The Yazoo City Whig and political register. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 183?-1840, 1839-12-20
JERUSALEM.

The present city, with IFS churches, mos
qucs, houses, gardens, and Notifications Jay
extended Immediately below, and the eye
took at blrd's-eye view, every house and
street, and almost every yard ofground. The
scene was certainly very imposing, and the
appearance of the city, with its domes and
cupolas, and the minarets of the mosquets,
is, from this point of view, quite magnif-
cent. The first objects which strike-the eye
are the two magnificent mosques occupying
the site of solomon's Temple. The one on
the north side is the celebrated mosque of
Omar; that on the south is the Mosque Ell.
Aksa. They are close to that portion of the
city walls which Immediately borders on the
Mount of Olives, and with the courts, por-
ticoes, and gardens attached to them, they
occupy fourth part of the whole place,
and present most imposing appearance.
The town rises gradually above these, and
the most prominent object beyond is the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with its two
domes of stricking aspect; the one being
white, and the other almost black. Here
and there lofty tower or tapering nina
ret rises above the gloomy stone houses of
the natives. OEthese the lofty tower or mi
naret said TO be built on the site Of the house
of PLATE, with its galleries and Saracenic
decorations, appears most prominently to
the eye, and the minarets Of Ben Israel, of
the Seraglio, and the one said to be placed
on the site of Herod's palace. Most of the
private dwellings were covered with low
dones, and my intelligent cicerone pointed
out to me the different churches and con-
vents, and long range of stone buildings
surmounted by small cupaloes, which he said
was a college of dervishes. Altogether the
city, as seen from the summit of the Mount
Olives, may be ranked as one of the finest
of Oriental cities in its external aspect. A
long line of battlemented walls, with their
towers and gates, extends the whole way
round that town, and few expresses and
other trees throw up their leafy branches
and the porticoes and gates of the mosques.
After the surprise and admiration which this
prospect at first naturally excites has subs-
ded, the bare, rocky and desolate aspect of
the surrounding country, and the solitude
and silence of Inc city itself, most lOrcibly
attract the attention. Neither in the streets
at the gateways, nor along the rocky mule
tracks leading therefrom, is there aught of
life or animation. Some solitary woman,
with her water pitcher, climbing the craggy
eminence, or more slowly moving Pilgrims,
are alone seen. The eye, on a closer scru-
tiny, discovers large tracks of open and waste
ground within the walls, and many ruined
house and dilapidated building. There is
none Of the hustle and animation ordinary
perceptible about large town. Nomoving
crowds traverse the public thoroughtares;
the ear strives in vain to catch the noise and
hum of large city, for such it appears TO
be; all is strangely and sadly silent. ssThe
noise of the whip, and the nois of the wheels,
and of the prancing horses, and of the jun
ping chariots," are no longer heard in Jeru-
salem, If we search for some carriage road
or great public thoroughfare leading from
the provinces into the clty,we shall discover
nothing beyond narrow rocky mule path
winding along the valley, and among the
opposite precipitous elevations. We see no
luxuriant foliage and verdant gardens wat
cred by running streams, as at Naples, and
at Damascus, and at many other places to
the northWard; but on all sides bare rocks
rear their sharp and craggy points, and few
wandering zig-zag paths lead between them.
Every where around the city is extended a
wild and solitary country, and to the eastward
the eye ranges over the SUBMITS of bare
arid elevations, and at last rests on the lofty
and majestic ridge of blue mountains bor-
dering the Dead Sea. Here on the summit
of the Mount of Olives, we may legitimately
indulge in the varied associations and recol-
lections which the surrounding landscape is
so eminently calculated TO draw forth. Here,
undisturbed by the doubts which must in
wade every mind with regard to the identity
Of the different sacred places pointed out
below, we can leisurele survey the whole
prospect, and take il at glance the thea
ire Of the great events in the Jewish history
and of all the interesting circumstances az
tending the close Of our Saviour's life.