KNIGHTS OF ST. CATHERINE.
"Every order of knighthood in the Holy Land had its peculiar costume and device, and all of them had a patron saint. The Knights of St. Catherine, for example, wore on their shields as well as on their breasts a picture of a section of a wheel pierced by a dagger or sword. The legend is that St. Catherine was ordered to be put to death by torture on a wheel, but as soon as she was placed on it the wheel was miraculously broken, and the executioner beheaded her. Immediately the body and head were seized by angels and carried to Mount Sinai; its locality was revealed to a monk in a dream, and the next day he and his brethren carried it to a convent that had been established in the wilderness near the mountain, and piously buried it. The building has ever since been known as the Convent of St. Catherine, and is of great assistance to pilgrims and others who go to Mount Sinai.
THE VIA DOLOROSA.
"We passed along the Via Dolorosa, and were shown the spot where Christ rested his cross on his way to the crucifixion on Mount Calvary. Then we traversed the street of the Gate of the Column, and followed the guide till he brought us to the Damascus Gate. We ought to explain right here that there are seven gates in the walls of Jerusalem. The most in use are the Damascus and Jaffa gates, for the reason that nearly all visitors to the Holy City enter and depart by one or the other. As their names imply, the Damascus Gate is on the road to the city of that name, while the Jaffa Gate is the nearest to the Mediterranean. The latter is also called the Hebron Gate, for the reason that travellers to Hebron depart through it.
"There are two gates wholly or partly walled up; they are the Golden Gate, on Mount Moriah, and the so-called Gate of Herod. The other gates of most consequence are St. Stephen's, which is supposed to be near the spot where Stephen was stoned to death, and the Zion Gate, which leads from Mount Zion in the direction of David's tomb.
"To make the circuit of the walls of Jerusalem would require a walk of about two and a half miles, but owing to the nature of the ground a pedestrian could not keep at all times close to the line he wished to follow. The present walls were made by Sultan Suleiman in 1542, but many parts of them were standing before his time, and some of the foundations are the same as they were two thousand years ago. Jerusalem has not materially changed in its general characteristics since the time of Christ, and consequently it has not been difficult to identify many of the places mentioned in the Bible.