Jerusalem, June 23.—I was much struck on my way from Jaffa to this place
the other day by contrasting the different systems which are resorted to
by the varied races of foreigners who are invading Palestine. There is
the Jew, with curling ear-locks and greasy gaberdine, and wallet slung
over his shoulder, trudging painfully along the dusty road. He has had
hard work to slip into the country at all, and has only succeeded
probably by means of backshish and a false passport. He has undergone
discomfort and privations innumerable to win the privilege, which, to
judge by his wan and sickly face, is not likely long to be denied him,
of dying in Jerusalem.
As he plods on, leaning wearily on his long staff, he is almost run over
by a bright yellow barouche dashing along the road, with four horses, in
a style which shows how rapidly Western civilization is striding into
the East. It is an English duke “doing” Palestine. He is followed by a
motley group of his own country men and women, mounted on horses and
donkeys, the women for the most part apparently old maids in straw hats,
green spectacles, and veils, while a large proportion of the men are
evidently parsons, who wear clerical coats and waistcoats and unclerical
pith hats and jack boots. The whole party, consisting of about thirty
persons, white with dust, are preceded by an elaborately attired
dragoman, whom they are about to follow over the country like a flock of
sheep, for they are the last batch of the season of Cook's tourists.
But they were not to be compared for picturesqueness or singularity of
appearance with the next _cortège_ which I overtook, and the aspect of
which, from a distance, puzzled me excessively. There appeared in front
of me a large object of some sort, which was being slowly dragged along
by a crowd of people who were evidently not natives of the country. On
reaching it I found that it was a huge bell, weighing seven or eight
tons, most elaborately ornamented with scriptural and sacred designs in
_basso-rilievo_, and which, placed on a truck with low wheels, was being
hauled by about eighty Russian peasants, more than half of whom were
women. Looking on this singular group of rugged-featured people, with
their light hair and Kalmuck countenances, one felt suddenly transported
from the hills of Palestine to the Steppes of Southern Russia. The men
wore high boots, baggy trousers, long full-skirted coats, tight at the
waist, and flat caps, and the women the sombre and dowdy habiliments
common to the Russian peasant class. They were all yoked by the breast
with ropes to the truck, tugging it slowly but cheerfully along, and
when I stopped and tried to stammer out the few words of Russian which I
still remembered, they greeted my attempts with loud shouts of laughter,
and made explanations which my knowledge of the language was too limited
to enable me to comprehend. But my curiosity was destined to be
satisfied at a later period on the arrival of this precious burden at
Jerusalem. Meantime I could not but regard with interest the eager
devotion of these poor people, and especially of the women, who were
thus satisfying a religious instinct by exercising the functions of
draught animals, and toiling up the road they deemed so sacred to the
holy city, which is invested with a higher sanctity to the adherents of
the Greek rite than to those of any other Christian communion. I found
afterwards that it took them just a week to drag their bell up to
Jerusalem, many falling ill by the way, and one dying, and
reinforcements had to be sent from Jerusalem to assist them.
Had it not been for the various houses which have been built for the
accommodation of travellers the mortality would probably have been
greater, but the increase of travel along this road has multiplied the
number of rest-houses, and there are now four or five of various degrees
of excellence, to say nothing of Greek and Catholic convents, more or
less far from the road, to which pilgrims can resort. The new hotel
which has just been put up by a German colonist at Ramleh is among the
most conspicuous of these improvements; and here, as the place is one of
some archæological interest, and I thought the enterprise of my host
deserved to be encouraged, I stayed to pass the night.
In the centuries immediately subsequent to the crusades, Ramleh is often
mentioned by the old chroniclers, for it was then, as now, a favorite
resting-place for travellers and pilgrims on their way between Jaffa and
Jerusalem. But it gradually fell into decay, and three hundred years
ago, when the traveller Belon was there, he found it almost deserted,
scarcely twelve houses being inhabited, and the fields mostly untilled.
It is now one of the most go-ahead places in Palestine, containing a
population of at least five thousand, and is surrounded by extensive
gardens and olive groves, above which the lofty tower erected by the
Sultan Bibars, in the thirteenth century, conspicuously rears its
graceful proportions.
By far the most interesting spot, however, in the whole of this section
of country lies about two miles to the right of the road from Ramleh to
Jerusalem, an hour after leaving the former place, which places it as
much out of the track of tourists as if it were a day's journey. It is a
mound called Tell el-Gezer, at the village of Abu Shusheh. This village
is the property of a Mr. Bergheim, a Jew banker of Jerusalem, who owns
an estate here of about five thousand acres, from which I may say, _en
passant_, that he derives a very large revenue.^[4] Apart from the
interest of the fact of a Jew being so large a landed proprietor in
Palestine, Abu Shusheh has claims upon our notice which have only
recently been discovered, and which to those who have been bitten with
the enthusiasm of elucidating the ancient topography of Palestine, and
identifying its antique sites, is replete with the highest importance.
Among those who have devoted themselves to the study of Palestine
geography and antiquarian research the French savant Monsieur Clermont
Ganneau ranks second to none. One of the problems which has for many
years excited the interest and curiosity of Palestine explorers was the
whereabouts of the ancient city of Gezer. We gather from the Biblical
record that this was an important town prior to the arrival and
settlement of the Israelites in the country. In the book of Joshua it is
classed among the royal cities of Canaan. Its king, Horam, was defeated
by Joshua while attempting to relieve Lachish, which was besieged by the
Israelites. Later it was included in the territory of the tribe of
Ephraim, and assigned to the Levitical family of Kohath. It is mentioned
several times during the wars between David and the Philistines, and
during Solomon's reign one of the Pharaohs made an expedition against
it, which resulted in the capture and burning of the town. It afterwards
became part of the dowry of Pharaoh's daughter when she became Solomon's
wife, and he rebuilt it. The last we hear of it was in the wars of the
Maccabees, when it reappears under the name of Gazara. Taken by assault
in the first instance by the Jews, it passed successively into the hands
of the two contending parties, who attached equal importance to its
possession. John Hyrcanus, the Jewish commander, made it his military
residence.
It was during his study of the old Arab geographers that M. Clermont
Ganneau came upon the name Tell el-Gezer, and finding that it met all
the topographical requirements of the Bible, he went in search of it at
Abu Shusheh. Here he found that a mound on Mr. Bergheim's property was
known to the natives by that name, though it was too insignificant ever
to have figured on any map. On making minute investigation, he
discovered, to his delight, a bilingual inscription; the first word, in
Greek characters of the classical epoch, was the name of a man, “Alkio,”
immediately followed by Hebrew letters of ancient square form, the
translation of which was “limit of Gezer.” This settled the question,
and the English Palestine Exploration Fund at once sent a special
mission to verify Monsieur Ganneau's discoveries. This they did most
completely, finding four other inscriptions, besides making a most
complete survey of the place. As is not uncommon with such very ancient
remains, the first aspect of the spot is disappointing. There are, in
fact, no ruins visible, with the exception of a few terraces on the
Tell, consisting of large blocks of unhewn stone. The Tell itself, on
which part of the city appears to have stood, is a sort of ridge about
six hundred yards long, one hundred across, and two hundred and fifty
feet above the surrounding rocky valleys. The foundations of the ancient
houses may be traced possibly in the numerous rock-cuttings with which
the place abounds, but it is difficult to distinguish them from cuttings
for quarrying stone on the old method, and certainly many of the
cuttings were those of quarriers. There are the remains of what was
apparently an old fortress at the eastern end of the Tell, but the most
remarkable features are the numerous wine-presses, which number about
thirty, some of them in an excellent state of preservation. There are
also some tombs, but these are rare and scattered, which is to be
accounted for by the fact that this was a Levitical city, within the
limits of which no interment was allowed. There are numerous chips of
stone, some apparently basaltic, and much broken pottery all over the
Tell, and many flints, some of which were worked, have been discovered.
While he was building his house, which is just under the Tell, Mr.
Bergheim found a deep cistern about forty feet square, lined with small
stones and covered with two coats of cement, which was hard and white;
the walls were about two feet thick, and it seemed to have a niche in
its eastern wall, as though it had at one time been used as a chapel. In
the niche a cross was found, painted red, and beneath it a stone altar,
which has been removed; but all this points to an early Christian
occupation. Mr. Bergheim has since converted the cistern to its original
use. He also found a curious idol in hard red pottery. The fellahin say
that many of these “dolls,” as they call them, used to be picked up, and
were given to the children as playthings. Flint instruments, earthenware
weights, and rubbers in composition, for use in cementing cisterns, have
been found in ploughing on the Tell, and near its southwest extremity a
number of skeletons were discovered, apparently of persons slain in
battle; one had a sword-cut on the skull. An aqueduct cut in the rock is
also traceable along the hillside.
Altogether the place is a good deal more interesting than it looks at
first sight, and had its owner been an antiquary he would doubtless have
had splendid opportunities of making a valuable collection. That the
spot has always had a semi-sacred character in the eyes of the country
people is evident from the traditions which attach to it. One is that
the city of Noah stood upon the hill here, and that the deluge came from
a place called Et Tannar, which is a cavity with an old well on the east
slope of the hill. The modern name Abu Shusheh, or “Father of the
Topknot,” is said to be derived from a dervish who prayed for rain in
time of drought, and was told by a sand diviner that he would perish if
it came. The water came out of the earth and formed a pool, into which
he stepped and was drowned. The people, seeing only his topknot left,
cried, “Ya Abu Shusheh” (O Father of the Topknot).
It is a pity that, with the exception of the one deciphered by Monsieur
Ganneau, the inscriptions are so much effaced that, although certain
characters can be made out, they have hitherto defied translation. Some
of them appear to approach to the later Hebrew forms, while others bear
some resemblance to Cufic.
There are other sites of interest which lie more or less distant from
the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, but I had not time to visit them,
though the comparatively more advanced state of civilization of this
province and the good accommodation to be found on the road would
facilitate the explorer's task. On the other hand, the examination of
this part of the country has been so thorough that he cannot hope for
the rich rewards that are to be found in more inaccessible districts.
[4] Since the above was written Mr. Bergheim has been brutally murdered
by the peasants on his estate.