364 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
earth ; look upon it and learn that there is a misery beyond all 
that you have conceived in your gloomiest hours—a misery 
that can still he endured; learn that even the Leper, with 
death gnawing at his vitals and unceasing tortures in his 
blood, cast out from the society of his fellow-man, forbidden to 
touch in friendship or affection the hand of the untainted, still 
struggles for life, and deems each hour precious that keeps him 
from the grave. 
The quarter of the Lepers is a sad and impressive place. 
By the laws of the land, which have existed from scriptural 
times, they are isolated from all contact with their fellow-men; 
yet there seems to be no prohibition to their going out beyond 
the walls of Jerusalem, and begging by the roadside. Near 
the gate of Zion, on the way to Bethlehem, I saw many of 
them sitting on the rocks, their hideous faces uncovered, 
thrusting forth their scaly hands for alms. Their huts are 
rudely constructed of earth and stones, seldom with more 
than one apartment, and this so filthy and loathsome that it 
seemed unfit to be occupied by swine. Here they live, whole 
families together, without distinction of sex ; and their dread¬ 
ful malady is perpetuated from generation to generation, and 
the groans of the aged and the dying are mingled with the 
feeble wail of the young that are brought forth branded for a 
life of misery. Strange and mournful thoughts arise, in the 
contemplation of the sad condition and probable destiny of 
these ill-fated beings. Among so many, there must be some 
in whose breasts the power of true love is implanted ; love for 
woman in its purest sense, for offspring, for all the endear¬ 
ments of domestic life which the untainted are capable of 
feeling ; yet doomed never to exercise the affections without 
perpetuating the curse ! some, too, in whom there are hidden 
powers of mind, unknown save to themselves ; ambition that 
corrodes with unavailing aspirations; a thirst for action that 
burns within unceasingly, yet never can be assuaged ; all the 
ruling passions that are implanted in man for great and noble 
purposes, never, never to give one moment’s pleasure unmixed 
with the perpetual gloom of that curse which dwells in their 
blood. 
