114 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 96 



briny waters is their own story, and reflects credit on their 

 business acumen. 



Notwithstanding- the vast amount that has been written 

 concerning Palestine, few writers make mention of the 

 feast of colors set forth toward nightfall in the Jordan 

 Valley. Possibly our evening there was an exceptional 

 one. It certainly was a very exceptional experience to 

 view a landscape abounding in such richness and beauty 

 of coloring. To the eastward rose the Mountains of Moab, 

 wrapped in the gold and purple trappings of the approaching 

 night, holding our attention to the utter exclusion of the des- 

 olate plain we were crossing. In the west the Mount of 

 Olives was distinctly marked by the lofty tower of the Rus- 

 sian Church that stands on its summit. Though the day had 

 been a long one and full of hard driving, we came all too 

 soon in the gloaming to the cleanly little inn, tvhere we were 

 to spend the night ; and all too early in the morning we left 

 it and the many singing birds, still hidden in the trees, to 

 return to the filth and fakes of Jerusalem. 



When portions of the old Roman wall many feet below the 

 present ground surface of Jerusalem are shown to visitors it 

 is reasonable to believe that relics belonging to the time of 

 Christ must be buried under debris a score or more feet in 

 depth ; when the guidebooks very plainly state that the Stone 

 of Unction has frequently been replaced by a new one, the 

 American mind fails to comprehend how even the most ig- 

 norant of European peasants can accept as genuine the " holy 

 relics " before which they prostrate themselves. Some of 

 the spurious show-places are so grotesquely ridiculous in 

 their pretensions that the memory of them calls up a smile. 

 Of this class is the " Milk Grotto " in Bethlehem. The claim 

 is made that the rock-hewn floor of this grotto was blessed 

 with therapeutic qualities, when on it fell a few drops from 

 the breast of the Virgin Mary ; so that to this day any mother 

 of any religion or nation, who is deficient in lacteal fluid, 

 will be benefited by a dose of the stone. Furthermore, that 

 tlie blessing may be universal, little " milk cakes," bearing 



