THE STREET OF THE CHRISTIANS.

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WE

CHAPTER XXIII.

IN AND AROUND JERUSALEM.

E will continue the account of the sights of Jerusalem, as given by
Frank and Fred in their journal:

"One of the first places we asked for after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was Mount Zion, which we reached by a short walk. On our

way we passed through the Street of the Christians, where there are several bazaars; they are much inferior to the bazaars of Cairo, and the display of goods does not amount to much. The guide took us to several shops where carvings of olive-wood are sold. There is a great variety of these articles, and some of them are of great beauty and high price. To

judge by the number and extent of the shops, we should think that the principal occupation of the inhabitants of Jerusalem is the manufacture and sale of wood-carvings.

"We visited the Muristan, or site of the Hospital of the Knights of St. John, who were also known as the Order of the Hospitallers. There is not a great deal to see here, as the buildings are mostly in a state of decay, and some of the ground is covered with rubbish accumulated from the ruins. It is said that a monastery was formed here by the Emperor Charlemagne; afterward some rich merchants established a church and monastery on the spot, and later on the Hospitallers erected a convent where pilgrims were received and cared for. Perhaps you would like to know something about the Knights of St. John. We'll tell you what we've read and heard about them:

"The order was founded in the eleventh century, and established on the spot we have just visited. There were two hospitals or convents, one for men and one for women; but in the course of time the convent for women was removed to another part of the city, and the ground became the exclusive possession of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem.' That was their official name, and under it they built hospitals or convents for pilgrims to the Holy Land in most of the seaport cities of Europe and along the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

They not only took care of the pilgrims, but they joined in wars against the infidels, and fought on many battle-fields. A great number of noblemen from all parts of Europe joined the order, and they had a regular constitution and a long list of laws, which all were bound to obey. They had a military organization, and did a great deal of fighting, but were finally conquered and expelled from Jerusalem; then they went to the Island of Rhodes, where they lived about two hundred years, and were known as the Knights of Rhodes. They were besieged twice by the Turks, and were finally compelled to leave that island and go to Malta, where they built a strong fortress, and were known as the Knights of Malta. The organization practically came to an end in 1798, when Napoleon captured Malta and sent away the Grand-master. Since that time there have been several attempts to revive the order, but none have amounted to anything.

"The costume of the knights was a black dress, with a white cross on the left breast, and you often see the insignia in jewellery and other ornaments under the name of the Cross of Malta.' Since their time the cross has been applied to the Crusaders' Arms of Jerusalem,' in which

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there is the Maltese cross with the crowns of the three wise men and the star of Bethlehem below, while there are two branches of the palm-tree and the word 'Jerusalem' above. These crosses are for sale here, and not unfrequently the pilgrims have the 'Arms of Jerusalem' tattooed on their wrists, to prove that they have been in the Holy Land.

RUSALEM

"Every order of knighthood in the Holy Land had its peculiar costume and device, and all of them had a patron saint. The Knights of St. Catherine, for example, wore on their shields as well as on their breasts a picture of a section of a wheel pierced by a dagger or sword. The legend is that St. Catherine was ordered to be put to death by torture on a wheel, but as soon as she was placed on it the wheel was miraculously broken, and the executioner beheaded her. and head were seized by angels and carried to Mount Sinai; its locality was revealed to a monk in a dream, and the next day he and his brethren carried it to a convent that had been established in the wilderness near the mountain, and piously buried it.

ARMS OF JERUSALEM.

Immediately the body

The building has ever since been known as the Convent of St. Catherine, and is of great assistance to pilgrims and others who go to Mount Sinai.

"We passed along the Via Dolorosa, and were shown the spot where Christ rested his cross on his way to the crucifixion on Mount Calvary. Then we traversed the street of the Gate of the Column, and followed the guide till he brought us to the Damascus Gate. We ought to explain right here that there are seven gates in the walls of Jerusalem. The most in use are the Damascus and Jaffa gates, for the reason that nearly all visitors to the Holy City enter and depart by one or the other. As their names imply, the Damascus Gate is on the road to the city of that name, while the Jaffa Gate is the nearest to the Mediterra

nean.

The latter is also called the Hebron Gate, for the reason that travellers to Hebron depart through it.

"There are two gates wholly or partly walled up; they are the Golden Gate, on Mount Moriah, and the so-called Gate of Herod. The other gates of most consequence are St. Stephen's, which is supposed to be near the spot where Stephen was stoned to death, and the Zion Gate, which leads from Mount Zion in the direction of David's tomb.

"To make the circuit of the walls of Jerusalem would require a walk of about two and a half miles, but owing to the nature of the ground a pedestrian could not keep at all times close to the line he wished to follow. The present walls were made by Sultan Suleiman in 1542, but many parts of them were standing before his time, and some of the foundations are the same as they were two thousand years ago. Jerusalem

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has not materially changed in its general characteristics since the time of Christ, and consequently it has not been difficult to identify many of the places mentioned in the Bible.

"We thought the Damascus Gate was very picturesque when we looked at it from the outside, and Doctor Bronson said it was considered the finest of all the gates of Jerusalem. Its Arab name is Bab-el-Amud, or Gate of the Column, and it is constructed so that it can be easily defended against an enemy. It was built about three hundred years ago, and is supposed to stand on the foundations of one of the ancient gates, and there is a story that a stream of water may sometimes be heard flowing beneath it.

"There was quite a group of people outside of the Damascus Gate, some on foot, some on horses, and others on camels. A peddler of cakes

and other edible things had set up his shop at the side of the road, and was engaged in weighing out his merchandise to those who wanted it. Instead of Fairbanks's scales he used the old-fashioned balances; he was not at all in a hurry, and as soon as his customers were gone he sat down in the shadow of a little shelter he had erected, and was evidently resting from his labors. A dog that had been

THE DAMASCUS GATE.