8th. The southern gate, called by the Mohammedans Bâb-el-Huldah, Gate of Huldah[30]. This gate, now disused, is under the Mosque el-Aksa. Of its ornamentation I shall speak more fully in another place.
9th. Still keeping along the southern wall in a westerly direction we find the small Dung Gate, called by the Arabs Bâb-el-Mogharibeh, Gate of the western Africans. It is not kept open throughout the year; but when there is a scarcity of water in the city, it is used by the water-carriers.
10th. Ascending towards Sion, we reach the Sion Gate, Bâb-Neby-Daûd, (The Gate of the prophet David,) so called because it leads to the Sepulchre of David, which is at a short distance. Through it too is the way to the Christian and Jewish cemeteries.
11th. Lastly, on the west is the Jaffa Gate[31], or in Arabic, Bâb-el-Khalíl, (Gate of Hebron,) because through this gate is the best and shortest road to Hebron.
The appearance of Jerusalem within the walls is sombre and sad, offering no attraction to the eye, and filling the mind with deep melancholy. With the exception of the esplanade of the Haram-es-Sherîf, the city presents but a mass of buildings without order or design, very few of which deserve special attention. The cupolas of the Church of the Resurrection, that of the new Jewish Synagogue, and some minarets, are the only edifices which tower above the others, and the forms even of these are not pleasing. The panorama of Jerusalem, as seen from Olivet[32], is striking from the feelings it awakens and the reminiscences it calls up; but it conveys no idea of life. It is in truth the panorama of a Deicide city. The streets and lanes entangled in the labyrinth of houses are irregular, narrow, dirty, and ill-paved; through many of them flow open sewers, receiving the drainage from the houses, and filth of all kinds abounds. There was a period when it was even thought desirable to leave the gates of the city open at night, in order that hyenas and jackals might enter and purify the streets by devouring the carcases of animals that were lying about.
The vaulted bazaars, which in many cities of the East are so full of life and activity, at Jerusalem look rather like caves containing sepulchral cells, and the visitor must be careful where he stands, lest some portion of the ruinous wall fall upon him, where he sets his foot, or against whom he brushes in the street. With few exceptions, the fronts of the houses present nothing but rows of windows with iron-bars, or heavy wooden jalousies, that give them the appearance of prisons—weeds and hyssop are growing upon many—others are fast falling to decay—the whole is a sad picture of neglect and indifference.
There are three great divisions of the city. A central valley, commencing at the N.W., outside the Damascus gate, and terminating at the S.E., below the Pool of Siloam, separates it into two parts, of which that on the west of the valley may be considered as the first division, being larger than both the others together. These are separated one from another by a street, now called (for the greater part of its length) the Via Dolorosa, which begins at the Gate of Saint Mary, whence it rises westward until it meets the central valley. The hill to the north of this street forms the second division, and the platform on the south, occupied by the Haram-es-Sherîf and its precincts, the third division.
The first division is traversed from north to south by a street[33] extending from the Damascus Gate to the Gate of Sion. The part to the west of this is chiefly inhabited by Christians, and may therefore be considered as the Christian Quarter; the part to the east, as far as the central valley, is occupied by people of various creeds. From the Jaffa Gate as far as the western side of the Haram, the city is traversed by another street, called in the time of the Crusaders the Street of David. The district, then, east of the street leading to the Gate of Sion, and S.E. of the Street of David, is the Jewish Quarter; and that north of the Street of David, together with the western side of the central valley, the Mohammedan Quarter, although many Christians and Jews also dwell in it.
The second division may be considered as partly a Christian and partly a Mohammedan Quarter, because in the last few years the Christians have become possessed of much of it, especially along the northern side of the Via Dolorosa.
The third division is entirely a Mohammedan Quarter, except that the Armenian Catholics possess a small plot of ground in the angle formed by the junction of the Via Dolorosa with the central valley.