The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1889-09-25
z he news. $
By {. L. RAINEY.
JERUSALEM, THE HOLY CITY.

Cu' Rus NfNN HPAC9h Oul OSl'N IIe'
What a curious city it is! In MY
tour of the world | have found no
place so full of strange sights, o.
picturesque character and SO differ,
ent in every other part of the
word. Aside from lis wonderful
]yinteresting historical associations,
Jerusalem to>day is city of itself.
! Fcrty thousand people are packed
within its narrow walls, and it
looks more like great honcycomb
than city.
The houses are piled one upon
another in all sorts OF irregula. tiles
and if you would take a half sec
ton of the land and scatter over
the whole great piles of gigantic
store boxes just as you find them
back of a large store, you might
get some idea Of Jerusalem as it
looks to me from Mount Zion.
The houses have no chimneys and
their stone roofs are in every case
almost fiat Many OF them have
little bee hive domes jutting out Of
their center, and if the town were
on level these domes would look
like the haycocks OF some great
meadow ut the time of harvest.
yellow limestone is the material
OF Jerusalem. The wood used in
the building of the whole city
would not last an American family
vi Inter, end the roofs, walls and
floors of these thousands of house!
are of cold, yellowish white lime,
stone. Even in the Bishops man
sion, which is one of the fuest il
the city, ] get out of bed on {
stone floor and | walk to my break,
fast through stone walls, dow
stone steps.
There are 10 wells in the city o
Jerusalem. All of the water come
down rain, and the trees and
gardens of the town can be num-
hered on the fingers. The hill
about the city are almost as barrier
as those of New England, and thc
only foliage visible is the dark sill,
very green of the olive orchards Oh
the Mount of Olives and along tx
hills between Jaffa and Bethlehem
The only green to be seen is an
acre or SO OF common inside th,
walls of the temple plateau, ant
here and there a housetop which b,
age has gathered a coating Of dir
from the dust of the city, and o.
which the green grass has sproute,l
Here and there you sea RUNE,
chears which are too dangerous I,
be inhabited by the bees of thi
human hive, and on these the mos
and grass grow. EThere is on
bushy tree at the base of Noun
Calvaro, and a solitary palm look
out over the city beside the bus
mess street named after Kim
David. 1t is not an attractiv
looking town and its slaring cream
white makes sore the eyes unde
the rays of the tropical sun.
The walls of Jerusalem ar
clean and well cut, and they hav
not the dilapidated condition o
those of the cities OF China. The,
are entered by gates which ar
closed at night, and at each 0
these gates Mohametan soldier
stand and exact a toll on all pro
duce which comes into the city
The main business gate is tina
which leads out behind the Towe
of David towards Jaffa, through
which the Bethlehem girls briu
their vegetables every morning
sell, and through which all of tn
imports which come by the sea ar
brought in. This gate lies at m
feet and | can see the curious thing
which. passes through it day in an
day out. There are pilgrims b
the thousands and all OF the variou
characters which make up thi
curious people.
There goes a donkey led by ia
Turk in yellow gown and red tur
bin; he is barefooted and he
bringing wood into town to sell
The wood is the roots oi'olive tree
and his donkey load is worth jus
twenty-five cents, and he has ha,
to pay three cents tax upon it a
the gate. There is Syrian Bedou
ing upon a gray Arabian Pony
He sits as straight as telegraph
pole and he looks with wonderin!
chances out OF his fierce black eye
at the crowd about him. He ha
a black and white wooden blanke
on bis back, and his head is COW
cred with great yellow handker
.IsrP - -, .l1.,G 4