The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-05-09

- -AuVUcdJe, Il letter from Il youhS
-'oflh Carolina lady, the youngest daugh-
er OF Col Julian S. Carr, of Durham.
VINO, with friends, is making a tour OF
Europe and the Holy Land
Jerusalem, April ., 1897.
send you "a few notes of travel that
trust will be of interest to at least some
OF Your many readers. Such a journey as
we are making, so strange and so sacred
IN its associations with former ages.
gives one little time for writing to the
desir friends of native land.
At last we have reached the great old
t1ty of Jerusalem, and how hard it is for
HE to realize that | am in the city which
since my earliest days in Sunday School
have been taught to think was by far
the most sacred city of the world We
reached here Friday morning after very
long and 6resome trip from JOppa. We'd
nesday morning we left Cairo for Port
Said, at the junction of the Isthmus of
Suez and the Mediterranean Sea. This
IS an all-day trip, and as the greater por-
ton is through sandy desert level. we
found it intensely embarrassing. But
near the end of the journey we came
alongside the Suez canal which was more
interesting. The canal itself is quite mar
row. and it is very hard to realize that
In the possession of this small body of
water England controls her entire East
ern possessions. The canal is owned
by French and English stockholders.
che majority being English. 1t is one of
the best paying companies in the world.
a large toll is paid by every ship that
goes through it. The toll is regulated
1,vyf h. l.
MS about the ship that he came from
India in that had to pay $4,000 for toll,
with tonnage of six thousand This
will give you an idea of what Il great
income the stockholders must receive, for
think of tire number of vessels that must
pass through the canal in year. The
canal is quite narrow, measuring from
10 to 200 feet. and the ships have to go
very slowly. Along the side of this canal
is small fresh wafer canal, which runs
from Cairo to Port Said. with fresh wa
ter from the river Nile. We reached
Fort Said Wednesday evening and stayed
there until Thursday, with nothing to do
nut walt FOR our steamer to sail for
.Doppa. Notwithstanding we found Port
Said the dirtiest and most disagreeable
place we had seen, yet / was glad we had
day to rest where we could sleep late,
take life easy and not feel that we were
missing anything Port Said has a pop-
ulation composed of natives Of every
country. and it is said to be one of the
worst places ON earth, and until the last
year or so. it was not safe to appear on
rhe streets unarmed.
After twelve hours voyage in the
Mediterranean. we reached Joppa, where
we remained half day. then came by
train to Jerusalem. Joppa we found to
be a thoroughly Eastern city. with
smells and dirt meeting You at every
turn.
While III Joppa we went to the hous:,
of Simon, theTanner, on the roof Of
which Simon Peter had his vision of ths
sheet containing clean and unclean beasts
which he was commanded to eat. AL
though Peter said he had never eaten
anything unclean, he certainly could not
have said that he had never seen any
thing unclean
From Joppa we went to a fountain
bullt ON the spot where Peter is sup
posed to have raised Dorcas from the
dead
From Joppa to Jerusalem is five hours
ride by rail. through a very beautiful and
mountainous country. The valleys and
mllSldes were green and covered with
vegetation, the great cactus hedges be-
ing used as fences. On the way we pass
ed what remains of the city where Deli
lah, the beloved of Samson, lived, as we'll
as the cave in which Samson hid when
he slew the great multitude with the
JawbOne OF an ass.
The train upon which we Travelled was
very primitive in its construction. The
two sides Of the coaches had one long
bench each. running from end to end.
that we had to use as seats. which were
so high that your feet would not come
near the floor. and had to use my grip
for footstOOl. This was not comf,rta-
bic way of travelling, but we stood it quite
well. We reached here about SHUTDOWN
Friday. The first thing that struck my
attention was the cleanliness Of the
streets and of the people. OF course. it
rs by no means remarkable for its SAM
tary arrangements, but, from what
had seensat Joppa, and heard of Jerusa-
lem. expected to find every thing mich
worse than it is. The city is cleaner and
the people are cleaner and better cloth
ed than l expected to find them. After
seeing the Egyptians half clothed, with
their faces dirty and their eyes covered
with flies, it is indeed relief to be
among people Who have their hands and
faces clean.
The women here instead Of wearing
dark blue or black Overgarments, wear
the pure white, reminding one of sheet
and pillow-case party. Their faces are
covered with some thin, gauzy material
The population is composed of people
of every nationality, and the city is di-
vided off into districts, the Armenian,
Jewish, Christian, and the Mohamme-
dan.
Our first observation tour was to go
outside the city walls and get some idea
Of the surrounding country. We passed
out between Mount Zion and Mount Mo-
riah. The valley between these noun
tains was once very deep. but it has been
filled in by so much Of the debris of the
different conquering nations that it is
only slight vale. Down the little street
we went to see the "wailing of the Jews"
an old Jewish rite continued since the
day of Christ. Here, at what is supposed
TO be one Of the walls of the old temple
the Jews meet every Friday and Satur-
DAY their Sunday, and repeat their
Messianic psalms, believing and praying
that the Messiah will come as their king
ms IS one Of the most interesting, as
well as most pathetic sights have seen.
Jews of all ranks meet here and repeat
ter psalms aloud in monotone, and in
their peculiar language it produces a ra-
Their strange effect upOn one who has