Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][merged small]

quarantine station for pilgrims from Egypt. | to the Convent of the Cross, for a quarte: Following the aqueducts along the road of a mile, we reach the Upper Pool of

[graphic]

VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT.

Gihon-a public resort in the afternoon for all sexes and conditions, and affording infinite sport to the lookers-on, who encourage

rather than abash the nude Arabs in their
aquatic feats of indecent exposure.
A funeral procession may now be seen

passing, in the centre of which is a bier, carried on a litter by four men, covered with draperies, and surmounted by the green turban of the Osmanlis, the color of royalty. Arab women, naked to the waist, with long hair dishevelled and flowing over their shoulders, their faces and breasts bruised, with their arms thrown up in the air, precede the corpse, shrieking and singing the most lugubrious songs, accompanied by a funeral dirge from the musicians on the tom-tom. In front are the veiled women, near relatives of the deceased, who go to the grave and utter their piercing death songs. This doleful pantomime, funeral pomp, and hymns of despair, are but slightly varied in the circumcision and marriage ceremonies.

Following the gentle slope of this valley, we pass the Greek Gardens, on the right, and its convent of Saint George-having also a silk factory beyond. We now cross the Bethlehem Road, an aqueduct from the Pools of Solomon, which may be observed on the southern end of the Lower Pool of Gihon (at present dry,) and observe on the hill the veritable tree on which Judas is said to have hung himself. Standing on the ruins of Caiaphas, solitary and alone, it is easily distinguishable, though unimposing, rather, to the credulous, in its slow growth, of eighteen centuries. If it be possible to concentrate yourself in such reflections as the route we are now travelling and the surrounding objects, consecrated by tradition, give birth, then we have quite an interesting field before us for this sightseeing stroll, without the wall of the Holy City.

Immediately above, overhanging the deep gorge of the Hinnom Valley, is the Field of Aceldama, whose earth is said to consume the flesh of the bodies committed to it, in forty-eight hours. A portion of the field is called the Hill of Evil Council, where Judas and the betrayers of our Lord consulted as to the manner in which they might take him. Many interesting tombs may here be seen, of very fine workmanship.

Squads of Turkish women and children may be seen along this road, and above the valley, enjoying a fantasia, or gala day, and are making the valley resound with their joyous songs, that give a peculiar sound, at a distance, particularly in the instance of one in which they constantly interrupt the song by throwing their hands to their mouths, rising from the lowest tone to the highest pitch.

At the end of this valley, turning to the left a few paces, we descend a few steps to the Pool of Siloam, with its fragments of five columns, indicating the remains of five porches, which seem to identify this pool with the Bethesda of old-where the blind received their sight.

We here change our course, and proceed northward up the Valley of Jehoshaphatthe former bed of the brook of Kedron.

Perched on the western side of the Hill of Scandal, is the romantic and sepulchral village of Siloam, built literally into the tombs of the Jews that were chiseled here two thousand years ago, many of which, in their secret crypts and niches, contain the bodies of the dead as well as of the living, even at the present day.

A dirty Arab, with his feet touching the ground on either side of the donkey which he rides, may be observed ascending the hill, while his poor wife is compelled to toil and almost faint under her heavy burden, in making the tiresome ascent, which leads from this fountain up the foot-path to the southeast angle of the Temple enclosure. We pause here and gaze with wonder-struck admiration at the immense stones laid in the angle of the wall at this point, undoubtedly placed, just as they now appear, during the Solomonic reign in Jerusalem. Immediately above, jutting forth from the wall, is the traditional seat of Mahomet in the final day of reckoning, when he is to judge the assembled universe in the Valley of Jehoshaphat below. Every Mussulman, by virtue of his true faith, will walk over this valley on an iron wire, which admits him on the other side of the Gulf, into the Gates of Paradise; but the Infidel Chris

tians and Jews are to be telegraphed to the world of punishment by the fiat of his omnipresent will.

Opposite the southeast angle of the Temple wall, one hundred and twenty feet below, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is the beautiful monolith, said to be that of Hezekiah, which is defaced by the Hebrew inscriptions. Opposite, but a few steps to the north side of this tomb, is the entrance to the tomb of James the Apostle, which appears to much better advantage below. The pillar of Absalom, immediately in front of the tomb of Jehoshaphat, is one of the most symmetrical and beautiful pieces of Eastern architecture. And as you pass this tomb notice the accumulation of

stones at its base, which is daily augmented by the devout pilgrim of every creed, who casts a stone with a curse at the monument of the undutiful Absalom. But we hasten our walk to the small inclosure of stone wall now surrounding the Garden of Gethsemane. This spot, beyond a doubt, is hallowed ground, and fraught with soulstirring emotions. If appearance of age be admitted in evidence of high antiquity, then the old olive trees in the inclosure are the very ones which sprung from the roots of those which witnessed the bloody sweat of our adorable Saviour. Their great spreading boughs and thick foliage flood the spot with a deluge of delicious shade for the weary pilgrim from distant lands.

[graphic][merged small]

CITY WALL ON BEZETHA HILL, OVER "COTTON MEGARA," THE GREAT CAVERN QUARRY. Immediately without the Garden is a large rock, where, tradition says, the Saviour prayed before his betrayal. A few steps beyond is the subterranean Church of the Virgin Mary, said to contain her tomb, scarcely observable in the view here presented.

Dr. Barclay, having heard vague rumors of an immense cave beneath Mt. Bezetha, covering a large area of nether Jerusalem, was constantly on the alert to gain information that might lead to its discovery. In taking a stroll around the northern wall of

the city, immediately opposite the Cave of Jeremiah, his attention was attracted by his dog, apparently on the scent of game, for which he forthwith commenced active mining operations, and soon effected an entrance at the point immediately under the bighest part of the city wall, represented so faithfully in the sketch of this most interesting and romantic spot. The Doctor was so fortunate as to evade the watchfulness of the guard at Damascus, and effect an entrance through a round hole, barely large enough to admit his body, and now

discovered a gigantic Cavern Quarry, which, during the night, with torches, tape line, and other apparatus, he fully explored. The plat showed it to be about a thousand yards in circumference, following its irregularities, with immense labyrinthian halls, their roofs supported by pillars, left for that purpose, and galleries and crypts; in the end of which were visible the marked blocks, to be cut, also many large masses prepared, but never moved. Here he found petrified stalactites, numerous stalagmites, crockery-ware, and a pellucid pool of vile brackish water. In the southren end of the quarry, in a deep pit, he picked up a most singular skull of a man, of gigantic size. Imagination is left free, in assigning to this person a locality. He may have belonged to the age of Solomon, and, for aught we knew,

"Held by his own invitation,

A torch at the Great Temple's dedication."

On comparing some of the chippings of the blocks in the quarry with the huge

stones in the Temple wall, the place from whence they were obtained at once was seen, and the ease with which, on an inclined plane, Hiram and others, could have put them in their appointed places, a fact that has hitherto puzzled all the antiquarians who have speculated on this subject. Doubtless this is the very quarry in which the chisel and hammer wrought out so skilfully the materials for the silent growth of the Great Temple of Solomon.

Ain Yalo is generally supposed to be that celebrated "fountain of waters," on the boundary line between Judah and Benjamin, called Nephtoah; but it is very evident from Joshua's indication of the dividing line between the lots of these two tribes, that the present Ain Lifta is identical with the Nephtoah of the Scriptures; and a more beautiful and inviting camping-ground during the warm summer months, is nowhere to be found in the environs of Jerusalem. The Anglican Bishop has spent his tenting season for two or three years at

[graphic][merged small]

this delightful retreat, distant a mile and a pilgrims, upon whom he has levied taxes half from the city; and is not unfrequently and extorted buckshish, to the amount of visited by the lawless and rapacious Arab chief, Abu Ghaush, who for the last half century, by his exactions and robberies, has been the terror of travellers and defenceless

thousands of piastres. His family is quite numerous, amounting to sixty or seventy males. He is represented as seated at the foot of the large olive tree, above the pool,

with his numerous body-guard. The tardy vengeance of the Turkish Government has at ength overtaken them, and confined some in Constantinople, another is in exile in Bosnia, and a third died in banishment some years since.

A passage occurs in Genesis, xxiv. 11, seq., which groups together several particulars, that make up an oriental scene entirely unique. The age is that of the Patriarchs: the actors are Eleazer, Abraham's servant, and Rebekah, the destined bride of Isaac; the place is a well or tank, in Mesopotamia, outside of the city; the time nightfall.

"And he made his camels to kneel down without the city, by a well of water, at the time of the evening, even the time that

women go out to draw water. And, behold H
Rebekah came out with her pitcher upon her
shoulder, and she went down to the well
and filled her pitcher, and came up."

An Eastern guide-book of customs, would not furnish a more graphic picture of what occurs at the close of every day, in the vicinity of Eastern cities, than this account, written so many thousand years ago. The drawers and carriers of water are the women and donkeys, carrying the water upon their heads and backs. The burden of bringing water for domestic purposes is performed almost entirely by females.

"A man bearing a pitcher of water," is a rare sight; and the manner in which the Saviour refers to such a circumstance (he speaks of it as a sign,) implies that it was an uncommon occurrence at that time.

THE

THE RAINY DAY.

HE day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all-
Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.
LONGFELLOW.

THE AGED PASTOR.

E stands in the desk, that grave old man,

With an eye still bright, though his cheek is wan,
And his long white locks are backward rolled
From his noble brow of classic mould,
And his form, though bent by weight of years,
Somewhat of its primal beauty wears.

He opens the page of the Sacred Word-
Not a whisper, nor low nor loud is heard;
Even Folly assumes a serious look,

As he readeth the words of the Holy Book;
And the thoughtless and gay grow rev'rent there,
As he opens his lips in fervent prayer.
He stands as the grave old prophet stood,

Proclaiming the Truth and the living God-
Whose hearts are at ease in their folly and sin,
with a challenge of guilt still unforgiven,

Pouring reproof on the ears of men

To the soul unfitted, unmeet for Heaven.

O, who can but honor that good old mau,
As he neareth his three score years and ten-
Who hath made it the work of his life to bless

Our world in its woe and wickedness;
Still guiding the few which were wont to stray
In paths of sin, to the narrow way.

Morning and evening the wells and foun-
tains are most frequently resorted to by
the people bringing their flocks; and skin
bottles and earthen-ware pitchers and jars, Pointing the soul to a glorious Heaven,
which having filled, they place on their
heads, shoulders, and backs, together with
their little ones, and with merry songs re-
turn to their homes.

With a kindly heart, through the lapsing years,
He hath shared your joys, he hath wiped your tears.
He hath bound the wreath on the brow of the bride,
He hath stood by the couch when loved ones died,

As the ties which bound it to the earth were riven.
Methinks ye'll weep another day,
When the good old man has passed away,
When the last of his ebbing sands have run,
When his labor is o'er and his work is done;
Who'll care for the flock and keep the fold,
When his pulse is still and his heart is cold?
We'll miss him then: every look and tone
So familiar now, forever gone,

WHAT greater instance can there be of
a weak and pusillanimous temper, than
for a man to pass his whole life in opposi- Will thrill the heart with inward pain,
tion to his own sentiments; or not to dare
to do what he thinks he ought to do?

And ye'll long and listen for them in vain;
When a stranger form and a stranger face
Shall stand in your honored pastor's place.

« AnteriorContinuar »