SYRTA: THE LAND LINK OF HISTORY'S CHAIN 



449 



stretch his bed beside the still waters of 

 Sultan's Pool. 



Water or the lack of it must always 

 affect the development of Syria, but the 

 supreme value of the land as a link be- 

 tween the production centers of Europe 

 and the population centers of Asia must 

 always make trade routes and cross-roads 

 of traffic the locations for largest growth. 



No amount of commercial travel, how- 

 ever, can cloud the importance of the 

 heights where Judaism rose and declined 

 and where Christ lived, taught, healed, 

 and died. 



Jerusalem at Easter time will long be 

 a center of intense interest, and amid the 

 many ceremonies that begin with a re- 

 enacting of the washing of the feet and 

 conclude with tearful gladness in the pro- 

 cession to the Risen Christ, there is no 

 more wonderful and moving, yet revolt- 

 ing, spectacle than the Holy Fire celebra- 

 tion in the huge Church of the Holy 

 Sepulcher, where ecclesiastical tradition 

 has gathered together almost every spot 

 connected with the life of Christ except 

 Nazareth and the path of the flight into 

 Egypt. 



UNHOLY RITES IN THE HOLY CITY AT 

 EASTER TIME 



At this ceremony God is supposed by 

 the ignorant pilgrims to send down a 

 flame from heaven which bursts from the 

 walls of the ornate sepulcher itself. 



I was one of a party which saw the 

 supposed divine event from the second 

 gallery of the high rotunda, commanding 

 a view r of both sides of the sepulcher. 

 Below us, covering the floor of the ro- 

 tunda and huddled around the traditional 

 tomb, were the pilgrims, thousands of 

 them. Many of them had slept there all 

 night or had at least held their places 

 near the sacred spot. To the left were 

 the Greeks — restless, voluble, inclined to 

 dispute with the Moslem soldiers. To 

 the right were the Armenians — quiet, 

 patient, self-controlled. 



Directly beneath us was the little Coptic 

 chapel at the rear of the sepulcher. We 

 were sixty feet above the surging crowd 

 and the marble floor below. It was n 

 o'clock — two hours before the holy fire 

 would descend from heaven. 



Forming a circle around the sepulcher. 



Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams 



A "NEBAA" ISSUING FROM A ROCK CI.lEE 



When a Syrian dragoman trios to convoy to 

 a foreigner the distinction between an ain and 

 a nebaa, he represents the ain by touching his 

 thumb and first finger and the nebaa by making 

 a circle of his two arms. Here a fountain 

 of icy water bursts from a towering rook wall 

 whose height is suggested by the two horses 

 at its base. 



