Wichita eagle., 1889-09-01
THE CITY OF JERUSALEM.
A BIRDS EYE VIEW FROM A HOUSE
TOP ON MOUNT ZION.

Changes Time Has Wrought Among the
Sacred Scenes of Scriptural History in
the Cosmopolitan Old City-The Small
est Stores in the World.
1 write this letter on the housetop of q
bishops residence on the top of Mount Zion,
| in the center Of Jerusalem. My American
typewriter stands within thirty feet of the
great square tower of David, the base of
which was undoubtedly built before Christ
At'my left, SURROUNDED by the yellow stone
walls of houses. Is the dark green pool which
Hezekiah made TO supply the>Holy City with
water in case of siege, and beyond it, out
of the honeycomb of buildings, shines the
| great bronze dome which stands over this
spot on which Christ was cruciied, and in
which worship pilgrims from every quarter
Of the Christian world. In front of me, not
! half mile away, on a great plateau cover
| ing thirty-five acres, is a big octagonal tower
| with Dubious bronze dome. tits the Mosque
Of Omar, and it stands on the very site Of
| Solomons- temple, while at its left is the
| church built on the Roman mosaic floor of
the house of Pontius Plate. The horizon on
all sides is bounded by hills. Jerusalem lies
| irregular plateau, with valleys about it and
/ steep hills running straight.up from these to
! the city and to the higher hills on the oppo-
site sides Around the edge of this plateau
runs wall about thirty feet high and within
this is the Jerusalem of today. 1t does not
cover, all told, much more than the area of a
three hundred acre farm and a good walker
can make the circuit Of its walls in an hour.
LIKE GREAT HoNEYCoMB.
Sitting, as I am, upon the site of King
David's palace, I see the whole city spread
out below me- What a curious city it isl
In my tour Of the world l have found no
place so full of strange sights, of picturesque
characters, and so different in every particu-
lar from every other part of the world.
Aside from its wonderfully interesting his
torical associations, Jerusalem today is a city
OF itself. Forty thousand people are packed
within its narrow walls, and it looks more
like great honeycomb than city.
The houses are piled one upan another in
all sorts of irregularities, All. if you would
take half section of 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 10 me from Mount Zion. These houses
have no chimneys, and their stone roofs are
in every case almost fat. Many of them
have little beehive domes iutting out of their
center, and if the town we're on level these
domes would look ike the hay cocks of
great meadow at time of harvest. Yellow
limestone is the material of Jerusalem The
wood used in the building of the whole city
would not last an Americanfamiy winter,
and the roofs, walls and floors of these thou
sands of houses are of cold, yellowish white
limestone. Even in the bishops mansion,
which is enc Of the finest in the city, get
out of my bed on to a stone floor, and walk
to my breakfast through stone halls, down
stone steps.
There are no wells in this city Of Jerusalem.
All of the water comes down i'll rain, and the
trees and gardens of the town can be num-
bered on your fingers. The hills about the
city are almost as barren as those of New
England, and the only foliage visible is the
dark silvery green of the olive orchards on
the Mount of Olives and along the hills be-
tween Jalfa 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 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 chearS which
are too dangerous to be inhabited by the bees
of this human hive and on these the moss and
grass grow. There is one green bushy tree
ri the base of Mount Calvary, and solitary
palm looks out over the city beside the bust
ness street named after King David. 1t is
not an attractive looking town, and its glar
ing cream white makes sore the eyes under
the rays of this tropical sun.
THROUGH IRE GATE.
The walls of Jerusalem are clean and well
cut, and they have not the dilapidated condi-
ton of those of the cities of China. They are
entered by gates which are closed at night,
and at each of these gates Mahometan soldiers
stand and exact tax on all of the produce
which comes into the city. The main bust
ness gate is that which leads out behind the
Tower Of David towards 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 l can see
the curious throng which passes through it
day in and day out. There are donkeys and
carnels with great loads on their backs
There are pilgrims by the thousands aud all
OF the various characters which make up this
curious people.
Nearly all Of the business and manufactur-
ing establishments of Jerusalem are of this
cave like character There is q nest in the
city known as the bazars, and this is made up
of long streets vaulted over, with these caves
opening out from the walls on both sides and
with every sort Of work going on in them.
The upper cityor the town Of today is made
up, as have said, of series of stone boxes
piled one on the top of the other Each great
stone box is a dwelling, and these dwellings
are as curious as the vault like stores Few
of them have any windows and most OF the
rooms are OF the same cave Ike character.
The town is as compact today as it was
when David thrumn1ed upon his harp and the
tribes not only Of Palestine but OF all the
world came here to worship. There are mag
nificent nlonasteres scattered throughout the
city, and on the very top Of the Mount of
Olives great Russian church lifts its bulb
Gus domes towards heaven. In the Garden
Of Gethsemane, where Christ spent the night
before he was crpciied, there is resting
place for pilgrims, and the Roman Catholics
have 800 Brothers and Sisters in their mon
asteries aud converts, while the cid Arne-
man church hiss big monastery near the gate
Of Zion, which contains $50 MONKS and which
can accommodate 1900 pigrIms-Frank G.
Carpenter.