he guide to tell us that this was the Garden
of Gethsemane. Small shrines with pictures above them, fourteen in all,
representing the fourteen traditionary stations of the Via Dolorosa,
were arranged at intervals along the path around the garden. Before
these shrines pilgrims were kneeling in prayer. As we were leaving the
garden an old monk with tonsured head, in long brown robe girt about
with a hempen cord and having sandals laced on his bare feet,
presented each, of us with a flower from the garden and a few leaves
from one of the ancient olive trees.

[Illustration: I. BETHANY IS A POOR LITTLE VILLAGE.]

[Illustration: II. THE EMPTY TOMB OF THE RISEN VIRGIN.]

The Tomb and Chapel of the Virgin, which is but a short distance from
Gethsemane, had a venerable aspect, and the olive trees surrounding it
were patriarchal in appearance. We crossed the sunken court and
descended a broad staircase of sixty steps to a gloomy chapel which
seemed to have been excavated in the rock.

"These tombs on the right are the tombs of the parents of the Virgin,
Joachim and Anna," said the guide as we halted in the dim light. "That
tomb on the left is the tomb of Joseph, the husband of Mary. The small
chapel at the end of the grotto contains the empty tomb of the risen
virgin."

On the road to Bethany we passed many trains of pack mules, twenty or
thirty in a train, and caravans of camels striding along in single file.
A light rope or chain connected the leading camel with the others and
kept them from straggling.

The Arab who drove our carriage told us that he was a scholar. He
explained by stating that he could converse fluently in four languages,
besides his own native Arabic tongue. These languages were Turkish,
Russian, Latin, and French, and in addition, he knew enough English to
give some information to the tourists. The linguistic ignorance of the
occupants of his carriage seemed to impress him with the idea that
education in America is neglected.

[Illustration: IN A STREET IN BETHANY A LOCAL GUIDE WAS WAITING.]

Bethany, barely two miles distant from Jerusalem, is a poor little
village with steep, rough, dirty lanes and a number of old and
dilapidated small stone houses amid broken walls of other houses which
evidently have been equally insignificant. One of these piles was
pointed out by the Bethany guides as the ruins of the home of Mary and
Martha, and we were then taken to a narrow lane where a dark and slimy
sta