Hebron (2)
Hebron
A brief but excellent description of this venerable place is given in the Memoirs accompanying the Ordnance Survey (3:305 sq.), and the latest and most complete account of the Haram enclosure there may be found in the same work (page 333 sq.). We give some interesting particulars from Lieut. Conder's Tent Work in Palestine, 2:79:
"Hebron is a long stone town on the western slope of a bare, terraced hill; it extends alone the valley, and the main part reaches about seven-hundred yards north and south, including the Mosque Quarter, and the Quarter of the Gate of the Corner. On the north is a separate suburb, named from the mosque of 'Aly Bukka, who died in 670 A.H.; on the south also, and west of the road, is another small suburb. The Haram stands above the middle of the main quarter. The Sultan's Pool, a large, well-built reservoir, occupies part of the valley. West of the city is an open green below the Quarantine, surrounded by hills which are covered with olives. "The contrast between Hebron and Bethlehem is readily noticed; the town has a dead-alive appearance, and the sullen looks of the Moslem fanatics contrast with the officious eagerness of the Bethlehem Christians. There are some seventeen thousand Moslems in Hebron, according to the governor's account; and about six hundred Jews are tolerated in the Quarter of the Corner Gate. The town is the centre of commerce for the southern Arabs, who bring their wool and camel's-hair to its market. It has also a sort of trade in glass ornaments' and in leather water-buckets, but the bustle and stir of Bethlehem are not found in its streets; the inhabitants seem wrapped in contemplation of the tombs of their forefathers, and boast that uno pagan Frank has yet desecrated the holy shrines with his presence, or built his house in the town." (See Plan on page 535.)
