Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-10-04

ishing fast, and as they will not marry
outside their own community it is
scarcely probable that any Of them will.
remain for the advent. Bigarny is per-
mitted if the first wife is childless, and
when married man dies his nearest
relation excepting his brothers is bound
to marry the widow. Each young man
IS expected to marry his next of kin,
sisters and members of the same fam
uy excepted. This intermarriage
among relatives has so diluted the
blood that the graduated extinction OF
the race is accounted for.
Their literature consists of their famous
Pentateuch and prayers and hymns; their
oldest chronicles in manuscript date from
the captivity; they celebrate all the fes-
tivals OF Moses and offer sacrifices at the
Passover. At the Feast of TabernacieS
they make a pilgrimage to the top OF
Mount Gerizim. the oldest sanctuary in
the world Probably at no other locality
mas the same worship been sustained with
so little change or interruption for SO
many centuries, from the time of Abra-
ham until the present day. They nave
an humble synagogue at the foot oil tfle
mountain. and there. upon the feast OF
the tabernacle they meet, PROSTATE them
selves before their precious copy of the
Pentateuch and bow their heads, not IN
the direction OF Jerusalem, Dul tOWdAU
the eastern summit of GeriZim. 1hel
they form a procession in the order oil
their rank and pass slowly up the pathway
to the top of the mountain, where they
alone of all the Jewish race celebrate Tie
pascal sacrifice of seven white IaInbs.
Their prayers are repeated in the Sam
aritan dialect The men wear surplices
and red turbans. The office, Of hlsh priest
is hereditary and Nakob, the present III
cumbent is a descendant Of the trloe OF
Levi. His ecclesiastical rank makes nm
the temporal as wei. as the spiritual hetd
of the community, and according 10 tIe
Mosaic law. his parisnioners pay MIN one
tenth OF all their income and their earn
ings and their harvest.
Mount Gerizim is supposed 10 De ine
scene of Abraham ; sacrifice and OF ms
meeting with Melchizedek. 1t IS known
i'm the Bible as Ar-Gerizim. the Mountain
of the Most High. and although the Greek
sites. the best authorities. including Dr.
Thompson, Dean Stanley and representa-
tiyes Of the Palestine Exploration society
locate those two ey ents mere BeSohu
All doubt" Dean Stanley says, Isaac
was offered on Gerizim, and the Samar-
itans shows an ancient thorn tree, coy
cred with the rags of pilgrims as the site
of the thicket in which the ram was
caught
the Holy Place Of the Samaritans is on
the eastern extremity. where there IS
large stone upon which the limb is roast
ed upon the evening OF the PASSOVER.
Samaritan temple. In one OF the towers
Is the tomb of a Mussulman saint. n
der the southern wall Is a line of rocAy
slabs called THE ten stones" said -
have been brought there by Joshua and
the ten tribes Of the northern Kingdom
of Israel Judah and Benjamin not beng
represented. They formerly We're ar
"a nged in a platform ana Were used as an
altar and the SaInaritans believe that
they mark not OnIy the spot OF Abr3-
hams sacrifice, but the Bethel Of JACOB
ana the place where the ARK rested.
There is a large reservoir on the top of
the mountain several smaller cisternS,
and paved terraces. The whole surface
indicates that the summit was once
pretty well covered with buildings. but
| thn Samaritans have the place practically
10 themselves these days.
At the mouth Of the Valley Of Sheche;n
stands "a white Alussulmau chapel and g
pile OF broken stone. The hrst covers ths
alleged tomb of Joseph, who was buried
| in the parcel OF ground which Jacob be-
uueathed to his faVorite son. The prle
| of rocks marks the undisputed site of the
well which Jacob digged ito mark his
| first possession and TO give drink there
| of to himself, his children and his cat
! tie" Two chapels are shown as the
tomb of Joseph, but nobody questions the
authenticity of the well. 1t was here, on
the edge of a little village called Belata.
| that Jesus asked the Samaritan woman
| for a drink.
The tomb of Joseph resembles an ordi-
nary grave of an eminent Mosem, and it
| is held in reverence by Jew and Gentle.
| Christian and Mosem. There are He
/ brew. Samaritan and Arabic Inscriptions
| upon the walls. bur they are apparently
modern and have no Importance. inches
! in the walls are provided for small lamps.
which are lighted on feast days. but the
entire building is in a dilapidated condi-
| ton and disgrace 10 the country.
! When Joseph was about to die in his
regal palace on the Nile he gave strict
commandment concerning his bones lie
even took ant oath of the children Of
| Israel. saving. God will surely visit you,
| and ye shall carry my bones up from
! thence" and ii is tine tradition that the
| Israelites carried the mummy of Joseph
/ through all the forty years of wander
| ing in the wilderness and finally laid it
| here.
The well is pit about sixty feet deep,
covered with a confused mass of rubbish
and the surroundings are overgroWn with
weeds and nettles. 1t was formerly COW
which can be distinctly traced. The
| church is mentioned by St. Jerome in THE
| fourth and Arcuiphus in the seventh CEN
fury, and was still standing during the
! crusades. The walls were as high as the
! head of a man when the place was first
visited by Protestant missionaries sew
| enty-five years ago, but they are now
pretty well effaced. There is a decided
difference in the statements of various
| authorities as to the depth of the well,
which is doubtless due to the rubbish that
| has been thrown into il. It is now in
possession of the Greeks, who are reSpoa-
Sble for its bad condtion.-William r,
Curtis in Chicago Record-Herald.