The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1918-01-17
RECOLLECTNNS OF
THE HOLY LAND

Because of the recent capture of
| Jerusalem and the surrounding Holy
Land by the forces of Great Britain,
after occupation by the Turks for the
past seven centuries, this ancient land
where Christ was born, reared and
gave up his life on the Cross, incites
the interest of the world today.
At least two Hood River men, AL
bert Tozier and c. B. Compton, both
of the Dee district, have visited Jerus-
alem.
AFTER a period of over ten years, F"
relates Compton, 1.-THE outstanding,
conglomerate impression of my visit to
Jerusalem is one of huge town built
on the top of a roekribbed hill which
dominates the landscape in all direc-
tions-a site selected centuries ago for
its strategic value in days of tribal
warfare. Viewed from short dis
tance, rone retains the recollection of
antiquated stone walls surrounding the
city and winding along the steep hill
sides from the wrinkled valleys below.
"0f the city itself. after lapse of
years, one retains blurred memory of
mosques and minarets, stone built, tile
rooted houses of ancient architectural
design, narrow crooked streets, church
es, converts and religious edifices of
various kinds and denominations. a
| few hospitals, long cared Indifferent
donkeys and crowded population
garbed for the most part in flowing
robes and turbans. The thing which
struck me most forcibly, perhaps. was
| the variety of priests seen on the
streets, easily recognizable by their
dress Moslems, Jews, Spanish, Ger.
mans, Russians, Polish, Greeks, Syri-
ans, Armenians, Copts, Latins and a
variety of others. Jews from Aleppo,
Damascus and Bagdad. Jews from the
Caucasus, Persia and Turkestan, a
motley throng drawn from all the sur
rounding Mediterranean and Asia Min
or countries, mixed in mass with Prot
estants and Catholics from Europe and
America, in fact from all prominent
religious countries of the world.
"No matter what ones creed or re-
ligious convictions may be, or the in
tensity of ones religious faith, upon
entering for the first time within the
sacred precincts of the Holy City comes
strong feeling of reverence, feel
ing that one is treading on consecrat-
ed ground. For associated with this
hallowed place are many of the grand
est and most sacred events of history.
Here is the center of the religious
world and here was enacted the great
est tragedy in history. Here lived and
died the Savior of mankind. Obsessed
and awed by these thoughts the tourist
becomes pilgrim.
"Our party consisted of eight young
men, all civil government employees re-
turning from Manila to our homes in
the United States via the Suez canal.
At Port Said we embarked on a Rus
sian steamer for Jaffa, the.seaport en-
trance to lower Palestine. Aboard
this steamer were some 300 Russian
peasants who had saved their funds for
lifetime to make this pilgrimage to
jerusalem.
h"At Jaffa, after a couple of hours
delay at the custom house, by reason
of the fact that one of our party was
suspected of being Jew on account.of
his black, pointed beard, we boarded
the Jerusalem and Jaffa railroad train
and, after so mile ride, reached Je-
rusalem in about four hours. There
are several towns along the route with
fertile fields between, in which are
grown oranges. lemons, pomegranates,
watermelons and variety of garden
truck. The orchards and gardens are
protected by hedges of prickly cactus
GAS the result of a number of seiges
in ancient days, the city of Jerusalem
has been completely destroyed several
times, so that the present modern city
is not the City of Solomon, which lies
buried beneath the debris of centuries.
Excavations have shown that the foun.
dations of the ancient wall are in come
places 130 feet beneath the surface,
which facts throw considerable doubt
on many of the present sacred places
of Jerusalem. While the exact locali-
ties of certain Biblical events are
shrouded in doubt, it stands uadisputed
that kings, prophets and holy men
looked on these scenes and that in this
locality the Son of God bore His cross.
"We spent a week in and around
Jerusalem, under the direction of an
Arab guide who spoke English, during
which time we visited all the points of
| interest in that locality and made side
trips to Bethany, Jericho, the Dead
| Sea, Jordan river and Bethlehem. The
chief point of interest within the walls
of the city is the Chruch of the Holy
| Sepulchre. This is the shrine at which
millions have worshipped in simple
faith, believing that here was laid the
body of Christ following the crucifix-
| ion.
Referring to a note book made at
the time of our visit, without going in
to descriptive detail, it is recalled that
we visited in succession the Tomb of
Josephus and Nicodemus, Tomb of Abb
raham. Calvary Rock, Tombs of the
Crusader kings, the Jews Wailing
Place, site of Solomon's temple, vii
lage of Sloan, valley Of Jehosaphat,
Jobs well, boundary of Benjamin and
Judea, Mount of Olives, Garden of
Gethsemane, Mosque of Omar, Tomb
of David, Zion's gate, house of Cal
phas, Herod's garden, Damacus gate,
Golgotha, Solomon's stables, the hill
where Titus besieged Jerusalem three
years, hill of Mizpah where Saul was
chosen king, Pater Noster building or
site where Christ taught his disciples
the Lords prayer, and scores of other
places renowned in sacred history.
after several days spent in and
around the city of Jerusalem we hired
carriages and drove in an easterly di-
rection to the Dead Sea and the Jordan
river, visiting the Inn of the Good Sa-
maritan and Jericho Ell route, passing
number of camel caravans as we
travelled through this impoverished
country. Several of our party went
swimming in the Jordan river and
i IL LII,