Mary Georgiana Emma Seymour Dawson Damer

“ One cannot help wishing to suggest that some of the funds subscribed for the Jewish Society, should be applied to establishing a physician, and a regular supply of medical assistance. Might it not be feasible, under proper and judicious management, to afford the poor of Jerusalem, on the plan practised in England, some relief by soup tickets, or rather bread tickets, in a country where the 30
grain is abundant, and the climate allows such food to be of sufficient nourishment to its inhabitants, many of whom I have actually seen during our rides eat grass and clover? ”

“ We do not cease being grateful that we took the resolution of bringing him with us, so great a comfort and relief has he proved in this wretched place, where, in a population of fifteen thousand, there has only been one medical attendant, a German convert, whom we found at the point of death, without any assistant to compound or to dispense the scanty stock of medicine he possessed. ”

“ As fast as one rebellion is quelled here, another springs up; and the soldiers are so little to be relied on that the governor's son, though willing to give us an escort to conduct us beyond Mount Hebron, strongly advised our making the détour of Ramla and Gaza, where the country is (for Syria) in a secure state. ”

“ We actually left Jerusalem at half-past two; our last view of Mount Olivet was from the leads of the convent, and we left our artist to take the view of that unpicturesque but most interesting spot, the Garden of Gethsemane. Mr. and Mrs. Young accompanied us on our road as far as the village, or rather to the site of the ancient Emmaus. ”

“ Young, that the stones composing the walls of the town in this direction have all the character of Roman construction, and a complete absence of the larger blocks that distinguished the Jewish substructures in other directions of the 36
walls, so that it encourages one to believe the original walls were within those of this quarter, and would at once establish the fact of Mount Calvary being outside the city at our Saviour's crucifixion. That the site of Pilate's house is correctly fixed, there appears no doubt; at present it is occupied by a Turkish barrack. ”

“ The doctor says he has seen two people who have recovered from the plague; one an old man who is left paralytic, another a youth who is left dumb. He supposes that the virus of the disease entered the system, and thus left behind the proofs of its venom. ”

“ The attention to their physical sufferings might lead to higher results, and put our missionaries, and those desirous of conveying religious instruction, in more direct and intimate communication with Jew and Gentile. ”

“ About a hundred yards further, a cavern in a rock presented itself, which answered much more to our preconceived ideas, as 23
one large stone might have closed it, and “have been rolled away,” and a space surrounds it, where “the much people who followed” might have stood spectators to the miracle. Our convent guide advised our going a little further, to shew us the stone upon which our Saviour was said to have been sitting when Mary conveyed to him the news of her brother's death. ”

“ We were disturbed from our sleep by a regular cannonade, and my first idea was, that Jerusalem was in a state of siege; but it turned out the very common-place event of some guns firing on the ushering in of the Beiram, and the rejoicing attending the termination of the Rhamazan. I partook of it, as it is quite distressing to have one's horse led by attenuated Arabs, and feel that all they are watching is the setting sun, at the very 27
moment we wish the light prolonged, so as not to be shut out of the gates.
We had been trying to engage an Arab, much recommended by Sir A. Bernard, whom Mr. ”

“ N. described as one of their few converts, and one whom they had prevailed upon to exercise himself in the shoe-making trade, as extreme and hopeless idleness was the great evil they had to contend against. ”