The Washington critic., 1888-03-10

zar, that is if they are the possessors Of
ret corns, and entertain any regard for
them, TO be circumspect when parley.
ing with the store.keepers with view
to purchasing; because If they are not
they stand good solid chance of get
ting them squashed. My hest advice
is TO walk straight through and be safe
In an unthinking moment | was de-
luded into buying a few towels, and
shall never forget it. was on the point
of hauling out money to pay for them
when, all of q sudden an OK dashed in
between me and the store-keeper and
stamped on my right foot Ever since
that eventful moment / have used the
little cloquence | possess in trying to
persuade persons that the poet who
wrote Life is but q dream was
fraud and knew nothing about life. |
care not who he may be, whether
known to fame or not, ! can't mince
matters. ] experienced for the next
few days that mg life was anything
"but dream" 1t was too eXcrucia-
tingly agoni2ingto be hattered by any
such term.
The Jerusalem bazar may be de-
scribed briefly as a tortuous, covered
street, divided into several hundred
ten-foot compartments, each repre-
senting a store, presided over by
long-bearded Turk or Jew, who sits
stoically on a board with legs crossed
and apparently indifferent whether
he sells or not.
Almost anything in the shape of
gorgeous wooden and cotton stuffs,
(haberdashery, which is English,
you know,') relics of Jerusalem, slip
pers, shoes, hubble-bubbles, sandals,
groceries, drugs and paints; and even
pancakes and fried rice pudding can
be bought here. We did not stay
long in the bazar; we just prowled
through llmped-then we made di-
rectly for the Armenian Convent, sit
uated ON
MOUNT ZION,
the hill which Is deemed by many de-
voutpersons TO be the chiefest in inn
portance in the world, from the fact
of it having been so many times al
luded to, in the beautiful language of
David, as well as by numerous other
writer's of Holy Script.
In books which have read dealing
with the topography of the Holy City,
Mt. Zion is described as u somewhat
lofty elevation occupying the south
west portion of the city; SO it is, and
does; its height above the level of the
sea is 9, 200 feet, and its height above the
valleys of Himmon and Gihon, as
given by DR.. Robinson, is not less
than 800 feet This, however, only
becomes apparent when it is viewed
| from without the walls. When inside
one cannot realize that Jerusalem is
built on four hills, because of the al
most level surface of the ground, but
such is the case; history confirms it,
besides, Mahomet said so and he
ought to have known. We had all,
previous to this, read or heard some
thing about Jerusalem having been
many times destroyed and rebuilt, but
that the effect of this would be to fill
vast valleys and thus transform city
of hills and dales into an almost level
plateau, we had scarcely imagined.
We expected at least to have to make
our way up some sort of q respectable
incline in orderto reach the summit OF
Mount Zion, but our expectations
were not realized, What would-had
we been left to our own resources fol
information-have proved dull, un
interesting and tiresome walk was
delightfully."- modified by the elo
quence of Mahomet. Few Jerusalem
guides, it is safe to say, possess such
a store of antiquarian lore or the
necessary wind power to give it vent
as he. He was forever explaining
and Notwithstanding that he carried
with him the odor of about forty
seven fully developed Arab cheese
factories, he made il appear us though
history had attached itself to every
stone on our route. What with his
information respecting the traditions
and dimensions of towers, walls and
streets and the habits and various
modes of living of the Mahometans
and Jews, our progress was nothing
short of instructive
Almost every place of interest sit
uated on Mount Zion relies solely OF
tradition for its importance. Many
events associated with that Mount
are, as We all know, mentioned il
the Bible. But the Bible-in the
sense / mean-cannot be considered
as an ordinary guide-book. Details
are not furnished whereby the exact
sites on which such and such al
event occurred can be pointed out. A
mere passing reference is all that il
given, Therefore, how are we tC
know that the places as shown to uE
to-day are the very ones, if not 10y
tradition? The Romans, and aftel
them the Saracens, did not trouble
themselves about leaving any writing
or plans wherewith to identify
the places connected with thu
life and death of our Saviour
1t follows, then, that with
out we are prepared to give {
great deal of credence to traditions
preposterous as some of them seem
we might as well view Jerusalem
skeptically at once and consider al
places traditional as so many monkisl
inventions. Recent excavations hav,
done much to enlighten us concern
ing the walls and foundations of thl
ancient city; they cannot do more
But there is one great comfort to bt
taken by every visitor to Jerusalem
However much the@ites of various
incidents connected with Scriptur,
may have varied in the handing dowI
from father to son, the satisfaction Of
being certain that they are somewhere
within these limits, and that if onl.
aware of it, we are in view of other
of equal importance, and of which NJ
record has been kept, should be ampl
enough.
The places l shall endeavor to de
scribe are believed by many earnes
pilgrims to be authentic; and from tina
fact alone ought to be worthy of tn
utmost consideration. The first O
Mount Zion's noteworthy buildings t
be visited was
THE ARMENIAN CONVENT.
Passing from the street through
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