Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-04-08
THE HOLY CITY.
Scenes of Interest In and About Modera
Jerusalem.

Jerusalem.
The traveller who visits Jerusalem
from Egypt or Europe disembarks at
Jaffa, seaport forty miles from the
Sacred City. The landing is made in
small boats, steamers anchoring about
a mile from the rocky shore. Adjacent
to the anchorage is confused mass of
rock, which ancient lore AYERS is the
body of the dragon that was trans
formed to stone by gazing at the head of
Medusa- Tradition even indicates the
precipitous bluff near by where An
dremeda, clad only in her flowing locks,
awaited the coming of the monster,
from whom Perseus rescued her and sub
sequenly married her Thus Jaffa has q
history that is quite coeval in antiquity
with Jerusalem itself. 1t is acompactly-
built town of perhaps twenty thousand
and donkeys arrive from and depart to
the interior daily. From Tyre to Port
Said-two hundred miles-it is the only
roadstead- After descending the rocky
slopes of the place, the road for twenty
Sharon to the foot of the mountain
range. in the center of which is located
the Holy City. Like the Campagna, the
valley of Sharon is nearly uninhabited.
save bv few miserable villagers. But
the rose of Sharon blooms as fragrantly
now as when the maidens of Jerusalem.
decked with garlands. welcomed David
after the death of Goliath. The only
evidence of mans labor in the whole
twenty miles that recalls the past is an
old. crumbling castle, situate about
midway. and said to have been built by
the Crusaders. There few monks. in
stead of mail-clad knights, come forth
and offer the traveller sheep flesh and
milk, for which he pays what he
they derive precarious livelihood.
Ones thoughts revert to the time when
Saladin and his horsemen contested with
chivalric courage the field with the
Western invaders.
On leaving the valley the road winds
around jagged defiles and over rocky
plateaus, always mounting upward
One seldom journeys across more I'M
inviting prospect than the last twenty
miles to Jerusalem. There is scarce
enough verdure TO pasture a few sheep,
and cattle are unknown in the vicinity.
Large quantities of loose stone lie on the
rocky sides, and the way is imprac-
ticable for wagons during half the
year. Nearly every one makes the
Journey from Jaffa on horseback, though
a few use the old-fashioned vehicles
without springs. of the same type that
Assvrians employed thirty centuries ago.
The CITY is entered by the Jaffa gates.
The walls are very well preserved. being
only five hundred years old. No city OF
the Orient retains more of the pictur-
sequences of the past. Doubtless this is
in part due TO the fact that all the build
ings are constructed of stones. 1t being
located on the crest of two mountains
Moriah and Zion-but little timber is
found, and to transport it to the city
would be costly. The streets do not
need matchmaking: they are trenches
in the solid rock. The houses being OF
the same material and substantially built,
it is impossible to destroy the town by
fire. and so family after family. and
generation after generation, inhabit I'm.
disturbed the dwellings of their ances.
tors. The houses include, as part of the
roof. small and circular dome, around
which is built level walk. where every
one loiters during the twilight and early
eve.
What seems strange is the small space
to which the city is confined. In read.
ing Josephus. where he states that q
million people inhabited Jerusalem dur
! ing the siege of Titus, one marvel:
where they could have slowed them
| selves. The present walls follow the
lines of those then destroyed. and yet the
forty-five thousand inhabitants now liv
ing seem to fill the inclosed space. It il
true that little ground is occupied BY
gardens, and there is not in the city al
avenue so wide as Pine street No side
| walks. no sewers, no public squares ex
| ist You must walk in the middle of ths
| dirty lanes, fighting your way among
| camels, donkeys and dogs. For. as il
Constantinople and in fact all Turkish
cities, dogs are the scayengers. Oh
Jerusalem up to the time of David wa
| built on the summit and sides of Noun
| Zion. Solomon erected the temple OF
| Mount Moriah and around it gradual,
| built another town. In time the decliv
| itv between the two hills was filled. 81
| that now the road from the tower o
| David to the temple grounds is level.
The periphery of the walls exclude
| many points of interest still located
| as the garden of Gethsemane, occupie,
| as monastery. The grounds are GOV
| cred with olive trees. one of which
| is said to be coeval with the crucitixion
| Gethsemane is perhaps two hundre,
| wards from the east wall, and immedi
I atelv below in the valley of the kedrol
| is the tomb of Absalom. The top o
| Mount Olive. which shadows GethSe
| name. is a mile from the city walls
| The name is well applied. for DIV,
trees should abound on its sides. ant
the Jerusalem olive is celebrate,
| throughout Syria for its size and sue
| culent flavor On the site of Solomon
temple, Omar, who conquered the cit.
of the seventh century, has erected :
mosque or Turkish Church. This build
ing is the oldest existing example o
/ Arabic, or what was subsequent,
| termed Saracenic architecture. |
/ must have been the model for the Chris
tan editice on Mount Calvary: and
| in fact, all the churches and syna
gogues in the city partake of the igh
material. the intricate web of the win
/ dows, with their multitude of small
orifces. and the CANDY colors tina
| characterize the Orientals. both in thei
| buildings and costumes.-Cor. Sal
! Francisco Chronicle.
| ICELAND FISHERIES.
| The PopuIarity Euioyed by the French Il