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Show AT JERUSALEM. President Sraltu mid Parly in the 'Holy Cily." Blultth and hemes In Uille Land. (Special Corre'ii'jnd'jii'.'o of tho li kHal p. ) In Camp BfeKoite 'inn Jaffa Gate of Jeul'salmi, Pcbruary -Oih, IHl-i. Editors Hall Luke U-rai.d: We went aboard the steamer Vesta, at 5 p. hi. on Saturday the -iad, at Port Said, and haa a very hue aud smooth pasagR over the Mi-dlterrauuo-an to Jaffa. When we awukc on Sun-: Sun-: day luoroinc, wo wuro in bi.ht of the : coast of Judua, aud dropped auchor in the harbor oi' JafTa, tho ancient Joppa, a at a. m. In H'ormy weather landing is very difficult dif-ficult here, and in rouh neither il is ((uite impossible, so that the s'eamers havo to go on to Hey root; but we wcre. favorcd with a smooth sea, though the breakers on the coast run pretty high. Our boats passed safely through ihe huge rocks, and wo btepped ashore at 8.10 a. m. Iu PtiUsliue at Last. By tho aid of a "backshech," which was openly asked of us lrom a custom house. official, our luggage was allowed to pass without any examination, and we went immediately through narrow, filthy, crooked anu ill-paved stroets to our camp outside of one of the gates, where we found our tents pitched and ready to recoivo us. Mr. Alex. Howard, tho chief dragoman, had oomo hero a few dayB ahead ol u, anu ah tho necessary necessa-ry preparations ior our parly, and for olhara, who aro travelling with Mr. Cook, were made. Jaffa is a very old seaport, and makes a fine appearauee from the sea, as it rises in thenar in of an amphitheatre. amphithea-tre. It also looks well from tbo Bur-rounding Bur-rounding hills in the distance, as it is surrounded by beautiful orchards of oranges, lemon aud almonds. Some of our party buught one franca' worlh of oranges (about 20 cents), and got thirty. A fuw of thoso wo bought measured thirteen inchta in circumference, circum-ference, and wo were informed that extra ex-tra specimens sometimes measure from eighteen to twenty inches. They are alno of very good quality. Wo were quite astonished at the richness of tho soil around Jaffa and through the plainB of Sharon, as wo expected to sco nothing but a barren waslo. A German Colony. Sunday afternoon we had to Eolect our horses aud saddles, as we were to leavo early in the morning. We visited tho German colony close by our camp, about half a miio outside the gate, and wore introduced to its superintendent, Mr. Chrititoph Hofl'man, by tho American Amer-ican vice-oousul, Mr. Ernst llardegg, also a Gorman, who lives there and keeps a hotol. Wo had quito a picas-uni picas-uni interview with Mr. Hufl'uiaun and some of his associates, and got from him some information in regard to ihcir colony and how they obtained a clear title from the Turkish govern ment for their land?. Ia the OjUrse of the afternoon Mr. Hardegg called upon us in our tents and kindly offered his services. Scripture l'oluli of Interest. The principal point of interest hore is the "houso of one Simon,a tanner," beautifully situated by the sea-side, (seo Aots X), which we visited and went on the roof, where it is said Peter had thit remarkablo vision recorded in Aots, X 11. It was also hero that tho nftdirs of Lohannon wcro brought from Tyre, and then transported to Jerusalem. Here Peter restored Ta-bitha Ta-bitha to life, (see AotslX 3(1) and tradition tra-dition says that this is the place where the Ark was built. Shortly before we struck our tents on Monday morning, the 24th, the princo of Saxc-Weiuiar.,.,ff1iiootj "tents A;'b oWcrTjy 'burs, arrived with a small suite and was received with military mili-tary honors. At 8:30 a.m. we were all in the saddle and commenced our thirty days trip, on horseback, through Palestine. We rode for some time through beautiful orange grovos.fenced in with gigantio prickly pear hedges, and then came upon the fertile plainB of Sharon. At 11:30 a.m., wo reached the ruins of tho old mosque of Kamlch, supposed to be the ancient Arimathea; ascended the Martyr's tower, lrom which a beautiful view of the surrounding surround-ing country and tho Mediterranneaa is obtained; and took our lunch in the shade of the old walls. We had been sadly disappointed on our arrival at Jaffa, in not finding any letters from home, and had been without any news for four weeks. It was, therefore, a matter of great rejoicing among us, when a special messenger reached us hero with our long expected letters, dated up to January 21st; especially as the contents were generally fcatisfuotory. At 1:30 we broke camp, and rode over the hills oi' Judea to tho mouth of the vailey of Ajalou, which wo reached after a three hours' ride, and found our tonls pitched, as the pack auimalswith all tho baggage, had gone through without stopping. We have two large round wall tents, about sixteen leet diameter, one of 'which is our dining tent, which President Smith and myself my-self occupy as our bedroom during the night, and on tho top of which the stars and stripes aro flying to the breeze. Tho other one of tho same size is occupied by Messrs. L. Snow, Albert (Jarrington. Peramorz Little, and Thomas W- Jennings; and a smaller ono, of about twelve leet in diameter, is lor tho ladies, iUiss Jtl. It. Snow and Miss Clara Little Wo have iron bed-frames, and a mattrass and sufficient blankets to keep us pretty comfortable. We havo three meals a day, and pronounce the table as ono of tho best wo have had sLno3 we left home. Then thero is a tent for our dragoman, Mr. Antonio, a Syrian, for the chief oook, and for his two assistants. assist-ants. Besides, we have ten muleteers, and fifteen pack animals in our outfit. At 7.30 next morning wo were all in tho saddlo, and traveled for some time through tho valley of Ajilon-and then over tho rough aud barren .MoliutnliiB of jndcn, Passing within sight of Ludd, whinh is the ancient Lydda of the Acts IX-32, nnd slopped a phurt time at Kirjath Jcarim (L Sam., VH-12),at the ruin of the VJliurch of St. George, which was built by the (Jrusaderd in lliUO on the spot where Lhc Ark of the Couvcnant r:stcd ior twenty yeara. A few miles further on wo stopped for lunch at 11 a.m. in the valley of'EIah, whero thero is the brook from which David is said lo have taken the smooth stones with ' which he slew Goliath. We continued our journey towards The'Cllj of David,'' At 1.30 p.m., and! our road led us over very steep and barren hills, from which at some points we had a tine view over tho plains of Sharon and the Mediterranean in tne distance. About 2.15 p m.. we came in siirht of the Mount of Olives and a portion of the "Holy City;'' when various meditations medita-tions passed through my mind. We rode along by theGreek,theKusaian and the Prussian convents, also some tine private buildings of Europeans,outside the walls of this city, till we reached our camping ground un the northwest side of the city, within a few minutes walk of the Jaifa gate, at 2.60 p.m. Iu Jerusalem. To-day we engaged a guide to show us thruuh the ""city, tho streets of which are very narrow and badly paved. The principal street was called "Christian sir.-et," is only from twelve lo fifteen f'jet wide, and the population is variou?iy e?timatcj IV om il'i.uuj ;0 Cu.000 inhabitant. ' J-.ru?a!jm lias a number of pitc.-, which aro d-sci aur-ing aur-ing the nihL Ua the north is tho -Damascus gate, on the south the ion gate, on ihu u-' St. fc'tepheu'd wae) and on th-; wc.-l thu Jala gate. i5cv-eral i5cv-eral other?, ai tlse of Herod, the Golden gate, etc., are alwaye closed. t'Urtatlan Holy l'Jute. After visiting a few shops we went to the church of the Holy Sepulchre, in which we were shown a good many sightB. At the entranco wo saw the slab on which the body of tho Savior was anointed for his burial; the place where Mary stood at the crucifixion; the sepulchre itclf,with mo?tgori;ouU3 decoration, and covered with a large number of golden and silver lamps, which are always kept burnio;:; the stone where the angel sat when Mary came to the grave; tho tpois where iheSavior aud Martha stood, when he met him after his resurrection, and thought lie was the gardener; the word aud epurs of Godfrey of Bouillon, Bouil-lon, who was king of Jerusalem in 11 00; the Pillar of Flag .-llatioo, on which he Savior was scourged; thc-stone thc-stone which was rolled lrom the mouih of tho wpulcbrc the tombs of Joseph of Arimathea. and of Nicudcmus; the place where the Savior Mood before they took him to Mount Calvary, and where ho left his fojtprint in tho ; rock upon which he stood; liio place where Mary sat after the crucifixion, aud was comforted by the other women; wo-men; a rock which was rent during the earthquake; the place where they divided di-vided hia clothes, and cast the lot over his coal; the place where Sc. Helena, mothar of the emperor Constantino, sat to pay off the workmen; the place where she found the three crosses; a very lino altar erected and presented to tho churoh by Ferdinand Maximilian, Maximil-ian, archduko ofAuatria, in ls57; a reddish column on which the Savior sat when they crowned him with a crown of thorns, also an imitation of the original crown. Then we went into the Creek chapel, in tho centre of which is a kind of platform, which they point out as tho centre of the world. Below this is the chapel of Adam, where they told us that tbo skull of Adam was buried. ' Then wo wcro Bhowo the place where the cross of the Savior stood and the crosses of tho two thieves; olose to it a large rock, rent during tho earthquake; earth-quake; tho tomb of Melchiscdek; tho plaocs where the Savior was nailed to the cross, and where ho was taken off. Our guido was honest onough to tell us thai ho did not believo all these plaocs to bo the identical spots, and when it came to the story about Ad-om's Ad-om's skull and somo other legends, we could not help smiling. From tho ohuroh of- the holy Bopulchro we proceeded pro-ceeded to the ruins of tho ohuroh and hospioo of the Knights of St. John, which were destroyed by the Saraoeni in 1178. Tho superintendent, a Gorman, Gor-man, told us that tho Sultan had made a present of these grounds to the present pre-sent Hmperor of Germany about threo ! yoars ago, but it was a very expensivo present, as they had already removed 5TJ0.000 donkey loads of dirt to mako the excavations, and it would tukc from two to three thousand loads more to finish tho job. From there we passed pass-ed thePillur Gate, through whioh condemned con-demned criminals were led out to Mt. Calvary, to bo executed; thcaoo wo turned into tho "Via Dolorosa," or way of sorrows, where Veronica wiped tho perspiration from the Savior's fuco, aud an impression of his features was left on her band kerchief. Close to this spot is the plaoo whore her father burnt her iu a smaH oven because she believed in Christ. A little beyond was the spot where lbs oi;vior fell a second sec-ond lime with tho cross, and left a large mark of his elbow in a rook. Then wo camo to tho rich man's houso, at whose door Lazarus lay, and to tho place where tho Savior fell with his cross tho first time, and where Mary mot him and wept. Wo passed the Catholic church "Ecce Homo;" the aits of Pilate's palace of which one arch is left; and tho pool of Bothesda, whioh is now dry and being filled up it measures 3b0 feet in length, 130 feet in breadth and is 75 leet deep. rom there we went through the St. Stephen's Steph-en's gate outside the walls, and had a fine view of the Mount of Olives, the road on whioh David ran from-Absiy , lom; the valley of Jehoshaphati tU. garden of Gethsemanoand the place "whBfe Stephen was stonod. In returning return-ing outside the city walls to our camp, we passed tho tomb of Zaaharias, whioh has an elevation of thirty feet, and is out out of solid rook, (see Matthew Mat-thew XXIII 29 to 35) and tho quatr ries of Solomon under tho walls of the city. March 3, 1S73. The night of the 26th to the 27th of February was cold, and it was raining quito hard, but as it looked liko clearing up in the morning, we struck our tents and left - For tlie ScnQ Hon. At 7: 30 a m. we passed Jacob's well, whero he met Rachel with her father's sheep; at 9 a.m. stopped at Rachel's tomb a little beyond, a few minutes, and rode over anex'eccdingly rough and Btony road to Solomo'n's pools. Thero are three of them, tho upper ono 380 feet long, one end 250 foet wide, the the other 160 feet, and 25 feet deep; the middle one is 423 feet long, west end 14S feet wide, cast end 250 feet wide, and 39 feet deep; the lower one is 582 feet long, 1:07 feet wide and 50 feet deep. They aro filled from a spring in the neighborhood. Tho walls oro partly formed of massive hewn stone, and partly by excavations in the solid rook. We rode along, the aqueduct aque-duct to Botlilohcin, Whero wo arrived at 11:15 a.m. Tho streets aro very narrow, steep and orockod, and we stopped only long enough to visit the church of the Nativity Na-tivity with its many stories and legebds. On tbo alleged spot whero the child Jesus was born is-a silver star, laid in the floor with tho inscription in Latin, "Hio de Virgiqe Maria Josus Christus natusest." Wo rode about one mile aowo tne nm-siae, ana luncuca under an almond tree. At 2:30 p.m. we again mounted our steeds, and rode over the mountains of Judea in an easterly direction. di-rection. We soon came in sight of tho Dead Sea in tho distanoo and the high mountains of Moab on ' the eastern shore. Wo visited tho Greek convent of San Saba, where J -din the Baptist is Baid to have commenced bis ministry; minis-try; and camped two miles beyond near the dry bed of the brook Kedron. Tho following morning wo had to get up at 5 o'clock, because we had a long day'a rido before up. Tho road "was partly very rough, but tho weather was fine. We had a Bedouin sheik, or chicf.and three armed Bedouin guardsmen guards-men along. When we ncarcd the shoro of tho Dead Sea, nine Bedouins came out of tho canes and wanted to stop us but as ooq as they saw that wc were guarded, five of them fled and our men took tho guns of the four others. We stopped about forty-five minutes, filled several bottles with water, and three or four gentlemen of our party and of anothor one that was traveling with us, indulged in a bath. About an hour's ride brought us to the banks of the Jordan, where wc lunched under the shades of the olive trees and about 4 p.m. we reached i Tlie KiUna of Jericho, Which consist of an old tower and parts of an acqueduct. (See Joshua 21; 61; 24 If; also Matth. 20-29. Luke 191.) Here is also Elisha'fl fountain, the water, of which is very good. Near to this place .is: Elba, the ancient Gilgal. (Bee Joshua 4-19, 20, Judges 2-1, and I. Sam. 10-8.) After supper some fifteen Bedouins oame to our camp from the neighboring village to dance for us; they also performed a sham fight, and finished tho programme of their evening's entortainment with song, "May the ladies eyes belike the moon," in Arabic. The following morning, the 1st of March, wc started back ibr Jerusalem; stopped for lunch at a fountain near some ruius called "Christ's Hotel;" I passed through Bethany, where are the 'houses of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, La-zarus, and the tomb of the latter, and two mtlci further we crossed the valley of Jehotliaphat, parsed through the Jewish graveyards, aad reached our old catup ground outside the Jalia gate about o p.m. On Sunday, March 2nd, we visited Th .Mount of Olives, In tho forenoon, and in the afternoon, after-noon, held a sacramental meeting in one of our tents, and strolled through the narrow, dirty streets of the city. To-day wo visited the Mosque of Omar, the erouods of which cover an area of 1.50U leet long by 1,000 feet wide, and are said to be the Bite of Solomon's temple. Tlie mosque stands about in the centre of ihe?o grounds, and is a line piece of Saracenic architecture. archi-tecture. It is considered the second huly place in the Mahome -an world, aud is built oo Mount Moriah, It was bfrun in a.d OO.aud fiui-hed in seven years. U front ol me east gate, or ate of David, is the throne or judgment judg-ment seat of Solomon, under a beautifully beauti-fully ornamcotcd dome in the open air, supported by pillar. Wc entered by tlm naie, were shown the inside of the rouf, tiuicihed iu carved cedarwood, the beautiful colored windows, and tho rock Es-Sukrah in tho centre of the mosque, said to be tho top of Mount Moriah, on which Abraham offered his son Isaac. Under this huge rock is a eavo, in which it- is said that Jesus, Aabraham, David, Sulomon, Moses and Elijah have prayed; pray-ed; and in the centre of the floor of this cave is a marble slab, beneath which the Mahomedans say is the "Well of Souls," sometimee called the "Gate of Hell," and at others the "Gate of Paradise." Par-adise." In passiLg through the yard to tho mosque El Aksa, in the same enolo sure, we saw an old, dry fountain, of Solomon's time, where the pcoplo made their ablutions before going to prayer. In this last named mosque we saw the tomb of tho two sons of Aaron; the pulpit of Omer, finely carved in oodar wood, and ornamented with ivory, said to be tho only pare preserved from tho inside of Solomon's temple; tho studio of Omer, with ancient marble column?; aud a marble cradlo, in whioh, tradi-tioo tradi-tioo says, Jesus slept during the threo days he was lost from bis parents, when twelve years old. . Under anothor building, our guido showed us about twenty-six feet of tho original wall of tho "Horse Gato," and some pillars of Solomon's timo, and below another building, tho extensive "Stables of Solomon." Wo then ascended ono of the towers of tho city wall, which forms one side of tho enclosure of the grounds, near tho pool of Bothesda, and had a very fine view of the city and environs; saw the golden gato, the "Place of Washing," olose to the outsido of tho wall of the mosque, where against a wall of huge blocks of Btone the devout Jews go to mourn over their calamities every Friday evoning. Bofore returning to camp, I called with president Smith on Mr. Abraham Abra-ham Aschkoazi, the rabbi of the Portuguese Por-tuguese congregation in Jerusalem, to whom he had a lettor of introduction lrom a rabbi in San Franoisoo. We wcro kindly received, treated to some refreshments, and the rabbi said ho would return the call at our tents tomorrow. to-morrow. I forgot to give you tho dimensions of the Dead sea. It is a beautiful, smooth lake, of extremely saline and bituminous water, about forty miles long by ten miles wide, and oovcrs the destroyed cities of the plain. Thero is a remarkablo slillncts brooding over tho whole rcgiou. The surface- of the water is upwards of 1,30U feet below the level of the sea.. Among the party par-ty travelling with us, p;iyt of the way, are two pleasant gentlemen by lhc name of N. C' and hi. 0. Hills, from Illiuois, who are of Cook's around the world party, and who passed through Salt Lake laut fail. Wednesday morning tho oth inst., we intend to leave Jerusalem ibr the division of Samaria, en route for Damascus Da-mascus aud Beyrout, whioh we expoot to reach on tho 22ud, if all is well. Yours truly, Paul A. ScuETfLEB. |