A Mason's Notes Of Travel In Asia.*

downfall , and pray for their restoration to power . It is very affecting to see how earnest they are , aud as they lay their foreheads to the wall , some of them actuall y shedding tears , it is a sig ht that will not be easily forgotten . Among the ceremonies used is the reading of the 89 th Psalm . The following litany

is chanted on some occasions : — Leader—For the palace that lies deserted . Response—We sit in solitude and mourn . Leader—For the palace that is destroyed . Response—We sit in solitude and mourn . Leader—For the walls that are overthrown .

Leader—For our majesty that is departed . Leader—For our great men wdio lie dead . Leader—For the precious stones that are burned . Leader—For the priests who have stumbled . Leader—For our kings who have despised Him . Leader—We pray Thee have mercy on Zion !

Response—Gather the children of Jerusalem . Leader—Haste , haste , Redeemer of Zion ! Response—Speak to the heart of Jerusalem . Leader—May beauty and majesty surround Zion ! Response—Ah ! turn Thyself mercifully to Jerusalem Leader—May the kingdom soon return to Zion ! . Response—Comfort those who mourn over Jerusalem .

These people have kept up this custom for centuries with marvellous tenacity . A short distance from this is another place where a portion of the the wall dates from Solomon ' s time . Some of the stones here are of immense size , and laid together without cement . One of them is nearly thirty feet in length , and about three feet thick . Excavations that have been made show that this wall extends down from the present surface of the ground more than fifty

feet . Among the many things full of historical interest that were shown us were the sword and spurs of Godfrey de Bulloiguc , which arc carefully preserved in one of the Chapels of the Great Church of the Hol y Sepulchre , which covers Golgotha , where the crucifixion took place . There are many legends about various portions of the church which reasoning men can hardl

y believe- But there seems to be no room to doubt that this is the veritable Mount Calvary , and while it is quite possible that the exact spot shown as the place where the cross stood may not be the one , it seems to be certain that the crucifixion took place somewhere on the ground covered by this vast church . A number of pilgrims are coining here now , the most of them from Greece and Russia . They are poorly cladand the distance covered bthe steamer is

, y passed in the steerage , the rest of the way on foot . Men , women , and children trudge along , sturdily and patiently , carrying all they have upon their backs , and looking bright and cheerful as they near the one spot in ail the world that is to them most sacred .

It is quite affecting to see their earnestness and the difficulties they will overcome to get to the Hol y City , and then to see the solemnit y with which they enter the church and go from one chapel to another , clay after day , as though the one object of their lives , that they had striven for years to attain , was at last accomplished , and they were happy with a solemn gladness . The city itself is smalldirtyand badl paved It is surrounded b

, , y . y a wall about two and one-half miles in circumference , varying from twenty-five to fifty feet in height . There are five gates that are opened in the ' daytime , but four of them are closed at sunset . Each gate is guarded b y Turkish soldiers . The streets literally swarm with be « - "'ars .