Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-04

hills on the opposite sides. Around the
edge of this plateau runs wall about 30
feet high, and within this is the Jerusalem
of to-day. 1t does not cover, all told, much
more than the area of 3OO-acre farm, and
a good walker can make the circuit of its
walls in an hour. -..-- %.
srd's palace,1 seeAthe whole city spread
out before me. What curious city IT Isl
In my =. of tie world 1 have found no
place sofdil OF strange sights, of picturesque
characters, and so different in every par
ticular from every other part of the world.
Aside from its wonderfully interesting his
torical associations, Jerusalem to-day is .
city of itself.
A GIGANTIC HoNEYCoMB.
Forty thousand people are packed within
its narrow walls and il looks more like q
great honeyco than a city. The houses
are piled one upon another in all sorts of ir-
reguls rites, and if you would take half
sectioI of landau 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. These houses have
no chimneys and their stone roofs are in
every case almost fiat. MANY of them have
little beehive domes jutting out of their GEN.
ter, and if the town were on a level these
domes would look like the hav cocks of a
great meadow at the time of harvest YeI-
low limestone is the material of Jerusalem
The wood used in the building of the whole
city would not last an American family a
winter, and the roofs, walls and floors of
these thousands of houses are of cold, yel-
lowish-white limestone. Even in the
Bishops mansion, which is one of the finest
in the city, 1 get out of my bed on to stone
floor and walk to my breakfast through
stone halls, down stone steps.
There are no wells in this city of Jerusa-
lem. All of the water comes down in rain,
and the trees and gardens of the town can
be numbered on your fingers. The hills
about the city are almost as barren as those
of New England and the only foliage Wis.,
ible is the dark silyery green Of the olive
orchards on the Mount of Olives and along
the hills between Jaffa and Bethlehem.
The only green to be seen is an acre or so of
common inside the walls of the temple
plateau, and here and there a housetop.
which by age has gathered a coating Of dirt
from the dust of the city, and on which the
green grass has sprouted. Here and there
you see ruined arches which are too danger
Gus to be inhabited by the bees of this
human hive, and on these the moss and grass
grow. There is one green bushy tree at the
base of Mount Calvary, and a solitary palm
looks out over the city, beside the business
street named after King David. 1t is not
an attractive looking town, and its glaring
cream white makes sore the eyes under the
rays of this tropical sun.
AT THE GATES OF JERUSALEM.
The walls of Jerusalem are clean and
~ell cut, and they have not the dilapidated
condition of those OF the cities of China.
They are entered by gates which are closed
at night, and at each of these gates Moham-
medan soldiers stand and exact tax on all
OF the produce which comes into the city.
The main business gate is that which leads
out behind the tower of David toward Jaffa,
through which the Bethlehem girls bring
their vegetables each morning to sell and
through which all of the imports which
come by sea are brought in. This gate lies
at my feet, and can see the curious throng
which passes through it day in and day out. |
There are donkeys and camels with great |
loads on their backs. There are pilgrims |
by tbe thousands and all of the various |
characters which make up this curious peo- |
pie. There goes donkey led by fat Turk |
in yellow gown and red turban; he is |
bare-iooted, and he is bringing wood into
town to sell. The wood is the |
roots of olive trees and his donkey load is
worth just 25 cents and be has
had to pay 3 cents of a tax upon it at |
the gate. There is a Syrian Beduin upon a
gray Arabian pony. He sits as straight as
a telegraph pole and he looks with wonder
ing glances out OF his fierce black ewes at
the crowd about him. He has a black and
white wOolen blanket on his back, and his
head is covered with great yellow hand
kerchief which is bound about the crown
with two strands OF hair cord as big around
as your finger. Behind him come three
camels loaded with the oranges of Jsffa.
Each carries a cartload in the two crates
which hang on each side Of his back, and
they grrnt and grumble as their Beduin
driver drags them along by q string tied to