The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-15

tained with so little change of interrup- ton fer so many centuries. from the tinc of Abraham until the present day. lneg nnve an humble syns sogue ct the foot of the mountain, and there, upon the r east of tl,e IaDernacie. they meet. pTos- trate themselves before their precious copy of the Pentateuch and bow their heads, not in the direction of Jerusalem, but toward the eastern summit of Ger izim~ Then they form procession in the order of their rank and pass slowly up' the pathway to the top of the mountain where they alone of all the Jewish race celebrate the pascal sacrifice of seven white lambs.
 Their prayers are repeated in the Sam aritan dialect. The men wear. surplices and red turbans The office of high priest i5 hereditary and Yakob, the present in cumbent. is a descendant of the tribe of Levi. His ecclesiastical rank makes him the temporal as we'll as the spiritual head of the community, and according to the Mosaic law. his parishioners pay him one-tenth of all their income and their earnings and their harvest.
 Mount Gerizim Is supposed to be the scene of Abraham's sacrifice and of his meeting with Melchigedek. It is known in the Bible as Ar-Gerizim, the Mountain of the Most High. and although the Greek and Latin Churches claim other sites, the best authorities, including Dr. Thomp- son, Dean Stanley and representatives of the Palestine Exploration Society. locate those two events here. Be"ond all doubt' Dean Stanley gays. "Isaac was offered on Gerizim, and the Samaritans show an ancient thorn tree, covered with the rags of pilerims, 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 lamb Is roasted upon the evening of the Passover. Near by are the remains Of an ancient Samiritan temple. In one of the towers is the tomb of a Mussulman Saint. Un-
 .t-- x0f -aolr. slabs called the ten stones" said to have been brought there by Joshua and the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, Judith and Benjamin not belng represented. They formerly were ar ranged in a platform and were used as an altar. and the Saniarhans believe that they mark not only the spot of Abra- hams sacrifice. but the Bethel of Jacob and the place where the ark rested.
 There is a large reservoir on the top CT the mountain, several smaller cisterns and paved terraces. The whole surface indicates that the summit vas once pTet- ty well covered with buildings. but the Samaritans have tnt place practically to themselves these days.
 At the mouth of the Valley of Shechem stands a white Mussuiman chapel and a pile of broken stone. The irst covers the alleged tomb of Joseph. who was buried in the parcel of ground which Jacob be- queathed to his favorite son. 'I'he pile of rocks marks the undisputed site of the
 well which Jacob digged ito mark his first possession and ito give drink there Two chapels are shown as the tomb of Joseph. but nobody questions the authen- ticity of the well. It was here, on the edge of little village called Beleta, that Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink.
 Tho tomb of Joseph resembles an ordi-
 nary grave of an eminent Moslem. and it
 is held in reverence by Jew and Gentle, ThriS n1 O. brew, Samaritan and Arabic inscripti Ons
 upon the walls but they are apparently
 modern and have no importance. Niches
 in the walls are provided for small lamps, which are lighted on feast days. but the entire building Is in q dilapidated condi- tion and disgrace to the country. When Joseph was about to die in his regal palace on the Nile he gave strict commandment concerning hs bones. He oven took. an oath of the children of l Israel, saying, God will surely visit you. | and ye shall carry my bones up from thence and 1t is the tradition that the | Israelites carried the mummy of Joseph
 through all the forty years of wandering | in the wilderness and finally laid 1t here. | The we'll is pit about sixty feet deep, covered with a confused mass of rubbish, | and the surroundings are overgrown with
 weeds and nettles. It was formerly cov- | cred by a church, the foundations of | which can be distinctly traced. The | church is mentioned by St. Jerome in the loutln ana ATculpnuS III tHe seventh cen | tury. and was still standing during the | crusades The walls were as high as the head of man when the place was frs; l sited by Protestant missionaries, sev- l enty-five years ago, but they are now | pretty we'll effaced There Is a decided l difference in the statements of various ai- | thorities as to the depth of the well, which
 Is doubtless due to the rubbish that has
 been thrown into 1t, It is now in posses
 sion of the Greeks who are responsible | for it's bad condition