The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-18
ALABAMA MAN WRITES
 FROM THE HOLY LAND

To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 visit to Palestine or the Holy Land carries with it little of scenic beauty neither do we see any great works of art, but the associations and memories of the Savior crowd themselves alike on Jew, Moslem and Christian. I confess I came here doubting if a single spot mentioned in the Bible could be satisfactorily iden- tifed l go away firm in the conviction that no doubt exists as to the location of every place mentioned. Every religion of the civilized world has focused it's eyes on this peculiarly interesting city and a thorough and scientific study has been made of it all.
 We landed first in Palestine at Jaffa, or Joppa. Here We saw the house of Simon, the tanner, on whose housetop Peter had Tabitha to life It was at Jaffa that Tabitha tot life. It was at Jafa that Jonah embarked for Tarshish. It was here that Hyram King of Tyre landed cedar wood for Solomon, to be used in his famous temple at Jerusalem. We stopped at a hotel the rooms of which were not numbered, but bore the names over the door of Biblical characters, such as Moses, Israel, Tabitha, Dorcas, Judah, etc Oranges grow in great abundance around Jaffa and are regarded as the finest in the world.
 Leaving Jaffa we came by train to Jeru-
 
 places. Much fertile land lay along the valleys and in the mountains wild flow CTS grew in the greatest profusion.
 .fThe Jerusalem of Christ's time has been destroyed time after time, but has been rebuilt as often. Today modern Jerusa- lem is still a walled city and numbers aoOOO souls, two-thirds of whom are Jews, There are many spots in Jerusalem of great interest The greatest, perhaps, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre This church covers the sites where the Savior was crucified and where He was buried. It was to wrest this from the infidel Turks and Moslems that the crusades were undertaken. It is now claimed by the Catholics, the Greeks and the Ar menians. Each of these sects has its particular place for worship, but com pany of Turkish soldiers are always there to prevent conflicts. In spite of this, only a short while ago several were killed. was particularly fortunate in being invited by Admiral Billings of the United States navy to accompany him through the in tricate windings of this peculiar church. He had privileges of an unusual charac- ter and l saw many things generally de- nied the average tourist. This being Lent the pilgrims from all over the world are here. The most notable are the Rus sian peasants, about a thousand strong. These people walked most of the way with their packs on their backs, and when they reached the holy sepulchre each one would fall prostrate on the tomb and cover it with kisses. Their religious zeal was pathetic The place of the crucifix- ion is only a few yards from the tomb. Here, too, the pilgrims would fall weep Ing and praying. There are perhaps no sights more touching than to see the reverence shown by these people.
 The site of Solomon's Temple is another place of interest. In this, however. was disappointed. Nothing of the temple re- mains except the foundations, which are called Solomon's stables. The site of the temple is now occupied by the mosque of Omar, which belongs to the Moslems or Turks.
 We went to Bethlehem. the birthplace of Christ. This spot has built over 1t a Roman Catholic church. The spot where Jesus was born was underneath the ground in the stable where the horses were kept. It is marked with a large star and over 1t candles are perpetually burning. Bethlehem is only five miles from Jerusalem. A trip to Jericho occu- pied two days. There we saw a German company excavating the ancient walls of Jericho, around which Joshua marched From Jericho we went to the River Jor- dan, to the spot where Jesus was said to have been baptised. The Jordan was a disappointment. It is a small muddy s- stream and the banks so wet and steer w$, could hardly reach the water. From there we went to the Dead Sea, to the reputed sites of Sodom and Gomorrhah The Dead Sea is the most depressed body of water in the world, being 1900 feet be- low the level of any other sea- The water in the Dead Sea is very salty and bitter. Nothing can live in 1t. We were much surprised and entertained to set the thousands of storks that flew over 1t and settled out on the desert for thf night Back to Jerusalem we visited tn