El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-26

| Hebron, past candle shops whose
wares are, to be burnt at the tomb OF
/ our Savior, and on through a Vaulted
| tunne1-like street which was once the
cotton bazar, but which now sells
everything else. At the end of this
tunnel we ascend a stairway and find
ourseh os on the plateau now devoted
TO the Mosque of Omar, but formerly
the site of the Temple of Solomon.
In SoIomOn's Stables.
The plateau of the temple rises in
terraces. We first enter that which
was known as the court of the Gen
tiles, and was open to Jew and Gen
tile alike. From this we go up to the
court OF the Priests, which is now I'M
der the great Mosque Of Omar. 1t was
in the latter court that the open-air
altar for burnt offerings stood, or in
fact. the very rock upon which Abra-
ham tied Isaac when he was about to
burn him, obeying the Lord.
Before we examine the plateau itself
I want to take you down underground.
There is said to have been seven Jeru-
sa1ems which have been built and de-
stroyed and rebuilt again. The Holy
City has a subterranean region, many
parts of which have been excavated
exposing wonderful ruins. Right under
the temple platform is a catacomb OF
great tanks, and the walls are said to
go down many feet. There are steps
at one place. and descending them we
come into a wilderness Of vaults whose
roofs are upheld by pillars and arches
Of stone. Some of the stone blocks are
Of enormous size. 1 have measured one
which is eight feet wide and fifteen
feet wide and fifteen feet high. These
stones are beautifully laid. They are
closely Joined and show mechanical in
genuity in their construction The pill
lars are about four feet square, and
some of them have holes bored through
the corners. It is claimed that the
vaults were constructed by Solomon
for his stables, and that the holes in
the columns were the tying places for
the horses. In some of the vaults are
stone managers, which the guides claim
were used long ago. Others say that
this stable story is fiction, and that
the excavations were made in erecting
the temple and the great columns put
up to sustain its platform. But, how
ever that may be, the architecture is
wonderful, and it should be considered
so now. There are altogether a hun
dred or more vaults and the mighty
stones which wall them are so heavy
that 1t would be impossible to handle
them al the present time without the
use Of machinery.
Guarded by MOhammedan Soldiers.
But. before we go farther I must tell
you about the escort which guards us
as we move about this great Christian
shrine. Like the rest of Jerusalem, it
now belongs to the Mohammedans, and
is one of the places which Christians
are not permitted to visit without the
permission of the Turkish governor Of
the city. This / have got through the
American consul. The governor has
also given me Mohammedan soldier
and the consul has sent along his chief
kavass, the two to act as our guards.
The soldier has a sword at his side, and
the kavass is armed with a scimetar
and an ebony club, finished at the top
in a knob of silver as big as my fist.
The kavass is one Of the major domos,
or soldiers of the American consulate.
Our consul has two of them, and they
accompany him wherever he goes upon
state occasions They are tall, straight
Syrians. more gorgeously clad than Sol
ONION in his glory. They have vests
covered with gold embroidery, coats
with long sleeves and trousers of the
zouave order, each leg of which con-
tains enough cloth to make trained
skirt for lady. I have made photo
graph of the consul with his kavasses
SIdnQlnR
prisoner with the kavasses as guards.
The Mosque of Omar.
It is these Mohammedan guides that
enable US to visit the Mosque of Omar,
which was supposed by the Crusaders
TO be Solomon's temple. 1t was actually
built as q cathedral by the Christian
emperors who reigned at Constantine
pie, and is one OF the finest specimens
of Byzantine architecture. When it was
constructed it was dedicated TO the Vir-
gin Mary, but about 1900 years ago.
when Omar captured Jerusalem, he
turned it into a Mohammedan mosque
and so it is to this day.
Imagine a mighty dome of greenish
copper, on the top of which is a gold
en- crescent Let this be as large, or
larger than that of the capitol at
and let it rest upon vast
octagonal temple walled with tiles so
fine that any one of them would be
priced as a piece of rare china. Let
there be a dado of marble below the
tiles and a wide frieze above them, in
laid with Arabic characters containing
texts from the Koran. and let the whole
be entered by mighty doors, over which
are arches of carvings, and you have
faint idea Of the Dome of the Rock, the
name by which this mosque is known. |
The MOhaamedans Believe in Christ. |
Here may be seen striking evidences !
Of the belief that the Mohammedans i
hold as to Christ and the prophets. /
They believe in Abraham, Isaac and |
Jacob, and class Jesus as one of the /
prophets, although not so high, per- |
laps, as Mohammed. In the verses of |
he Koran on the front of the mosque |
s one saying: The Messiah, Jesus, is [
he only son of Mary, the ambassador |
IF God, and His word which He depos- |
ted in Mary. Believe, then, in God and /
His ambassador, and do not maintain !
hat in one there are three" Another |
reads: Blessings be on me in the day
# my birth and my death. He is Jesus, |
he Son Of Mary, the word of truth,
whom some are in doubt"
There are other passages of the Koran
which give thy stories of Abraham,
saac and Jacob and the Mohamme-
lans reverence this spot in connection
With them.
Where Gabriel VIII Blow His Trump.
But let US take off our shoes and go |
H. The floor Of the mosque is holy
ground and none is permitted to enter
except in his stockings or bare feet
he inside is even more beautiful than
hat without. The walls and roofs are