7. Modern Jerusalem. (1) Streets and Apartments. The streets are narrow, crooked. and generally paved with cobble stones. David street is the Broadway of Jernsalem, and lends from the Joppa Gate, descending. eastward, through the center of the city, across the Tyroprron Val ley to the west wall of the temple area, having on either side extensive bazaars where all kinds of traffic is carried on. As one enters the city the Tower of David appears on the right, the founda tion of which was doubtless that of Phasaelus. It presents the best specimens of masonry. For twenty feet the foundations slope inwardly at an angle of forty-five degrees, and it was quite unas sailable by the battering-rams of the early ages. It was the last place to yield when Jerusalem was captured by the Crusaders, and when the walls of the city were destroyed in the thirteenth cen tury by the Moslems, it withstood the fury of a wasting desolation. Within it are several spa cious rooms, and a cistern for water. In one of the apartments, the Mohammedans say, David wrote the Psalms. Near by this tower is the American consulate, while on the left stands the Grand Hotel and the Turkish postoffice. About a block eastward is Christian street, running northward to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. A little further east is Damascus street, the east ern boundary of the Christian quarter of the city. The Mohammedans' quarters are in the northeast section of the city, the Jewish in the southeast, and the Armenian on the site of Mount Zion, south and west, 1.vhile the Harem inelosure is on Mount Moriah, further east.
(2) Absalom's Pillar. Near by is Absalom's pillar. The memory of Absalom is so hateful to the Jew that Ile throws a stone at the monu ment whenever he passes by it. Near by Absa lom's pillar is the burying place of the Jews, and north of this is the garden of Gethsemane, the tomb of the Virgin, and the valley of Jehosha phat.
(3) Mount Moriah. Directly beyond the val ley is Mount Moriali, including the temple area, which -the Moslems call Hara es-Sherif. The Mosque of Omar, or "the noble sanctuary," occu pies the site of the famous temple of Solomon. Near it, on the north, is the enclosure of An tonia. The quadrangle measures one thousand and forty-two feet on the north, one thousand five hundred and thirty on the east (the front view), nine hundred and twenty-two on the south, and one thousand six hundred and one on the west. embracing about thirty-five acres. Bezetha is on the right, reaching to the extremity of the wall. The Mohammedan cemetery, in the foreground, is near the wall, extending its entire length north and south. Beyond the wall, on the right, is Jeremiah's grotto, where tradition says he wrote the book of Lamentations. It is doubtless one of the openings of the vast system of quarries under this hill, and from which much of the stone itsed in the construction of the city has been taken. Olive groves and private residences are seen on the northern suburbs of the city. Many fine buildings have lately been erected in this quarter, among which are the Arab Protestant church, the large Russian buildings, the Coptic church, and other modern structures. On the west side of the city is the citadel, and on the southwest the tomb of David.
(4) Church ot the Holy Sepulcher. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher. having two domes, is a little to the right of the citadel. it was built. as before stated, by the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, in 326 A. D., and stands over the traditional place of the Savior's tomb. It was
dedicated with great pomp in 335 A. D., Encelins taking part in the gorgeous ceremonies. This building W11 S burnt hy the Persians in 614 A. D., but was shortly after rebuilt by Modestus. Muez. of the race of the Fatimites, removed the seat of power from Jerusalem to Cairo, and this church was again destroyed. A third time it fell at the command of a caliph, who razed it to the ground.
A successor of his rebuilt it, completing the build ing, 1048 A. D.
During the period of the Crusaders the pres ent walls were erected. Fire demolished a part of the structure in 18o8 A. D., but the Greek Christians so completely restored it that no traces of the fire remain. The true site of Cal vary is now believed to be on the skull-like mound outside the Damascus Gate on the north. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher has two large domes covering several chapels. The sepulcher proper is of marble in the great rotunda under the western dome. The space occupied by the immense pile is three hundred and fifty by two hundred and eighty feet.
(5) Mosque of Omar. Just beyond the Golden Gate, near the western wall, stands the famous Mosque of Omar, Kubbct cs Saklzra, or "dome of the rock," a great octagonal building, each side being sixty-seven feet long, with a diameter of one hundred and forty-eight feet, surmounted by. a great dome with a total height of one hun dred and seventy feet. It covers the sacred rock on which the old temple stood where Abraham of fered Isaac to God; where Araunah, the Jebusite, had his threshing floor, and the spot which David purchased of him on which to build an altar of sacrifice. The building is a poor representative of the temples erected either by Solomon, Nehe miah, or Herod, and yet it has a pleasing effect. Once its dome was plated with gold, and in the morning, reflecting the sunlight from its mar ble walls and gilded dome, must have been a beautiful picture of oriental magnificence. In the year 680 Caliph Omar found this spot covered with ruins and rubbish, all traces of the former grandeur having been obliterated for ages, and, with naked hands, helped clear the historic site, and proceeded to erect a temporary structure. The work begun was completed by Abdalmelik the tenth caliph, 691 A. D., by immense rev enues collected as taxes upon Egypt for seven years. During the rule of the Crusaders it was used as a Christian church, and some marks of violence are shown within. Around the whole interior is a corridor thirteen feet wide, while sixteen marble columns of the Corinthian order lend grace and beauty to the scene. On another inner circle stand twelve larger columns of the same order, with four great intervening piers. The dome is sixty feet in diameter. Within the last circle, and protected by a high iron railing, is the sacred "rock," four feet nine inches higher than the pavement, and forty by sixty feet in dimen sion. It is certainly a veritable relic. The sur face of the rock is rough, bearing marks of the chisel, steps cut, and holes drilled here and there. From this rock, tradition says, Mohammed as cended to heaven, leaving his footprints upon the stone. Underneath this is a stnall cave, which, undoubtedly, Araunah used as a grain bin. The mosque platform is five hundred and fifty by four hundred and fifty feet, and about ten feet higher than the general area, with beautiful stone ascents made through eight elegant Saracenic gates.