The Mahomedan pilgrims, although they allow Christ was a true prophet, did not appear to visit the sepulchre at all; their devotions were performed in the Mosque of St. Omar, the sacredness of which is held second only to that of Mecca. This is because of the famous vision related by Mahomet, in which he declares that in one night he was carried by the angel Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem, to the summit of a rock on Mount Moriah, and from thence he ascended on a winged pegasus to heaven, returning back to Mecca the same day laden with new inspirations! The mark of his presence he of course left behind on the rock in the shape of a large hole, and hence the Moslems call St. Omar the “Dome of the Rock.” This rock is supposed by some to have formed the great altar of burnt-offering of Solomon’s Temple, and over it is now built this temple of the False Prophet!
The rock is of great size, covering a space of about fifty feet diameter, but is irregular in shape, and may be about six feet high, and, in accordance with Moslem ideas, is strictly watched and enclosed. It is also partly veiled, and rests, they say, upon nothing. To my eyes, it palpably rested on its own edges, inasmuch as there is a hollow excavation cut out under it, communicating, as some suppose, with the underground drains by which the blood and water of the sacrifices may have been washed away.
Although the followers of Mahomet look with contempt upon the credulous superstition of other religions, there is nothing too absurd for the devout Moslem to believe in connexion with his own, however contrary to the evidence of his senses; many curious instances of this I might relate, did space permit. But some Christians are not much more enlightened. There is a very crooked street called the “Via Dolorosa,” because that by which the Saviour walked from Pilate’s Judgment Hall to Calvary. Here the monks show a built-up arch in a wall where once stood the now famous “Holy Stair” by which Jesus descended from the hall. This stair we were shown at Rome, whence it was transported, some say by miracle, and is now erected in St. Giovanni, one of the churches there. When in Rome we witnessed several female devotees climbing painfully up its steps upon their bare knees, while some who proposed walking up upon their feet were prohibited. Farther north in Via Dolorosa is shown the “Ecce Homo” Arch, also the house of Dives, with the stone on which Lazarus sat; and there is shown an indentation in the stone wall made by Jesus in leaning there to rest, wearied with His heavy cross; and so on, with many other interesting spots equally authentic!
Amongst travellers generally the subject of religion is very seldom introduced, although the Bible narrative is evidently in most men’s thoughts as these scenes pass before the eye. Here in Jerusalem we were privately informed, on very good authority, that a well-known wealthy Scotch marquis, probably to confirm his recent conversion, or perversion, was, through some very potent influence, permitted to remain within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre all night, which he either passed in religious devotions or slept in the so-called Saviour’s grave! He was attended only by his religious director and his dragoman, and I am not aware that such liberty has ever been accorded by the Turkish Government in any other instance. The story I believe to be quite true, and probably somewhat reveals the secret working of his mind at the time.
The Hall of Pilate, subsequently called the Castle of Antonia, was situated adjoining the Haram or Temple Court on the north, an eminence commanding that portion of the city, and on its site now stands the Turkish barracks. The Pasha until of recent years was subsidiary to the Governor of Syria. There is a telegraphic wire connecting Jerusalem with Damascus, Nabulous, and other centres, very necessary for military purposes.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem consist largely of Arabs, who appear to be rather more domesticated than we had hitherto seen them. They are, as well as the Turks (of whom the chief men are the governing class), all strict Mahomedans. The Arabs are, like the Jews, descendants of Abraham, and are probably—next to them—the most remarkable people on the globe. They are, as it were, the Anglo-Saxons of the East, occupying only the fertile and tropical, as the latter do the more temperate and arctic portions of the world, and both possessing in a high degree the faculty of displacing other races. Physically they are a fine race, living generally in the open air, and having a high degree of elasticity and muscle. I think no other nation could long compete with them in running a race. They seem governed by numerous sheiks, and are formed into clans, very much like the Scotch Highlanders of old. They frequently look and act like boys set free for the holidays—noisy, restless, and quarrelsome as boys are. Mentally they do not appear to rank high; and yet this people have overrun all others with whom they came in contact, and occupy the places of the most renowned ancient races. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, and Egyptians have disappeared, with many others, and Arabs fill their place. They have supplied kings for vacant thrones in abundance; and although at present largely governed by Turks (whom even now they maintain by their swords upon the Byzantine throne of the Cæsars) they are to be found swarming with semi-independence from Syria and the Great Valley of the Euphrates on the north to the islands in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Livingstone found them in Central Africa, the real although not the nominal masters. To describe them in the mass, I know no way of doing so better than saying that they are simple and purely practical in character, and extremely migratory in habits. Under no king, nor government, nor army, nor fortification, nor priesthood, except his own sheik (unless by force), each is a king, a priest, a government to himself; and so he declares no wars, but lets other potentates fight to clear the way for his own occupation and profit, or that of his sheik.
Between them and the Jews there is, I think, a remarkable resemblance as well as contrast. Both are descended from Abraham, and both inherited the temporal blessings promised to his seed, but with Isaac only was the spiritual covenant established. “As for Ishmael, I will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac.” The Jews were confined within the narrow compass of an extremely rich and fertile land, whose “defence was the munition of rocks.” The Arabs, while “living in presence of their brethren,” and indeed nearly surrounding the Holy Land, were at the same time scattered far and wide, and the Desert and Wilderness everywhere around has been their home—their hand against every man and every man’s hand against them. By them the Eastern slave trade is even yet carried on in defiance of all laws; and yet Arabia, their native home, has never been really violated by foreign step, but preserved intact for forty centuries—I think a fact unparalleled in the history of the world! And still it remains a sealed country; we know really far less of Arabia than of Japan. Like the Jews, they seem almost impervious to religious teaching; and while all other races are in some degree being Christianized, we never hear of any real breach made amongst the Arabs.
We saw no manufactures in Jerusalem except a little pottery work, some hand-spinning of wool and cotton for home use, and the making of numerous articles for pilgrims, such as beads, crosses, little olive-wood boxes, and the like, which I found were of very poor material and workmanship. There is quite a market for the sale of such articles on the paved outer court of the Church of the Sepulchre, where are two rows of sellers, chiefly monks, daily watching for buyers, and almost every visitor becomes one. There are also many articles of lace and fine sewed work to be obtained at one of the Latin religious houses, called “The Sisters of Sion.”
One day we endeavoured to walk round the city on the top of the walls, which are about twelve feet wide, and, commencing on the north, we obtained a very good view of the interior of the city, but the walls were so filthy that we were obliged to give up our walk. The houses have generally flat roofs, or otherwise dome-shaped. The gates are large, and arched over—the spacious porches just inside would still do for holding Courts of Justice as of old. The finest one—the Golden Gate, on the east—is built up because of some Moslem superstition that the Christians are at some future day to take the Holy City, entering by the Golden Gate! The walls have, of course, been rebuilt again and again. There are several remains of the original to be seen, especially the deep foundation of the south-east corner, and the remains of an ancient arch at the south-west angle of the Haram wall. These indicate a noble and very different style of building from the present.
There are no scavengers in Jerusalem—nor, indeed, in any of the cities of the Turks—except dogs, which have a sort of sacred respect paid them; and the Arabs, who practise cruelty to all the brute creation otherwise, respect the dog. In a state of semi-wildness, they seem the property of no one; but each street appears to belong to one or more of these dogs by a sort of prescriptive right, and woe betide the intruder who seeks to invade their domain! They are one of the pests of the place, and often snarl at strangers as they ride through the streets. Their colour is generally brown, and their size nearly that of our shepherd’s collie.