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18 September 1879 — Jaffa | |
Thursday. 18th September [1879]. we were up & at 5 were again en route. I went most of the way in the tartaravan as the roads were very bad. The Pasha of Jerusalem sent Henry out a man to ride half way & so we all arrived in detachments at the last village before Jerusalem. There we found the Govr of Jerusalem Raouf P. the chanceliers of all the consuls, the Greek, & Armenian Priests &c &c We went into a little kind of café where sitting, the ground was strewn with orange & lemon leaves– We waited a little while for Henry to come up as he had been kept by the inhabitants of a village en route & offered coffee &c As he neared the inn where the authorities waited for him the Cavasses went & lined the road & stamped their long silver headed iron pointed staves on the ground. After he had received all authorities they brought him a fine horse & he rode by the side of Raouf P. & was followed by the rest on horseback. A guard or escort riding in front & immediately after the carriage with me, Alice & Hill & after us the others—so we went in solemn procession wh looked very well as we wound up the hilly roads– As we got to the outskirts of the town we found all the roads lined with people who had made quite a fête of our arrival & Henry had to bow right & left. Our hotel (Mediterranean hotel) was just inside the gate & after depositing us there everyone left us to rest. We had breakfast abt 11. The country is burnt up & barren looking– Outside the gates on the Jaffa road are a great many Jewish houses. They are flat roofed & very Oriental looking. The houses are only 2 stories high & the rooms all vaulted owing to the absence of wood in the construction. The hotel was very comfortable and on the terrace outside my bedroom there is a very pretty view of the town—the church of the H. Sepulcre, the Mt of Olives, Mosque of Omar & immediately under the hotel the Pool of Hezekiah a deep reservoir at the time quite dry. On arriving we breakfasted and then retired to our rooms to rest. I went to bed but was soon driven out by a family of bugs—& I caught them by dozens both in my & in Henry’s bed—so at last I gave up the attempt to rest & got up & dressed– The master of the inn was in a great way on being informed of my troubles & promised to have a thoro’ investigation & cleansing—so we sallied forth after lunch at wh meal we enjoyed the company of Mr & Miss Moore. We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcre and at the door we were met by a procession of Greek church dignitaries, priests, bishops & Archbishops carrying gigantic lighted tapers. At the door they sprinkled us with holy rose water out of silver bottles & incensed with silver censers & then took us to see the holy places. We went in one by one into the Sepulcre but le coeur ne me disait rien and I could not get myself to believe it—my last spark of religious veneration & belief of the holy spots had gone out long before we had seen the whole round. It being quite impossible to bring oneself to believe that all the circumstances of the death of Our Saviour were crammed into so small a space. When we had seen every thing—chapels & altars belonging to Greeks, Latins & Armenians the Greeks invited us into their vestry. I had scraped up an acquaintance en route with a Spanish monk who stuck to me. Just as we were going into the Greek vestry a Latin procession came by and it was shocking to see how the rival Christians jostled each other. Henry wanted to stop & see the procession—but the Greeks drew him on saying “oh thats nothing you had better come on with us.” We had the usual 3 courses of refreshments served to us sirop—coffee & liqueurs—& I found my inevitable monk by my side! Henry pushed himself in to the enemies camp. We were conducted out of the church with the same ceremony as when we arrived. Henry thanked the priest & it was worth seeing my young Latin monks face when Henry remarked to the Greek bishop that the Greeks hold much the largest part of the church—wh was true. We went to call on the Governor Raouf P. who had a guard of honor & a band to give us the military honors. His palace is curiously built & one goes to the state reception room by an outside staircase round 2 sides of a court yard. After paying our visit we went to look at what is called Herods Palace now used as a barrack the stair case of wh is now in Rome & we returned to the hotel by what is called the Via Dolorosa or road where our Saviour is supposed to have borne His cross a narrow long steep street. The population was very civil to us as we walked along getting up & bowing to us. We found rather an absurd procession headed by 2 Consular cavasses—big men in blue & gold embroidered costumes carrying huge silver topped sticks wh we called pokers. They were tipped with iron & at every step stamped them heavily on the ground to announce our arrival & make people clear out of the way. Henry said it reminded him of mules at a funeral. We were quite tired by the time we got home as the pavement of Jerusalem is rugged & uneven & we were glad of dinner & to get early to bed. Alice was tired & went to bed before dinner. We slept well notwithstanding the fear of bugs—but the hotel keeper had really had our beds well cleaned. | |
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