Excerpt from Scenes in the East: Consisting of Twelve Coloured Photographic Views of Places Mentioned in the Bible, With Descriptive Letter-Press
"Little among the thousands of Judah," Bethlehem has never claimed pre-eminence from its position, its buildings, or its wealth. Like many other spots of hallowed or ennobled memory, it owes its fame to its history and its associations alone. No rugged mountain towering to the skies; no deep romantic glen; no mighty river; no frowning cliffs, bidding defiance to the invader; no home in the rock marks the site of that little town of Judah, the cradle of her kings, and, yet more, the birthplace of the King of kings. Confined by its position - occupying the narrow crest of a long featureless ridge which runs from east to west it - had no room to expand: excepting along the hill-top, it could have no suburb. But, as it stands on the summit of the chalky limestone range, where the white ridge culminates in a rounded mound higher than the rest, it is an exact type - almost the only specimen left to us intact - of the old cities of the hill-country of Judah. Take away the Church of the Nativity, and the conventual buildings, and what the cities of Judah were, Bethlehem is: probably little, if at all changed, in its streets, in its architecture, in the arrangement of the houses, from any "fenced town" through which the chariots of David or Solomon may have rolled.
The Basilica of St. Helena, with the three conventual establishments of the Greek, Latin, and Armenian Churches, occupies the eastern portion of the ridge, and a slight depression separates this part from the western knoll, which was probably the more exact site of the ancient village.
We have said that Bethlehem was in the "hill country" of Judah; and to understand the full meaning of the expression, we must remember the very different characteristics of the large tract of territory assigned to the royal tribe.
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