These quarrels are sometimes serious. Knives have been drawn and people have been killed in these religious riots. Some years ago a monk was shot by an American pilgrim in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and more recently a gigantic candle was sent to Jerusalem addressed to the care of certain priests. This candle was nine feet high and two feet thick, and as far as its outward appearance was concerned seemed to be entirely of wax. It was shipped in from abroad, and was intended to be lighted inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and to burn there while the Easter celebrations were at their height. At that time the church would have been filled with Greeks, Armenians, Latins, and Abyssinians. When the candle came to Jaffa, the customs officers held it for duties, and sent word to the priests to come and get it. When they failed to appear it was cut open and five thousand little dynamite balls were found inside it. Had it exploded at the time of the ceremonies ten thousand or more people would have been in danger of losing their lives. That candle might have been sent by a Greek who was disgruntled at the Church, and in his desire for revenge cared not how many he killed. I am told that some of the factions in the Greek Church have refused to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre until their wrongs are righted. The Greeks who are natives of Palestine claim that they have the sole right to the church and church property. There have already been numerous riots between these Greeks and the foreign monks, and at one time the people demanded that the Patriarch of the Greek Church resign. The fight among the Greeks is to some extent sentimental, but it is also said to be largely one for the loaves and fishes. The Greeks are the most powerful religious body in Palestine, and their property runs high into the millions. Scattered over the Holy Land from Dan to Beersheba are their monasteries, convents, and hospices, to all of which pilgrims who travel over the country make contributions. Some of the places are so valuable that the priests in charge are said to pay a lump sum of a thousand dollars or more a year for the privilege of presiding at them, expecting to recoup themselves from the gifts of the pilgrims. Here in Jerusalem there are thirty-five Greek monasteries and other big buildings managed by six hundred monks. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the greater part of which belongs to the Greeks, brings in tens of thousands of dollars every year to the Church. There are thousands of Russians who make pilgrimages to this city, and each is expected to leave an offering according to his wealth and spiritual desires. The Greek Church also owns the shops of a bazaar near the Holy Sepulchre and holds the titles to the most valuable of the buildings about the Jaffa Gate and David’s Tower, including the Grand New Hotel building.