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Show Church Uncovered on Top of Mount of Olives Jerusalem, Palestine, Doc. 2. A discovery dis-covery which promises to he of great interest to the Christian world has been made on the top of the Mount of Olives. Under tho auspices of the 'Greek Catholic order of monks called the "Vhito Fathers," oxcavations wore begun recently in the grounds of the institution known as the Carmelite convent of the "Pater Nostor." Tho convent and tho beautiful little chapel chap-el attached wore built about thirty-six years ago by and at the expense of the late Aurelia dc Bossi, Princess do la Tour d'Auvergne, Duchesse de Bouillon and Is now occupied by French nuns of the Carmelite order. During her lifetime the late princess prin-cess turned over the convent and Its grounds to tho French government. The Institution Is consequently considered con-sidered as French property now. France, In turn, placed it under the guardianship of the "White Fathers," allowing them a free hand In Its management man-agement both spiritual and temporal and in the carrying on of exploratory researches or excavations whenover the occasion arose or an opportunity offered. The "White Fathers" have long hold to the belief that the grounds must cover the site of some buried ancient church or edifice in accordance accord-ance with long-preserved records in their possession, nnd, acting on this belief, excavations were commonend In the western section of tho extensive exten-sive grounds The excavators were not long In coming upon tho broken walls of a ruined church, and, judging from the oxtont of the walls unearthed, this church must havo onjoyed quite liberal lib-eral dimensions It measures somo 150 feet In length from entrance to apse, the latter facing eastwards, and its average width at the nave is about 50 Feet and at the transepts, SO feet The main floor of the navo still remains re-mains unearthed but those of the transepts, the extent of whose areas measures some 15 feet snuare each, have been exposed to view. They consist of beautifully laid mosaics in a perfect stago of preservation. In the middle of the floor of the south transept Is sunk a baptismal Immersion Immer-sion pool, somo 2 feet In depth and f feet square, with a nicelv rounded and finished rim, all wonderfully preserved. preserv-ed. The plastering on the sides of the walls enclosing this transept shows traces of a large painting On the floor of the north transent were found several shafts of columns scattered here and there among tho debris, and at the junction of the western corner of the transept with the nave were uncovered two or three tombs containing human bones, on the tombstone of one of which is Inscribed In-scribed in Greek the name "Theodor-us." "Theodor-us." Further up the nave, northeast of the south transept, another bit of mosaic mo-saic flooring was unearthed, disclosing disclos-ing that there were two separate and distinct floors of different mosaic design, de-sign, the upper lying some 2 feet G Inches above the other, making It clear that the church's history covors two separate periods, namely The first period following its original construction con-struction by Queen Helena, mother of ConstantSne the Great for there Is now no doubt that this is one of the first thrcef Christian churches built in the Holy Land by Queen Helena some time during the early part of the fourth century, the other two being the Church of the Hol Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity Na-tivity in Bethlehem and the second period dating from tho restoration by the CrriBaders of tlie twelfth century of the previously destroyed original church of Queen Helena, the destruction destruc-tion taking place probably during the early part of the sixth centurv at the hands of the Persian king, Chosroes II., or possibly some other Oriental vandals. The latter view is supported support-ed by tho peculiar construction in a semi-circular fashion oT the wall of the apse, which Is characteristic of the Crusader type of church architecture. architec-ture. The church has been given the name of ''Eleona," In roferonce perhaps per-haps to Queen Helena, Its founder, or again, the "Church of the Lora"s Prayer," for It stands, as tradition has It, over the site of the spot where Jesus taught hiG disciples, how to pray. The work of excavation has been temporarily postponed because of a lack of the necessary funds, but It is the Intention of the "White Fathers." Fa-thers." socalled because of the white robes or tunics which they wear, to continue their explorations as soon as possible, and at some future date to restore tho church to its original grandeur v had not succeeded owing to the hcay fog prevailing. Great Anxiety Manifested, At first shipping men were 'not greatly concerned for the people on the Tees, assuming that time had been glen for all hands to got ashore. The fact that the Tees' wireless wire-less man said nothing about the boat or its people being in peril,, was tak-on tak-on to mean that she was aground near a friendly shore. However, as time wont on and no word was received re-ceived from tho crew of the Tecs, alnrm spread, and. today it was admitted admit-ted that the boat might have gone down with all on board. When the Alaskan steamship Northwestern North-western was passing the entrance to the sound, which is on the west coast of Vancouver island, near the northern north-ern end of the island, Wednesday morning, she heard the distress calls of tho Tees which were very faint. They said the boat had struck a rock but did not give the situation of tho rock or any other information. The big Northwestern did not dare venture ven-ture Into the sound, which was thick with fog, but kept her wireless op-orator op-orator on duty all night trying to catch the Tees again and also sending send-ing abroad the Tees' call for help. The Tees did not respond and the Northwestern assumed that water had entered the engine room and stopped stop-ped the dynamo. Revenue Cutter and Steamrs Stand By Tho tugs William Jolllffe and Salver Sal-ver and the L'nited States revenue cutter Tahoma hurried to Kyuquot sound, arriving there yesterday morning. morn-ing. The fog was so dense that the boats did not attempt to go Into the sound. All day they waited, hoping for the fog to lift, but It did not. Last night thoy ran to KlaBhk'.sh inlet in-let for shelter from a southeast gale, and this morning they returned to the mouth of the sound, which Is choked with fog. The Tees' rescue steamers, last roporls said, were still off the mouth of the sound waiting tor a chance to enter. It Is argued that if the crew and passengers of tho Tees had reached shore a boat would have been sent to the cable station at Estevan. or that the coast patrol of men. who walk along the beach, would havo discovered the castaways and sent news to a wireless station. A d.spatch from Victoria says that tho greatest anxietv prevails among tho families of the crew oo |
