The great mass of pilgrims to the Holy City comes, every year, from the East, consisting of Russians, Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Copts, Abyssinians, Maronites, and Mohammedans themselves. The greater part of these arrive at Jaffa in steam-boats or trading vessels, in which they are stowed like merchandise, or like negroes in a slave-ship. Not only men, but also entire families, women, girls, and boys, the aged, the sick, and the maimed, make the long pilgrimage. These all expose themselves to bad weather by sea and land, to great privations, and to all kinds of exactions. They assemble in large companies, carrying their provisions along with them, besides merchandize for driving bargains, together with mats for bedding, and cooking vessels, which they load upon camels, mules, and asses. They, however, in many cases walk, often bare-foot, making short stages, sleeping in the open air, or crowded together in a convent; enduring all these fatigues in order to worship in the places which Christ has consecrated by His sufferings. When they arrive at Jerusalem they betake themselves severally to the convents belonging to their own community, and there, after certain formalities, are distributed into lodgings; where, if Greeks, they are crowded together in heaps; if Armenians, they are more comfortable; and if Russians, they have every comfort. I will not weary the reader by relating what the arrangements of the different communities are with regard to their pilgrims; but will only describe those of the Greeks, as they receive the greatest number of all.
The Greek pilgrims of high rank are conducted into apartments assigned to them, where they are well lodged and nourished, according to their importance and dignity. They are not asked for money, but are given to understand the wants of the community, and the needs of the Church; so that they pay liberally for the hospitality they have received, and for the churches and Sanctuaries they have visited. The common pilgrims, after reposing two days in the great convent of S. Constantine, are presented to the Patriarch, who receives an offering from each, under the name of a contribution to the wants of the churches and convents of his diocese. They are then conducted into the Church of the Resurrection, where they pass a night in prayer, and make other offerings to the Guardian of the Sepulchre for the maintenance of the Sanctuaries. On being brought back into the convent, a plentiful repast is provided for them, and their names are enrolled for the pilgrimages to the Jordan and Nazareth, for which they pay a tax. They are then conducted to their lodgings, or rather dens, in one of the numerous convents in Jerusalem. On taking possession of these, they pay a sum proportionate to the expense of their pilgrimage, amounting only to eight or ten shillings. They must, however, make a present in addition, to the church of the place, to those who have brought them, to the Superior who receives them, and to the laics who assist to instal them in their new quarters. When they are settled, they are taken to visit the Tomb of the Virgin and all the churches of the convents, where they pay. They make pilgrimages to Bethlehem, and all the other remarkable places. They buy relics, ask for prayers and blessings, but always pay; so that after being entertained at their own expense for four or five months, and after having expended their resources, many are obliged to sell their baggage to return to their native lands, taking back with them the articles they have acquired with so much toil, all of which however have received a blessing. That they are crowded together, and may be said to occupy dens rather than lodgings, appears from the fact, that sometimes eight persons are quartered in a room 16 or 18 feet square, who have not unfrequently met for the first time, and are from different countries; so that the reader may easily conceive the inconveniences they suffer, and the maladies that are caused by the straitened accommodation, especially when the winter happens to be more rainy than usual. Notwithstanding all the observations that have been made on this barbarous manner of lodging, they are always tenacious of their ancient customs; but as Russia now provides well for her own pilgrims, it is to be hoped that the Greeks, having more space, will find some better manner of accommodating theirs.
With the Armenians the pilgrims are better cared for in every respect; but they have to pay for everything, as with the Greeks.
The pilgrims of the different communities are on no better terms one with another than the convents themselves; consequently quarrels break out every year, in which, though life is not lost, bruises and blows of sticks are plentifully bestowed. These contests are most frequent between the Greeks and the Armenians; and the monks, instead of attempting to allay the strife, rather excite it.
I conclude by giving a list of the schools, hospitals, hospices, and other establishments, belonging to the different communities in Jerusalem.
The Jews possess:—
8 Schools (now perhaps more).
1 Hospital, bearing Rothschild's name.
2 Houses used as Hospices (now perhaps more).
1 Large building for lodging the poor, called after Sir M. Montefiore.
The Mohammedans:—
1 Military Hospital.
1 Hospice, called after Saladin.
1 Hospice of the Kusbeck Dervishes.
1 Tekhiyeh el-Khasseki-Sultane, where the poor are supported.
A number of unimportant Schools.
Several ruined buildings in the Haram es-Sherîf, in which the poor are lodged.
The Lepers' Quarter.
The Orthodox Greeks:—