well bred and intelligent; and as far as I can\nsee they practise what they preach. An interesting feature is their grace\nbefore meals. This is always sung at the table by both members and guests.\n\nOne of the most interesting Jewish colonies is at Zammarin on the\nsouthwest slope of Mount Carmel, where these notes are written. The place\nis about five hours\u2019 ride from Haifa, and a day\u2019s journey by carriage\nfrom Nablus. The town is owned by a Jewish colony which has a large\ntract of land given it by Baron Edward Rothschild of Paris. The land\nis high above the sea at the northern end of the plain of Sharon, so\nsituated that it commands a view of that plain at the east and of the\nMediterranean Sea at the west. The country about is covered with chunks\nof limestone of all shapes and sizes, and, besides, the bedrock crops\nout in ledges with small tracts of arable land here and there.\n\nThe Jews have taken this land, have cleared it of the loose rocks, and\nare making it bloom like a garden. They have some quite large fields\non top of Mount Carmel, which is now covered with wheat waving in the\nwind. They are raising luxuriant crops of oats and beans and they have\nvineyards as thrifty as those of south France or the Rhine. Their olive\norchards would be a credit to any part of Italy; and their English\nwalnut trees bear like those of southern California. They are raising\nfine cattle, which they graze on the hills in the daytime and bring in\nat night. The milk is excellent, and the meat as tender and sweet as the\ncorn-fed beef of Chicago. I am told that the land produces abundantly and\nthat the colony does well.\n\nZammarin is far different from the squalid Arab towns of Palestine. Its\nhouses are of German architecture and many of its people speak German. It\nhas a hotel run by an American Jew and planned upon Jewish lines. Outside\nthe door of my room is fastened a tube of olive wood containing the Ten\nCommandments, and similar tubes are to be found at every door of the\nhotel, as well as on the doors of every house in the place. The Jews kiss\nthese tubes as they go in and out.\n\nZammarin has sidewalks, and there is a tower into which water is pumped\nto supply every house. There is a synagogue, which is well attended,\nand a town hall, where the officials of the colony meet and decide all\nmatters of local government.\n\nIndeed, the colony is a little republic with a president and other\nofficials elected by its members. It settles its own disputes, and makes\nassessments for special taxes for such things as schools and village\nimprovements. When Zammarin was started it was supported by Rothschild.\nLater on it was turned over to the Anglo-Israelite Colonization Society\nfounded by Baron Hirsch. It was then supported from Europe, but this did\nnot work and it is now running itself. Every family works for itself and\nhas its own property. As a result the people are becoming independent.\nThe standard of self-respect has risen, and all seem to be prospering.\n\n[Illustration: We cross the Sea of Galilee where Christ stilled the\nsudden tempest and walked on the waters. On its shores He spoke many of\nHis parables and wrought a number of His miracles]\n\n[Illustration: Through the arched Gate we catch a glimpse of the ruins of\nancient Tiberias, the once proud city of Herod, in the neighbourhood of\nwhich Christ spent much of his active life. For years Tiberias was the\nseat of Jewish learning]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nWHERE OUR SAVIOUR SPENT HIS BOYHOOD\n\n\nTo-day I am in Nazareth, the home of Christ\u2019s boyhood. Here He was\nbrought as a baby after the flight into Egypt to escape the bloodthirsty\nHerod, and here He spent all but about four years of His life. The town\nis situated high up in the mountains of Galilee, within sixty miles of\nJerusalem as the crow flies and sixty-seven miles from Bethlehem, where\nJesus was born. It is within a day\u2019s ride on horseback of Mount Carmel\nand within four hours of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee from which our\nSaviour called His apostles and where He first preached.\n\nNazareth lies in a nest in the mountains. It is in a little amphitheatre\nof hills with a rough and ragged arena. The houses extend up the sides\nof the hills and there is hardly a level spot in the whole town. It has\naltogether less than twelve thousand inhabitants of whom about half are\nMohammedans. The rest of the population is made up of Greek Catholics,\nLatins, and about two hundred Syrians of the Protestant faith. The town\nis full of churches and convents, and there are some great monasteries\nand hospices where pilgrims may stop over night.\n\nThe homes of the people are rectangular structures, which look more like\ngreat stone boxes than houses. They are usually of one story, with a door\nand two windows, and most of them have flat roofs, which in the summer\nnights are used as resting and sleeping places. A number of the buildings\nare in gardens. Some have cactus hedges about them and others are shaded\nby cypress trees. There are many olive orchards, and figs grow here as\nluxuriantly as they did when Christ was a boy.\n\nThe buildings of Nazareth are ugly, but as a whole the city and its\nsurroundings are beautiful. I doubt whether there is more beautiful\nscenery to be found in England or Scotland, or even in the Blue Ridge\nMountains of Virginia, for which God has done much. There are many fine\nviews. One can stand in the city or near it and look out over the plain\nof Esdraelon, and by climbing the hills he can see Mount Carmel, where\nElijah hid the prophets and later on slew the false prophets of Baal.\nIt is only a few hours\u2019 ride from Nazareth over the hill to the Sea of\nGalilee, where the Nazarene boys even now sometimes go fishing.\n\nI shall not soon forget a bird\u2019s-eye view I had of the town last night.\nThe moon was at its full, and its great round silver disk changed the\nnight into day. Its rays mellowed the yellow limestone of the houses and\ntransformed them to ivory. They softened the glare of the white, rocky\nroads, and made a fairyland of the mountains and valleys. From the top\nof the hills I could see the plain of Esdraelon, which in its fertility\nvies with the Nile Valley; and away off at the west lay the mighty\nMediterranean, which stretches on for two thousand miles to Gibraltar and\nthe Atlantic.\n\nNazareth by moonlight is wonderfully peaceful. At sunset all business\nstops, and within an hour or so afterward everyone is in bed. There\nare few places that seem so far from the strife of the world. Business\nis swallowed up in the beauties of nature. The scenery is that of old\nGreece, and the stars shine gloriously out of skies which are perfectly\nclear.\n\nThe sunsets are surpassingly beautiful. The other night the golden beams\nof the sinking sun seemed to form a halo over this the home of our\nSaviour. There were many white clouds in the sky, which changed, first to\nrose and then to gold, the colour growing stronger and stronger, until\nthe whole west was one blaze of fire and molten copper.\n\nComing down into the town, after watching one of these sunsets, I met\nmany Nazarene children. As I stopped a few minutes, the little ones\ngathered around me, and it was not hard to imagine similar groups playing\nin these streets nineteen hundred years ago with the boy Jesus. The\nlittle Nazarenes wore gowns of brown, red, or yellow. Most of them were\nin their bare feet; the boys had caps of red felt, while the girls wore\nhandkerchiefs or shawls tied around their heads. All were running and\ndancing and laughing and playing. Some of the girls were quite pretty. I\nremember a rosy-cheeked baby carried by a roguish, bright-eyed maid of\neighteen. I admired the baby and chucked it under the chin, telling the\ngirl I would like to take it home with me to America. She promptly said I\ncould have it and thrust it out toward me. My face fell and I ran.\n\nThere is no doubt that this is the Nazareth of Jesus, and that the hills\nand valleys about here were hallowed by His footsteps. It was here that\nthe Angel Gabriel appeared unto Mary when she was engaged but not yet\nmarried to Joseph and told her that she would be the mother of Jesus,\nand it was here that she came with Joseph after the flight into Egypt.\nShe waited only until King Herod was dead, and then came to Nazareth,\nthe child Jesus being still an infant in arms. It was from Nazareth that\nJesus went to the Jordan to be baptized by John, and it was here that\nafter He had begun His work our Lord came and preached in the synagogue.\nWhereupon the Nazarenes cried out:\n\n Is not this Joseph\u2019s son?... And ... they ... were filled with\n wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city and led Him\n unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built that\n they might cast Him down headlong. But He passing through the\n midst of them went His way.\n\nThe Roman Catholics now own what is said to be the site of the shop where\nJoseph worked as a carpenter. The place is in the Mohammedan quarter,\nnot far from a bazaar where the Moslem merchants sit cross-legged and\nsell to the Christians. When I visited it I met Father Kersting, who came\nhere to superintend excavations on the site of an old church built by the\nCrusaders.\n\nUnder his direction a grotto was uncovered which many believe to be the\nplace where Joseph had his carpenter shop, and where, if this is true,\nthe little Christ must have played among the shavings.\n\nThe various sects here make all sorts of claims. The Latins allege that\nthey own the table upon which Christ supped with His disciples both\nbefore and after the Resurrection. It is a block of hard chalk eleven\nfeet long and nine feet in breadth. In another place in the Latin\nmonastery is what is known as the Angel\u2019s Chapel and the Chapel of the\nAnnunciation, where the Virgin received Gabriel\u2019s message. There is\nalso an old cistern which is called the Kitchen of the Virgin, and in\nthe centre of the town is Mary\u2019s Well, or, as it is sometimes called,\nJesus\u2019s Spring, or Gabriel\u2019s Spring. This is undoubtedly authentic,\nfor it is the only spring or watering place Nazareth now possesses or\never has possessed. It is therefore certain that the child Jesus and the\nVirgin frequented it, and that Mary came here daily for water. This is a\nfountain rather than a well. The water gushes forth in two streams into a\nstone basin, whence it flows into a stone-inclosed pool. There are always\nwomen with water jars about it, and the scenes of to-day are probably the\nsame as those of Christ\u2019s time.\n\n[Illustration: Fish from the Sea of Galilee are an important factor in\nthe food supply of the Holy Land. Large catches are common]\n\n[Illustration: Capernaum to-day is the city of prophecy fulfilled, for of\nit Christ said: \u201cAnd thou, Capernaum, ... shall be brought down to hell\u201d]\n\n[Illustration: For centuries the Jews have been city-dwellers and\ntraders, but the colonists are doing the manual labor on the lands they\nhave taken up, though at first they brought down on themselves the\nreproaches of their neighbours by hiring Arabs]\n\nThousands of pilgrims come to Nazareth every year to visit the places\nhallowed by the Saviour, and it is also on the main route from the\nmountains of Lebanon to Jerusalem. Caravan routes from Damascus to Egypt\nwind about it, and it has always been an important point on the chief\ntravel routes.\n\nThe bazaars are of about the same character as they were in Jesus\u2019s\nday. They are narrow, cave-like stores lighted only from the front. The\nmerchants sit there walled around with goods, while the customers stand\nout in the cobblestone roadway and bargain. The streets are dirty and\ncamels and Bedouins are continually moving through them. The men wear\nturbans and gowns, and the women are veiled or unveiled, according to\nwhether they are Mohammedans or Christians.\n\nI was interested in the mechanical work going on in these bazaars. I\nstopped in a carpenter\u2019s shop, and photographed a workman of just about\nthe age Joseph must have been when our Lord was a boy and passed as his\nson. I asked about carpenter\u2019s wages, and was told they ranged from fifty\ncents to one dollar per day. In another business street I stopped awhile\nwith the blacksmiths who were making knives, razors, plough points, and\nthe long, thin, crescent-shaped sickles used here for harvesting. The\nsickles have teeth like a fine saw. I lingered to watch a blacksmith shoe\na horse. He used a plate of iron the shape of the hoof about an eighth of\nan inch thick. With the exception of a hole as large as a finger ring in\nthe centre, it was solid. There were three small holes on each side for\nthe nails, which were driven into the hoof. When shod the horse\u2019s foot\nwas entirely covered by iron except for the small hole in the centre.\n\nSince I have been here I have paid especial attention to the children.\nThey are the best part of the Holy Land and are as full of fun and as\ndelightful as our children at home. I have seen families which recall\nthat of Joseph and Mary, and many boys with innocent faces which suggest\nthat of Jesus. Here in Nazareth I see the little ones everywhere playing.\nThere is a threshing-floor on one side of the town, a place where the\nearth has been stamped down and where the grain is flailed or trodden\nout after harvest. This is one of the great playgrounds, where the boys\ncome with their marbles and where they play ball. In one of their games\nthe boys try to throw the ball so as to hit a stone mark set up for the\npurpose. They also strike the ball with a club and send it beyond the\nthreshing-floor to be caught by the boys outside. They play blind man\u2019s\nbuff, leap-frog, and hide-and-seek, and as I went through the streets the\nother day I saw two little ones rising and falling on a board resting on\nthe edge of a sharp stone, making a seesaw.\n\nOne of the games played is like our \u201cButton, button, who has the button?\u201d\nThe boys stand in a row with hands folded and the one who is \u201cit\u201d goes\nalong and rubs his two hands, holding the pebble over each pair of\nfolded hands and endeavouring to drop it into one without being caught.\nThen the others must guess who has the pebble. We play the same game with\nthe button.\n\nAnother game is known as the \u201ctied monkey.\u201d In this the boy who is \u201cit\u201d\ncatches hold with one hand of a rope fastened to a peg in the ground\nwhile the others beat him with handkerchiefs or ropes in which knots are\ntied. If he can catch one of them without letting go his hold on the rope\nthe boy caught takes his place.\n\nI observe that the boys here usually play by themselves. They rather\nlook down on their sisters, and the average family considers the girl\nof but little account. When a girl is born no fuss is made, but when a\nboy comes the friends of the family run through the streets crying out:\n\u201cGood tidings! Good tidings!\u201d The father prepares a feast, and all the\nfriends of the family give presents of money for the benefit of the boy.\nImmediately after the child is born it is rubbed over with salt and then\nwrapped in swaddling clothes so tight that it cannot move. After it has\nbeen bound up thus for about a week, it is unfastened, washed with fresh\noil, salted, and bound up again. This wrapping, oiling, salting, and\nre-wrapping goes on for about forty days, at the end of which time the\nchild is ready to wear the ordinary clothing of babyhood. This usually\nconsists of one garment, but in the summer, if the child be poor, that is\nomitted, although a naked baby may wear a skull cap. The usual garment is\na shirt reaching to the knees, and as the children grow older they may\nhave jackets over their shirts.\n\nOne of the important ceremonies is naming the boy. To the child\u2019s given\nname that of the father is always added. In olden times if the son of\nJames was named John, his name would be John, son of James, but now the\nwords \u201cson of\u201d are omitted and he is known as John James.\n\nI am surprised at the beauty of the Nazarene girls, and especially of the\nlittle ones. They have rosy cheeks and bright eyes and are quite as good\nlooking as our American babies. They dress in bright colours and some\nhave rows of coins on their headdresses and rings on their fingers.\n\nI see many little girls at the fountain of Mary, each with a jar in which\nto bring water home. This is the work of almost every woman in the land.\nThe little ones are taught by beginning with a tiny jar which they steady\non the head with the hand. As they grow older they use larger jars, until\nat last they are able to walk through the streets carrying four or five\ngallons of water on the head without touching the jar. This work gives\nthem erect figures, and there are no stooped shoulders or curved spines\namong them.\n\nWhen a girl reaches ten or eleven years of age she begins to think of\nmarriage, and it is not an uncommon thing for her to be a mother at\nthirteen or fourteen. After marriage the wife becomes a member of her\nhusband\u2019s family, and, for a time at least, lives with her mother-in-law.\nFor this reason people believe in early marriages, so that the girl may\nbe trained by her husband\u2019s mother into a suitable wife when she grows up.\n\nI wonder if the boys of our Saviour\u2019s time studied as do the Nazarene\nboys of to-day. As half the town is Mohammedan, many of them are taught\nby the sheiks. They sit on the floor, swaying back and forth as they\nscream out the verses and texts they are trying to learn. The teacher is\nsometimes blind, but he knows the voices so well that when one stops he\ncan strike with his stick the place where that boy should be sitting to\nstart him again. In our Lord\u2019s time the Bible was probably taught in the\nsame way to the Jewish children. Most of the slates used here are made of\ncast-off kerosene oil cans, the tin being cut into squares and pounded\nout flat. The Arabic characters are painted upon such tins with brushes\nand India ink.\n\nThe chief study of the Mohammedan boys is the Koran, while the Jews learn\nthe Psalms. At harvest time the schools close and the children go out\ninto the fields, gardens, and vineyards. They are accustomed to work, and\neverywhere I go I see them herding the sheep. The boys use slings just as\nDavid did and are skilful in sending the stones just where they please.\n\nSome of these Palestine children are polite, but others are just the\nreverse. When the good boy comes into a room full of older people he goes\naround and kisses the hand of each one and places it on his forehead.\nHe can be so sweet that you might think him the soul of innocence and\npiety, but take him outside and he will fight, kick, and scratch with\nhis fellows. A great deal of slang is used, and in a quarrel the most\ncommon expressions are those cursing your enemy\u2019s ancestors. One boy will\nsay to another, \u201cCurse your father!\u201d and the other will reply, \u201cAnd your\ngrandfather!\u201d And so they will go on to the fourth and fifth generations,\neach cursing the various branches of the other\u2019s family. Here at Nazareth\nwe find the children very polite, but at Nablus they threw stones at me\nand called me a \u201cNazarene,\u201d the name used by the Mohammedans of Samaria\nto express contempt for all not of their faith.\n\nFrom Nazareth, Joseph and Mary went every year to Jerusalem. They tramped\nover the hills of Galilee and across the plain of Esdraelon, then climbed\nthe mountains of Samaria. There is a trail, part of which has been made\ninto a macadamized road. Such trips were usually made in large companies,\nand when I crossed Samaria a short time ago I met scores of these people\nfrom Galilee on their way to Jerusalem. The parties consisted of men,\nwomen, and children, most of whom were on foot. Now and then one found\na woman riding a donkey, with her husband trudging beside her, and\nsometimes whole families on donkeys. It was in such a party that Jesus\nwent to Jerusalem when He was about twelve years of age. He was then\nthought to be old enough to take care of Himself, for the Bible relates\nthat when they departed Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and\nHis mother knew not of it. They had already gone a day\u2019s journey before\nthey missed Him, and then turned back to find Him. Only after three days\nwas He discovered in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, both\nhearing them and asking them questions.\n\n And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and\n answers.\n\n And when they saw him they were amazed. And his mother said\n unto him: Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy\n father and I have sought thee, sorrowing.\n\n And he said unto them: How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not\n that I must be about my father\u2019s business?\n\n And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.\n And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was\n subject unto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her\n heart.\n\n And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with\n God and man.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\nON THE SEA OF GALILEE\n\n\nWe are in a fisherman\u2019s skiff on the Sea of Galilee. We have just left\nTiberias, the ancient city of Herod near the southern end of the lake,\nand are on our way to Capernaum, that white spot which you can see on\nthe shore at the north where Christ lived and preached. It seems strange\nthat one can carry the whole Sea of Galilee in his eye. I have always\nthought of it as only a little less than an ocean, or at least as big as\nthe largest of our great freshwater lakes. The truth is that compared\nto Lake Michigan it is only a puddle. It is about half as large as Lake\nCayuga, at Ithaca, New York, and standing on any of the hills rising\nprecipitously about it one can plainly see the whole body of water.\n\nThis so-called sea is only six miles wide at its widest part from east\nto west, and from where the Jordan flows in at the north to the place\nwhere it empties out at the south the distance is a scant thirteen miles.\nThe sea lies in the depression of the Jordan Valley, the river forming a\nwinding canal two hundred miles long which connects it with the Dead Sea\nat the south.\n\nLake Superior is a little more than six hundred feet above the level of\nthe ocean. The Sea of Galilee is more than six hundred and eighty feet\nbelow that level and lies in a nest of beautiful mountains which slope\nup from the water in picturesque shapes.\n\nOver there at the west the shores are bright green and are spotted with\nwild flowers. The grass makes a waving sheet of emerald velvet which\nseems almost to reach the fleecy white clouds of the blue sky above.\n\nFarther to the south are the Galilean mountains, now gray in the morning\nsun, with masses of smoky clouds hanging over them. They are full of\nwater; and as I look, lo! the rain comes. The sun is still shining and\nhas painted a rainbow over that part of the lake covering the town of\nMagdala, which, as you remember, was Mary Magdalen\u2019s home.\n\nLooking through the rainbow you can catch sight of the Mount of the\nBeatitudes where our Saviour sat when He preached the Sermon on the\nMount. On the sloping little hill at the left it is said He commanded the\nweary multitude to sit down on the grass and fed the five thousand.\n\nNow look eastward to the lands on the opposite sides of the lake and the\nJordan. They rise straight up from the water. The hills are so steep that\nit would be almost impossible to climb them, and they are ragged and\nrough. That is the land of the Gadarenes, where our Lord cast out the\ndevils into the swine which ran violently down a steep place into the sea.\n\nAll about us are the most familiar scenes of the Scriptures. Every bit\nof these shores has been hallowed; and as we look the figures of the Old\nand New Testaments spring into life. It is impossible to read the Bible\nin the Holy Land and not feel that its people were real men and women.\nThe apostles had the same feelings as ours; they lived in a world much\nthe same; they breathed the same air; they loved and sorrowed as we do\nto-day.\n\n[Illustration: In a galvanized iron shack, the home of newly arrived\ncolonists, the bread of Bible times is made by a Jewess from modern\nEurope. Palestine, as a national home, has had a special appeal to the\npersecuted Jews of Poland and southeastern Europe]\n\n[Illustration: Near the waters of Lake Merom, where Joshua smote\nthe Philistines, we see to-day the new farmer of Palestine and his\ntransportation. At last even the roads of that backward land are being\nimproved so that motor cars may go over them]\n\nI doubt not our Lord appreciated the beauties of Galilee. Its scenery\nis as picturesque as that of any lake in the Alps, and its loveliness\nchanges every hour of the day. I saw the sun set last night. The clouds\nhung heavy over the hills to the east of the Jordan and the sun gilded\nthe top of the Mount of the Beatitudes as it went down in the west. A\nlittle before that these waters were a glorious yellow which faded away\ninto a rich copper bronze. At the same time the heavens were burnished\ncopper, cloud piled upon cloud, and the whole was mirrored in the glassy\nsurface beneath. The Sea of Galilee has always been noted for its\nwonderful beauty. It was a pleasure resort at the time of Herod Antipas,\nand the palaces of Tiberias and Capernaum were famous all over the East.\n\nLater on I had still another view of the lake. It was moonlight on the\nSea of Galilee. The great round queen of the heavens, her golden face at\nits full, shone out of a mass of dark blue with black clouds behind it.\nThe rays of the moon striking the sea obliquely painted a wide path of\nsilver running from the hills of Gadara across the waters to Tiberias.\nI gazed at the scene from the window of my hotel over the minarets of a\nMohammedan mosque. It reminded me of Lake Como and of some Scottish lakes.\n\nAs we ride up the lake to-day I watch closely the fishermen handling\nour craft. We are in a skiff about thirty feet long and four feet wide.\nIt has a white leg-of-mutton sail which is filled by the wind from the\nsouth, and we are speeding over the water. Our boat leaves a pathway of\ndiamonds dropped there by the sun. I reach over the side of the boat and\nlet my hand trail in the water. It is cool. I dip up some in my palm and\ntaste it. It is quite brackish.\n\nNow the fishermen have laid their oars across the sides of the boat. They\nare depending on the wind to carry us onward. Some are asleep, among them\none at the prow who lies with bare legs outspread, his bronzed face in\nthe full glare of the sun. He is snoring. At the right is a man mending\na net, while on the other side of the boat two are chatting. The scene\nmight have been one on this same lake nineteen centuries ago, when Christ\ncalled men like these from their boats to be \u201cfishers of men.\u201d\n\nBy and by the subject of fishing comes up. Thinking of the great draught\nwhich Simon Peter and the other apostles drew up when they cast their\nnets at the command of our Lord at the time He appeared to them here\nafter His crucifixion, I ask if there are still many fish in the lake.\nThey tell me that the sea is alive with good fish and that quantities are\ncarried to Nazareth and other Galilean towns every week. Some are sent to\nDamascus by railroad and some are salted and shipped off to Jerusalem.\nAbout a year ago a party took five tons of fish in one day. The catch was\nso great that fish sold in Tiberias for one cent apiece, and six pounds\nor more could be bought for a penny. All along the lake there are fishing\nvillages where the fishermen are still to be seen dragging their nets or\nmending them as they float near the shore. I am told that there are three\nways of fishing. One is by hook and the others are by nets. One kind of\nnet is cast. It is used from the shores by the fishermen wading breast\ndeep into the water. The net is a great ring or disk of thread weighted\nwith lead. As it sinks, it takes the shape of a dome, falling upon the\nfish it incloses. The fisherman dives down and draws the leads together\nand carries net and catch to the banks. Much fishing of this kind is done\nnear Magdala. Another net is a dragnet, with floats at the top and leads\nat the bottom. This is usually worked from a boat dragging the net so\nthat it forms a loop and scoops in the fish. Among the fish caught are\nexcellent bass, some of which we have had at the hotel. An especially\ncurious fish is that known as the _chromis simonis_, the male of which\ncarries the eggs and the young about in its mouth.\n\nThe storms come up quickly on Galilee. I have seen several since I\narrived in Tiberias and have experienced one or two on the sea. It was\nduring one of these storms, when they were crossing the sea, that the\napostles came to our Lord, who was sleeping, and begged him to save them.\nHe arose and rebuked the waters, and lo, it was calm.\n\nAt the time of another storm He was not with them, having gone up into\na mountain apart to pray. The ship was in the midst of the sea, tossed\nby the waves, when the disciples saw Him walking on the water. They were\ntroubled, and, thinking Him a spirit, cried out for fear. Then Jesus\nsaid: \u201cBe of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.\u201d\n\nAnd you remember how when Peter tried to go to Him, and when he saw\nthe wind boisterous, his heart failed him and he began to sink, Jesus\nstretched forth His hand and caught him, saying: \u201cO thou of little\nfaith, wherefore didst thou doubt?\u201d And when they were come into the ship\nthe wind ceased.\n\nBut our wind also has dropped. The boatmen are lowering the sails and we\nare gliding to the shores of Capernaum. They are now covered with rich\nmeadows, with here and there ploughed fields and crops of fast-growing\ngrain. From the boat we can see no signs that a city once stood on the\nspot. The only evidence of life is a low, gray, one-story monastery\nbelonging to the Franciscans, who are excavating the ruins and digging\ntemples and synagogues out of the soil. They own several hundred acres\nrunning along the beach and extending for perhaps a mile up the hills.\nSome of their lands are under cultivation, and there are orchards of\nlemons, oranges, and almonds to the east of their buildings.\n\nLanding at the wharf we enter a door in the walls which surround the\nexcavations. I introduce myself to Father Wenderlin, an austere-looking\npriest who speaks German. He takes me around and shows me the results of\nthe work. He says they are digging up what is believed to be the actual\nsynagogue where Jesus Christ taught when He came here from Nazareth. As\nyou must remember, Capernaum was His home. It was from here that He found\nmost of His disciples and here He cured Simon\u2019s wife\u2019s mother who lay\nsick of a fever. Here, disgusted with the wickedness of the city, He said:\n\n And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto Heaven shall be\n brought down to hell; for if the mighty works which have been\n done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained\n unto this day.\n\nThe prophecy then uttered has long since come to pass. The city of\nCapernaum is not.\n\n[Illustration: The prayer niches of the Grand Mosque of Damascus are\nmarvels in mosaics. Marble and wood are inlaid with gold, silver,\nprecious stones, and glass. They were presented to the mosque by pious\nand wealthy Mohammedans as thankofferings for Divine favour]\n\n[Illustration: In this Mohammedan cemetery in Damascus lies Fatima,\ndaughter of the Prophet, and also two of the Prophet\u2019s wives. On\nThursdays the women of the city come to mourn at the graves]\n\nThe ruins of the synagogue show the splendour of the ancient city. I\nwalked around its boundaries. It was fifty-four feet long and seventy-two\nfeet wide. Its front, which faced the sea, had a great many marble\ncolumns, and it was built in two stories, the upper of which was for\nthe women. The pillars are three feet thick, smoothly finished and\nexquisitely carved. The marble work is that common in Rome shortly before\nthe time of Christ, and much of it is uninjured.\n\nSo far only a small portion of the site of Capernaum has been explored.\nThere are a thousand acres or so left that in all probability contain\nruins which, when exposed, may cast new light upon the days and time of\nthe Saviour. The Franciscan monks will not permit relics to be taken\naway, and they forbid the use of cameras. Father Wendelin carries a long\nblack snake whip with him, and I am told that he uses it if he is not\nobeyed. The other day a woman tourist brought in a camera under her coat\nand, notwithstanding his objections, took a snapshot, whereupon he is\nsaid to have laid hold of her and thrown her out of the place.\n\nI am stopping at Tiberias in a little German hotel where I have a\ncomfortable room looking out on the water. Tiberias is the largest\nsettlement on the sea. It lies on the western shore at the southern\nend, within a mile or so of the Horns of Hattin where it is said Christ\ndelivered the Sermon on the Mount. It is only a short sail from where the\nJordan flows out to the Dead Sea, and from Semakh, where the railroad now\ngoes north on its way from Haifa to Damascus.\n\nThe city was the capital of Galilee, and it was at the height of its\nprosperity when Christ was living at Capernaum. It was founded by Herod\nAntipas, the son of Herod, the baby killer, and was named after the Roman\nEmperor Tiberias. It was constructed while Christ was living in Nazareth,\nand was a new and thriving city during His residence at Capernaum. It\nis doubtful that He even visited it, for the Bible does not mention His\ndoing so.\n\nThe city had a palace and a race course in those days, and after the\ndestruction of Jerusalem it became the chief seat of the Jewish nation.\nIt is still one of the three holy cities of the Jews and it has many\nIsraelites among its citizens. They go about in long coats and caps\nbound with fur, and are noted for their piety and for their knowledge of\nthe Talmud. Many of them are Spanish Jews who have come here to live on\naccount of the holiness of the city.\n\nThe Tiberias of to-day is not attractive. It is a mass of gray stone\nand brick buildings, with flat roofs painted white. The streets are\nnarrow and filthy and smell to heaven. The Arabs have a saying that the\nking of the fleas lives here. The human population is something like\neight thousand, of whom about two thirds are Jews and the remainder\nMohammedans and Christians. The Jews have ten synagogues and there is\nalso a Mohammedan mosque. The northern limits of the place are marked by\nthe ruins of the Roman town, and the remains of its walls and a gate are\nstill standing.\n\nThe hot springs on the shores of the lake a half mile from the city,\nwhich were famous in the days of the Romans, are still used. They are\nin many respects similar to those of Carlsbad, the waters containing\nsulphur, chloride of magnesia, and iron. They are good for skin\ndiseases, and if they were under American management might be made to pay\nwell. One of the most interesting and valuable institutions in this city\nis the hospital belonging to the Scottish missionaries. It has thousands\nof patients a year and is doing great good.\n\nI came here from Nazareth riding over the mountains of Galilee. The\nroad is fairly good, although it is up and down hill all the way. About\nsix miles from Nazareth I stopped at the village of Cana where our Lord\nwas a guest at the wedding feast and turned the water into wine. I even\nsaw the stone jars or tubs which the people who own one of the churches\nthere say were the jars used for that miracle. They are kept inside the\nchurch, and it took several fees to get to them. They are great limestone\nreceptacles, looking much like mortars, and it is likely that wheat was\nground in them by means of a pestle.\n\nI also visited the spring at Cana. As there is only one, it must have\nbeen from there that the water which was turned into wine was obtained.\nFour camels, six sheep, and two cows were drinking at it as I stopped,\nand a half-dozen girls with water-bags were waiting for their family\nsupply. It is probable that Cana was much larger and more prosperous in\nthe days of our Saviour than now.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\nTHE ZIONIST MOVEMENT\n\n\nThere are fifteen million Jews in the world to-day, scattered over the\nface of the earth. Their ancestors once lived and ruled in Palestine, a\ncountry now no bigger than our own state of Vermont. For centuries, while\npeoples of alien faiths possessed their ancient land, each Jew kept warm\nin his bosom a belief that the Promised Land would one day be restored to\nhim and the Holy City rebuilt to the glory of Jehovah.\n\nDuring the last century Jews the world over began to discuss practical\nmeans for making the age-long dream of their people come true. This\ndiscussion grew into an organized movement which has rolled up in size\nlike a snowball. Zionism, as it is called, is giving the statesmen of\nChristendom, as well as the Jew and the Mohammedan, a mighty problem\nto wrestle with. It involves the biggest colonization scheme since the\nsettlement of America, as well as religious and political controversies\nlikely to keep the world stirred up for a good many years to come.\n\n[Illustration: The Koran describes Paradise as a place of green trees\nwith a river flowing between\u2014hence the Arabs\u2019 devotion to Damascus, which\nthey call the \u201cPearl of the East\u201d]\n\n[Illustration: It was down this wall, they say in Damascus, that the\nApostle Paul was lowered in a basket at night when he escaped from his\nJewish enemies in that city]\n\n[Illustration: The Street called Straight, the most famous in Damascus,\nlike most of the old streets of the Orient, is made narrow to secure\nshade from the hot sun. Besides, it is roofed over, so that it is like a\ndimly lighted tunnel]\n\nThis little country has been the battleground of the nations since long\nbefore the time of Moses. Egyptian and Hittite, Assyrian, Persian and\nGreek, Roman and Arab, the Crusader and the Turk have succeeded one\nanother in their conquests. In the World War another name was added\nto the long list, that of the Briton, who drove out the Turk. Under a\nmandate John Bull took over the rule of Palestine, and the holy places\nof three great religions, Christianity, Mohammedanism, and Judaism, came\nunder his trusteeship.\n\nThe British Government proclaimed its intention to \u201cfavour the\nestablishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people\u201d\nand to \u201cuse their best endeavour to facilitate the achievement of\nthis object.\u201d At the same time they promised that nothing should be\ndone to prejudice the civil and religious rights of the Christians\nand the Moslems in the Holy Land, nor to hurt the position of Jews in\nother countries. In this way the British became the chief sponsors of\nZionism, while other great nations, including our own United States,\nexpressed themselves more or less formally in sympathy with the aims of\nthe movement. The British appointed a Jew, Sir Herbert Samuel, first\nHigh Commissioner of Palestine, and promised to co\u00f6perate with the\ninternational Zionist organization in working out Palestine affairs.\n\nI have told you of the Jewish colonies I have seen in the Holy Land. When\nthe first colony was founded there were not enough Jews in all Palestine\nto hold a prayer meeting. Under Zionism their number rapidly increased,\nand within three years after British control there were more than\nseventy-five thousand Jews in the Holy Land, with about sixteen thousand\nliving in the colonies. But the number of Jews forms only about one tenth\nof the total population, four fifths of whom are Moslems, with about the\nsame number of native Christians as Jews. After the war Jews poured in\nfor a time at the rate of fifteen hundred a month, and thousands more\nare eager to come as soon as permitted.\n\nThe founder of the Zionist movement was Dr. Theodore Herzl, who called\ntogether the first world congress of Jews. He travelled over Europe for\nmany years, getting the leading men of his time interested in Zionism.\nThe Pope received him, and so did the Kaiser, while Joseph Chamberlain in\nEngland gave his support to the movement. He had two interviews with the\nSultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid, on whom he made such an impression that\nthe Sultan once said:\n\n\u201cThat is a good man. As he looks, so I imagine the Christ must have\nlooked.\u201d Some of the Jews called Herzl the \u201cTwentieth Century Messiah.\u201d\n\nI once had a talk with Israel Zangwill, one of the most famous Zionists,\nabout this Jewish movement. He said:\n\n\u201cWe Jews have always hoped that Palestine would again belong to us.\nThis hope has lasted for more than two thousand years, and from time to\ntime various projects based upon it have been formed to repossess the\nland. Nearly all of these have been visionary and many of them have been\nfounded upon the second coming of a Messiah who should suddenly rise and\nlead us, in some miraculous way, back to our Mother Country. Many Jews\nconfidently believe that will occur. At present the Jews are scattered\nall over the earth. There are more than fifteen million of them. About\nten million are in Russia and the other countries of eastern Europe. As\nit is now, the Jews are congested in the large cities. London has many\ntimes the number in the Holy Land, and there are at least twice as many\nJews in New York as the whole population of Palestine. Chicago has a\nquarter of a million, and Philadelphia more than two hundred thousand.\nNew York City has the largest Ghetto of the world, and adds to it by\nthousands of immigrants a year.\n\n\u201cWe were once an agricultural and pastoral people,\u201d continued Mr.\nZangwill, \u201cand we could make Palestine again a land of milk and honey. We\nshould like to have the country as a Jewish colony, made up of our own\npeople, where we could govern ourselves in our own way. We should not\nobject to being colonially dependent upon some great power, but we want\nhome rule and a national home of our own.\u201d\n\nThere are really three kinds of Zionists, and the Jews themselves are\ndivided. Some would be satisfied to make Jerusalem merely the centre of\ntheir religion and of Hebrew culture. A larger number want Palestine to\nbe a place of refuge, where Jews from all over the world may live in\nfreedom from political, religious, or economic oppression. But a still\nlarger number will not be satisfied until there is set up in Palestine\na Jewish state, with Jews in control of the land, the government, and\nthe holy places. These Jews say they wish to do full justice to the\nother natives of Palestine, with whom they believe they can live in\npeace, and expect the British to retain control until the Jews form a\nmajority of the population. To put through this programme powerful Jewish\norganizations have set out to raise a fund of one hundred and twenty-five\nmillion dollars in five years.\n\nThe non-Jewish people of Palestine have objected to the Zionist scheme,\nand demanded of the British that all Jewish immigration be stopped for\nten years. Christians and Moslems in Palestine have wasted no love on\none another, but the prospect of a great wave of Jewish settlers united\nthem to the extent that a Moslem-Christian league was formed, whose\nmembers agreed to sell no land to Jews. Nevertheless, the Jews have\ncontinued to increase their land holdings, but the British have limited\nthe number of Jewish immigrants who can come into Palestine. At times the\nfeeling between Jew and non-Jew has been so acute as to result in riots\nin which many people were killed.\n\nThe Moslems say that the Jews have no right to Palestine since their\npeople have not lived there for nearly two thousand years. The Zionist\nprogramme, they state, is based on the theory that might makes right,\nand they accuse the British of ignoring the wishes of the majority in\nPalestine and consulting only the Jews, whom the Moslems outnumber almost\nten to one.\n\nThey complain that leaders of Jewish organizations in other countries\nhave more influence in Palestine affairs than the native Palestinians\nthemselves, and say that some of them are sending communists to the Holy\nLand to stir up class warfare.\n\nThe Zionists feel that what the Jews have already done in Palestine goes\nfar to justify their aim to make it a Jewish homeland. \u201cOur people,\u201d they\nsay, \u201chave established over seventy colonies on land, much of which was\nreclaimed from swamp and sand. They have created gardens and orchards\nwhere once was waste. They have started modern schools, and the first\nact of the Zionists under British control was to lay the cornerstone of\na national Jewish university in Jerusalem. They have put in sanitary\nimprovements in their villages, opened hospitals and given medical\nservice to Jew and Gentile alike. They have started new industries,\nand are preparing to harness the water power of the Jordan so as to\nmake it possible to irrigate the land and furnish electricity for the\nwhole country.\u201d These things, the Zionists say, are but the beginning of\nfurther benefits to come as the Jews flock back to the Promised Land and\nwork out their big programme.\n\nThere is plenty of room for Jews and Moslems, according to Zionists, who\nestimate that the land could be made to support from three million to\nfive million people. But one fourth of the land is now in use, and the\npopulation is only about fifty to the square mile.\n\nThe Jews have begun to revive the Hebrew language in Palestine. In\nJerusalem, where most of the learned gather, it is already spoken by\nmany Jews from different countries who find it their common tongue.\nOutside Jerusalem it is not spoken so much, but it is being taught in\nthe Jewish schools. Before the war, German organizations backing certain\ncolonies and schools tried to compel the use of German in the Polytechnic\nInstitute built at the foot of Mount Carmel, but succeeded only in\nstarting a great quarrel in which they were utterly defeated.\n\nWith the revival of the ancient language has come an effort to revive\nHebrew art. In the Bezalel Art and Craft School of Jerusalem characters\nof the old Hebrew alphabet have been made the basis for new designs\nin weaving rugs and decorating vases. Young Jewish painters have been\nattracted to Palestine to take part in this revival, and musicians have\nbegun to collect the old Hebrew melodies. The ancient church council of\nthe Sanhedrin, told of in the Bible, has been set up again in Jerusalem,\nwith women admitted to its membership.\n\nThe Hadassah Medical Organization in Palestine, formerly called the\nAmerican Medical Unit, now has three hospitals and a dispensary\nmaintained at a cost said to be more than five hundred thousand dollars a\nyear. Hadassah grew out of an American organization of Jewish women. Ten\nyears ago it was a small society of one hundred and ninety-three members.\nTo-day it is a national organization with a membership of fifteen\nthousand. It is especially active in health work among children, and in\nthe care of mothers and infants, and it teaches Palestine girls to be\nnurses. There were twenty-two girls in the first class graduated from the\nnurses\u2019 training school.\n\nAnother thing the Zionists have done to help their brethren in Palestine\nis to organize a bank, with a capital of $800,000. They plan to make\nlong-time loans to farmers who have had to depend in the past on loans\nfrom the Jewish organizations backing the colonies, or on private lenders\nin Palestine. The latter have charged interest at the rate of 10 per\ncent. and more.\n\nBut the Moslems say that all these activities on the part of the Jew\nprove that political Zionism aims at nothing less than Jewish control of\nthe Holy Land and everything and everybody in it. There is a story of an\nAmerican who found a Jewish friend weeping at the \u201cWailing Place.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter with you?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cMe? I\u2019m wailing!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat are you wailing for? Aren\u2019t there plenty of Jews in Jerusalem? And\nhaven\u2019t you got a Jew for a governor?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I know, but I want the Mosque of Omar.\u201d\n\nThere are also Jews who favour a more moderate Zionism, and fear that\nsetting up a Jewish state will make trouble both in Palestine and in the\ncountries where Jews are now citizens with a part in business and public\naffairs.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\nTHE WORLD\u2019S OLDEST CITY\n\n\nStand with me on the slope of the Lebanon Mountains and take a look\nover Damascus. We have climbed the road cut out for Kaiser Wilhelm,\nthe Emperor of Germany, when he visited this region, and are now on a\nbare lofty hill which the Mohammedans consider one of the holy spots\nof the world. It is where the prophet Mohammed stood and gazed at that\nmagnificent town, the Damascus of his day. After staying here for hours,\nhe turned away with a sigh, saying:\n\n\u201cI dare not go in. Man can enter paradise but once, and if I go into\nDamascus, this paradise on earth, I shall not be able to enter the\nparadise of the hereafter.\u201d\n\nAccording to the Mohammedans, Abraham first received the divine\nrevelation of the unity of God in Damascus; and Josephus says that the\ntown was founded by Uz, the great-grandson of Noah. The Bible tells us\nthat Abraham had a steward who came from Damascus, and we know that King\nDavid besieged and conquered the place. There is no doubt that it is\none of the oldest towns, if not the very oldest, upon earth. It was in\nexistence before the days of Rameses and Thebes, before Alexandria sprang\ninto greatness on the Mediterranean shores, and while Nebuchadnezzar was\nchewing grass in the gardens of Babylon. It was old long before Athens\nhad begun to be, was already gray-haired when Rome was a baby, and\nantedates any of the cities of the present. It is now one of the most\nthriving centres of the Mohammedan world.\n\n[Illustration: It is in the horse market that men foregather to trade and\ngossip or to enjoy a cooling drink from such a bottle as is shown here]\n\n[Illustration: \u201cO Allah, send customers,\u201d cry the bread sellers in\nDamascus, as they squat in the street with their stock and scales]\n\n[Illustration: The beautiful rugs of the Orient are all hand-made, from\ncarding and spinning the wool to the long months of weaving in the lovely\npatterns. But there is more time in the East than we hustling Westerners\never find]\n\nDamascus lies on the eastern side of the Lebanon Mountains about one\nhundred and fifty miles northeast of Jerusalem, and, as the crow flies,\nabout fifty-three miles from the Mediterranean Sea. It is an oasis city\nsurrounded by deserts. It is fed by two cold, clear rivers flowing out\nof great springs in the mountains of Lebanon and making green this sandy\nplain in which they are lost. These rivers are the Abana and Pharpar of\nthe Bible. You remember how Naaman, the leper, referred to them when\nElisha told him to go and wash in the Jordan seven times and his flesh\nwould be clean. Whereupon Naaman replied:\n\n\u201cAre not Abana and Pharpar rivers of Damascus better than all the waters\nof Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?\u201d So he turned and went\naway in a rage.\n\nYou remember also how one of his servants told Naaman that Elisha was\nasking a little thing of him and how he then went down and bathed in the\nmurky Jordan, \u201cand his flesh came again, like unto the flesh of a little\nchild, and he was clean.\u201d\n\nAs we stand on the hill of Mohammed at the northwest end of the city and\nlook at Damascus we do not wonder at Naaman\u2019s contempt of the Jordan. We\nhave seen that the latter is a winding, rocky, semi-alkaline stream which\nflows through a desert, the great gorge or depression of Ghor. It has a\nscanty vegetation along its banks and flows through a valley of death\nto the great salt sea known as \u201cThe Dead.\u201d The Abana, or Barada, as it\nis now called, and the Pharpar, now called Barber, are pure mountain\nstreams. The former is one of the most beautiful of the whole world. I\nhave travelled along it almost to its source. It is a rushing river of\npure, clear green water which spreads life over all that it touches.\nTogether with the Barber it makes green the great plain which lies below\nus and builds up the orchards of almonds, apricots, apples, and the rich\ncrops which cover it, as well as the white city of Damascus rising in its\ncentre.\n\nNow turn your eyes to the city itself. There it lies under these\nmagnificent mountains with its luxuriant gardens and orchards surrounded\nby deserts. Within and without silver poplars cast their green shadows\nover the houses. The town has been compared to a pearl. It is shaped very\nlike one. My guide, Shammas, who stands beside me, tells me that it looks\nlike a camel, and a second glance shows me the head and neck of the beast\nreaching out to a point where lies a railway station of the road going to\nMecca. The road itself is the long neck of the camel and farther back is\nthe body, the minarets forming the hump. \u201cNow look again,\u201d says Shammas,\n\u201cand see if it is not like a fan!\u201d \u201cVery much so,\u201d I reply, \u201cand it is\nalso like a great spoon with a long slender handle and large oval bowl.\u201d\n\nTo come down to details, Damascus is an expanse of pearly white tinged\nwith the pink of its roofs. The buildings rise high over the green,\nand out of them, like fingers pointing to heaven, are the minarets of\ntwo hundred mosques, with the mighty dome of the Great Mosque in the\ncentre. At the right of the latter are the arched roofs of bazaars\nwhich have been famous for ages, while away off from the rest is a big\nyellow building with a roof of red tiles. That is the centre of Moslem\nfanaticism, where for centuries thousands of Mohammedan soldiers have\nbeen quartered. At times, a few years ago, even they have let loose their\nreligious fury and slaughtered Christians living in the city.\n\nDamascus is a Mohammedan city. It has about three hundred thousand\npeople, four fifths of whom follow the Prophet. It has also about thirty\nthousand Greeks, eight thousand Jews, and lesser numbers of Syrians,\nArmenians, Persians, and Druses. These people are very devout. One sees\nthem reading their Korans in their shops, and at the mosques I have\nobserved a score or more of the Faithful washing themselves before they\ngo into their prayers. The mosques are full of turbaned men, old and\nyoung, who pray singly and in groups, and in many one finds companies of\nworshippers under a leader. There are also many classes listening to the\nexplanations of the Koran by the priests, and there are men reading by\nthemselves.\n\nBut come down with me from the hill and take a stroll through the city.\nThis is Sunday, and we shall first visit the mosques. There are seventy\nlarge ones, where sermons are preached every Friday, and one hundred and\nseventy-seven which might be called chapels, connected with which are\nMohammedan schools. Many of these mosques have libraries, and in all of\nthem the chief study is theology, including the Koran and the traditions\nof the prophets. After that comes law, then philosophy, logic, and\ngrammar. Modern sciences are unknown, and all other branches of learning\nare entirely neglected.\n\nOne of the chief centres of Moslem religious life is the Great Mosque.\nThis is one of the finest of Mohammedan churches. It stands in the\ncentre of the city and covers about seven acres, or almost twice as\nmuch space as the Capitol at Washington. In the great court paved with\nmarble is a fountain, said to mark the half-way station on the route from\nConstantinople to Mecca. It is there that the worshippers bathe parts of\ntheir bodies before going to their prayers. On the other side of this\nenormous court is the mosque proper, the oblong floor of which covers an\nacre. Many great columns uphold its roof, and other columns stand between\nit and the court.\n\nEntering this room, we find two thousand men and perhaps a hundred women\nat worship. Nevertheless, the building seems empty. The worshippers are\nscattered over the floor. The women are alone, and the men dare not look\nat them. They are closely veiled and do not notice us as we go by. Most\nof the men are on their knees or sitting upon the floor. Before coming\ninto the church all have removed their shoes, which now lie beside or\nin front of them. The floor is covered with costly rugs, presents from\ndevout Mohammedans. Think of roofing a large field, upholding the roof by\nmighty columns, and then carpeting that field with oriental rugs any one\nof which would be fit to hang upon your walls as a treasure, and you have\na suggestion of the picture now before us.\n\nThere are strange things in the mosque. In its centre is a marble chapel\nsupposed to stand over the ashes of the head of John the Baptist. Men are\nsitting before the chapel with their heads toward Mecca, and they rise\nand fall as they pray to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and\nto Mohammed as the prophet of God. Thus religion, like politics, makes\nstrange bedfellows.\n\n[Illustration: The transportation monopoly of the Bedouin and his camel\nis threatened to-day by the invading automobile and motor truck]\n\n[Illustration: At the end of the Booksellers\u2019 Bazaar looms the Dome of\nthe Mosque, built amid the ruins of a Christian church, which was itself\npreceded on the same site by a Roman temple]\n\nDamascus is the heart of the Mohammedan world. At its back is Persia,\naltogether Mohammedan. At its south are Palestine and Arabia, more Moslem\nthan Christian, while at the north are other realms of Islam. All around\nit the people are Mohammedans, who hate the Christians and massacre\nthem whenever they can. This was the case in the spring of 1909, when\nthousands were killed and a terrible slaughter of Christians by heathens\ntook place in this region. Multitudes were massacred, and it was only\nbecause the great Christian nations of Europe were afraid of their\npocketbooks and of the loss of that balance of power which might result\nfrom a war that the Turkish Empire was not wiped out as a punishment\ntherefor. The matter was hushed up, and but little of the true story\nwas told in the papers. I refer to the bloodshed throughout Asia Minor\nwhen the sultan, Abdul Hamid, was overthrown by the Young Turks and his\nbrother, Mohammed V, was put in his place.\n\nAnother strange object in the Great Mosque is the holy tent of the\npilgrim caravan. This is used during the pilgrimage to Mecca, which\ngenerally starts at Damascus. Every Moslem is bound to make this pious\njourney at least once in his life, and the followers of the Prophet\ngather here from all directions for the trip to their holy city.\n\nAs they approach Mecca they take off their clothes, laying aside\neverything from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads.\nThey then put on aprons, and carrying only a piece of cloth over the left\nshoulder, walk into the city. They march around the sacred Kaaba and\nkiss the black stone. They pelt Satan with rocks in the Valley of Mina,\nand end their pilgrimage with a great sacrificial feast, at the end of\ntheir Lent, when the festival of Beiram begins.\n\nI have not seen these pilgrim caravans, but they are said to be extremely\ninteresting. Many of the rich go on camel litters something like the mule\nlitters used in north China. These are beds slung between poles which are\nfastened to camels, one going before and the other behind and trained to\nkeep step. The camels are adorned for the occasion with coins, shells,\nand other ornaments, besides hundreds of small bells which jingle as they\nmarch. In advance of the procession is a large camel litter hung with\ngreen cloth and embroidered with gold. This contains the green flag of\nthe Prophet and one of the oldest copies of the Koran now in existence.\nIn addition to the worshippers themselves there is always an escort of\nsoldiers and Bedouins. There are also many half-naked dervishes who sing\nand howl and cut themselves, shouting out texts from the Koran as they go\non their way.\n\nIt is a question whether the railway from Damascus to Mecca will not\ncause this great caravan to become a thing of the past as far as the\ntravel between Damascus and Mecca is concerned.\n\nDuring my stay here I have gone out to the cemetery to see the tomb of\nMohammed\u2019s favourite daughter Fatima. Mohammed had several wives in\naddition to the four which he allows to each of his followers. His first\nwife was Khadija, the widow whose fortune made him prominent and whose\nservant he was. As I remember it, she was his first convert. Two of his\nother wives and Fatima are buried here, and every Thursday many veiled\nwomen come to mourn at their graves. Fatima\u2019s tomb is a little domed\nmosque about fifteen feet square with a praying alcove facing toward\nMecca. Her body lies in a marble sarcophagus, which stands on a pedestal\ncovered with green velvet and with a piece of green cloth at its head. As\nI looked at the tomb I saw several rags tied to the bars of the window\nand was told that they were put there as the pledges of sick persons,\nshowing that they would give money to the mosque if they should be cured.\n\nThe tomb of Saladin, the great Mohammedan general who fought Europe\nduring the Crusades, is also in Damascus. It is in a small mausoleum\nattached to the Great Mosque. At the head of the marble sarcophagus is a\nglass case in which lies the golden wreath placed on Saladin\u2019s tomb by\nthe German Kaiser. Because this wreath had a cross worked into its design\nit gave deep offence to the Damascenes, who demanded its removal from the\nshrine. But the Kaiser\u2019s \u201cgreat and good friend,\u201d Sultan Abdul Hamid,\nordered it to remain, as it was placed there by the Emperor of Germany.\n\nI have spent some time tracing the footsteps of St. Paul, the apostle.\nYou will remember that he was one of the Jewish officials, and was\n\u201cbreathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the\nLord\u201d when he got the high priest to give him letters to the synagogues\nof Damascus, that he might bring such Christians as he found there to\nJerusalem for trial. He was on his way here and was not far from the city\nwhen the light from heaven shone round him and blinded him, and the Lord\nsaid unto him:\n\n I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick\n against the pricks.\n\nYou remember how the blind Paul, or Saul, as he was then called, was led\ninto Damascus to the house of a man named Ananias, not the husband of\nSapphira, however, or any associate of the champion liar of history. You\nrecall, how, when he came there, he again received his sight and, being\nconverted, was baptized. It was the house of this Ananias, according to\nShammas and the guide books, that I visited the other day. I found the\nAnanias of the present by no means averse to a small gift of silver. He\ntook all my spare change and then asked for more. I later discovered that\nthe authenticity of the house is questioned and there is another Ananias\nhouse, which is now used as a chapel. I looked for the house of Naaman\nthe Syrian, and was shown an old building occupied by lepers.\n\nIt was in the Street called Straight that Ananias met Paul. This is one\nof the principal highways of the Damascus of to-day. It leads from the\nchief gate on the south to the bazaars and is about the only straight\nstreet in the city. It goes right through Damascus and is so wide that\ntwo or three carriages can pass on it. It is the centre of traffic, and\nwhile there I saw caravans of camels, donkeys, and horses bringing in\nand taking out all kinds of goods. One line of camels was loaded with\npoplar trees as long as telegraph poles. The ends of the poles dragged in\nthe road as they walked. Behind them came donkeys with panniers of green\ncucumbers and horses loaded with baskets of Jaffa oranges, each as big as\nthe head of a baby. A mule followed the horses. It was loaded with butter\nfrom the interior packed in black leather bottles of the shape and size\nof a tin dinner bucket.\n\nSt. Paul had a lively time in Damascus. He preached in the synagogue and\nconfounded the Jews. After a while the Jews took counsel to kill him, and\nthey watched the gates day and night for that purpose. It was then that\nhis friends took him by night and let him down over the wall in a basket.\n\nThis very place is now shown, and I have made a photograph of the spot.\nThe wall is a great structure of stone with a mud parapet on top. There\nis a house on the top of the wall at the place indicated. This has\nwindows with great bars across them, and it is very easy to imagine how\nSt. Paul might have been let down from such a place when he made his\nescape.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\nSHOPPING IN THE STREET CALLED STRAIGHT\n\n\nLet us go this morning for a walk through the bazaars of this the oldest\nof all the world\u2019s cities. They are more oriental than those of Tunis or\nCairo and more quaint than those of Constantinople.\n\nTake the Street called Straight, up which St. Paul came to meet Ananias.\nIt is a vaulted tunnel where the only light comes through little windows\nin the roof, which rises to a height of about one hundred feet. Suppose\nyou could cover lower Broadway at the top of its third-story windows,\nand in place of the doors and windows of plate-glass have the walls made\nup of cave-like stores opening out on the roadway. Let each store have a\nfloor about as high above the street level as the seat of a chair, and\nlet it be filled with the most gorgeous goods of the Orient. Let each\nhave its turbaned or fez-capped merchant sitting on the floor at the\nfront, with workmen similarly dressed labouring away in the rear. The\nbazaars of Damascus are made up of many such vaulted streets so roofed\nthat only dim light comes in through the little windows high up overhead.\nThe shops are mere holes in the walls, but they are packed full of goods.\nThe walls between them are little more than partitions of boards, and\nthere is hardly a business establishment where the traditional bull of\nthe china shop could turn round without losing his hide. The customers\nbargain standing out in the roadway, or sitting on the floors of the\nstores and hanging their heels in the street.\n\nEach trade has its own section and we walk for blocks filled with booths\ncontaining only one kind of goods. Here is the saddle bazaar. The air\nis heavy with the rich smell of leather. Harness hangs from the walls,\nand inside are saddles for camels, donkeys, and horses. There are gay\ntrappings for Arabian steeds, and leather buckets in which one can carry\nwater with him over the desert. There are also necklaces of blue beads to\nput on your horses to ward off the evil eye, as well as other charms for\nthe journey.\n\nThe harness shops are twelve feet deep and each is a little factory where\ntwo or three saddlers are at work. In some places they are making harness\nof wool and in others trappings of leather beautifully decorated.\n\nA little farther on we come to a bazaar selling panniers for camels and\ndonkeys, while not far away is a street where they handle nothing but\nshoes. The cobblers are turning out footgear of wood, wool, and leather.\nThey are cutting out sandals somewhat like the rain shoes of Japan. The\nfiner ones, which are beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl, are for\nthe better class women. Such shoes are used at home and when madame\ngoes to the bathhouse. They are worn without stockings. In another\nplace the merchants are selling shoes of red leather such as are used\nby the country people and the poorer Damascenes. They are of goatskin,\ncamelskin, or cowhide, and have no heels. The leather is not very well\ntanned, the shoes being kept on the lasts until sold.\n\nThe average shoe shop is about fifteen feet wide, ten feet deep, and\ntwelve feet in height. The stock is hung to wooden nails driven into the\nwalls both in and outside the shop. The men customers stand in the street\nand try on the shoes without the assistance of the merchant. The women\nexamine the shoes through the eye slits of their veils and guess at the\nsizes.\n\nA very odd boot is that worn by the Bedouins. It is of goatskin dyed\nyellow or red and has heels of camelhide with an iron strip running round\neach of them. This boot reaches half way to the knee. None of the shoes\nis made by machinery, and most of them are sewed rather than pegged.\n\nHow would you like to have your hat blocked, ironed, and brushed for a\ncent? That is what you can do in Damascus. The hat bazaar has scores of\nshops for the purpose. The most common cap is the red fez, a round felt\nbowl which fits tight around the head without rim or brim. It is about\nfive inches high, and must be pressed every few days to keep it in shape.\nThe hatter has a zinc-covered table in which are several small holes\nfilled with fires of burning charcoal. He has brass frames or blocks over\nwhich the caps fit, and shells of metal which may be clamped upon them to\nhold the fez in form. After this the frame is laid over one of the fires,\nand in a moment the heat gives the cap the latest and most fashionable\nshape.\n\nOther bazaars are devoted to the selling of silks and still others to the\nfinest of cloths. The wealthier Mohammedans have their long robes made of\nthe best possible stuffs, for they delight in rich garments. The women\nshop in these bazaars. They peep out through their veils as they examine\nthe goods and will bargain an hour in buying a needle. I am told that\nthey sometimes raise their veils to entice the merchants to lower their\nprices, but if so, I have not seen them, and I have been told by my guide\nthat if I wish to keep my head on my shoulders I had best turn my eyes in\nanother direction.\n\nThere is one Damascus bazaar where I walk carefully, and as far as\npossible keep in midstreet. It is called the Louse Market, and you may\nknow why when I tell you that it is devoted to second-hand clothes. The\nbazaar is just back of the citadel and not far from the Straight Street.\nFrom morning until evening it is filled with customers and dealers;\nauctioneers walk back and forth through it, each carrying a garment which\nhe holds up, asking for bids. He praises his goods to the skies and tells\nthe crowd that he is willing to sell them for a song.\n\nYesterday I spent a short time in the booksellers\u2019 bazaar, but my guide\nShammas dragged me away, fearing that we might be insulted and mobbed.\nThe dealers are such strict Mohammedans that they do not wish even to\nsell to the Christians. The shops are near the gate of the Great Mosque\nand among their wares are many copies of the Koran. Picking one up, I\nasked the merchant the price.\n\nHe scowled and angrily exclaimed: \u201cPut it down! Put it down! We do not\nsell our holy books to the Christians.\u201d\n\nThereupon, as I saw he was growing angry, I dropped it, saying: \u201cWe\nChristians are glad to give or sell our Bibles to any one, and as for\nyour Korans, I can buy them by the ton in New York or London.\u201d\n\nThe Moslems here are noted for their hatred of Christians, and one of\nthe bloodiest massacres of modern times occurred in Damascus about sixty\nyears ago. The people are little changed to-day, and they are about as\nignorant as they were then. The chief books sold are religious. There are\nalso some story books and copies of the \u201cArabian Nights,\u201d either in parts\nor as a whole.\n\nDuring our trip through the bazaars we find the tastes of the Mohammedan\nstomach everywhere in evidence. These people like good food, and it seems\nto me they eat from morning till night. Pedlars carrying candy, lemonade,\nand cakes march through the streets crying their wares while bread men\nsit on the sidewalks with their stocks. The most common bread is a flat,\nround cake as thick as the buckwheats we have for breakfast, and a foot\nor more in diameter. These cakes are white or brown. They are so pliable\nthat they can be doubled up without breaking. They are often used to pick\nthe meats out of a stew. The Orientals do not use forks, claiming that\ntheir own hands are much cleaner. They have a saying that \u201ceveryone knows\nwhether he has washed his own hands, but no one knows who washed the\nforks.\u201d Another kind of bread is like a gigantic shoe sole without the\nheel, and another is a round biscuit about an inch thick.\n\nBut here comes a man selling candy. Take a bite of it and your mouth will\nflow water like the rivers which feed this city and make fertile its\nplains. Damascus is noted for its sweetmeats, and its candies are shipped\nfar and wide over the world. The sweets are sold in the bazaars, some of\nthe merchants having large shops. There is one dear old turbaned sheik\nwho has a cell in the candy bazaar where you can buy nuts and fruits fit\nfor the queen of the fairies. His sugared almonds are the joy of the\ntourist, and his Turkish delight, a soft, sweet, transparent paste, with\npistachios and other small nuts scattered through it, is a dish for the\ngods.\n\nStop a moment and listen to the cries of the pedlars. Shammas will\ninterpret them for us. Here is a man selling bread hot from the oven.\nHe yells: \u201c_Ya rezzak_\u201d, or, \u201cGod, send me a customer,\u201d and follows by\nshowing a cake and saying, \u201cAll this for two cents.\u201d Another coming\nbehind cries out in Arabic: \u201cBuy my bread and the good God will nourish\nyou,\u201d and a third says: \u201cMy cakes are food for the swallows and the\ndelight of tender and delicate girls.\u201d\n\nHere comes a lemonade man. He has a big glass jar slung to his back with\na neck so shaped that he can tilt its contents into a cup. He has two\nbrazen bowls which he holds in his hands and rattles as he shouts: \u201cDrink\nand refresh thy heart.\u201d Another pedlar has ice-cream the coolness of\nwhich he cries up in the words: \u201c_Balak sunnak_,\u201d or \u201cTake care of your\nteeth,\u201d meaning it is so cold it will make your teeth ache. Fruit is sold\nthe same way, as well as cooked meats of various kinds. There is one\nsalad which the men call out is so tender that if an old woman eats it\nshe will find herself young in the morning.\n\nA good deal of food is bought by the charitable and given to beggars.\nSome even buy bread for the dogs, hoping thereby to acquire merit and\nthus pave their road to the Mohammedan heaven.\n\nMaking our way through the crowds we reach a region of cook shops,\nrestaurants, and caf\u00e9s not far from the butcher shops. The latter sell\nmost kinds of meat, including camel, beef, mutton, and lamb. The mutton\nis fine. The sheep are of the fat-tail variety, and when skinned and\ndressed for the market their tails are left on. These hang down over\ntheir backs in great lumps of fat, looking like a loaf of fresh dough\nready for baking. Sometimes they have the form of a heart four or five\ninches thick and eight inches wide. Such a tail will weigh fifteen\npounds. Upon a live sheep it hangs down at the rear like a woolly apron,\nand when raised looks like a miniature sail, showing an expanse of bare\nwhite skin beneath.\n\nAnother interesting part of business Damascus is composed of long streets\nof cave-like vaults floored with cement and divided up into compartments\npiled high with grain, beans, or flour. This is the grain bazaar. One\nof the compartments may hold a hundred bushels of wheat and another a\nlike quantity of oats, barley, or lentils. There are bins filled with\nIndian corn and bins of caraway seeds. The grain lies on the floor and\nis scooped up and measured to order. Camels come in bringing great bags\nof wheat and go out carrying other grains to various parts of the city.\nThe country about Damascus which can be irrigated is exceedingly rich and\nproduces large crops. A great deal of grain is brought from the plains\nbeyond the Jordan and on the east of the Sea of Galilee, known as the\n_hauran_, and this grain is shipped from Damascus to other parts of Syria\nand across the Mediterranean to Europe.\n\nIndeed, the trade of Damascus is extensive. The city makes goods of\nvarious kinds which are shipped all over the world. It is noted for its\nbeautiful brass and silver ware, its inlaid woodwork, and its oriental\nrugs. It has large caravan trade with Persia and other parts of Turkey,\nand long lines of camels are always bringing in and carrying out goods.\nThere are some great buildings called _khans_ devoted to wholesaling\nand warehousing. I visited one of these. It was shaped much like a\nmosque, being lighted by nine great domes the tops of which were at\nleast one hundred feet above the dirt floor. The domes were upheld by\nstone pillars. The floor, which covered almost an acre, was packed with\nmerchandise.\n\nIn one part of it were bags of wheat piled high toward the roof; in\nanother hundreds of boxes of dates. In other parts were barrels and\ncrates of fruit and bales of oriental rugs laid one upon the other. Some\nof the bales were enormous, one equalling a load for a two-horse wagon. I\nwas told that they came from Bagdad. There were a number of these _khans_\nin Damascus at the time of Christ, and there are several now in use. The\nspace in them is rented out to merchants, the owners doing a general\nwarehousing business.\n\nBut come, let us go to the silver bazaar.\n\nThis, like the warehouse establishment, is under one roof. It is composed\nof scores of silversmith shops or booths scattered over a large room of\nmore than an acre. Each merchant has his own little quarter. He sits\nbehind a desk or counter, and has a rude, old-fashioned safe at the rear.\nAt the right and left, or still farther back, are his mechanics, who\nare working in silver and gold, making all sorts of jewellery. Each has\na little anvil before him and a miniature furnace with a blow pipe, by\nwhich he melts and shapes the metal to the desired form. The pounding can\nbe heard everywhere. We ask some of the merchants to show us their wares.\nThey bring out heavy chains of silver, and gold rings set with diamonds\nand pearls and some magnificent pigeon-blood rubies. There are millions\nof dollars\u2019 worth of jewellery under this roof.\n\nThe customers are both men and women, the former in gowns and turbans and\nthe latter in great black sheets with veils over their faces. We stop and\nwatch the buying and selling. There is a woman looking at a bracelet of\ngold. The jeweller weighs it on rude little scales and then adds the cost\nof the labour. The woman is not satisfied with the price. She calls him a\nthief, and demands that he do not rob her children of bread. It may be an\nhour before the bargain is made.\n\nI am frequently asked what one can buy in these oriental cities which\nis worth while taking home. Damascus is a good shopping place for the\ntourist. Since it is somewhat off the main line of travel, one can pick\nup oriental things comparatively cheap. I have bought several rugs which\nhave come here by caravan from Bokhara, two of which are at least one\nhundred years old. I will not give the prices except to say that they\nare much below those at which they could be bought in New York, and the\nmerchant has agreed to pay the duties upon them and to deliver them to my\nhouse in Washington.\n\nAmong the many other things sold are silk head shawls such as are used by\nthe Bedouins, and table covers of red or black woollen cloth embroidered\nwith silk.\n\nA great many Americans take home brassware from Damascus, and not a few\npurchase swords inlaid with silver and with the Damascus blades for which\nthe city has been noted for ages. Some of these swords are imitations\nimported from Germany, while other \u201coriental\u201d wares come from Manchester,\nbeing made especially for this trade. Indeed, one must keep his eye open\nif he would buy genuine curios in any part of the world.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\nTHE VEILED WOMEN OF DAMASCUS\n\n\nHo! Ye bold, bright-eyed, fair-skinned girls of America! Forget the\ninfinity of changing styles with which you are free to please us every\nyear and take a look at your sisters of Damascus in far-away Syria.\n\nHow would you like to exchange your life for theirs? How would you like\nto spend your days without showing your face to the light of the sun? How\nwould you like to go about in a great bag of black silk tied in at the\nwaist so that it covers your form from the head to the feet except for a\nshort, thick veil of black through the meshes of which you can just feel\nyour way along the street?\n\nHow would you like to be penned up in the back of your house, or to have\nyour front windows so latticed that you could see out only through holes\nas big around as a lead pencil? Aye, more, how would you like never to\ntalk to any man but one of your own family, and worse, never even to be\nseen by any other man or boy?\n\nThis is the condition of the girls of this fanatical city of Damascus. It\nis the fate of millions of other women of the Mohammedan world.\n\nWithin the past thirty years I have visited every Moslem country on\nearth, and have worn out my eyes trying to see through the veils which\nhide the fair sex. In Morocco their faces are covered with cotton, and\nthey peep out through the crack made by pulling the cloth slightly apart\nin front of the face. In Kairouan the girls cover their faces with black\ncr\u00eape so thick that you cannot tell whether they are negroes or whites;\nand in Tunis they are so shrouded in balloon-like robes as hardly to be\nable to walk. In Zanzibar the girls wear bags which cover them to the\nfeet, and their only view of the world is through peepholes as big as a\nfifty-cent piece hedged across with lace netting so that no man shall see\nin. In Egypt the headdress comes down to the eyebrows, and a veil extends\nfrom there to the knees, with the exception of a crack for the eyes, the\ncrack being kept open by a gold or brass spool resting on the bridge of\nthe nose. In Constantinople the fashionable Turks are doing away with\nthe veil or using thin white gauze through which the face can be plainly\nseen. It is thus that the ladies of the harem of the Sultan are dressed,\nand thus the wives of all the rich men.\n\nHere in Damascus the women stick to veils of flowered muslin or black\ncr\u00eape and wrap themselves in great billowy cloaks of black silk or\ncalico. These bulge out above and below where they are tied at the waist,\nmaking each maiden look like two huge lumps of sausages. Every time I go\nthrough the city I see hundreds of them waddling along. They throng the\nbazaars, where they bob back and forth as they talk with the merchants.\nThey may be seen picking their way through the side streets or sitting\non the floors of the mosques reading the Koran and watching the men go\nthrough their prayers. Many of the shrouded figures are those of small\ngirls. They take the veil at eleven or twelve and keep it on after\nmarriage and indeed until death.\n\n[Illustration: The street-dress of the woman of Damascus is a bag of\nblack silk tied in at the waist and a black veil so thick that she can\nhardly see her way about. Feminism and style-changes make little headway\nin Moslem lands]\n\n[Illustration: I am five feet eight inches tall but could not reach to\nthe upper edge of this fragment of one of the giant columns at Baalbek.\nOnce a centre of worship of Baal, there were built later temples to\nJupiter, Mercury, Venus, and Bacchus]\n\nAnd then the houses! All of the Mohammedans have homes so latticed that\nthe women cannot be seen from the streets. In some cases the windows\nare built over the sidewalks, hanging out like cages of wooden network.\nThis is true even in the new apartment houses which are now going up, as\nwell as in the huts of the poor, although the latter seldom have windows\nexcept at the back. The ordinary lattice is made of canelike rushes or\nsticks, and preparing them is a special trade followed by many. The\nrushes are brought in to Damascus on the backs of donkeys, which as they\ngo fill the streets with their loads.\n\nIt behooves the Mohammedan woman to be strict in her conduct. The husband\nhere has most of the rights, and can divorce his wife, or wives, whenever\nhe will. He sometimes does so without thinking, and that to his sorrow.\nI heard of such a case yesterday. According to the laws of Damascus, if\na man wishes to get rid of his wife he has only to say, \u201cI divorce you!\nI divorce you! I divorce you!\u201d and the woman must leave. Once she has\ngone she cannot come back as a wife until after she has been married to\nsomeone else. To get around this, an angry husband, relenting and longing\nfor the dear departed, arranges to marry her to a friend, a dervish,\nor some half-crazy man, who for a sum will go through the ceremony of\na wedding and immediately divorce the woman, who can then be married\nagain to her former husband. In the case referred to the man had a\npetty quarrel with his wife, and angrily muttered the words of divorce.\nAs soon as she had gone he repented, and thereupon brought about her\nmarriage with an alleged friend, with the understanding that a divorce\nwas to follow right after the ceremony. The friend, however, refused to\nutter the words of divorce, saying, \u201cI like the woman and will keep her\nmyself,\u201d and so it is at this writing.\n\nSuch divorces are always on the part of the husband. As for the women,\nthey have more difficulty in getting rid of the marriage tie, although\nthey can do so provided the husband does not perform his duty to them\nor give them an equal amount of attention with the other wives of the\nfamily. According to Mohammed every man had the right to four wives, but\nthe Koran provides that he must spend an equal time with each of them,\nand in some places he is required to give each a separate establishment.\n\nDuring my travels in the Holy Land I have picked up some interesting\nstories of marriage and divorce. Every sect has its own customs. The Jews\ncan divorce easily, and after that they can marry again. The orthodox\nGreeks can marry only three times, and some of the Christians are not\nallowed a divorce without cause.\n\nIn all of the Jewish weddings the girl brings a dowry, the amount of the\ndot being mentioned in the contract of marriage. This contract is always\nsigned in the presence of the rabbi, and the wedding ceremony takes place\nunder a tent in the court of the synagogue. Before marriage the orthodox\nbride is shaved from her head to her feet, after which her head is always\nkept covered. At the ceremony and after it they have music, with drums,\ncymbals, and harps; and many of the old-fashioned customs of Bible times\nare observed. The Jews marry young, and a girl is an old maid at twenty.\n\nThe Mohammedans of the villages usually take wives in their early teens,\nmarriages at twelve years being not uncommon. This is the case only with\nthe girls. The men are usually older, and it is customary for mature men\nto marry young girls and to add to their harems as the first wives grow\nolder. In such cases the groom pays money to the father of the bride.\nThis is the reverse of the Jewish marriages, where the money goes to\nthe groom. The price for a Moslem wife ranges from one hundred dollars\nupward, according to the financial condition of the contracting parties.\nThe contracts are made by the older people of the family. If there is a\nfather he decides upon the marriage. If the father is dead the eldest\nbrother may act, or in some cases the mother.\n\nThe customs as to the right of the family to dictate the marriage are\nrigid. The other day a peasant living near Jerusalem had a sister who\nran away with her lover and married him. This was after the family had\nobjected to the match. The peasant took a revolver and went after the\nbridal couple. He caught up with his brother-in-law in Jerusalem and shot\nhim dead on the street. When arrested he justified the crime and he is\nnow imprisoned awaiting trial. I am told he will get off with a slight\npunishment, as he has acted within his rights according to the Koran.\n\nAmong the city Mohammedans the bridegroom makes a present of a dowry\nsufficient to enable his bride to purchase her trousseau and household\nfurniture. He may give her six or eight hundred dollars, the greater part\nof which will be paid to her nearest male relative before the wedding\ntakes place. On the other hand, he and that relative may buy the outfit\ntogether, making items of the various things and their cost. Often the\nwhole dowry is not paid at once, 25 or 30 per cent. being left until\nafter the wedding. This is not demanded except in case of divorce, and it\nis considered a premium that will insure good treatment from the husband.\n\nThe bride seldom even sees the groom before the wedding, and the couple\nnever meet until that time. The investigations of both families are\ncarried on by the fathers and mothers independent of the real parties to\nthe marriage.\n\nWhen a boy is old enough to have a wife, let us say at seventeen, his\nparents begin to look about for a suitable girl. The mother goes to the\nharems of her acquaintances, and asks about the daughters. She also\nvisits the girls\u2019 schools, and when she has found a maiden who she thinks\nmay suit she invites the mother of the girl to meet her at the bath. This\nis one of the chief places of gossip and pleasure and it is not uncommon\nfor ladies to meet there. To the bath comes the prospective bride with\nher mother for her first interview with her would-be mother-in-law. The\ntwo talk and gossip together. After the bath is over they have something\nto eat.\n\nThere is more talking, and the girl is sized up mentally and physically.\nUpon her return home the mother of the groom tells her husband the\nresult of her investigations, and if he is pleased, negotiations are\nbegun with the parents of the bride. If agreeable, the dowry is fixed\nand the betrothal is made. Neither the marriage nor the betrothal can be\nconsummated without the consent of the girl. The man, or a Mohammedan\npriest, appears at the door of the harem of the bride\u2019s mother. The girl,\nwho is behind the door, is asked if she will consent to the match. She\nhas to answer \u201cI will!\u201d three separate times, after which the amount of\nthe dowry may be paid over in the presence of witnesses.\n\n[Illustration: Man is dwarfed by the enormous portal of the Temple of\nBacchus considered the finest architectural feature of the structure.\nThis is one of the most beautiful and best preserved ruins in Syria]\n\n[Illustration: Standing out against the sky are these mighty columns,\nall that remain of the fifty-four that once surrounded the Great Temple\nof the Sun at Baalbek. They are visible to the traveller long before he\nreaches the ruins]\n\nIn all oriental countries the wedding ceremonies are very important. The\nmarriage is always an occasion of protracted festivities, and not to be\ninvited is to suffer a grave insult. One of the proverbs here is, \u201cHe\nwho does not invite me to his marriage will not have me at his funeral.\u201d\nAmong the Mohammedans the wedding ceremonies often last a week, during\nwhich there is feasting on the part of both families. The dinners are\ngiven before the wedding, and at the time of the ceremony sums of money\nare thrown to the beggars. The wedding feasts usually begin Monday.\nTuesday the bride is taken to the bath where there is a feast, the\nbridegroom paying the expenses of the bathing and eating.\n\nWednesday the bridegroom\u2019s women friends go to the house of the bride\nwhere they have a concert and dinner. The fingernails and toenails of the\nbride are stained red with henna and they begin to deck her out for the\nwedding. Thursday a great procession escorts the bride to the groom\u2019s\nhouse where the two eat candy, exchanging mouthfuls or bites, the idea\nbeing that nothing but sweetness is hereafter to pass from the lips of\none to the other. The bridegroom has not seen the bride until this time.\nHe says a prayer in her presence, kneeling on her bridal veil as he does\nso.\n\nAmong the Mohammedans of Palestine, says my guide Shammas, the wedding\nusually takes place at the mosque, and the bridegroom meets his bride\nwhen she is on the way thither. Dressed and veiled in white, she is\ncarried under a canopy on the shoulders of four men. At the mosque the\nwedding sermon is preached, and at the end of this the bride goes to the\nhouse of her husband. As she steps over the threshold she bends down and\npasses under two crossed swords upheld by his friends. This means that if\nshe is not true to her husband he will kill her. She is taken first to\nthe women\u2019s apartment or harem over the door of which has been placed a\npiece of leavened dough, thus signifying that the home into which she has\ncome will flourish. In some cases the bride breaks a piece of leavened\nbread and gives it to the young people to eat.\n\nAfter she has entered her own apartment in the groom\u2019s house there is a\nfeast, the guests sitting on the floor and eating course after course of\nmeats and vegetables interspersed with candies and sirups. In some cases\nthe groom has to make the bride speak before the dinner will be served,\nand it is a virtue with her to keep silent just as long as she can.\n\nIt is the general idea among Christians that Mohammedan wives have no\nrights which their husbands are bound to respect. I am told this is not\nso, and that the women here not infrequently rule their husbands. The\ncost of living has increased so much within recent years that it is only\na rich Mohammedan who can afford several wives. Public sentiment as to\nthe rights of women has risen, and the man who abuses his wives is not\nconsidered respectable. No man dares address a strange woman on the\nstreets of any Turkish city, and in the best-regulated houses the husband\ndoes not enter the women\u2019s apartments when he knows he is not wanted,\nalthough he has the legal right to go there at any time.\n\nThe Mohammedan wife has the entire right and control of her own\nproperty, and if she brings money into the family she does not hesitate\nto say so. She has about as much power in the courts as our women have.\nShe can sue and be sued and can even enter a suit against her husband in\nregard to her own property. She can make a will and leave her property as\nshe pleases, and she can force him to pay the dowry agreed upon. When she\nmarries he has to buy the wedding gown, and if he divorces her she gets\nback her trousseau.\n\nIt is said that women are still bought and sold in the Turkish\npossessions. Not long ago there was a regular trade in the black girls\nwho were brought across the Sahara from Central Africa and shipped\nthrough Tripoli into Syria and other parts of Turkey. Before the English\ntook hold of Egypt this traffic was carried on through the Nile Valley\nand was winked at by the officials.\n\nAccording to the law of the Koran marriages with slaves are legal. The\nwives of the Sultans have usually been slaves brought in from Georgia and\nCircassia, plump girls with fair complexions and red hair bringing the\nhighest prices, perhaps as much as the cost of half a dozen fine white\nhorses. I hear that Circassian girls often welcomed being sold, as they\nthus escaped the hardships of their own country. Such as could play on\nthe zither and other musical instruments always brought more than the\nignorant. In the past, five thousand dollars was not a high price for a\nCircassian girl, while any good-looking Georgian maiden of twelve would\nbring two hundred dollars and upward. The children of such slave wives\nare legitimate.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\nBAALBEK THE WONDERFUL\n\n\nI am in the Valley of Lebanon, the high, narrow plain which lies\nbetween the two ranges of the Lebanon Mountains. The word Lebanon means\n\u201cwhite,\u201d perhaps because of the walls of chalk or limestone which are\na feature of the whole range. Just now the highest peaks are white\nwith snow. These ranges extend north and south parallel with the coast\nof the Mediterranean Sea. Beginning a little below the border of Asia\nMinor, they lose themselves in the Holy Land. In reading of them I have\nalways thought they were only hills. They are higher than any mountains\nof our country east of the Mississippi, and the average height of the\nrange nearest the coast is a thousand feet greater than that of Mount\nWashington. Mount Hermon is more than nine thousand feet high and Jebel\nMakmel measures ten thousand two hundred feet. The elevation of the\nValley of Lebanon itself is twice that of the topmost peaks of the Blue\nRidge of Virginia, and it slopes from here to the north as far as Aleppo\nand to the south beyond Dan, where rises the Jordan.\n\nIn this little valley, which is less than one hundred miles long and from\nfive to eight miles wide, walled by these mighty mountains, lie the ruins\nof Baalbek, once the most wonderful temples known to the ages. I have\nspent hours in wandering through them, and their immensity and beauty\nsteadily grow upon me. I despair of being able to describe them and can\nonly hope to give you bits of the details.\n\nI have seen most of the world\u2019s mighty ruins. In the past year I have\nwandered through the tombs of the Mings outside Mukden, Manchuria; I\nhave stood upon the Temple of Heaven in Peking, and have climbed the\ngreat Chinese wall. I have gone through the Temples of Karnak at the\nhundred-gated city of Thebes far up the Nile; I have taken photographs of\nthe Colossi of Memnon, and have measured the stones of the Pyramids with\na two-foot rule. Not long ago I visited the Temple of Boro Boedor in the\nheart of Java to describe its three miles of unique carvings, and last\nyear I spent some time in the forts of the Moguls at Delhi and wrote of\nthe Taj Mahal and its marvellous beauties. I have also seen Timgad, the\nexcavated city on the edge of the Sahara, and have lately gone through\nthe Colosseum at Rome and inspected the equally imposing amphitheatre at\nEl Djem in the heart of the Tunisian desert. All these are wonderful, but\nBaalbek is their superior.\n\nThese ruins have never been so impressive as they are now. For centuries\nmost of them have been as much buried as is Herculaneum, and it was only\nwhen the Emperor of Germany made his tour through this part of the world\nthat they began to be brought to the light of day.\n\nI have marched in the Kaiser\u2019s footsteps through Palestine and have seen\nthere the churches and other monuments which he had erected. Before he\ncame to Syria he stopped at Constantinople with the Sultan Abdul Hamid,\nwho gave him a permit to do about as he pleased. As the Kaiser travelled\nhe flattered the Mohammedans, the Christians, and the Jews. He was alive\nto every possibility, and he stamped \u201cMade in Germany\u201d upon every city\nhe visited. In Damascus he laid a golden wreath on the tomb of Saladin,\nthe famous soldier who fought the Crusaders; and about Jerusalem he built\nhospitals, schools, and a great sanatorium. Here at Baalbek the Sultan\ngave him permission to do anything he liked. In the Temple of the Sun\nis a tablet bearing an inscription in German and Arabic testifying his\nregard for the Sultan and his pleasure at visiting the ruins. Shortly\nafter leaving he sent German scientists, who organized an army of natives\nand put them to work excavating the temples. The Germans laid down a\nrailroad track for the dirt cars to carry away mountains of earth and\nd\u00e9bris. As a result of their work and modern machinery for lifting huge\nstones into place we have at last a view of these most wonderful temples\nmore as they were in their glory.\n\nBut first let me tell you something about the origin of these structures\nand the gods to whom they were dedicated. The Arabs claim that this,\nrather than Damascus, is the oldest city in the world. They say that Adam\nlived here, and that it was between here and the Mediterranean that Cain\nkilled Abel. One of Adam\u2019s favourite residences was Damascus, and Seth\nlived at Nebi Schitt in the Lebanon Mountains. They will show you where\nNoah was buried and the town in which Ham lived. They also think that\nNimrod reigned in this valley, and they have a tradition that when an\nangel called upon him he threw the holy one into a blazing furnace from\nwhich he came out unharmed. They locate the Tower of Babel at Baalbek\nand believe that Nimrod built it. According to another legend, Abraham\nreigned at Damascus and came here frequently. It is also well known that\nSolomon had a city named Baalath, in which other gods than Jehovah were\nworshipped. Indeed, it is said that Solomon, in order to please his\nconcubines, built a temple here and that he had a castle which he gave as\na present to Balkis, the Queen of Sheba.\n\nBaalbek was well known in the days of the Ph\u0153nicians and was a great\ncity in the time of Christ. It was about a hundred years after that\nthat the finest of the temples, the ruins of which we see to-day, were\nconstructed. Then the Roman civilization was in the height of its glory,\nand the emperors were building cities in north Africa, in Asia Minor,\nand in other parts of the world. The Romans put up the temples here in\nhonour of Jupiter (Baal), which had in them smaller temples to Venus and\nBacchus. They worshipped Baal, the god of the sun, as one of the greatest\nof their deities, although they had other gods without number.\n\nAs to the worship of Baal, there have been gods of that name almost\nsince the beginnings of history. It is a question, indeed, whether the\nword Baal did not mean \u201clord,\u201d being a general term for male gods of\nvarious kinds. Later on the Greeks considered Baal the god of the sun,\nclassing him with the god represented by Helios, in whose honour the city\nof Heliopolis in Egypt was built. The worship of Baal runs through the\nBible. Samuel rebuked the Israelites for bowing down to him, and Jezebel\nhad four hundred priests of Baal who were confounded by Elijah. Indeed,\nit is a question whether Beelzebub, or the devil, was not Baalzebub.\n\nHere at Baalbek the finest statue was that of this god. It was of gold\nand represented a beardless young man clad in armour standing between two\ngolden bulls. He held a whip in his right hand and a thunderbolt and some\nears of corn in his left. There were also statues of Mercury and Venus,\na Hall of Bacchus, and statues and statuettes of exquisite workmanship.\nThese images were destroyed by the early Christians, who threw down parts\nof the temples and broke up the carvings in their detestation of all\npagan art.\n\nIt is impossible to give pictures of the ruins and of the mighty temples\nas they were in their wonderful beauty. The ruins cover more than ten\nacres, and the Great Temple alone was about three hundred feet long by\none hundred and sixty feet wide. It had a roof upheld by Corinthian\ncolumns only, six of which are now standing. These columns are eighty\nfeet high and twenty-two feet in circumference. In entering the temples I\nwent up a gigantic staircase, a great part of which has been destroyed,\nand came into what is known as the forecourt, which is about two hundred\nfeet wide, and the floor of which was paved with mosaic.\n\nWe next went through another court, known as the Court of the Altar,\nwhich must cover five or six acres. It is a mass of marble and granite,\ngigantic columns and delicate carvings being thrown helter-skelter\ntogether. Beyond this and up a series of steps are the ruins of the\nGreat Temple itself. At the left is the exquisite Temple of Bacchus, and\neverywhere are great shafts of marble so wonderfully carved that they\nwould be treasures in any museum.\n\n[Illustration: The nomadic Bedouins live in brown tents so low that the\npeople have to stoop to get into them. They camp wherever they find good\ngrazing for their stock]\n\n[Illustration: The desolation of the once heavily wooded mountains of\nLebanon is emphasized by the lonely grove of cedars. This grove, far up\namong the snows, is protected by a wall and contains four hundred very\nold trees]\n\nAll this, however, gives no idea of the construction. People wonder\nhow the mighty stones of the Pyramids were put into place, and books\nhave been written to show how the obelisks were taken from the quarries\nto the sites where they were erected as monuments. The building of the\ntemples of Baalbek was a far greater mechanical triumph. The materials,\nincluding columns weighing hundreds of tons, had to be brought up the\nsteep Lebanon Mountains and carried over passes higher than the tops\nof the Alleghanies. There is granite here which came from far up the\nNile; there are marbles from Greece, and great limestone blocks from\nthe quarries near by. The temple has walls sixty feet high, and the\nmighty columns\u2014seven feet in diameter, and, including the pedestals and\ncapitals, as tall as an eight-story building\u2014rest upon a platform which\nis more than fifty feet high. These mighty pillars are put up in three\nsections each twenty feet or more in height and seven feet in diameter.\nThey are so put together that each column looks like one solid block.\n\nIn the walls of the temple foundation are what are, I venture, the\nbiggest building blocks ever quarried. One of the walls has three great\nlimestone blocks each of which measures sixty-four feet long, thirteen\nfeet wide, and twelve feet thick. If such stones were placed end to end\nit would take only about eighty of them to make one mile. These stones\nwere brought from a quarry about a mile away. Some of them have been\nplaced upon the walls at a distance of thirty or more feet from the\nground, and are so accurately laid that a knife blade cannot be driven\nbetween them.\n\nI got an idea of the size of these blocks by visiting the quarries. Just\noutside that from which the stones came is one which was cut out of the\nrock, but for some reason or other was not carried to the structure. It\nwas dragged only a few feet away from the virgin rock, and to-day lies\nthere on its side, half buried in the earth. Upon its top I walked over\nit. It is so wide that you could drive two motor cars abreast upon it\nwithout risk of falling over the edges, and an English traveller here\nsays that a cricket match might be played upon its face, putting the\nstakes at the right distance apart and giving the bowler at least two\nfeet at the end for his run. This block is as smooth as a marble column\nand accurately square. Each side of it measures fourteen feet and it\nis about seventy feet long. If it were stood on end inside a modern\nten-story apartment house it would fill ten rooms one above the other,\neach room fourteen feet square and seven feet high. It has been estimated\nto weigh fifteen hundred tons and if cut up would make a good load for\nthirty flat cars.\n\nThink of moving stones like that out of the mountains and up and down\nhill for a mile without the aid of steam, electricity, or any kind of\nmachinery! That is the kind of work the Romans did eighteen hundred years\nago. All through the temples you may see examples of such huge masses\nmoved about and lifted into place.\n\nThere are carvings more beautiful than anything seen on our buildings\nto-day. On some of the blocks still in the structure I saw bunches of\ngrapes no bigger than my thumb as beautifully cut as though made by\nnature. There were also Cupids and cherubs exquisitely carved. It was\nsaid of the artists who built the great temples of Delhi and Agra in\nIndia that they worked like Titans and finished like jewellers. The same\nwas true of the Romans of the reigns of Antonius, Caracalla, and Nero.\n\nI have taken photographs of some of the broken columns with myself\nstanding beside them to give an idea of their size. I am five feet eight\ninches tall and the large columns are fully two feet more in diameter.\nSome of the wonderful carvings are those which form the frieze above the\ngreat pillars two or three hundred feet high up in the air. Among them\nare the heads of gigantic lions, each head as big as a flour barrel but\npolished like a fine marble mantel. Through the mouths of these lions\nemptied the drains of the roof.\n\nThe beauties of the temples will be preserved from now on. They are under\nofficial guard, and tickets which cost a dollar apiece are required of\nall who go in. I was shown through by Dr. Michel Alouf, an arch\u00e6ologist,\nwho explained just how the temples looked in the past. He showed me where\nthe early Christians had erected a church inside one temple, defacing\nthe carvings and breaking the noses of the beautiful statues. They took\npleasure in destroying the work wrought by heathen artists in honour of\npagan gods. Next came the Arabs, who used the place as a fort, throwing\ngreat round chunks of marble as big as footballs from its sheltering\nwalls. There are piles of these marble balls inside the temple to-day.\nThey were probably cut from the columns. The Arabs made a mosque in the\ntemple. They wiped out every trace of the Christian religion and used a\npart of the church for a bath. After them came an earthquake, so that the\nruins were mostly covered up until the Germans began their excavations.\n\nI am stopping here in the little town of Baalbek, which stands right\non the edge of the ruins. It has an excellent hotel, and its people\nare hospitable. Its population of five or six thousand is made up of\nMohammedans and Christians. Besides a small garrison of soldiers, there\nare two Greek Catholic monasteries and several girls\u2019 schools. The\nchildren followed us as we walked about through the ruins, selling purses\nmade of Syrian silk into which they had woven a design of the six great\ncolumns of the temple. They also asked for _baksheesh_, and the begging\npalm was everywhere thrust out.\n\nI am surprised at the scanty forestation of these mountains of Lebanon.\nI had expected to find them covered with woods, whereas they are almost\ntreeless. Their lower slopes are well cultivated and some of them are\nterraced almost to the top. Thousands of acres, made up of little\npatches, rise step-like one above another, covering the hills for miles\nand miles. These patches contain mulberry orchards and vineyards. There\nare also peaches and apples, and in the valleys are rich fields of wheat,\nbarley, and clover. The chief formation is limestone, and though there\nare rocks everywhere, the soil seems wonderfully rich.\n\nThe cedars of Lebanon may have been great in the past, but they have now\nalmost disappeared. The only ones left are situated about nine or ten\nhours from Baalbek. The trees grow in the thin soil, which covers the\nwhite limestone, the ground being coated with spines, cones, and leaves.\nFive are very ancient and of great girth, but the tallest is not more\nthan eighty feet high. The largest of all is about fifteen feet thick,\nso you see they are mere sprouts in comparison with the Big Trees of\nCalifornia and quite small as compared with the giants of Washington and\nOregon. The cedars which were taken for the temple at Jerusalem probably\ncame from the region where the old cedars stand, although other parts of\nthe Lebanon Mountains may then have been covered with woods. The logs\nmust have been cut in the forests and carried over the mountains forty\nor fifty miles to the seacoast. The rafting was done under the direction\nof King Hiram of Tyre, and the logs were probably towed down to Jaffa,\nand thence carried up the mountains of Judea to Jerusalem, a distance of\nabout forty miles. The cedars bear cones about as large as a goose egg.\nThe leaves or spines of the cones are solid rather than detached, as\nthose of our cedars at home. The wood is whitish in colour; it is soft,\nand for building is far inferior to cypress or pine.\n\n[Illustration: Of the great cedars of Lebanon which Solomon used in\nbuilding his temple, only a few are left. The ancient Israelites regarded\nthese trees as the ornaments of the mountains and the types of manly\nstrength and beauty]\n\n[Illustration: The plain of Beirut is covered with luxuriant gardens, and\ntree-lined avenues lead out of the city. Beirut, one of the oldest cities\non the Ph\u0153nician Coast, is the metropolis of Syria and Lebanon and the\nseaport of Damascus]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\nACROSS THE LEBANON MOUNTAINS BY RAIL\n\n\nIt seems almost sacrilegious to travel by rail over the highways of the\nBible. The iron tracks are laid in the pathways of the prophets, and the\nghosts of the saints may be roused by the shriek of the locomotives. The\nmodern traveller can cover in a few hours by rail distances that were\nseveral days\u2019 journey in the times of our Lord.\n\nMy first railroad trip in the Holy Land was from the port of Jaffa up the\nmountains of Judea to the city of Jerusalem. My second was on the Mecca\nroad from the lower end of the Sea of Galilee through the great plains\nof the Hauran to Damascus over the mountains of Lebanon to Beirut on\nthe Mediterranean Sea. During the latter trip I went from Rayak, in the\nValley of Lebanon, between the two ranges of mountains, along the road\nwhich has been built northward through the C\u0153le-Syria to Aleppo.\n\nAll of these roads are comparatively new, and some are still building.\nThe Mecca line now runs as far south as Medina, where Mohammed came after\nhis flight from Mecca, and where his tomb is. That city has something\nlike forty thousand people and is one of the most fanatical of the Moslem\ncentres. It will be the chief stopping place on the way to Mecca.\n\nMecca lies about two hundred and fifty miles still farther south and the\ntrack is being laid toward that point. When the first surveys were made\nthere were two Christian civil engineers in the surveying party, but the\npeople were so intolerant that these men were kept hidden the greater\npart of the time and did their work inside the tents. They were not\nallowed to spy out the land, to see, or be seen.\n\nThe Bedouins are now causing the contractors considerable trouble. The\nroad will take a large part of the pilgrimage traffic, which, it has\nbeen estimated, is worth to Arabia some ten million dollars a year.\nMuch of the money goes to the owners of the camels and the leaders of\nthe caravans, who are Bedouins. During the building of the road many of\nthese have been employed in the construction and in supplying the other\nlabourers with food. As the present work has neared its completion, many\nof the Bedouins have lost their jobs. They are objecting to the railway\nand have torn up the tracks in many places. The result is a great unrest\nwhich threatens to cause serious disturbance.\n\nThe traffic on the Constantinople-Damascus and Mecca railways will be\nmade up largely of men on their way to worship at Mecca and Medina. Now,\nwith nothing but camels to carry them, it is estimated that about four\nhundred thousand go there every year, and it is believed that the railway\nwill increase the traffic from fifty to one hundred per cent. Christians\nand other unbelievers will not be carried to the holy cities, although\nthey may make tours to Petra and other parts of Arabia.\n\nThis Mecca railway will have special accommodations for Mohammedans.\nCertain of the carriages will be fitted up as mosques, so that the\ntravellers can perform their devotions during the journey. The praying\ncarriages will be luxuriously furnished. The floors will be covered with\nPersian carpets, and around the sides will be painted verses from the\nKoran in letters of gold. A chart will indicate the direction of Mecca,\nso that the Faithful can always face the right way when praying, and\nthere will also be a minaret on the top of the car six and a half feet\nhigh.\n\nThe Mecca road is a narrow-gauge with French rolling stock. The material\nhas been imported from Europe, the ties being of iron to withstand the\nwhite ants, which eat anything wooden. One of the great difficulties of\nconstruction has been the lack of water. The road goes for long stretches\nthrough the desert, and many of the trains carry large tanks to keep the\nboilers full.\n\nI travelled over a part of the Mecca road on my way from the Holy Land\nnorth to Damascus. Leaving Tiberias in the early morning, I was rowed\nby four lusty Syrians across the Sea of Galilee to Semakh, which is the\nstation on the lower end of that sea and the place where a branch line\nruns off to Haifa. From there northward we skirted the east side of the\nSea of Galilee, passing the hills upon which our Saviour preached. We\nrode up the valley of the Yarmuk, a stream almost as large as the Jordan,\nwhich loses itself in the Jordan farther south. We climbed the foothills\nof Lebanon, and at about three thousand feet above the surface of the Sea\nof Galilee reached the rich plain of Hauran, the great bread basket of\nthe Bedouins. It grows wheat and other grain, and the land near the track\nwas covered with poppies, golden daisies, and wild red hollyhocks.\n\n[Illustration: The students of the American University at Beirut number\nnearly a thousand, and, whether Christian, Jew, or Moslem, must study the\nBible]\n\n[Illustration: The stones for the Tuberculosis Hospital at Juneh had to\nbe carried up one at a time on the backs of camels]\n\n[Illustration: From Beirut and its vicinity come nearly all of the Syrian\nimmigrants to the United States. Most of them are Christians and many of\nthem have felt the influence of the American University, the centre of\nadvanced thought in the Near East]\n\nWe could see Bedouin camps everywhere. These nomads live in brown tents\nso low that the people have to stoop to get in. Outside each little group\nof tents was an inclosure for the stock, and on the lands near by cattle\nand camels were grazing. As we travelled we could see great flocks of\nblack goats feeding on the sides of the Lebanon Mountains. They hung to\nthe cliffs, looking much like flies on the wall. There were also droves\nof black cattle and many flocks of fat-tailed white sheep.\n\nThe cars were crowded with Turks, Syrians, and Bedouins, but on the\nadvice of a friend I gave the conductor a dollar, and in return had a\ncompartment all to myself. _Baksheesh_ will do anything in Syria. As\nShammas, my guide, puts it: \u201cThe franc is the wheel upon which the world\ngoes round.\u201d\n\nThis road to Damascus, beginning with the branch line to Haifa, skirts\nthe edge of Mount Carmel, where Elijah lived in a cave and where he\ncontended with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and caused\ntheir destruction. It goes up the plain of Esdraelon, where the fair\nJezebel lived and over which Jehu galloped to Jezreel on his race for the\nthrone. It takes you in plain sight of Mount Tabor and under the hills\nof Nazareth where the Saviour\u2019s boyhood and young manhood were spent. It\ncrosses the spot where Jael was camping when Sisera came and she lulled\nhim to sleep to drive the tent peg into his forehead. Then it goes on up\nto Damascus over a route which was probably travelled by Abraham, David,\nand Solomon, and by St. Paul when he was blinded by the great light.\n\nThe road to Jerusalem goes over the plains where the Israelites fought\nwith the Philistines, through the country of Samson, which I have already\ndescribed, and near the place where David with his little stone slew the\ngreat Goliath.\n\nThe railway from Damascus to Beirut shows you Mount Hermon, so famed\nin the Psalms, and passes numerous places, which, according to the\nMohammedans, were the homes and tombs of the prophets. Take, for\ninstance, Suk Wady Baroda, a little valley oasis on the way to Baalbek\nmade up of flat-roofed mud houses surrounded by orchards and vineyards.\nIt is mentioned by Josephus and is referred to in St. Luke as the home\nof the tetrarch Lysanias. The Mohammedans say that Adam lived in the\nmountain which looks down upon it, and that it was near the oasis itself\nthat Cain became jealous of Abel and slew him. I have always thought that\nAbel was killed with a club, although I see now that the Bible does not\nmention the weapon used in the murder. The Moslem legend says it was a\nstone. The story is that Adam had divided the world into two sections\nand had given one of them to each of his boys. They had marked out their\nrespective sections with stones, when a dispute arose concerning the\nboundary line. Cain claimed that Abel was inching on him, whereupon hot\nwords passed, and Cain threw a rock and struck Abel in the temple and\nkilled him.\n\nAccording to the Moslem tradition, Cain was filled with remorse. He did\nnot know what to do with his dead brother, so he took the body on his\nback and carried it with him over the world for five hundred years. At\nthe end of that time he returned to this mountain, where he saw two birds\nfighting. At last one killed the other and then washed and buried the one\nslain. Cain did likewise with Abel, and straightway there sprang up seven\noak trees, which are pointed out to this day.\n\nAccording to the same authorities, Seth, Adam\u2019s son, who took the place\nof Abel, lived on the western slope of the Lebanon range, and his tomb is\nstill there. A mosque is built over it and the tomb may be seen through\nan iron grating. It is eighty feet long, but the people living in the\nvillage say that it was too short and that Seth\u2019s legs had to be doubled\nup in order to fit. Not far away is the tomb of Noah, which is forty feet\nlonger. It also has a mosque connected with it.\n\nThe distance from Damascus to Beirut is ninety-one miles. Travellers are\nadvised not to take the third class, and women should always go first\nclass. The third class has compartments eight feet wide running across\nthe cars at right angles with the engine. Each compartment has two\ncushioned benches facing each other, its sides are walled with windows,\nand there is a door at each end. The conductor does not go through the\ncars, but collects the tickets from the outside, walking along a running\nboard which extends the full length of the car and holding on to an iron\nrail fastened to the outside some distance above the step.\n\nThe road is picturesque and gives magnificent views of the Lebanon\nMountains. The track winds its way up and down the hills, and the western\nside of the range is so steep that the cars are taken up on cogs after\nthe same manner as on Pike\u2019s Peak, Mount Washington, and the Rigi. There\nare twenty-five stations, mostly two-story buildings of stone.\n\nThe passengers are the conglomerate mixture of humanity found in\nthis part of the Orient. There are scores of Syrians in long coats\nand trousers, some wearing red fezzes, and others having turbans or\nhandkerchiefs wrapped around their heads. There are Turkish officers\nin uniform, with swords at their sides, fez-capped boys in silk gowns,\nand other Moslems in turbans and gowns. There are Mohammedan women clad\nall in black and wearing black veils. There are pretty Greek girls\nwith bare faces, brown-skinned women from the mountains, and Bedouins,\nwho have ropes tied about the kerchiefs which half shroud their fierce\nfeatures. There are also Persians, Druses, and Christians of all sorts\nand conditions.\n\nThe trains go slowly in climbing the mountain. The average express makes\nless than sixteen miles an hour, while the mixed train takes twelve hours\nto make the ninety-one miles.\n\nFor many years the European powers have been scheming for the right to\nbuild railroads in this part of the world. One of the biggest and most\ntalked-of projects is a line to open up the rich valley of the Euphrates\nwhere Babylon and Nineveh once flourished. It has some of the best lands\non the face of the globe, and it has been suggested that it was the site\nof the Garden of Eden. The British are especially interested in the\nproject because of their irrigation plans for Mesopotamia headed by Sir\nWilliam Willcocks, the engineer for the Aswan Dam, which has redeemed\nabout seven million acres in Egypt. The Germans won out in the scramble\nfor the concession to build the road to Bagdad. The line was divided into\nsections and the Germans pushed on the work rapidly. Another concession\nto part of this line was granted by the Sultan to a group of Americans,\nbut their plans fell through.\n\nAs to the resources to be developed by these new roads, they are beyond\ndescription enormous. They include rich deposits of coal, oil, and other\nminerals. Asia Minor is rich agriculturally. The plains of Mesopotamia\nwill raise anything that can be grown in Egypt, and the new irrigation\nschemes will make them as productive as they were when Nebuchadnezzar was\nreigning at Babylon. In ancient times that country had a population of\nmore than six million. It has not one fourth as many to-day. I am told\nthat cotton will grow not only there but also throughout Asia Minor, and\nit may be that one of the chief competitors of our Southern plantations\nwill eventually be found in this now almost waste but potentially rich\npart of the world.\n\nThe famous Berlin-to-Bagdad scheme is not the only evidence of the German\nKaiser\u2019s desire to gobble up as much of the Near East as possible. I\nuse the word \u201cgobble\u201d advisedly. According to the Century Dictionary,\nit means \u201cto swallow in large pieces, to swallow hastily, to seize upon\nwith greed, and to appropriate graspingly.\u201d And that aptly describes the\nGerman methods. I have seen German _Kultur_ at work all during this trip.\n\nIn the richest parts of Palestine I saw their flourishing colonies. At\nJerusalem I saw the great German church built under the very shadow of\nthe Holy Sepulchre, their huge church on Mount Zion beyond the Tower of\nDavid, and the enormous limestone hospice erected in honour of Kaiserin\nAugusta on a commanding slope of the Mount of Olives. It is said that\nthe money with which the site was bought and some of that used in the\nbuilding was a silver wedding present to the Empress. It was known that\nshe greatly loved Palestine, and her friends planned this memorial as a\nsilver wedding gift. The hospice is several hundred feet above Jerusalem,\nand standing upon its roof on a bright day one can look across the hills\nof Judea and see the silvery thread of the Jordan and the shining Dead\nSea with the blue mountains of Moab beyond.\n\nThe Kaiser was no respecter of persons, either living or dead. The site\nof his big church was purchased by him of Sultan Abdul Hamid when he\nvisited him in Constantinople. He went there on his way to the Holy Land,\nand while hobnobbing with the Sultan got him to sell him this tract for\ntwenty-four thousand dollars. The land, however, was not large enough, so\nthe Germans by a clever trick purchased for sixteen thousand dollars the\nAmerican cemetery which adjoined the original tract.\n\nThe Emperor of Germany when he made his trip through the Holy Land\ncreated as great a sensation as Theodore Roosevelt when he cavorted\nthrough Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm and his empress started in at Beirut and\ncrossed the mountains of Lebanon to Baalbek and Damascus. They then\nreturned to Beirut and took ship down the coast, past Tyre and Sidon,\nto the Bay of Acre. Here horses were waiting for them and they rode\ndown around the slopes of Mount Carmel, over the plains of Sharon to\nJaffa, and thence up the hills of Judea to Jerusalem. There were about a\nthousand in the party, and it required one thousand two hundred and fifty\nmules and horses to carry them and their baggage. The Emperor himself\nhad a staff of one hundred and twenty, who ate at his own tables, and\nthere were in addition one hundred and forty naval and military officers.\nThe Empress also had her ladies-in-waiting with her. One hundred and\nseventy-five high Turks and officials were supplied by the Sultan as\na special escort. The Emperor\u2019s tour was so arranged that he had four\ncamps. He slept in a different camp every night and had a new one for\neach meal.\n\nAlthough the journey was made in October, the weather was hot, and the\nchief trouble was to supply the expedition with water. Some died of\nthirst, and between Haifa and Jaffa six horses dropped dead of sunstroke.\nIt was so hot that the trip to the Dead Sea and the Jordan was not\nattempted, but the Emperor went to Bethlehem and other places near by. He\nremained seven days at Jerusalem, during which time he consummated his\npurchases of land.\n\nIn Palestine I encountered a German tourist agency, a competitor\nof Thomas Cook & Son. This tourist agency had its own hotels at\nJaffa, Jerusalem, and Haifa, and its own guides, dragomans, horses,\nand carriages. Its men, who thoroughly understood the country, had\nestablished such relations with the Bedouin tribes that they could take\nparties anywhere. The agency\u2019s road mending and other activities had\nopened up many hitherto inaccessible parts of the country. Indeed, the\nGermans started a new roads movement in the Holy Land. The first attempt\nwas made when the Kaiser went from Jaffa to Jerusalem. The Sultan had the\nhighway repaired, and when the Germans travelled over it, it was watered\nfor the first time in its history, being sprinkled from skin-bags carried\nfrom the shoulders of women and girls, and filled at the springs, wells,\nand cisterns near by.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\nAMERICAN LEAVEN IN THE NEAR EAST\n\n\nAmerican education is revolutionizing the Orient. It has been one of the\nchief modernizing forces in Egypt, it had much to do with the revolution\nin Persia, and it is the basis of the reorganization of the whole Turkish\nEmpire. The first schools of Egypt were started by the missionaries\nof the United Presbyterian Church, whose educational institutions now\ncover the Nile Valley. This church has schools in the Sudan and a great\nAmerican college at Asyut, several hundred miles from Cairo. The college\nwas started in a donkey stable more than forty years ago, and it has\nbeen turning out graduates ever since. It has now more than one thousand\nstudents who are housed in ten large two-story buildings, and it has\nthree of the finest halls to be found in the East. These are situated\njust outside Asyut, at the junction of the Nile with the great canal\nnorth of that city. The college has about three hundred women.\n\n[Illustration: These are not stones of the field, but great blocks of\nmarble, many of them beautifully carved\u2014the remains of the wondrous city\nof Diana]\n\n[Illustration: Storks build their nests in the palaces of Ephesus and\nthe peasants fence their fields with chunks of marble from its once\nmagnificent temples]\n\n[Illustration: There is a great rustling as the silkworms attack their\nbreakfast of mulberry leaves. Every year representatives of the silk\nindustry in the Lebanon go abroad to get worms for breeding, as those\nbred in that region do not lay healthy eggs]\n\nI visited the college at Asyut not long ago. It is full to overflowing,\nand notwithstanding the new structure just completed it needs more money\nand more buildings. It has a great prestige throughout Egypt, and with a\nlittle money its efficiency could easily be doubled. The college is said\nto give a better education than the government institutions, and that\nat the lowest possible cost. The tuition is nominal. For the poorest\nschools it is only about one dollar a term in money, and the ordinary\nrate is about ten dollars a year. The cost of the education varies with\nthe taste of the students. These are of all classes from the sons of the\npoorest _fellah_ to the heir of the highest pasha or richest merchant.\nThere are three kinds of accommodations, the cost of which ranges from\nthirty-five dollars a year upward. The wealthy Egyptian boy can have\nhis own room, or groups can live four in a room. He can eat at the best\ntable, or he can get cheaper board with meat three or four times a week.\nOn the other hand, he can work his way through college, furnishing his\nown food, buying vegetables and fish at very low cost. Many of the boys\nbring their bread from home. It is made of ground corn or millet and\nbaked in cakes an inch thick. These cakes are toasted until they are as\nhard as stone, in which shape they will go through the term. Before going\nto a meal the students dip their bread in buckets of water set out for\nthe purpose, and when it is soft carry it with them to the table.\n\nThe Asyut institution has its graduates in all the government departments\nof Egypt. They are among the leading merchants of the country, and every\ntown has numbers of them. Many of them are Copts and not a few are\nMohammedans. I am told that there are more than fifteen thousand boys now\nbeing educated in the United Presbyterian schools and colleges.\n\nShortly before Sultan Abdul Hamid was ousted by the Young Turk party\nand carried to his prison in Saloniki, he referred bitterly to the work\nthat Robert College had done in unsettling his empire. Said he: \u201cThat\ninstitution has cost me Bulgaria, and it is like to lose me my throne.\u201d\n\nHe was right. Robert College was founded in Constantinople in 1863 by a\nNew York merchant named Robert, who gave a large part of his fortune to\nthis institution. He was aided by the Reverend Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., who\nwas, I think, the real organizer. Since then its graduates have formed\nthe leaven for new ideas throughout the Near East. Some of its graduates\norganized the colleges and schools in Bulgaria. Others have been teaching\nin schools throughout the Turkish Empire; many have acted as officers of\nthe Government, and some of the best leaders of Turkey to-day got their\neducation at Robert College.\n\nRobert College has now five hundred or six hundred students, including\nMohammedans, Jews, Armenians, and Russians, as well as representatives\nof the other nations about. The teaching is non-sectarian, although all\nare required to attend daily prayers and go to services on Sunday. The\ncollege has won the approval of the Government, but the officials want\nit incorporated as a Turkish institution so it will be subject to their\nlaws. To this the Americans naturally object. They say that they are\norganized under the laws of New York and they expect to stand by all\nthe rights which they now enjoy as an American corporation under the\nprotection of the United States Government.\n\nThere is no doubt that the Americans are sensible in preferring the\nprotection of Uncle Sam to that of the Sultan. Conditions are bound to\nbe unsettled in this part of the world for years to come. There will\nbe revolutions and counter-revolutions before the Turks come down to a\nsolid, substantial, modern government. There is always the fear that the\ncollege will be put under a strict censorship, as used to be the case.\nAs it is now, the students can read what books they like, and there\nis little trouble as to the newspapers. They can go where they please\nwithout passports, and the present government seems to be doing all it\ncan to promote education.\n\nUnder the r\u00e9gime of Abdul Hamid it was far different. In his time every\nnewspaper was carefully looked over by Turkish officials, and all\nsentences or words objectionable to the Government were cut out. This\nwas true of papers coming in through the mail as well as of the native\npublications. Here in Beirut a Sunday weekly is published devoted largely\nto the life and sayings of our Saviour. The censors objected to it,\nsaying: \u201cThe paper is a dangerous one, for in it they kill a King of the\nJews every week. This might suggest the assassination of the Sultan, and\nwe cannot permit it.\u201d\n\nDr. Bliss, the president of the American University of Beirut, once\nimported an old copy of Shakespeare. It was kept at the customs house,\nthe censor objecting to its importation. Said the latter: \u201cShakespeare\nis not a good book for the Turks. It has in it the story of a man named\nMacbeth who killed a king. It would be a bad example for our people.\u201d\nDr. Bliss succeeded in getting his Shakespeare through by saying he had\nanother copy of the same book, which, as it was already in the country,\ncould not be taken out, and he would be glad to trade this for the new\ncopy. The censor consented, accepted the Shakespeare which cost a dollar,\nand admitted the fine old edition instead.\n\nAt another time some New Testaments sent to Constantinople were held back\nby one of the censors because of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians.\nGalata is one of the divisions of Constantinople, and the censor asked:\n\u201cWho is this man Paul, and why is he writing to our people in Galata?\u201d He\nwas with difficulty persuaded that St. Paul was dead and that his letter\nwas not part of a plot. There is a story that a textbook on chemistry was\nkept out because a censor objected to the term H\u2082O, saying that it seemed\nto mean that Hamid II (the Sultan, Abdul Hamid) amounted to nothing.\n\nIn addition to Robert College and the institution at Asyut there is one\nhere at Beirut which is quite as important as either of the others. I\nrefer to the American University of Beirut, founded by Americans in\n1863, which has become the Harvard and Yale of the Near East. It has had\nthousands of graduates, and its doctors and lawyers stand at the heads of\ntheir professions in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Persia, and India. It has more\nthan nine hundred students, all Orientals, representing every part of the\nLevant.\n\nThis institution was founded by Presbyterians, but the instruction is\nnon-sectarian. The faculty has about one hundred and twenty professors,\nmost of them Americans, and it is a thoroughly up-to-date university.\nIt has a medical department which, with its hospitals, treats thousands\nof patients a year. It has physical, chemical, and other laboratories,\na large library, and ethnological and industrial museums devoted to\nexhibits from Syria and Turkey.\n\n[Illustration: Armenian children begin to make themselves useful at an\nearly age. Centuries of hardships under anti-Christian rulers have made\nthese people resourceful and self-reliant. They are the shrewdest traders\nof the East]\n\n[Illustration: American relief in the Near East takes the practical form\nof getting the people back to the land, much of which has been devastated\nby one war after another]\n\nDuring my stay here I have visited the college. It is beautifully\nlocated, the buildings being situated on the bluffs south of Beirut\nand running from them down to the sea. Standing upon the campus, which\ncontains about fifty acres, one faces the glorious Mediterranean, while\nat his back are the snow-capped mountains of Lebanon with the rich\nvegetation climbing their slopes. The institution has a gymnasium, tennis\ncourts, and good athletic grounds. Its students play football, baseball,\nand cricket. They are full of college spirit and have their college\npapers, their college songs, and their college yell.\n\nThe boys have silver cups and other trophies which are contended for by\nthe various athletic teams, and these Persians, Greeks, Syrians, Arabs,\nEgyptians, Armenians, and Turks are being welded into one brotherhood by\nthe hard knocks of football and the track.\n\nThe Beirut University is an American college and a Christian college as\nwell, but it does not attempt to proselytize, and the Moslem can come\nto it without changing his religion. It insists only that everyone who\ngoes through its courses shall attend chapel and the Bible classes,\nwhich study the Bible as one of the great influences in the work of the\nworld. Once the Moslem students struck against these regulations. They\nrefused to go to chapel and took an oath not to attend the Bible classes.\nThe strike created a sensation, and for a time it seemed as though it\nmight do serious damage. The faculty, however, headed by the president,\nDr. Howard S. Bliss, stood firm, saying that the school was a Christian\ncollege. They demanded that all students attend the religious services,\nand the result was that most of the strikers came in, and the college has\ngone along on its original lines.\n\nIn talking about this to the Mohammedan students Dr. Bliss said:\n\n\u201cOur college was established to give the Mohammedan world the best the\nChristian world has. Our aim is to make of you broad-minded, intelligent\nmen whether you continue to be Moslems or become Christians. We believe\nthat the best thing we have is our religion, so we are bound to let you\nknow what it is. Whether you accept it or not rests with yourselves. If,\nupon investigation, you still think the Moslem religion the best, we\nbelieve that the knowledge you have of our religion will make you better\nand broader Moslems. Religion is for man, not man for religion, and we\nwant you to have the training which will make each one of you the best\nman, whether he be Christian or Moslem.\u201d\n\nTo-day the Mohammedan students attending the services look upon them as\nlargely educational, and they study the Bible as history and literature.\n\nThe influence of colleges like this goes far and wide. The students come\nfrom villages all over the Turkish Empire and from those of India and\nPersia as well. Going home, each forms a little hot-bed for the growth of\nindependent thought.\n\nCivilized ideas are spread in other ways besides these. One of the great\nmeans of such distribution is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which is\nattended by nearly half a million Mohammedans from all parts of the\nOrient. At that time Mecca becomes a great camp meeting or bush meeting,\nsuch as we farmers have in Virginia. The people come together and gossip.\nThey discuss the crops and ask one another how they are getting along.\nHassan Ali of Egypt says to Mohammed of Turkey, \u201cHow is business? Are you\nmaking money, and how does your government treat you?\u201d Mohammed replies\nthat the Turks are taxed to death, but they hope for much under the new\nSultan. Thereupon Hassan says that the English have cut down the taxes\nin Egypt and that the church has plenty of money in the treasury. He\ntells how he has been able to send his boy to college, and that he hopes\nhe will some day be an official. The Turk, thereupon, longs for a better\ngovernment. At the same time the college students tell what they have\nlearned, and as a result the twentieth-century spirit of modern progress\nis stirring the Mohammedan world.\n\nIn addition to the collegiate work great advances in the spread of our\ncivilization are being made by the Protestant missions. There are now\nthousands of native Christians in Syria and from seventy-five to one\nhundred thousand native Christians in the empire of Turkey. The American\nmissionaries alone have more than one hundred schools, with five or six\nthousand pupils, and the English have many more.\n\nHere in Beirut is the largest and most up-to-date publishing house in the\nOrient. It belongs to the American mission, and annually turns out tens\nof thousands of Bibles, school textbooks, and other works on religious\nand scientific subjects. Altogether, it has published more than seven\nhundred different works in Arabic, and it is estimated that it has\nprinted in the neighbourhood of a billion pages of one kind or other. It\nissues around one hundred thousand volumes a year, containing altogether\nsomething like thirty million pages. Its Bibles published in Arabic are\nsold throughout the Mohammedan world.\n\nThe medical missionaries are doing a great deal in all parts of the\nOrient. I have seen their hospitals everywhere on my trips around the\nworld. They are to be found in all parts of India, far up the Nile\nValley, and in the leading centres of the Holy Land. One of the best I\nhave visited is situated at Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, and headed\nby Dr. Torrence, who has been treating the Bedouins and others there for\nthe last thirty years. In my talk with him the question of tuberculosis\ncame up, and he described the evils of the great white plague as they are\nfound in his region on the very edge of the desert. He says tuberculosis\nis rife among the Bedouins although they live out of doors in the purest\nair all the time. He thinks that the disease is spread largely by the\ncattle. About 50 per cent. of the cows have tuberculosis, and the people\nlive chiefly on milk.\n\nAnother doctor connected with the hospital tells me that Syria had no\nconsumption until about twenty-five years ago, when the disease was\nbrought in from the United States by natives who had emigrated to our\ncountry, contracted consumption, and brought it back home. The Syrians\nhad no idea what it meant, and it rapidly spread. The sanitary conditions\nof this part of the world are bad, the bacteria breed rapidly, and the\ndisease is sweeping the country.\n\nAnd this brings me to a great work at Juneau within a few miles of\nBeirut. This is a tuberculosis hospital built there by the Church of the\nCovenant at Washington, and in charge of Dr. Mary Eddy, who has become\nfamous throughout the Near East for her work as a medical missionary.\nMiss Eddy is the daughter of the Rev. William W. Eddy, who came to Syria\nmany years ago and remained here until his death. Besides being a woman\nof fine education and great medical skill, she is an expert on all\nmatters connected with tuberculosis and its treatment.\n\n[Illustration: Cradles in Armenia have no sides, a wide cloth band drawn\ntight keeping the baby from falling out]\n\n[Illustration: American flour sacks serve a double purpose among the\nArmenians and Syrians in time of distress]\n\n[Illustration: Much of the wilderness of the Jordan will be reclaimed\nby irrigation and forestation when the British-Zionist project for\ndeveloping water power along the river is completed]\n\nShe is the only woman who has ever been granted an _irade_, or\ncertificate of protection, from the Sultan authorizing her to practise as\na doctor everywhere throughout his dominions and directing that all good\nTurks shall give her assistance as she goes on her way.\n\nMiss Eddy has been working in Syria for years and has been fighting the\nspread of consumption as best she could without any hospital facilities\nfor her patients. The people have come and camped near her house waiting\ntreatment, and the tents of the Bedouins may be seen dotting the plains\nnear where the hospital now is. Some of the best known men and women\nof our national capital have been interested in the building of this\nhospital and the support of its work.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\nAT THE SHRINE OF DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS\n\n\nThis morning we shall walk through the remains of the famed city of the\nEphesians. We shall wander over the site of the great Temple of Diana,\ntramp the ground where St. John was living when he wrote his gospel,\nand stand in the marble marketplace where St. Paul preached. There is a\ntradition that the mother of our Lord was buried here, and that here lies\nalso the dust of St. Timothy.\n\nThe Ephesus of the past has been brought to the light of the present by\nthe excavations of the Austrians. I have told you something of their work\nin the Holy Land, and especially on the site of old Jericho. They have\nalso dug up the ruins of other cities in Asia, and here at Ephesus have\nuncovered what remains of the Temple of Diana and found a theatre which\nhad seats for thirty thousand persons. They have excavated the marble\ndocks which led up to the city, and have done much to show us what this\ngreat commercial centre of two thousand years ago must have been in the\nheight of its glory.\n\nBut first let me tell you something of the Ephesus of the days of St.\nPaul. It lay here on the coast of Asia Minor, just opposite Greece, in\nwhat was almost the centre of the then known world. It was the chief\nRoman city of Asia. It had a population of a million or more and was\nfamous for its learning, art, and beautiful buildings. It was far more\nmagnificent than Smyrna, which was founded before it, and in which it is\nsaid the poet Homer was born.\n\nEphesus dated back to a thousand years before Christ. Some say it was\nfounded by the Amazons, but we know that it was largely built up by\nGreeks from the Ionian Islands over the way. It was a great city in the\ndays of Cr\u0153sus, who besieged the town in the year 510, B.C.; and later\nit grew so famous that Alexander the Great wanted to change its name for\nhis own.\n\nAmong the wonders of Ephesus was its temple to Diana, the favourite\ngoddess of the city. People from the corners of the earth came to worship\nher. Her temple was considered one of the seven wonders of the world.\nIt covered more than two acres, and its mighty roof was upheld by one\nhundred and twenty-seven marble columns each as high as a six-story\nbuilding. The worship of the goddess was so famous that there grew up\na business in making statues of her and manufacturing portable shrines\nwhich could be carried away by pilgrims. Athletic games were connected\nwith the worship, and the month of May was sacred to her. The temple\nitself is referred to in the Scriptures. In the Acts we read of \u201cthe\ngreat goddess Diana, whom all Asia and the world worshipped.\u201d\n\nNow let us have a look at the site of that temple to-day. We have taken a\nspecial car at Smyrna and have been pulled by a little French locomotive\nover the railroad to the station of Ayasoluk forty-eight miles away\nacross country. We have gone through a land of vineyards and olives where\nbaggy-trousered peasants are pruning the vines and working the fields.\nThey dig about the trees with three-lined hoes and till their crops\nwith donkeys and bullocks. The one-handled ploughs are about the same as\nthose used in ancient days. We go over the plains which must have fed the\nEphesians, wind our way in and out through the hills, and finally come to\na little station where we get horses to carry us out through the valley\nto Ephesus.\n\nThe site of the temple lies in a valley. It is not far above the level\nof the sea, which we can see shining in the sun not more than five miles\naway. History says it was swampy and that the great structure was erected\nupon piles. This statement is borne out by the present conditions of the\nsite. The excavation made in uncovering the ruins is now filled with\nwater. It is a miniature lake filled with broken columns and capitals\nlying half in and half out of the water. We stand on the banks beside\nfluted columns of snow-white marble, and see broken marble everywhere\nnear. That man who ploughs on the southern ridge of the sand turns up\nmarble bits at every step of his bullocks, and the girls behind him, who\nare planting, uncover stones from the temple at almost every stroke of\ntheir hoes.\n\nAs we look, we see no sign of the activity which prevailed here two\nthousand years ago. Birds fly across the lake and sing in the trees\nbending over it. A stork sits sleepily on a marble rock in its midst and\na frog croaks out a welcome. A red cow is grazing there on the edge of\nthe water, and at my right a hog is rooting in the d\u00e9bris.\n\nLet us get on our horses and ride on down the valley to visit the theatre\nwhich once held the actors of the chief playhouse of Asia. Think of a\ntheatre seating thirty thousand. It is only in recent years that we have\nbuilt in the United States amphitheatres large enough to seat as many\npeople as used to watch the performances here more than two thousand\nyears ago. This great open-air structure was built largely of marble and\naltogether of stone. The entrance to the stage was through tunnels, and\nthe stage was upheld by marble columns. The seats, which were made of\ncommon stone covered with marble, ran around the stage or rather the pit\nin the shape of a half moon, rising high up the hills at the back. They\nwere in three stories and contained sixty-six rows.\n\nI measured the outline of the stage. It was about eighteen feet wide and\nsix or seven feet high. There are long underground passages leading to\nit, and there were eight dressing rooms on two floors at the sides of the\nstage. Walking through the pit, now filled with broken marble columns\nand blocks of marble beautifully carved, I climbed down now and then and\ntried to imagine the audience and the acting going on upon the marble\nstage far below.\n\nLeaving the theatre, I strolled about through the wide streets of marble,\nwhich have been partially uncovered, and made photographs of bits of\nthe ruins. There is enough of this fine stone here to build a structure\nequal to our national Capitol at Washington. This is mixed with mosaic\nand the broken statues of the palaces of the past. There are pieces of\nfriezes, columns, and capitals lying out in the open; there are torsos\nof statues the heads and feet of which have been broken off and carried\naway; and also many exquisite carvings which would be treasures to any\nmuseum. Here lies a piece of marble drapery, the remnants of the garment\nof a goddess; there the broken-up limb of an athlete, and farther on a\nbeautiful bit from the front of the temple.\n\nAmong the ruins are the remains of stores, houses, and markets. I climbed\nover marble blocks along the street which led to the ship canal, and\nstood among broken columns in what was once the stock exchange and\nwool market. In one place is an artificial terrace where stood the\ngreat gymnasium, and in another is a marketplace two hundred feet long,\nsurrounded by a portico, back of which were the stalls of the marketmen.\nIn the mosaic floors of these stalls thirteen different kinds of marbles\nwere used, and marbles of various colours were employed throughout the\nstructure.\n\nTo-day the peasants are working all over these ruins. Here they are\nplanting grain, and there, cleaning the fields, is a gang of a dozen\ngirls working under a turbaned man in baggy trousers. Here women are\ndigging; farther on a man drives a camel harnessed to a one-handled\nplough. The only town near Ephesus is Ayasoluk, which has but a few\nhundred inhabitants. It has, perhaps, a dozen small stores, a railroad\nstation, and a hotel. While at the station I saw a white, fat lamb\nawaiting shipment. It was tied to the platform, and a card fastened to\none horn bore the name of the commission merchant in Smyrna to whom it\nwas consigned.\n\nJust opposite the hotel are seven tall columns which once supported the\ngreat aqueduct which supplied Ephesus with water. Each of these has now a\nstork\u2019s nest on its top, and the great birds may be seen any day standing\nthere. I am told that they come here only for the winter, and that they\nleave every spring for Holland, or perhaps for some other far-away part\nof the world, every one of them carrying a baby.\n\nBefore coming to Ephesus I spent a day in Smyrna, whither I shall return\nto go on to Constantinople and Greece. Smyrna is the largest city in\nAsia Minor, and has about the same position in the modern world that\nEphesus once had. The chief port of this part of the Levant, it does a\nbig business in shipping wool, wine, grapes, olives, and figs. It has a\nforeign trade of about fifty million dollars a year, and steamers from\nall parts of the Mediterranean come to its docks.\n\nThe city lies at one end of the Gulf of Smyrna, which is thirty-four\nmiles long and surrounded by lofty silver-gray mountains some of them\na mile high. Its harbour is excellent, and the town has many modern\nbuildings. Because of its importance in the trade of Asia Minor, Smyrna\nis a centre of political and commercial interests and the scene of fierce\ncompetition among the various nationalities. Among its people there are\nmore Greeks than Turks.\n\nWhile travelling in Syria I saw many openings for American goods. The\nfarming there is after the methods of centuries ago, and our ploughs,\nreapers, and other agricultural machines might be sold. I understand that\nthe more progressive of the native landlords are ready to buy. One man,\nwho owns more than a thousand acres of rich grainland on the high plateau\nbetween the two ranges of the Lebanon Mountains, has offered 75 per cent.\nof the profits to any American company that will cultivate it for two\nor three years, and will bring in American machinery. The landlord also\nagrees, upon the termination of the lease, to pay for the machinery at\nthe regular price.\n\nSome of the Syrian farmers are now using American threshers and reapers,\nand some are bringing in American ploughs. The first thresher imported\nwas upon the advice of our consul general at Beirut. He is a Dakota man,\nwho understands the farming conditions in the Northwest. He tells me\nthat the possibilities of raising grain in this part of the world are\nremarkable, and that dry farming might be practised in many localities\nwhich now go to waste. He thinks that old Mesopotamia can be reclaimed\nby irrigation and a new Egypt created there. He says that as political\nconditions improve there will be many opportunities for commerce and\nindustry, and that American capital should take advantage of the\nsituation.\n\nSyria and Asia Minor are now raising a great deal of silk, which is sent\nto France and shipped from there to the United States. The American\nresidents tell me that there is no reason why we should not buy this\nraw silk direct, thus saving the Frenchman\u2019s profits and the double\ntransportation charges. I saw mulberry orchards everywhere during my\ntravels in Syria. The plains about Beirut are covered with them, and\nthey are to be found on both sides of the Lebanon Mountains. When the\ntrees have grown to the height of a man\u2019s head, they are cut back. Green\nleaves from the new sprouts furnish food for millions of silkworms. In\ncoming from Damascus I saw women and children picking the leaves to feed\nto the worms, carrying them to sheds erected for the purpose. Raising\nthe silkworms is largely in the hands of the women, who take care of the\ntrees and sell the cocoons. From the Lebanon mountain regions every year\nmen, specially appointed, go to France to get the silkworm eggs. For\nsome reason those laid in the Syrian mountains do not produce well.\n\n[Illustration: The first steel bridge across the River Jordan was named\nin honour of General Allenby. Under the British r\u00e9gime motor launches ply\nalong this most sacred stream in the world]\n\n[Illustration: Jerusalem now has a speed law, and its road signs are\nprinted in the three official languages\u2014English, Hebrew, and Arabic\u2014and\nFrench besides]\n\n\u201cHe who plants an olive tree lays up riches for his children\u2019s children.\u201d\nThis saying expresses a current belief throughout the Levant. Olives are\nthe money crop of a great part of Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor. Many\nof the trees are hundreds of years old, and some of them were planted\nbefore Columbus discovered America. I am told of an orchard near Tripoli,\nin Syria, which the deeds show was established about five hundred years\nago, and the trees of which are still bearing. All the way from Jerusalem\nto the Sea of Galilee I saw olive trees that looked old enough to have\nbeen planted by Jacob. Some of gigantic size were hollow and had been\nfilled with stones to aid in their support.\n\nMany of the colonists of the Holy Land have set out new orchards, and the\nAmericans who live at Haifa have trees bearing fruit every year. I am\ntold that the crop is very profitable, and that under reduced taxation\nmany more trees will be planted. The fruit is raised for the oil. A ton\nof olives yields about seventy gallons of oil. Asia Minor already leads\nthe world in its production of olive oil, producing about two or three\nhundred thousand more barrels per annum than either Spain or Italy.\n\nAnother important crop of the region about Smyrna is the fig, which grows\nbetter here than in almost any other part of the globe. More than three\nhundred thousand camel-loads are raised in some years, and they are\nshipped all over the world. The trees begin to bear in their sixth year,\nand are at their best ten years after planting. The figs ripen about the\nfirst of August, and when fully matured fall to the ground. They are\ndried in the sun, then packed in bags for the market.\n\nA great many of these figs go to America, where you will find them in all\nthe fruit and grocery stores. Our part of the crop is carefully packed,\nthere being several American firms here which do nothing else. The figs\nare first sorted according to the thickness of the skin and size of the\nfruit. The poorest are thrown away or used for distilling purposes, and\nthe best are put up for export in boxes and jars. The price here varies\nfrom two to eight cents a pound, the very finest of the figs bringing the\nlatter figure.\n\nA great deal of the packing is done in the city of Smyrna to which the\nfruit is brought in from all parts of the country. Some of it comes on\nthe railways, on cars especially built for the traffic, and some is\ncarried on camels. As it is important that the fruit be not bruised, that\ncarried in the cars is laid upon shelves built one above the other, so\nthat there is no danger of the figs being crushed or bruised.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\nARMENIA, THE SUFFERING\n\n\nArmenia is the Job among peoples. Her frightful sufferings seem to have\nno end. A little Christian island in a vast sea of Mohammedanism, she has\nbeen swept by one great tidal wave of persecution after another. Before\nthe eyes of the modern world, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,\neven, a whole people has been robbed, exiled, and murdered, while the\ngreat nations have looked on apparently helpless to bring to a permanent\nend the horrible atrocities committed by the \u201cunspeakable Turk.\u201d\n\nMillions of dollars have been spent in the past for the aid of Armenia,\nmillions more will be required before she is freed from famine and\npersecution. Vast sums have been donated by Americans through their\nchurches and missionary societies, the Red Cross, and other national and\ninternational organizations to help these people in their misery. But\nlasting relief cannot come until Armenia is enabled to set up a nation\nof her own once more, or is brought under the protection of a strong\nChristian power.\n\nWhat the Armenians have done under oppression shows that they have\ngreat possibilities as a race. They are sometimes called the Yankees\nof the Orient. They are the brightest, brainiest, and shrewdest of all\nthe people of Asia Minor. In business they are sharper than the Jews\nor even the Greeks. The Turks say, \u201cTwist a Yankee and you make a Jew,\ntwist a Jew and you make an Armenian.\u201d The Greeks say that \u201cone Greek\nis equal to two Jews, but one Armenian is equal to two Greeks.\u201d Another\ncurrent Turkish proverb is, \u201cFrom the Greeks of Athens, from the Jews of\nSaloniki, and from the Armenians everywhere, good Lord deliver us!\u201d\n\nThe Armenians are by no means confined to one part of the Orient. I have\nmet them everywhere in the East and I have found them acting as heads of\nall kinds of businesses. There are many rich Armenians in India. Coming\nfrom Singapore to Calcutta I travelled with a wealthy Armenian jeweller\nwho told me he was on his way back from Hong Kong where he had gone to\nsell pearls to the Chinese. I found Armenian conductors on the Egyptian\nrailways, and when I went over the transcontinental railroad to Paris the\nguards on the train and the men who took up my tickets were Armenians who\nspoke English and French. There are hundreds of thousands of Armenians\nin Europe. There are a large number in Persia, and in different parts\nof Turkey there are said to be about one million. There are a great\nmany in Constantinople where they manage most of the banking business\nand own large mercantile establishments. When I got money on my letter\nof credit in Constantinople it was an Armenian clerk who figured up the\nexchange and an Armenian cashier who handed out the money. Whenever\nthere are riots in that city nearly all the stores are closed because\ntheir Armenian owners fear they may be looted by the mob. When I visited\nthe Turkish government departments I found that, though the chief\nofficers were Turks, the clerks were in most cases Armenians, and the\ncleverest man I met in Turkey was one of the Sultan\u2019s secretaries, a man\nof Armenian birth. There are also Armenian engineers, architects, and\ndoctors in Constantinople. The Armenians of Armenia proper, however, are\nalmost all farmers, most of whom have become poverty-stricken through the\nexorbitant taxes of the Sultan.\n\nAt Jerusalem I saw a large number of Armenian pilgrims who had come from\nall parts of Asia Minor to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They\nhave a Patriarch at Jerusalem who leads them in these celebrations. He is\na tall, thin man with a long gray beard and a face not unlike that of the\ntypical Georgia cracker. He usually wears a long gown and has a little\nskull cap on the crown of his head. During the Easter celebration he\nwears a tiara blazing with diamonds and his gown is a gorgeous silk robe\ndecorated with diamonds. The Armenian Christians have doctrines much like\nthose of the Greek Church. They have monasteries and churches scattered\nthroughout Asia Minor.\n\nArmenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as a\nstate religion. This she did at the beginning of the fourth century and\ntwelve years before the conversion of the Roman emperor, Constantine.\nEver since she has been persecuted by a succession of enemies and\nconquerors of other faiths. Almost as soon as Christianity had been\nadopted, the Armenians were commanded by the Persians, their overlords\nat that time, to give up their faith and adopt the Persian religion of\nfire-worship. They replied: \u201cNo one can move us from our belief, neither\nangels nor men, fire nor sword. Here below we will choose no other God,\nand in heaven no other Lord but Jesus Christ.\u201d And they have stuck to\ntheir declaration through all the horrors and persecutions brought upon\nthem by Persians, Saracens, Tartars, Mamelukes, and Turks.\n\nAt her height Armenia was a flourishing country with a population of\nsome thirty millions. But from the time of the great dispersal that\nresulted from the invasion of the Moslem hordes in the seventh century,\nthe Armenians, like the Jews, have been decimated, their country has been\nravaged, and the people have been scattered all over Europe and Asia.\n\nThe Armenians assert that their country is the holiest land upon earth.\nIt lies in Asia Minor, southeast of the Black Sea and between it and\nPersia. Mount Ararat is situated in Armenia, and some of the monasteries\nclaim to have pieces of the identical ark in which Noah landed upon this\nmountain. A ravine near by is pointed out as the site of Noah\u2019s vineyard.\nThe vineyard has a monastery connected with it, and the monks show a\nwithered old vine which they assert is the very one from which Noah\nbrewed the wine that made him drunk. He cursed it so effectually after\nhe got over his spree that it has borne no grapes unto this day. Noah\u2019s\nwife is said to be buried on Mount Ararat. The Armenians trace their\nancestry back to Japheth in one great genealogical tree. They also have a\ntradition that the Garden of Eden was located in Armenia, almost in the\ncentre of the region where the worst massacres have occurred, but it is\nnow one of the barren parts of the country. The Armenians believe that\nthe Wise Men of the East, who followed the Star of Bethlehem to find the\nyoung Christ, came from their country and that the Star first appeared\nin the heavens not far from Mount Ararat.\n\nAccording to another curious Armenian tradition, when Adam was in the\nGarden of Eden his body was covered with nails, like those we have on\nour fingers and toes. These nails overlapped each other like the scales\nof a fish, thus giving him an invulnerable armour. After the fall they\nall dropped off except those from the ends of his fingers and toes. They\nremain to this day to remind man of his lost immortality. The Armenians\nsay that when God made Adam of clay, he had a little piece left over. He\nthrew this upon the ground, and as it fell it became gold and formed all\nthe gold of the world. These people are devoted to the Bible, and take\ntheir religion very seriously. They could have made their peace with the\nTurks long, long ago if they had been willing to accept Mohammedanism.\n\nThe condition of the women of Armenia is said to be terrible. They have\nno refuge from the Turks, who perpetrate all sorts of outrages upon them.\nIn some of the Armenian cities during one of the massacres the girls were\ncollected into the churches and kept there for days at the pleasure of\nthe soldiers before they were murdered. One statement described how sixty\nyoung brides were so treated and how the blood ran out under the church\ndoors at the time of their massacre.\n\nThese Armenian women are among the most attractive of the Near East.\nI have seen a number of them during my trip through Asia Minor. They\nhave large, dark, luminous eyes with long eyelashes, and rich, creamy\ncomplexions. Many of them have rosy cheeks and luscious red lips. They\nare tall and straight, but become fat soon after marriage. Not a few\nof them are married to Turks. These women have a dress of their own.\nThey wear red fez caps with long tassels much like some of the country\ngirls of Greece. The richer ladies wear loose jackets lined with fur,\nand long plain skirts of silk or fine wool. In the province of Van,\nwhere many atrocities have been committed, the girls wear under their\nskirts trousers which are tied at the ankles. Some have long, sleeveless\njackets, or cloaks, reaching almost to the feet and open at the sides up\nto the waists, and others wear gorgeous headdresses, covering the front\nof their caps with gold coins, which hang down over their foreheads.\nLike the Jewesses, these girls often wear their whole dowries on their\npersons, and in massacres like those which have so often occurred rings\nare torn from the ears, arms are cut off for bracelets, and many a woman\nis killed for her jewellery. The poorer women are hard workers. Nearly\nevery household has some kind of home industry whereby it adds to its\nincome. Some of the finest embroideries we get from Turkey are made by\nthese clever Armenian women, the best of the work being done by hand in\nhovels.\n\nThe houses in which the Armenians live are different in different\ncountries. In many of the cities of Turkey there is an Armenian quarter,\nand the older Armenian houses of Smyrna are built like forts. They have\nno windows facing the street, and only of late years, when the people\nhave considered themselves safe from religious riots, have they built\nhouses more like the Turks. In Armenia itself the poorer classes have\nhomes which would be considered hardly fit for cows in America. The cow,\nin fact, lives with the family. The houses are all of one story, and it\nis not uncommon to build a house against the side of a hill in order to\nsave the making of a back wall. The roofs are flat, and are often covered\nwith earth upon which grass and flowers grow, and upon which the sheep\nare sometimes pastured. The floors are usually sunken below the level of\nthe roadway, and the ordinary window is about the size of a porthole. You\ngo down steps to enter the house, where you find a cow stable on one side\nand the kitchen and living quarters of the family on the other.\n\nAll the living arrangements are of the simplest and cheapest description.\nEach room has a stone fireplace where the cooking is done with cow dung\nmixed with straw. There are no tables and very few chairs. The animal\nheat of the cattle aids the fire in keeping the family warm. The houses\nof the better class are more comfortable, and in the big Turkish cities\nsome of the rich Armenians have beautiful homes. The Armenian women are\ngood housekeepers and much more cleanly than the Turks. Even their hovels\nare kept clean.\n\nThey have a better home life than the Turks. A man can have but one\nwife, but the families of several generations often live in one house.\nIf the daughter-in-law lives with them, she is, to a large extent, the\nservant of her husband\u2019s family. She has to obey her father-in-law, and\nduring the first days of her married life is not allowed to speak to her\nhusband\u2019s parents or any of the family who are older than herself until\nher father-in-law gives her permission. Up to this time she wears a red\nveil, as a badge of her subjection, which is often kept on until her\nfirst baby is born.\n\nArmenian girls are married very young. Eleven or twelve is considered\nquite old enough, and women still young often have sons twenty years old.\nMarriages are arranged by parents or by go-betweens. The usual wedding\nday is Monday, and on the Friday before the marriage the bride is taken\nto the bath with great ceremony. On Saturday she gives a big feast to\nher girl friends. On Sunday there is a feast for the boys, and on Monday\nthe wedding takes place. It usually occurs at the church, where the\npriest blesses the ring and makes prayers over the wedding garments. The\nnumerous other ceremonies make the wedding last from three to eight days.\nShortly after her return from the church the children present rush to\npull off the bride\u2019s stockings, in which have been hidden some coins for\nthe occasion. Another curious custom is to place a baby boy on the knee\nof the bride, as she sits beside the groom on a divan, with the wish that\nshe may become a happy mother.\n\nWhile one reason for the hatred of the Armenians is envy of their\nshrewdness and their wealth, the chief cause of the Turkish outrages\nis religious fanaticism. The better classes of the Turks and the more\nintelligent of the Mohammedans would probably stop them if they could.\nMany of the high officials are afraid of the religious zeal of the\npeople. They realize that if the common people get the idea that they\nare false to their religion, they are almost sure of assassination. The\nImams and the Sheiks, or, in other words, the Moslem priests, are, to a\nlarge extent, the rulers of Turkey. They are in most cases ignorant and\nintolerant.\n\nAmong the Mohammedan fanatics there are a large number known as\ndervishes, who roam about from place to place stirring up trouble. They\nare walking delegates, as it were, for the killing of Christians. They\nstimulate the religious zeal of the people and make violent speeches\nagainst unbelievers. They fast much and they have strange forms of\nworship. One class, known as the whirling dervishes, may be seen in\nConstantinople any Friday going through their devotions. They dress in\nlong white robes fastened at the waists with black belts, and wear high\nsugar-loaf hats. They sing the Koran as they whirl about in the mosques.\nAs they go on the chief priest makes prayers and they whirl faster and\nfaster, until at last their long skirts stand out like those of a ballet\ndancer. Their faces become crimson, and some finally fall to the ground\nin fits.\n\nAnother class of these fanatics are the howlers, who have a great\norganization in Turkey, and have probably been largely concerned in\ninciting feeling against the Armenians. I have visited their mosques, but\nI despair of adequately describing their religious gymnastics. They work\nthemselves into a frenzy, jumping and bending, and gasping and howling\nout the name of God. The dervishes of the interior parts of Turkey often\ntake knives and cut themselves and each other in religious ecstasy.\nThey go into fits and foam at the mouth, and most of them think that\nthe killing of a Christian is a sure passport to heaven. I would say,\nhowever, that these people are the cranks of Mohammedanism, and that they\nare not a fair sample of the Moslem world. Nevertheless, they have had no\nsmall part in bringing about the miseries of Armenia.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII\n\nPALESTINE AND SYRIA UNDER NEW RULERS\n\n\nSwitch on your radiophone and let us listen together this evening to a\ntalk from Jerusalem where John Bull sits in the seats of the mighty and\nthe voice of the terrible Turk is no more heard in the land. The Holy\nCity is quiet. The women are sitting, as of old, on the housetops under\nthe stars, while across the valley on the Mount of Olives sparks from the\nwireless tower flash out to the corners of our modern world.\n\nIf we listen carefully we may hear the familiar chug-chug of an American\nautomobile whose driver to-morrow will take a party of pilgrims over the\nroad to Bethlehem. Or perhaps he will start on the longer trip to the\nruins of old Jericho and the River Jordan, or even a tour of all the Holy\nLand, most of which can now be reached in a motor car.\n\nAs we listen we learn that the High Commissioner, who rules in the\nname of His Britannic Majesty, met to-day with his advisory council,\nrepresenting the people of Palestine. From the report of their\nproceedings we learn what is going on in the reborn Promised Land. This\ncouncil has ten members appointed by the Commissioner. Four of them\nare Moslems, who make up four fifths of the population of Palestine,\nthree are Jews, identified with the Zionist movement, and three are\nChristians. Just as the membership of the advisory council is divided\namong the three groups for whom Jerusalem is a holy place and a\nreligious centre, so, too, are the positions in the government to-day\nheld by Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans. There are three official\nlanguages\u2014Arabic, English, and Hebrew.\n\nThe government, we are told, is in good condition, and the country is\nself-supporting, paying its way out of its revenues. Nevertheless, the\ntaxes with which the Turks used to squeeze and harness the people have\nbeen reduced and some of them have been abolished. At the same time,\nwhere the Turk and his tax-gatherers, as the Arabs say, \u201cnever gave us so\nmuch as a drink of cold water,\u201d the new rulers are providing much-needed\nimprovements with the public funds.\n\nBefore the British came the Arabs had a saying that the Turk would rule\nthe Holy Land until the Nile flowed into Palestine. This ancient prophecy\nhas been almost literally fulfilled, for when the British built the\nmilitary railroad from Egypt into Palestine they laid all the way beside\nit a pipe-line carrying water pumped from the Nile. A great tank in the\nhills on the Hebron road, built by Pontius Pilate, has been restored, and\nnow holds five million gallons of water, which is piped into Jerusalem.\nThe streets have been cleaned, the beginnings of a sewerage system put\nin, and the natives have started to learn the use of a covered garbage\ncan. Even the mosquitoes, descendants of those who bit the Crusaders,\nhave been driven out and have gone to the other side of Jordan to smite\nthe Bedouins. Plans for the further extension of the city beyond the\nwalls have been prepared, and its growth will be directed accordingly.\n\nA native police force has been recruited to keep order in the place of\nthe troops which have been gradually reduced in number. All the holy\nplaces are still carefully protected. The British were able to keep the\nMosque of Omar under Moslem guard by using soldiers from their own Indian\ntroops made up of followers of the Prophet.\n\nThe men of a New Zealand regiment who were Masons held a meeting in the\nsecret cavern under the Holy Rock in the Mosque said to be the place\nwhere King Solomon founded their order. There were thirty-two Masons from\ntwenty-seven different lodges, who took part in this meeting, while an\nold sheik acted as doorkeeper.\n\nThe differences in religion keep bobbing up in Jerusalem, giving the\nBritish and the advisory council some ticklish questions to deal with.\nFor example, when the military bands started to give concerts in a public\nsquare in the outer city, they played three afternoons a week\u2014Thursday,\nSaturday, and Sunday. The Grand Mufti, head of the Jerusalem Moslems,\nsolemnly protested, saying the band played Saturday for the Jewish\nSabbath and on Sunday for the Christians, but was slighting the\nMohammedans, who observed Friday. So now the bands play four days a week.\n\nAnother thing the British did gratified the Christians. Under Turkish\nrule the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem was disfigured by a wall\nseparating the Greek choir and chancel from the nave and basilica, which\nis common to Orthodox and Catholic alike. This wall they tore down, so\nthat now the whole church is open to view.\n\nAs a result of the war, and the cruelties of the Turks, the population\nof Jerusalem shrank from eighty thousand to sixty thousand, while Jaffa\nwas almost depopulated. With British control, however, the people\nflocked back again, and a rapid increase is expected all through the Holy\nLand. The country itself suffered almost as much as the people from the\noutrages of both the Turks and the Germans. Crops were seized to feed the\nsoldiers, while hundreds of thousands of olive and other trees were cut\ndown to make fuel for locomotives. The Germans blasted out the trees with\ndynamite, destroying the roots so that no sprouts could spring up. Whole\nsections of Palestine were stripped bare, and at the same time cattle and\nsheep were taken away and killed. In some places the people burned nearly\neverything they had to keep the Turks from getting their possessions.\n\nThe British are working on a vast scheme of reforestation in connection\nwith their irrigation plans. They are encouraging a project for building\na dam in the River Jordan, above Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, which\nwill furnish power for irrigation pumps and light and energy for all\nPalestine. Great nurseries have been established at Gaza, where Samson\nthrew down the temple of the Philistines. In one operation, more than one\nhundred thousand timber trees and ninety thousand fruit trees were set\nout.\n\nThe new rulers of the Holy Land hope to restore agriculture, which fell\ninto decay under the Turks, chiefly on account of the excessive taxes\non the farmers. Local meetings of natives have been held throughout the\ncountry, to find out what the farmers needed most, and to put them in\ntouch with sources of supply. There was found to be a great shortage of\nfarm implements and machines, such as mowers, horse rakes, and other\nequipment. To encourage the natives, the sum of two million five hundred\nthousand dollars was set aside to be loaned by the Anglo-Egyptian Bank\nof Palestine for improvements on their lands. Within three years after\nthe war Palestine agriculture produced more than two million bushels\nof wheat, one million bushels of barley, one and one quarter million\nbushels of millet, six thousand tons of grapes, and one hundred and\nfifty thousand gallons of olive oil. The number of sheep and goats was\nestimated at more than a quarter of a million of each. Figs are grown\nin upper Galilee, but not so many as will be the case when shipping\nfacilities are provided. For the second year under British control, the\nimport trade of Palestine amounted to not quite twenty million dollars,\nmost of which was with Great Britain and Egypt. The people import\nfoodstuffs such as rice and sugar, and buy a great quantity of cotton\ngoods.\n\nSome think that Palestine may become a second Switzerland and grow rich\non the visitors to the country. For many years both pilgrims and tourists\nhave been going to the Holy Land by the thousands, but little has ever\nbeen done for either their comfort or their convenience. With the country\nunder good management by the British, and modern conditions provided,\nmore people will want to make the trip. Many thousands of Palestinians\ncould undoubtedly be employed at a profit in serving the visitors and\nselling them goods.\n\nCommunications in Palestine have been greatly improved and extended.\nBesides the military railway from Egypt, General Allenby and the British\nbuilt more than two hundred miles of highways, and these are being added\nto all the time. There are now four hundred and eighty miles of railroad\ntrack and five hundred and twenty-three miles of public highways.\nThe cars on the line from Egypt to the Holy Land are comfortable, and\nsleeping and eating accommodations are provided. One may ride from\nCairo to Ludd, and there connect with the Jaffa-Jerusalem line, or\ncontinue on to Haifa, whence the journey may be continued for twelve\nhours over the French railroad to Damascus. Every two weeks aeroplanes\ncarry mail from Egypt and Palestine across the desert into Mesopotamia,\nwhere the British are developing the large interests they gained there\nas a result of the war. The Zionists have revived an old plan for a\ntwo-hundred-and-fifty-mile ship canal through Palestine as a supplement\nto the Suez Canal, but it does not seem likely that this scheme will be\nworked out with the British controlling Palestine and the Suez Canal.\n\nThe British plan to extend into Mesopotamia the railroad system already\nconnecting Palestine and Egypt, so as to link up the countries of three\nrivers, the Nile, the Jordan, and the Euphrates. This will supplement the\nBerlin-to-Bagdad line which the Germans thought would give them control\nover a new eastern empire. Another project that is now much talked of is\nto dig a tunnel thirty-seven miles long under the hills to carry water\nfrom the streams along the coast of the Mediterranean into the Jordan.\nThe fact that the Jordan is far below sea level makes this physically\npossible, even if not economically practicable. Extensive improvements\nare planned for Haifa, which as a port and the terminus of the railroads\nto Damascus and Jerusalem will be an important place in the future.\nThe British also expect to empty into ships at Haifa the oil they plan\nto pipe across the desert from Mesopotamia. Haifa used to be great in\nancient days, when it was the chief landing place of the Crusaders and\nthe transfer point in the early trade between Venice and the Far East. It\nis now predicted that its population of twenty thousand will increase to\none hundred thousand within ten years.\n\nThe French have a mandate for Syria, as the British have for Palestine,\nand the boundaries of both regions have been redrawn. Damascus is\nincluded in the territory under French control. Syria is nominally\nindependent, and the natives have not been altogether satisfied with the\nway the French have governed their country since the Sultan\u2019s power was\noverthrown.\n\nVery little has been left of the Turkish possessions, as Armenia has\nbeen declared independent, and the Greeks given a footing in Smyrna and\nthe surrounding district. Once these regions become adjusted to the new\nconditions following the war, it is believed they will enter upon a new\nera of prosperity and rapid development of their many rich resources.\n\n THE END\n\n\n\n\nSEEING THE WORLD WITH FRANK G. CARPENTER\n\n\nChoosing a travelling companion is one of life\u2019s most trying moments. The\nman with whom we feel we can be quite happy throughout a journey\u2014whose\ntastes, interests, and viewpoint are like our own\u2014is often hard to find.\n\nMillions of Americans have found Frank G. Carpenter their ideal fellow\ntraveller. Reading Carpenter has meant for them seeing the world, and\nwith him they have journeyed to all parts of the globe. He never bores,\npreaches, or propagandizes, but tells his readers what they want to know,\nshows them what they want to see, and makes them feel that they are there.\n\nIn order to extend this opportunity of seeing the world with Carpenter,\nDoubleday, Page & Company have arranged to publish CARPENTER\u2019S WORLD\nTRAVELS, the story of his three hundred thousand miles of journeys over\nthe globe, of which this book, \u201cThe Holy Land and Syria\u201d is the first\nvolume. Succeeding volumes to be published immediately, include:\n\n From Tangier to Tripoli, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and\n the Sahara.\n Alaska, Our Northern Wonderland.\n The End of the Hemisphere, Chile and Argentina.\n From Cairo to Kisumu.\n Egypt, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and British East Africa,\n\nand twenty other volumes, covering the world.\n\nThese books are familiar talks about the countries and peoples of the\nearth, with the author on the spot and the reader in his home. Carpenter\nmakes his readers see what he sees, and they feel they are on the spot\nwith him.\n\nThis is the only work of its kind. No other single author has visited\nall the countries of the world and written on the spot, in plain and\nsimple language, the story of what he has found. CARPENTER\u2019S WORLD\nTRAVELS are not the casual record of incidents of the journey, but the\npainstaking study of a trained observer, devoting his life to the task\nof world-wide reporting. Each book is complete in itself; together they\nform the most vivid, interesting, and understandable picture of our\nmodern world yet published. They are the fruit of more than thirty years\nof unparalleled success in writing for the American people through the\nmedium of their greatest newspapers. They are a fitting climax to Mr.\nCarpenter\u2019s distinguished services to the teaching of geography in our\npublic schools, which have used some four million copies of the Carpenter\nGeographical Readers.\n\nIn the present state of the world, a knowledge of its countries and\npeoples is essential to an understanding of what is going on, of how all\nthat is happening affects us, and why. Carpenter takes his readers to the\nlands of the news, and makes more real the daily flashes by cable and\nradio.\n\nA word to your bookseller, or a line to the publishers, will enable you\nto secure each volume of Carpenter\u2019s World Travels as it appears.\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n\nAn enormous number of books on the Holy Land have been written, some few\nof which have become standard works, in spite of having been written\na generation ago. Among these the most familiar, perhaps, are Dean\nStanley\u2019s \u201cSinai and Palestine,\u201d in many editions, and G. A. Smith\u2019s\n\u201cHistorical Geography of the Holy Land,\u201d thirteenth edition, London,\n1907, and the same author\u2019s \u201cAtlas of the Historical Geography of the\nHoly Land,\u201d London, 1915. The following brief list is a selection from\nthe most recent publications:\n\n BAEDEKER. \u201cSyria and Palestine\u201d Guidebook. London, 1912.\n\n BELL, GERTRUDE. \u201cSyria.\u201d London, 1919.\n\n BENTWICH, NORMAN. \u201cPalestine and the Jews, Past, Present, and\n Future.\u201d London, 1919.\n\n COPPING, ARTHUR E. \u201cA Journalist in the Holy Land.\u201d London,\n 1911.\n\n GORDON, BEN L. \u201cNew Judea: Jewish Life in Modern Palestine.\u201d\n Philadelphia, 1919.\n\n GRANT, ELIHU. \u201cPeasantry of Palestine.\u201d New York, 1907.\n\n GREAT BRITAIN. \u201cHandbook of Syria\u201d (including Palestine)\n Prepared by Naval Intelligence Division, British Admiralty.\n London, 1921.\n\n \u201cSyria and Palestine,\u201d Historical section British\n Foreign Office\u2014No. 60. London, 1921.\n\n HICHENS, ROBERT. \u201cThe Holy Land\u201d illus. by Jules Gu\u00e9rin. New\n York, 1910.\n\n HILPRECHT, H. V. \u201cExplorations in Bible Lands during the 19th\n Century.\u201d Philadelphia, 1903.\n\n HUNTINGTON, ELLSWORTH. \u201cPalestine and Its Transformation.\u201d\n Boston, 1911.\n\n HYAMSON, A. M. \u201cPalestine: the Rebirth of an Ancient People.\u201d\n London, 1917.\n\n JASTROW, MORRIS. \u201cZionism and the Future of Palestine.\u201d New\n York, 1919.\n\n LEES, G. ROBINSON. \u201cVillage Life in Palestine.\u201d London, 1905.\n\n LOCK, H. O. \u201cThe Conquest of Palestine.\u201d London, 1920.\n\n MUDRUM, NADRA. \u201cLa Syrie de Demain.\u201d Paris, 1916.\n\n MAXWELL, DONALD. \u201cA Painter in Palestine.\u201d London, 1921.\n\n PIRIE-GORDON, H. \u201cGuidebook to Northern Palestine and Southern\n Syria.\u201d Jerusalem, 1920.\n\n \u201cGuide Book to Central Syria.\u201d Jerusalem, 1920.\n\n RUPPIN, A. \u201cSyrien als Wirthschaftsgebiet\u201d (Also in English).\n Berlin, 1917.\n\n \u201cThe Jews of To-day.\u201d New York, 1913.\n\n SAMNE, G. \u201cLa Syrie.\u201d Paris, 1921.\n\n SAMPTER, JESSIE, _Editor_. \u201cA Guide to Zionism.\u201d New York, 1920.\n\n SIDEBOTHAM, H. \u201cEngland and Palestine.\u201d London, 1919.\n\n SOKOLOW, N. \u201cHistory of Zionism.\u201d London and New York, 1919.\n\n SZOLD, HENRIETTA. \u201cRecent Progress in Palestine.\u201d New York,\n 1920.\n\n WILBUSHEWITZ, N. \u201cThe Industrial Development of Palestine.\u201d\n London, 1920.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n Abraham, sacrificial rock of, 64.\n\n Agriculture, in the Land of Goshen, 6;\n in Palestine, 159.\n\n Allenby, General, the successful Crusader, 1.\n\n Alouf, Dr. Michel, arch\u00e6ologist at Baalbek, 239.\n\n American cemetery at Jerusalem purchased by trickery by Germans who\n remove bodies, 44, 250.\n\n American colonies in the Holy Land, 172.\n\n American education in the Near East, 252.\n\n American Medical Unit in Palestine, 202.\n\n American store in Jerusalem, 174.\n\n American trade, opportunities for, in Syria, 267.\n\n Ananias, house of, at Damascus, 212.\n\n Andromeda, the rocks of, 18.\n\n Anglo-Israelite Colonization Society, work of, 170, 176.\n\n Ararat, Mount, in Armenia, 274.\n\n Armenia, the sufferings of, 271.\n\n Armenian Patriarch at Jerusalem, 273.\n\n Armenian women, costumes of, 276;\n marriage customs, 277.\n\n Armenians, as sharp traders, 271.\n\n Ascension, Chapel of the, 127.\n\n Asyut, American college at, 252.\n\n Ayasoluk, railway station for Ephesus, 263, 266.\n\n\n Baal, worship of, 235.\n\n Baalbek, ruins of the ancient city, 232.\n\n Babel, Tower of, at Baalbek, 234.\n\n Bacchus, temple of, at Baalbek, 236.\n\n Banias, at source of the Jordan, 130.\n\n Baptisms in the Jordan, 55.\n\n Bashan, compared with Bible times, 32.\n\n Bazaars of Jerusalem, 111.\n\n Beeroth, 155.\n\n Bees and honey of Palestine, 164.\n\n Beirut, American college at, 256;\n college has largest publishing house in the Orient, 259.\n\n Beitin, the ancient Bethel, 155.\n\n Berlin-to-Bagdad scheme, Germany\u2019s, 249.\n\n Bethany, of to-day, 123.\n\n Bethel, now called Beitin, 155.\n\n Bethlehem, visits to, 138.\n\n Birthplace of Christ, the, 144.\n\n Bliss, Dr. Howard S., difficulties with the literary censorship, 255;\n handles a strike of Moslem students, 257.\n\n Boaz, Field of, 140, 141.\n\n Bomb for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 107.\n\n Bread bakers of Jerusalem, 115.\n\n Brickmaking at Bubastis, 9.\n\n Bridge of Jacob\u2019s Daughters, 131.\n\n British government of Palestine and Syria, 280.\n\n British mandate over Palestine, 197.\n\n Bubastis, city of cat worship, 9.\n\n\n Caiaphas, the house of, 44.\n\n Cain and Abel, Moslem tradition of, 246.\n\n Calvary, the site as located by General Gordon, 46.\n\n Camels and their use, 164.\n\n Cana, village of, 195.\n\n Candies of Damascus, 218.\n\n Capernaum, excavations at, 192.\n\n Carmelite nunnery on Mount of Olives, 126.\n\n Cat worship, at Bubastis, 9.\n\n Catacombs of Jerusalem, 60.\n\n Cave dwellers in Jerusalem, 39.\n\n Cedars of Lebanon, 240.\n\n Cemeteries, weddings in, 83.\n\n Censorship of reading matter by Turkish officials, 255.\n\n Chapel of the Ascension, 127.\n\n Chapel of the Manger, 146.\n\n Children of the Holy Land, 182.\n\n Christ, Tomb of, 90.\n\n Christians barred from railroads to Mohammedan holy cities, 242.\n\n Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 48, 88.\n\n Church of the Lord\u2019s Prayer, the, 126.\n\n Church of the Nativity, 144.\n\n Costumes of Damascus women, 224.\n\n Crucifixion, relics of the, 91.\n\n\n Damascus, the world\u2019s oldest city, 204;\n the heart of the Mohammedan world, 209;\n massacres of Christians at, in modern times, 209, 217;\n bazaars of, 214;\n foreign trade, 220;\n manufacture of jewellery, 221.\n\n Damascus-Beirut railway, travels on, 246.\n\n David, Tower of, 36.\n\n David-Goliath battlefield, 25.\n\n Day of Judgment, the Mohammedan belief, 46.\n\n Dead Sea, the, 129, 131, 135.\n\n Dervishes, fanaticism of the, 278.\n\n Diana, temple of, at Ephesus, 263.\n\n Divorce, in Damascus, 225.\n\n Donkeys, their use in the Holy Land, 164.\n\n Dorcas, the tomb of, 21.\n\n\n Easter Week in Jerusalem, 48, 55, 84.\n\n Ebal, Mount, 157.\n\n Eddy, Dr. Mary, work of, as medical missionary, 260.\n\n Education, American, in the Near East, 252.\n\n Elijah, the cave of, 122.\n\n Elisha, the fountain of, 122.\n\n Ephesus, excavations at, 262.\n\n Eucalyptus, introduction of the, 170.\n\n Evil Eye, belief in the, 78.\n\n Excavations, at Baalbek, German, 234;\n at Ephesus, 262;\n at Jericho, 119.\n\n\n Farming in Palestine, 159.\n\n Fat-tailed sheep, 141.\n\n Fatima, tomb of, at Damascus, 210.\n\n Field of Boaz, 140, 141.\n\n Field of Peas, the, 142.\n\n Field of the Shepherds, the, 142.\n\n Figs, production of, in Syria, 269.\n\n Fishermen of the Sea of Galilee, 189.\n\n Flight into Egypt, the, 10.\n\n Flowers of Palestine, the, 165.\n\n Foot washing, the ceremony of, 95.\n\n Franz Josef, costly gifts of, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 50.\n\n French-Jewish Society, work of, 171.\n\n Fuel, scarcity of, 33.\n\n\n Gabriel\u2019s Spring, Nazareth, 180.\n\n Gadarenes, land of the, 188.\n\n Galilee, Sea of, 131, 187.\n\n Garden of Gethsemane, the, 127.\n\n German church at Jerusalem, 43, 249, 250.\n\n German colonies in Palestine, 248.\n\n German excavations at Baalbek, 234.\n\n German hospice at Jerusalem, 249.\n\n Germany\u2019s methods in the Near East, 249.\n\n Gerizim, Mount, Samaritan Passover sacrifice on, 150.\n\n Gethsemane, Garden of, 46, 127.\n\n Gezer, excavations at, 27.\n\n Gifts to the churches, 108.\n\n Gihon, Pool of, 139.\n\n Gilead, compared with Bible times, 32.\n\n Gomorrah and Sodom, sites of, 137.\n\n Good Samaritan Inn, the, 125.\n\n Gordon, General, site of Calvary located by, 46;\n believed Place of the Skull the scene of the Crucifixion, 154.\n\n Goshen, in Joseph\u2019s time and now, 4;\n a land of gardens, 6.\n\n Graveyard marriages, superstition regarding, 82.\n\n Great Mosque, the, at Damascus, 207.\n\n Greek Church, a great factor in the religious life of the Holy Land,\n 53;\n strength of, 101, 109.\n\n\n Hadassah Medical Organization, work of, in Palestine, 202.\n\n Hamlin, Rev. Cyrus, organizer of Robert College, Constantinople, 254.\n\n Hardegg, American hotel keeper at Jaffa, 19.\n\n Hebrew art, revival of, 201.\n\n Herzl, Dr. Theodore, founder of Zionist movement, 198.\n\n Hezekiah, Pool of, 35, 36.\n\n Holy Family, route of, into Egypt, 10.\n\n Holy fire, \u201cmiracle\u201d of the, 98.\n\n Holy Land, returned to Christian and Jew, 1.\n\n Holy Sepulchre, Church of the, 48, 88.\n\n Holy Week, in Jerusalem, 48, 55, 84.\n\n Huleh, Lake, 131.\n\n\n Irrigation, in Mesopotamia, British plans for, 248;\n in the Land of Goshen, 6.\n\n\n Jacob\u2019s Daughters, Bridge of, 131.\n\n Jacob\u2019s Well, 152.\n\n Jaffa, the city of Jonah, 14;\n one of the world\u2019s worst harbours, 16;\n lumber for Solomon\u2019s Temple landed at, 17, 66, 241.\n\n Jaffa-Jerusalem railroad, the, 26.\n\n Jaffa to Jerusalem, the journey from, 32.\n\n Jehoshaphat, Valley of, 44.\n\n Jeremiah, Lamentations of, where written, 46;\n chanting of, 76.\n\n Jericho, excavations at, 119;\n arriving at, 123.\n\n Jerusalem, growth of the city, 37;\n materials used in house construction in, 38;\n the mecca of millions, 40;\n the building of the walls, 45;\n pilgrimage city of the world, 48;\n Jews barred from, 68;\n mean temperature of, 130;\n increase in population under the British, 282.\n\n Jesus\u2019s Spring, in Nazareth, 180.\n\n Jewellery, manufacture of, in Damascus, 221.\n\n Jewels bestowed by pilgrims to Jerusalem, 50.\n\n Jewish Colonies, development of, 169.\n\n Jews, coming into their own, 68;\n classes of, in Palestine, 69;\n dress and customs of, 71;\n superstitions of, 78.\n\n Jonah, story of, 16.\n\n Jonah\u2019s city, Jaffa, 14.\n\n Jordan River, long and crooked, 30;\n the blessing of the water, 55;\n baptisms in, 56;\n travels along the, 129;\n source of, 130.\n\n Jordan Valley, the, 129;\n mean temperature of, 130.\n\n Judas\u2019s betrayal of Christ, spot of, 128.\n\n Judea, via the railway, 23.\n\n Juneau, tuberculosis hospital at, 260.\n\n\n Kaiserin Augusta, hospice on Mount of Olives in honour of, 249.\n\n Kedron, gardens of, 44.\n\n Kedron, Valley of, 154.\n\n Kersting, Father, excavations in Nazareth, 180.\n\n\n Lake Huleh, 131.\n\n Lamentations of Jeremiah, where written, 46;\n chanting of the, 76.\n\n Lazarus, tomb of, 123.\n\n Law of Moses, Samaritan parchment of the, 150.\n\n Lebanon, cedars of, 240.\n\n Lebanon Mountains, scantily forested, 240.\n\n Livestock in the Land of Goshen, 6.\n\n Lord\u2019s Prayer, the Church of the, 125.\n\n Lot\u2019s wife, the pillar of salt, 137.\n\n Louse Market, Damascus, 217.\n\n\n Machinery, American, needed in Syria, 267.\n\n Magi, Well of the, 141.\n\n Mandeville, Sir John, first report of the cotton plant, 5.\n\n Manger, Chapel of the, 146.\n\n Markets of Jerusalem, the, 117.\n\n Marriage and divorce customs of the Holy Land, 226.\n\n Marriage at early age in Palestine, 184.\n\n Marriage customs in Armenia, 277.\n\n Mary and Martha, house of, at Bethany, 124.\n\n Mary\u2019s Well, Nazareth, 180.\n\n Masons, meeting of, in the Mosque of Omar, 282.\n\n Massacres of Christians in Damascus in modern times, 209, 217.\n\n Mecca, railroad to, 242;\n Moslem pilgrimages to, 209;\n pilgrimages to, a means of distribution of civilized ideas, 258.\n\n Medical missionaries in the Orient, 259.\n\n Mesopotamia, British plans for irrigation in, 248;\n agricultural possibilities of, 268.\n\n \u201cMiracle\u201d of the holy fire, the, 98.\n\n Mizpah, where Saul was anointed king, 25, 154.\n\n Moab, compared with Bible times, 32.\n\n Modern innovations in the Holy Land, 1.\n\n Money changers, customs of the, 87, 111.\n\n Montefiore colonies at Jerusalem, 171.\n\n Moriah, Mount, 57.\n\n Moses, where found, in the Nile bulrushes, 11.\n\n Moses\u2019 Tabernacle, site of, 65.\n\n Mosque of Omar, water supply for, 34;\n on site of Solomon\u2019s Temple, 36, 48;\n history of, 62;\n kept under Moslem guard by the British, 282.\n\n Mosques and praying carriages on Mecca railway, 243.\n\n Mount Ebal, 157.\n\n Mount Moriah, 57.\n\n Mount Nebo, 129, 134.\n\n Mount of Olives, 30, 125.\n\n Mount Scopus, 154.\n\n\n Naaman, the Syrian, house of, at Damascus, 212.\n\n Nablus, one of the oldest towns of history, 157.\n\n Nativity, Church of the, 144.\n\n Nazareth, early home of the Saviour, 177.\n\n Nebo, Mount, 129, 134.\n\n Noah, tomb of, 247.\n\n\n Obelisks, American tourists at the, 12.\n\n Olive oil, made in primitive manner, 116.\n\n Olives, production of, in Syria, 269.\n\n Omar, Mosque of, water supply for, 34;\n on site of Solomon\u2019s Temple, 36, 48;\n its history, 62;\n kept under Moslem guard by the British, 282.\n\n Ornan, the Jebusite, threshing-floor of, 59, 64.\n\n\n Palestine, returned to Christian and Jew, 1;\n first view of its shores, 15;\n comparative size, 30;\n character of the country, 31;\n farming in, 159;\n under the British, 280.\n\n Palestine Exploration Fund excavations at Gezer, 27.\n\n Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, 92.\n\n Patriarch of Jerusalem, a talk with the, 101.\n\n Peas, the Field of, 142.\n\n Pilgrimages to the Holy City, 14, 40, 48, 49, 53.\n\n Pithom, treasure city of Pharaoh, 8.\n\n Place of the Skull, the, 46, 154.\n\n Pontius Pilate, house of, 93.\n\n Pool of Gihon, 139.\n\n Pool of Hezekiah, 35, 36.\n\n Pool of Siloam, 35, 54.\n\n Pools of Solomon, now a poor water supply, 34.\n\n\n Quarrels between the sects, 106.\n\n\n Rachel, Tomb of, 142.\n\n Railroads in the Holy Land, 242.\n\n Rainfall, scanty proportion of, 34.\n\n Rameses, treasure city of Pharaoh, 8.\n\n Religions, strength of the different, 110.\n\n Robert College, Constantinople, influence of, 253.\n\n Roses, Valley of, 140.\n\n Rothschild, Baron Edward, founds Jewish colonies in Palestine, 171,\n 174, 176.\n\n Ruins, the world\u2019s mighty, 233.\n\n Russian hospice, the, 53.\n\n Russians, chief pilgrims to the Holy Land, 53.\n\n\n Saladin, tomb of, at Damascus, 211.\n\n Samaritans, among the, 149.\n\n Samson\u2019s fight with the Philistines, place of, 26.\n\n Samuel, Tomb of, 154.\n\n St. Helena, locates place of the Crucifixion, 51.\n\n St. Stephen, place of the stoning of, 45.\n\n St. Paul, tracing footsteps of, 211;\n place of his escape over wall of Damascus, 213.\n\n St. Peter and his dream, 20.\n\n Schools of Nazareth, the, 184.\n\n Scopus, Mount, 154.\n\n Sea of Galilee, 131, 187.\n\n Seilum, the ancient Shiloh, 155.\n\n Sepulchre of Christ, the, 91.\n\n Seth, tomb of, 247.\n\n Shechem, one of the oldest towns of history, 157.\n\n Sheep, the fat-tailed variety, 141, 160.\n\n Shepherds, Field of the, 142.\n\n Shiloh, now called Seilum, 155.\n\n Shops of Jerusalem, smallness of the, 113.\n\n Silk production in Syria, 268.\n\n Siloam, Pool of, 35, 44.\n\n Simon the Tanner, house of, 20.\n\n Skull, Place of the, 154.\n\n Smyrna, largest city in Asia Minor, 267.\n\n Sodom and Gomorrah, sites of, 137.\n\n Solomon, Pools of, now a poor water supply, 34.\n\n Solomon\u2019s Temple, lumber for, landed at Jaffa, 17, 66, 241;\n Mosque of Omar on site of, 36, 48;\n site of, 45;\n holiest spot on the globe, 57;\n dimensions of, 67.\n\n Souvenirs, the purchase of, 222.\n\n Spaffordites, colony of the, in Palestine, 173.\n\n Sphinx, legend of the Holy Family at the, 11.\n\n Stone of Unction, the, 49, 89.\n\n Storekeepers of Jerusalem, 111.\n\n Street called Straight, the, at Damascus, 212;\n shopping in, 214.\n\n Suk Wadi Baroda, on Damascus-Beirut railway, 246.\n\n Superstitions of the Jews, 78.\n\n Syria under the British, 280.\n\n\n Tabernacle of Moses, site of, 65.\n\n Taxes and their collection in Palestine, 167.\n\n Temples of Baalbek, 233.\n\n Tiberias on Sea of Galilee, 193.\n\n Tomb of Christ, the, 90;\n of Dorcas, 21;\n Fatima, 210;\n of Lazarus, 123;\n of Noah, 247;\n of Rachel, 142;\n of Saladin, 211;\n of Samuel, 154;\n of Seth, 247.\n\n Tower of Babel, at Baalbek, 234.\n\n Tower of David, the, 36.\n\n Tuberculosis among the Bedouin tribes, 260.\n\n\n Unction, Stone of, 49, 89.\n\n United Presbyterian Church, educational institutions of, in Nile\n Valley, 252.\n\n\n Valley of Roses, 140.\n\n Veiled women of Damascus, the, 223.\n\n Virgin Mary, jewel-covered image of, at Jerusalem, 50.\n\n\n Washing the feet, ceremony of, 95.\n\n Watch towers of Jerusalem, the, 43.\n\n Water supply, by scanty wells and cisterns, 34.\n\n Weddings, in cemeteries, 82.\n\n Well of the Magi, 141.\n\n Wilhelm II, breach in wall of Jerusalem in honour of, 139;\n places golden wreath on tomb of Saladin, 211;\n his trip through the Holy Land, 233, 250.\n\n Women, veiled, of Damascus, 223.\n\n Women\u2019s rights in the Holy Land, 230.\n\n\n Zagazig, a famous cotton port, 4.\n\n Zammarin, Jewish colony at, 174.\n\n Zangwill, Israel, talk with on Zionist movement, 198.\n\n Zion, Mount, view from, 37;\n on the slope of, 43.\n\n Zionist colonies in Palestine, 170.\n\n Zionist movement, the, 196.\n\n Zimpel, originator of Jaffa-Jerusalem railroad idea, 26.\n\n Zorah, birthplace of Samson, 27.","title":"The Holy Land and Syria","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":89760}