The houses of Jerusalem are of limestone with flat roofs constructed to catch the rain water. The better houses have little domes on them
The Mount of Olives is climbed by walled and winding roads and marked with many churches and chapels. Here Jesus often walked with His disciples, and here He brooded over the city that rejected Him
The Holy City is a beautifully framed picture when viewed from a bell tower on the Mount of Olives. Across the foreground stretches the wall of the inclosure of the Mosque of Omar
The slopes of the Valley of Jehoshaphat are now spotted with red. Thousands of poppies and anemones grow upon the ridges between the gardens, and the peasants are working the crops. They use plenty of fertilizer and, strange to say, most of that which comes from the city is taken out through the Dung Gate. It may be from this that it got its name. It is a great square hole in the wall just large enough for men and beasts to pass in and out. It is not far from the temple platform and within a stone’s throw of the Jews’ wailing place.
The southeastern corner of the walls of Jerusalem, and, indeed, a large portion of the eastern walls, are a part of the plateau upon which Solomon’s Temple once stood. In almost the middle of the eastern side of the temple is what is known as the Golden Gate, through which Christ is said to have made his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It has been walled up and the Mohammedans say that it will not be opened until the Judgment Day. A little farther on, at the corner of the temple, is St. Stephen’s Gate, which some say was the place where St. Stephen was stoned. Another legend is that the place of the stoning was near the Grotto of Jeremiah, in Solomon’s quarries, farther along around the walls. The tradition is that Stephen was here brought to the brow of the hill and thrown over a precipice. His hands were tied, and after he had fallen heavy blocks of stone were rolled down upon him from the brow of the hill.
The walls near the Temple are among the first that were built. They are in fine condition to-day, parts of them having been recently repaired. The stones are of bright yellow limestone laid in white mortar. Those at the bottom, which were laid up by Solomon, are of enormous size, one being about fifty feet long and about fifteen feet high and evidently cut from the bed rock upon which the wall stands.
Right at the Temple the walls rise almost precipitously from the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and I judge they are one hundred feet high. They are in excellent condition throughout. The towers are almost perfect, and, although the vegetation is growing in the cracks, most of the masonry looks comparatively new.