The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-23

|
 "Jerusalem a city is
 Compactly built together;
 Unto that place the tribes go up; l The tribes of God go thither." Il" HEsE words from one of the l Psalms were written of the Je-
 l rusalem of David. They fitly de- | scribe the Jerusalem of today. The Holy City of 1910 covers twice as much space
 as it did when I was here 20 years ago. It has doubled in size and 1t has now between S0,0oO and 100000 people. In | 1888 the most of the inhabitants were l crowded together inside the walls. They are so crowded still, but to the north,
 south and west large Jewish settle I ments have sprung up and among and l beyond them have been built great hos pices, hospitals, convents. cathedrals, and hotels, so that the city outside of the walls almost equals the population of that within. The new buildings have
 extended to the Mount of Olives. and they are working their way toward the
 east along the road to Jaffa
 l Jerusalem Within the Walls The quotation have given relates to | the Jerusalem within the walls. It is as compact today as 1t was when Da-
 vid lived and even in those later times when 1t is said to have had a million
 and more population I doubt the es-
 inmates, although history states the fact. We can get some idea of the real situation by climbing to the top of Davids tower. This is built on the high
 est part of Mount Zion. which over looks Jerusalem. We are now far above
 the city and we can see the country I on all sides. The town lies in nest | in the mountains on the edge of a plateau, which falls off into the valley | of Kedron and tic valley of Hinnon, | and beyond which rises the Mount of | Olives. The walls run right along the edges of these valleys, climbing up hill
 and down. and then making their way about the irregular plateau upon which Jerusalem stands until they end again | here at the Jaffa gate. Jerusalem is rolling. It Is made up of hill and hol- low and was probably chosen as the
 site of the capital of Judea by which | 1t could be the more easily defended l in case of a siege.
 l Standing upon the tower we face the
 Mount of Olives with It's convents and 1 temples. The Garden of Gethsemane at
 its base Is out of sight but we can see Ithe temple platform which lies just above | It on this side of the valley. That great building with the beautiful dome is the
 Mosque of Omar, where the Mohamme- dans worship The temple platform Is
 surrounded by walls. It contains 35 acres and belongs to the TurkA
 Like Stone Boxes
 l Between us and the temple is what seems like a mass af stone boxes piled
 one another. in all sorts of irregular
 shapes. If you will look at the back
 of any large store and see the goods
 boxes piled up there you may have some
 idea of how much of Jerusalem appears from Mount Zion The houses have no
 chimneys and their stone roofs are hat. Out of the roofs jut little -domes like
 old-fashioned beehives., There are many of these domes, and if the town were on
 a level it would be not unlike meadow at harvest time, with the haycocks rising
 here and there over it. 3tF
 The material of the buildings is yell How limestone, quarrfed from under the city. It Is the same material that Sol
 omon used, and some. of the quarries are
 still known as Solomon's quarries. There l Is practically no wood here. The fram- | ing and doors have to be carried up from the sea. They used to come on the
 backs of camels. but they are now trans
 ported by rail. tA
 Among the common houses are many
 churches of one kind or other. Right
 under us is the great building of the Holy Sepulcher, which stands over the spot
 where 1t is said our Savior was crucified.
 Farther over Is a church recently erected
 by the Germans, and here and there are many great hospitals, convents and mon- asteries built of white limestone.
 l Now look at the streets! You can hardly
 see them as we stand on the tower. They
 are narrow and winding and some are
 built over, so that going through them is
 like passing through tunnels or sub
 terranean caves.
 1 A City of Cave DwelIers
 l Indeed, Jerusalem is city of cave
 dwellers Many of tho stores and houses
 are little more than holes in the rocks
 visited native inn yesterday right in
 the heart of the city. It copsisted of a
 series of vaulted chambers which looked
 much like caves. In one cave were four donkeys, two camels and a party of Bedouins. In another were dozen Jews l from Samaria, and In a third were some
 men and their camels who had just come
 from beyond the Jordan. Many of the | dwellings are mere holes in the walls,
 and outside the town are a number of
 caves in which people live. There are probably caves under Jerusalem. The city
 is founded upon the remains of the Jeru-
 salems of the past, and the excava- tions have unearthed houses and teni-
 ples far below the streets of the present | The original floor and court of the house
 in which Pontius Pilate examined the
 Christ Is below the level of the present
 city, and mosales and marbles, including
 carvings of various kinds and Greek
 and Roman capitals and columns are frequently found when diggnig the foun-
 dations for erecting new buildings.
 There are many caves outside Jerusa-
 lem. The tombs of the kings on the edge 1 of the city have been cut from the solid l rock, and some of them are so large
 that a city house could be dropped into | one and not touch the walls. An exca-
 vation of, the Pool of Betheda has shown | that 1t is 80 feet deep, and that 1t covers
 nearly an acre. Right under the tenn pie platform are enormous caverns known l as Solomon's stables, and near there Is l . space honeycombed with vast tanks which will hold millions of gallons of water.
 At the Jana Gate
 l But let us go down from the tower and
 take walk through the crowd. We are
 at the Jaffa gate, which leads to the
 railroad station, a half mile from the | walls. It is also at the end of the roads
 to Bethlehem. Hebron and Jaffa, and is l the main business gate of the city. It is l always thronged and the people who 70 | in and out come from all parts of the | world. They are of all colors, blacks, browns. yellows and whites, and they
 number dozen different nationalities. from the nearby parts of Asia, Europe
 and Africa. Here comes donkey led by | a fat Turk in a yellow gown and red tur- l Aov ts 6o~ A a a o< to