Entering the city by the Jaffa Gate we find on our right the citadel,
with the so-called Tower of David. The street right before us is now
called the Street of David, and descends eastward to the principal
entrance to the Haram. Another main street commences at the Damascus
Gate and traverses the city from north to south, passing near the
eastern end of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and through the
principal bazaar, and terminating a little eastward of the Zion Gate.
These two streets divide the city into four quarters. The north-east
is the Moslem quarter, the north-west the Christian quarter, the
south-west the Armenian, and the south-east the Jewish. The Church of
the Holy Sepulchre is, of course, in the Christian quarter, where also
we have the Latin Convent, very conspicuous from its lofty position
near the north-west angle of the city. In the Moslem quarter is the
Serai or palace, and most of the Consulates, and the beautiful little
Church of St Anne. The Armenian Convent, the largest building in the
city, occupies a noble site on the south-western hill. Near it, on
the north, is the English church. But by far the most remarkable and
striking building in this quarter of the city is the Citadel, whose
massive towers loom heavily over all around them. The Jewish quarter
has no structure of note with the exception of the new synagogues.
Jerusalem is not like Damascus, where the Moslem religion and oriental
customs are almost unmixed with any foreign element, but is a city in
which every form of religion and every nationality of east and west are
represented at one time. “So motley a crowd” (says Major Conder) “as
that which is presented daily in David Street and in the market-place
under David’s Tower, is perhaps to be found nowhere else. The chatter
of the market people, the shouting of the camel drivers, the tinkling
of bells, mingle with the long cry of the naked Santon, as he wanders,
holding his tin pan for alms, and praising unceasingly “the Eternal
God.” The scene is most remarkable in the morning, before the glare of
the sun, beating down on the stone city, has driven its inhabitants
into the shadow. The foreground is composed of a tawny group of camels,
lying down, donkeys bringing in vegetables or carrying out rubbish,
and women in blue and red dresses slashed with yellow, their dark
faces and long eyes (tinged with blue) shrouded in white veils, which
are fringed perhaps with black or red. Soldiers in black and Softas
in spotless robes are haggling about their change, or praying in
public undisturbed by the din. Horsemen ride by in red boots with red
saddles, and spears 15 feet long. The Greek Patriarch walks past on a
visit, preceded by his mace-bearers and attended by his secretary. Up
the narrow street comes the hearse of a famous Moslem, followed by a
long procession of women, in white “izars,” which envelop the whole
figure, swelling out like balloons, and leaving only the black mask
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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