Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-07-18
]. TIN !! !! !! | HOLY CITE | ]

| IL I HOL i CIT
Lights 81 ma Around JsruAaisna.4 me
1gosqus Is O1nas 4,r11 I'll Cavs Dwell
1 inss-Ths rools ~ Hem ia ana 0Ihon
From the SIN Francisco Evsning Bullstln
"a visit "a Jerusalem iis Ats arstt diisap-
pointing and unsAt tory However
well read up upon ~ present ccndi ttion
one may b, sit still ID tie mind s,
ideA city. The sight $ first absorba
attention. Disabling tho ideal and ffill
ing 3iits place with the confusion, jjargon
and moral and social debris 81 hun,--
dred Oriental cities, and crovding
tor covering the sacred places with
the ruins 81 structures Of later ages.
II is not till one has made himself
familiar with the sites and defined the
localities, and torn OF the accumula-
tons Of centuries, sFss and spirited
away the living poptl ions and slowly
reconstructed the past, that the ideal
city rises grand and beautiful and sacred
before him. But it comes - slowly
comes under fixed, we'll directed, sym
pathetic looking, like the sight Of 4
bright planet, in the day time, or like the
soft strains Of sweet, enchanting music
across the harsh sounds Of q thronged
street. Then The sight Of Jnrusalem ii
regarding and grand. You see it, aud
you do, not see it. You see what was,
not what is. n Y on SEQ the sites you
Ireanimate the scene. If you can not
do this, do not come to Jurusalen
If you are there and do not do it, hurry
away as soon as possible. IT is q place
Of mock ries and lies to you, and can do
You no good.
E I am not presumt lous enough to at
! tempt any description OF Jerusalem,
either Of. the real or the ideal city Too
much has been well written about both,
and is familiar or accessible to make
this necessary. [ shall merely speak
of a few points which especially inter
ested me, for this side of the higher as
sociations and emotions which stirred IN
me as / thought Of the wondro,,s scenes
Of the past which had been enacted in
the very places where I trod. ; ", q. Il
" [ visited what is popularity but erro.
tneously called the Mosque of Omar.
The real shrine of Omar is now sup
posed to be part Of the Mosque El Aksa,
in front Of the reputed mosque Of that
name, and nearer the city wall and the
valley Of Jehesephat. The true name
of the latter is "The Dome Of the
Rock. = This rich and grand mosque
second only to that at Mecca-ls octa-
gon in form, and is built around and
over the great circular rock ego feet
long, so feet wide, and rising II feet
high at the apex, which is now pretty
generally regarded, / believe, BY. the
best authorities, as the basis of the III
tar Of Solomon's Temple. The. .eele-
brated dome rises exactly c7rarr it, and
passages cut through the rock and lead !
ing to a tunnel Jug through the rock
below, cid leading out to the foot Of
MouIi5 Moriah in the valley, aresso ar
kganged that the whole could be- abund-
antly flushed with water, showing most
admirable preparation tor cleansing
the premises Of the altar and keeping
them pure The temple itself stood
west Of the altar, This left a very large
space for the courts Of the temple be-.
tween the court occupied By the altar
and the city wall on the east, but a
great area was necessary, in as much as
the courts Of the temple were sometimes
thronged at the great annual feasts by
the hundreds of thousands of Jews who
went up from all parts Of the land to
attend the sacred rites. m r
The vaults under the temple area are
something wonderful. There are great
chambers, and chambers leading into
chambers. and passages leading into a
yard built up to furnish q level for the
court above Rock also was. doubtless
taken out for, building into the walls,
and at subsequent times the chambers
and passages We're utilized for various
purposes. Under the Dome Of the
Rock great living fountains of water
were struck, the source Of supplies for
the temple; thence running through the
canal to which I have already referred,
and terminating in the pool OF Sill loan.
There are other sutherland can excaVa-
tions under the city which astonish one.
In the northwestern part Of the city
there is q small opening under the wall
on the outside, through which I entered,
which soon opened out into q succession
OF great chambers, which seem to RAM
ify7 under half the area Of thescity. OF
course, cropping with poor Light over
the irregular rocks, with the mystery
of the place and the sound Of water
dripping into eehoing vaults below,
which I could not see. was calculated
! to emphasize the sense Of distance. But
there is no doubt that the city for one
purpose and another is honeycombed
with subterranean vaults.
| Nor is Jerusalem singular In this res
spect Palestine ard Syria is land of
caves and excavations. In no one par
ticular have I been more surprised than
in the signs that the inhabitants of this
Hand from the time Of fixed habitations
have been caye-dwellers. After they
gave up tents and q nomadic life, they
burrowed IN the rocks. There are many
natural caves, and where these did not
exist or were too small the soft chalk
| ing limestone, which underlines or
crowns the whole country, could be
easily cut into dwellings, and the search
ty Of timber and material for brick made
this the easiest thing TO do. The rock
could indeed be easily cut into regular
blocks, and there was no want OF surface
loose stones to be erected into houses
and houses were often built in. this war.
Brit they were caverns still caves above
| ground and made BY human hands.
They were dark Wind owless, one story,
How, the roofs flat, and covered with
gray limestone cart which was packed,