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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams 



A COSMOPOLITAN PICTURK FROM SYRIA 



Among these students of the Syrian Protestant College on a tramp to the Dog River 

 inscriptions, there are representatives of six races — Syrian, Egyptian, Turk, Armenian, Greek, 

 and Jew. The inscriptions are those of Rameses the Great (1300 B. C.) and Esarhaddon, 

 the Assyrian who carried his conquests to Egypt, in 670 B. C, along this narrow path be- 

 1 ween the Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea.' Note the pylon effect which frames the 

 Egyptian inscription on the right. 



midst of his magnificently gowned priests, 

 parades around the sepulcher. Three 

 times he circles the rotunda. As he 

 passes the south fire-hole, the Armenian 

 prelate joins him and they enter the 

 sepulcher itself. 



TIIK DKURIUM 01- UNQUESTIONING FAITH, 

 HOPE, AND LOVK 



The bells begin a noisy jangle. Shouts 

 arise from the crowd: "Oh Jews, your 

 feast is that of the devil ; but ours is that 

 of Christ, who has bought us with His 

 blood. Therefore we are happy today 

 and you, ( ) Jews, arc sad." 



The noise of the bells increases. An 

 air of excitement, more intense than 

 hitherto, pervades the vast dome. From 

 every balcony the people lean forward 

 expectantly. All are gazing at those two 

 black holes, one on each side of the sep- 



ulcher. The bells still further increase 

 their noisy ringing and a great flame 

 shoots out on each side of the tomb. 



Chaos is let loose in an insane mob! 



The runners catch the fire in large 

 wads of cotton and fight their way out 

 through a sea of hands, each clutching a 

 bunch of candles. The soldiers are now 

 submerged in the sea of humanity, all 

 struggling for the first blessing of the 

 holy fire. A Copt, carrying a burning 

 mass of cotton, fights, shoves, burns his 

 way through the crowd. He dashes in- 

 side the barred chapel and clangs the 

 door shut. A thousand candles are al- 

 ready alight ; flickering flames multiply 

 all over the great floor ; smoke and smell 

 begin to rise from countless candles. 



The lamps on the sepulcher itself are 

 lighted. The dark recesses of the church 

 have become caverns of flitting ghost 

 flames. A bunch of candles has been let 



