The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-02-13
men among us, who will lead us on
and on to truth and Righteousness
The Gave of Machpelah.

1t goes without saying that the ave
of Machpelah is the great attiactloh
here to tourists, writes a Hebron,
Palestine, correspondent to INK HeW
Orleans Times Democrat.
Alas! that this cave, one OF the mos
interesting and genuine of the relics OF
the past which exist in Palestine to-day,
should be in the hands of the Moslemst
Backsheesh has been found all potent
in opening up places of interest else
where, which are held by the Nos.
lens, such as the mosque Of Omar at
Jerusalem, the Cnnaculam, and the
great mosque at Damascus; but this
bigoted Hebron sect still hold out N
their persistent refusal to open up TINS
wonderful cave to the ''Intidel Frank.
No living Christian has ever entered
the cave of Machpelah, l suppose;
while only three or four of the mos
highly favored sons of royalty, such as
the prince of Wales, have been per-
mitted to enter the chambers above
the real cave in which the monuments
of display are located. The cave is
studiously guarded ven from the
indiscriminateEaze of Moslems; lest
some indiscreet disciple of Islam
should sell the facts regarding it to a
Frank writer. Indeed, the accounts
published from the testimony of leaky
Moslcms who have inspected the cave
and those published in the works OF
Christian scholars who lived when the
church over the cave was in the hands
of the Franks are confused and very
contradictory.
The site of the cave is covered by a
vast mosque, 200 feet long by ll5
broad. The found ton stones are in
some instances twenty feet long, and
bear the ancient Jewish bevels. The
mosque is characterized by two tower
ing minarets, which make it one of the
most conspicuous features of the mod
crn village of Hebron in distant views
of the town. 1t is believed that the
actual cave is double, as the meaning
OF the word machpelah itself is "dou-
ble."
Not only are the tombs of Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, and
Leah here, but it is popularity held by
scholars of the Holy land that a visit
to the ave would reveal the resting
places of large numbers of other
lsrealites who have been entombed
with the early fathers.
At the real end of the mosque is the
entrance of some external cavities
above and around the real Machpelah,
which is exposed to the promiscuous
gaze of the public as a sort of earnest
Of the sincerity of those Moslems in
charge, who maintain that the histor-
ical cave of Machpelah is beneath. l
gazed down at this tantalizing open
ing from the top of q retaining wall
that incloses it, bat was allowed to go
no car
At one side of the mosque l found
a company of Jews, with curls dang
ling in front of their ears, who were
weeping, chanting, and lamenting
over the venerable foundation stones,
exactly as they still do at the famous
wailing-place in Jerusalem. just out
side the old temple area. These Jews
love the very dust of Hebron for the
sake of its associations. Other Jews
were depositing prayers written in
Hebrew in tho deep seams between
the rocks of the mosque foundation,
believing that prayers made at such q
holy site possess superior efficacy.