Show a C l GiN v 6 v i l n r al w waKi aKi it y i z z i iz r p M MIn In Jerusalem's Streets Are Carvings From Days of the Crusaders by National Society V toD D w C-w C NU U Service HII exploits Or of the Crusaders have alike the gina im imaginations or of 3 oung and old ever since they made their armed pilgrIm pilgrIm- pilgrImages pilgrimages ages to the Holy Land almost a thou thousand sand years ago Yearly l all of Us have heard some some- something something thing of the story of the Crusaders We know that centuries ago our an ancestors ancestors marched out of Europe Into the East and founded there n a kingdom which endured for nearly years years- from 1099 1090 to 1291 1201 of our er era And the Crusaders left lert traces which can still sUll be seen Because the tombs chapels and watchtowers ers the castles that defended this first eastern front and the fort forti- fortified fled fied harbors on the Islands were Isolated isolated ed In lands under Turkish rule until the World war ar few visitors have been able to examine them closely except In Jerusalem Itself itsel and at the accessible accessible sible points on the coast Now one may make the trip In the steps of at the Crusaders with aU all the anticipation ot of an explorer of fabled lands The start is from central Eu Europe u rope where the first Crusaders turned their backs on their homelands to fol- fol follow follow low their Via Yla Del Road Ro of God the trans trails that led to Jerusalem Such a modern explorer e plays ys the part ot of a hunter Time and weather durIng some years ears have almost obliterated the remains left by the war of the Cross often their build buildIngs fags Ings had been utilized by the Moslems for mosques It Is necessary to look for clues by the way ay to follow traces Into some not easily acce accessible places and to discount most of the legendry that the people of the countryside al always always ways have on tap rop for the traveler In Trieste Italy for example e ample a broken arch Is pointed out as the Arch of Richard with the explanation tion that the English king d dwelt delt elt In the stone house beside it when he was made e on his return from the Holy Land The arch however Is Ro Roman Roman man wort ork and although Richard may maylIa lIa liase e occupied the house l If he was ever In Trieste he certainly dId not plan the fortification of at the old city of Ragusa now Dubrovnik down the DalmatIan coast coast as legend relates Gateways to the East EastOn On the other hand In the neighbor neighborIng lag Ing city of Venice at the southwest corner ot of the mein structure of the basilica of San Mm Marco co nearest the two I columns there Is a group of four porphyry figures In armor rev rew vis- vis visitors notice It but It Is a relic relle of the Crusaders brought from their seaport of Acre by the Venetians Venice Itself was one of the gate gateways gateways ways by which the hosts of Crusaders I sought the East ast Others took ship I from BrIndisi to cross to the Dalma Dalmatian I Uan tian coast and a chronicler of their day de describes a mishap that showed the danger of at embarking upon the I crude galleys or that felt feltI their way from coast to coast without I aid nid of compass and chart I The fleet was ready at Eastertide and they embarked ed at the port of Brin- Brin Brindisi disi Among all those ships we be- be beheld beheld I held one suddenly break in the middle without any cause Nearly men and women were cast Into the water I Only a few sun Ived and those I lost theIr horses and mules in the waves wIth much money I This happened during the FIrst Cru Crusa Crusade sa sade de when multitudes were hastening to ard Constantinople now Istanbul the halfway point in their great von ven venture ture It was the first movement In Europe of men In a mass directly to toward ard the East I When they left Venice or BrindisI or the broad Valley of the Danube I they ventured Into what was vas to them theman theman an world Only leaders had hadan an approximate Idea where here Jerusalem lay Route Through the Balkans A barren land one of the Proven cals relates of at the Dalmatian D coast route both pathless and It was wInter by then and w e saw neither birds nor beasts for tor thrIce seven days We wandered through low hanging clouds so dense that w e were able to feel them and often to push puch them away from us as ss e a moved Today y you speed over the rolling roiling hills of the Balkans Ds In a car Clr range ringe with ith a dining car attached i Crossing a frontier mean means no more than th showing your passport t nut But the main body of Crusaders led by of Bouillon Immense plodding through the Im mense and IndescrIbable forests had h to fight or barter for their grain and oil and cattle they had to build rafts nt at rivers and sometimes without rafts to manage ge Then we came one relates to to the swift rIver Demon which Ja is rightly named named we had to watch atch many of our people wading across step by step swept do down n by the current We could not sale sa e them It If the knights had not brought up their great gret IJ b lUle ittle chargers to aid those on foot many more would lase perIshed No wonder that these first Cru Cru- coming out of at the Ra I 1 an val val- valleys valleys leys beheld with amazement am the ml mighty walls aIls and to towers ers of Constantinople with Its domed basilicas and marble palaces At this halfway ay point the almost ex- ex exhausted hausted hansted hosts of marchers were ere fur fur- furnished furnished with adequate supplies by the Byzantine emperor What was more Important they found out where they were ere and obtained guides who knew the route ahead of them But across the blue line Une or of the Bos- Bos the hostile Moslems 11 I iv v In wait ait for them and the rabble is ho had marched under Peter the Ili III were almost annihilated within isso 0 days travel of the shore The bitter armed host of Godfrey and the other barons however fought their way y to the plateau of Asia Minor lnor It was as mid midsummer midsummer summer and the Crusaders from the northern the regIons Rh and had Franks their first experIence of the scorching heat ot of the arId eastern hIghlands Across Asia Asla Minor The exact route they followed across Asia Minor Is uncertain It Is clear that they must helve have pasted to the east of the Olympus heights Ulu D I m 1 and to the east st of the dark Sultan The Turks who were fleeing fore before them Increased their suffering by bv drIving ing off most ot of the cattle and burn burn- burnIng burning Ing the scattered villages We were ere pursuing them a chron icIer relates across the desert In a aland aland land waterless and uninhabitable from which we barely came me out alive Hun Hunger Hunger ger troubled us constantly and we had almost nothing to eat t except the thorns wheat or barley that we pulled off and rubbed between our hands The greater part of our horses died so that many riders became foot soldiers Some rode oxen and In thIs extreme e need goats sheep and dogs seised to carry our bag baggage age At Kania Konya ho e however er they found fertile land and ample food They learned also how to make skins serve to carry water ater Aided by the welcome appearance or of ora ofa a river they crossed the remainder of the plateau land to now regU in safety It had taken t l en miny of them a year and a half to journey from their homes to this gate gateway ay or of orthe the Holy Land Perhaps a quarter of ofa n a millIOn perhaps more had tai t en the oath to make their way from flom the ham hani hamlets lets of Christendom to Jerusalem were camped this autumn un under under der the mountaIn barller of tit tIll Toros range Hel Heie e tIlL tics ames allies the ChrIstian AI of the mountain strongholds ho w iu must ha hale hae e looked upon this host or o road road- weary ary warriors as a ap apparition And here the ho host t of the first Crusaders Cru aders broke up some gal loping galloping do down n through the Ine I known as the Gates to the plain of at Tarsus while others wandered of to set up an Independent dJ n In Edessa now Urfa among the Armen Armell Inns lans lansOn On to Jerusalem The greater part made a circuit to the northeast to cross the Taurus range Apparently App they felt their way through a gorge We entered a chronicler explains ua a defile of the devil which was so lofty and steep that we hardly dared to p piss 1 ahead along the path Horses fell boll bod hand s and andone one puck name dragged another with It It The knIghts belt beat them ch c with their hands for grIef In this glace some sold their shields helmett and body armor for er could get Others thieve away u their heavy helvy armor and marched on so 50 we passed through the accursed mountain and came to a city called l now Maras The inhabitants came c out omit joy joy- joyfully fully to meet us There we nil all hart had plenty At this first sight of the gr plain of SyrIa the land hungry 1 01 mans ranged far afield making m conquests sword In hand wIth all the eagerness gernes of miners staking claims It was the tho threshold of the Promised nd L Here la time tho mighty city of Antioch The Tho Crusaders 1 laid lid siege to It and tool took It after a st struggle u gle ot of eight months With this citadel behind them thell the road do down n the Valley of the tho Orontes to toward ard Jel Jerusalem lay open They had crossed the Asia plateau but other armies of Crusaders hastening after them failed to do so I Some were cut to pieces by the Sul Sui il juk Turks lurks others lost their way uy or II were betrayed by the Byzantines |