ifixion,
where, as the guide informed us, Christ was nailed to the cross, and
close by is the place where the Virgin Mary stood during the
Crucifixion.

Descending a flight of steps to the main floor, we entered a small
cavern-like chamber.

"This," said the guide, "is the Tomb of Adam, and the little chapel
beyond is the Tomb of Melchizedek."

When one of the ladies, doubting the truth of these traditions,
excitedly began to remonstrate with the guide, a clergyman in the party
said to her: "It is not worth while to enter into a dispute with the
guide. You cannot convince him that his assertions are incorrect. Let us
leave the topic for discussion in the evening when we cannot go out
sight-seeing."

We departed from the Church of the Sepulchre with the intention of
returning without a guide to inspect portions of the building more
leisurely. Preceded by the guide, we walked through the narrow Via
Dolorosa, pausing a moment at each of the fourteen stations, which mark
the location of the historical and traditional events that occurred in
the street of sorrow. After the guide had explained the route, one of
the tourists devoutly said: "Little did I think a year ago that I should
walk along the very path that has been stained by the blood drops of the
Savior on His way to the Cross, and tread perhaps on the very stones
that His sacred feet have pressed."

[Illustration: AT THE ENTRANCE TO SOLOMON'S QUARRIES.]

A few minutes later we were admitted to a convent on the Via Dolorosa.
One of the gray-gowned nuns, after exhibiting and offering for sale
laces and embroideries made by the sisters, led us to an excavation in
the rear of the convent. There a courteous Abbess met us, and said: "The
excavation made here uncovered a part of the original Via Dolorosa. The
old way lies buried twenty feet below the level of the modern street
known by that name, and at this place is one hundred feet to the right
of the one on which you were walking."

"You must bear in mind the history of Jerusalem," continued the Abbess
in reply to our questions. "Forty years after the Crucifixion Titus
captured the city, demolished the buildings, and slaughtered the
inhabitants. Jerusalem became 'heaps' and a 'desolation' as predicted by
the holy prophets. For a century thereafter a village of huts built upon
the ruins occupied the site of the city; then the idolatrous Emperor
Hadrian rebuilt the city, laying out the streets to suit his pagan
i