_Description of the Country South and East of Jerusalem_.
Garden of Gethsemane; Tomb of Virgin Mary; Grottoes on Mount of Olives;
View of the City; Extent and Boundaries; View of Bethany and Dead Sea;
Bethlehem; Convent; Church of the Nativity described; Paintings; Music;
Population of Bethlehem; Pools of Solomon; Dwelling of Simon the Leper; Of
Mary Magdalene; Tower of Simeon; Tomb of Rachel; Convent of John; Fine
Church; Tekoa; Bethulia; Hebron; Sepulchre of Patriarchs; Albaid; Kerek;
Extremity of Dead Sea; Discoveries of Bankes, Legh, and Irby and Mangles;
Convent of St. Saba; Valley of Jordan; Mountains; Description of Lake
Asphaltites; Remains of Ancient Cities in its Basin; Quality of its
Waters; Apples of Sodom; Tacitus, Seetzen, Hasselquist, Chateaubriand;
Width of River Jordan; Jericho-Village of Rihhah; Balsam; Fountain of
Elisha; Mount of Temptation; Place of Blood; Anecdote of Sir F. Henniker;
Fountain of the Apostles; Return to Jerusalem; Markets; Costume; Science;
Arts; Language; Jews; Present Condition of that People.
In proceeding from Jerusalem towards Bethany, the traveller skirts the
Mount of Olives; or, if he wishes to enjoy the magnificent view which it
presents, both of the city and of the extensive tract watered by the
Jordan, he ascends its heights, and at the same time inspects the remains
of sacred architecture still to be seen on its summit. As he passes from
the eastern gate, the Garden of Gethsemane meets his eyes, as well as the
tomb which bears the name of the Blessed Virgin. This has a building over
it with a pretty front, although the Grecian ornaments sculptured in
marble are not in harmony with the pointed arch at the entrance. It is
approached by a paved court, now a raised way, leading from the Mount of
Olives over the Brook Kedron. The descent into it is formed by a handsome
flight of steps composed of marble, being about fifty in number and of a
noble breadth. About midway down are two arched recesses in the sides,
said to contain the ashes of St. Anne, the mother of Mary, and of Joseph
her husband. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the visiter is shown the
tomb of the holy Virgin herself, which is in the form of a simple bench
coated with marble. Here the Greeks and Armenians say mass by turns, and
near it there is an humble altar for the Syrian Christians; while opposite
to it is one for the Copts, consisting of earth, and entirely destitute of
lamps, pictures, covering, and every other species of ornament.
Chateaubriand tells us that the Turks had a portion of this grotto:
Buckingham asserts that they have no right to enter it, nor could he
"learn from the keepers of the place that they ever had!" whereas the
author of the Anonymous Journal, from which we have already quoted, states
distinctly that "there is a place reserved for the Mussulmans to pray,
which at the Virgin's Tomb one would not expect to be much in request." So
much for the clashing of authorities on the part of writers who could have
no wish to deceive!
There are various other grottoes on the acclivity of the hill, meant to
keep alive the remembrance of certain occurrences which are either
mentioned in the gospel, or have been transmitted to the present age by
oral tradition. Among these is one which is supposed to be the scene of
the agony and the bloody sweat; a second, that marks the place where St.
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee fell asleep when their Master retired to
pray; and a third, indicating the spot whereon Judas betrayed the Son of
Man with a kiss. Here also is pointed out the rock from which our Saviour
predicted the sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple,--that
dreadful visitation, of which the traces are still most visible both
within and around the walls. The curious pilgrim is further edified by the
sight of a cavern where the apostles were taught the Lord's Prayer; and of
another where the same individuals at a later period met together to
compose their Creed. On the principal top of the Mount of Olives,--for the
elevated ground presents three separate summits,--are a mosque and the
remains of a church. The former is distinguished by a lofty minaret which
commands an extensive prospect; but the latter is esteemed more
remarkable, as containing the piece of rock imprinted with the mark of our
Saviour's foot while in the act of ascension.
But the view of the venerable metropolis itself, which stretches out its
lance and sacred enclosures under the eye of the traveller, is still more
interesting than the recapitulation of ambiguous relics. It occupies an
irregular square of about two miles and a half in circumference. Eusebius
gave a measurement of twenty-seven stadia, amounting to nearly a mile more
than its present dimensions; a difference which can easily be explained,
by adverting to the alterations made on the line of fortifications by the
Saracens and Turks, especially on the north-west and western extremities
of the town. Its shortest apparent side is that which faces the east, and
in this is the supposed gate of the ancient Temple, shut up by the
Mussulmans from a superstitious motive, and the small projecting stone on
which their prophet is to sit when he shall judge the world assembled in
the vale below. The southern side is exceedingly irregular, taking quite a
zigzag direction; the south-western entrance being terminated by a mosque
built over the supposed sepulchre of David, on the elevation of Mount
Zion. The form and exact direction of the western and northern walls are
not distinctly seen from the position now assumed; but every part of them
appears to be a modern work, and executed at the same time. They are
flanked at certain distances by square towers, and have battlements all
along their summits, with loopholes for arrows or musketry close to the
top. Their height is about fifty feet, but they are not surrounded by a
ditch. The northern wall runs over ground which declines slightly outward;
the eastern wall passes straight along the brow of Mount Moriah, with the
deep valley of Jehoshaphat below; the southern wall crosses Mount Zion,
with the vale of Hinnom at its feet; and the western wall is carried over
a more uniform level, near the summit of the bare hills which terminate at
the Jaffa gate.[100]
Turning towards the east, the traveller sees at the foot of the hill the
little village of Bethany, so often mentioned in the history of our Lord
and of his personal followers; and at a greater distance, a little more on
the left, he beholds the magnificent scenery of the Jordan and the Dead
Sea.
There are two roads from Jerusalem to Bethany; the one passing over the
Mount of Olives; the other, the shorter and easier, winding round the
eastern side of it. This village is now both small and poor, the
cultivation of the soil around it being very much neglected by the
indolent Arabs into whose hands it has fallen. Here are shown the ruins of
a house, said to have belonged to Lazarus whom our Saviour raised from the
dead; and, in the immediate neighbourhood, the faithful pilgrim is invited
to devotion in a grotto, which is represented as the actual tomb wherein
the miracle was performed. The dwellings of Simon the Leper, of Mary
Magdalene, and of Martha are pointed out by the Mussulmans, who traffic on
the credulity of ignorant Christians. Nay, they undertake to identify the
spot where the barren fig tree withered under the curse, and the place
where Judas put an end to his life, oppressed by a more dreadful
malediction.
There is no traveller of any nation, whatever may be his creed or his
impressions in regard to the gospel, who does not make the usual journey
from the Jewish capital to Bethlehem the place of our Lord's nativity. The
road, as we find related, passes over ground extremely rocky and barren,
diversified only by some cultivated patches bearing a scanty crop of
grain, and by banks of wild-flowers which grow in great profusion. On the
way the practised guide points out the ruined tower of Simeon, who upon
beholding the infant Messiah expressed his readiness to leave this world;
the Monastery of Elias, now in possession of the Greeks; and the tomb of
Rachel, rising in a rounded top like the whitened sepulchre of an Arab
sheik. "This," says the honest Maundrell, "may probably be the true place
of her interment; but the present sepulchral monument can be none of that
which Jacob erected, for it appears plainly to be a modern and Turkish
structure." Farther on is the well of which David longed to drink, and of
which his mighty men, at the risk of their lives, procured him a supply;
and here opens to view, in a great valley, that most interesting of all
pastoral scenes, where the angel of the Omnipotent appeared by night to
the shepherds, to announce the glad tidings that Christ was born in
Bethlehem.[101]
As there was another town of the same name in the tribe of Zebulon, the
Bethlehem that we now approach was usually distinguished by the addition
of Ephrata, or by a reference to the district in which it was situated.
The convent which marks the place of the Redeemer's birth was built by
Helena, after removing the idolatrous structure said to have been erected
by Adrian from a feeling of contempt or jealousy towards the Christians.
At present it is divided among the monks of the Greek, Roman, and Armenian
sects, who have assigned to them separate portions, as well for lodging as
for places of worship; though, on certain days, they may all celebrate the
rites of their common faith on altars which none of them have been
hitherto allowed to appropriate. There are two churches, an upper and a
lower, under the same roof. The former contains nothing remarkable, if we
except a star inlaid in the floor, immediately under the spot in the
heavens where the supernatural sign became visible to the wise men, and,
like it, directly above the place of the Nativity in the church below.
This last is an excavation in the rock, elegantly fitted up and floored
with marble, and to which there is a descent by a flight of steps through
a long narrow passage. Here are shown a great number of tombs, and among
them one in which were said to be buried all the babes of Bethlehem
murdered by the barbarous Herod. From hence the pilgrim is conducted into
a handsome chapel, of which the floors and walls are composed of beautiful
marble, having on each side five oratories, or recesses for prayer,
corresponding to the ten stalls supposed to have been in the stable
wherein our blessed Saviour was born. This sacred crypt is irregular in
shape, because it occupies the site of the stable and the manger. It is
thirty-seven feet six inches long, eleven feet three inches broad, and
nine feet in height. As it receives no light from without, it is illumined
by thirty-two lamps, sent by different princes of Christendom; the other
embellishments are ascribed to the munificent Helena. At the farther
extremity of this small church there is an altar placed in an arcade, and
hollowed out below in the form of an arch, to embrace the sacred spot
where Emmanuel, having laid aside his glory, first appeared in the garb of
human nature. A circle in the floor composed of marble and jasper,
surrounded with silver, and having rays like those with which the sun is
represented, marks the precise situation wherein that stupendous event was
realized. An inscription, denoting that "here Jesus Christ was born of the
Virgin Mary," meets the eye of the faithful worshipper.
Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est.
Adjoining the Altar of the Nativity is the Manger in which the Infant
Messiah was laid. It is also formed of marble, and is raised about
eighteen inches above the floor, bearing a resemblance to the humble bed
which alone the furniture of a stable could supply. Before it is the Altar
of the Wise Men,--a memorial of their adoration and praise at the moment
when they saw the young child and Mary his mother.
This edifice, says the Vicomte de Chateaubriand, is certainly of high
antiquity, and, often destroyed and as often repaired, it still retains
marks of its Grecian origin. It is built in the form of a cross, the nave
being adorned with forty-eight columns of the Corinthian order in four
rows, which are at least two feet six inches in diameter at the base, and
eighteen feet high, including the base and capital. As the roof of the
nave is wanting, these pillars support nothing but a frieze of wood, which
occupies the place of the architrave and of the whole entablature. The
windows are large, and were formerly adorned with Mosaic paintings and
passages from the Bible in Greek and Latin characters, the traces of which
are still visible.
The top of the church affords a fine prospect into the surrounding
country, extending to Tekoa on the south and Engedi on the east. In the
latter place is the grotto where David, a native of Bethlehem, cut off the
skirt of Saul's garment. There is also the convent of Elias, in which is
said to-be a large stone still retaining an impression of his body.
Between this point and Jerusalem Mr. Buckingham was struck with the
appearance of several small detached towers of a square form built in the
midst of vine-lands. These, he learned, were for the accommodation of
watchmen appointed to guard the produce from thieves and wild beasts;
hence explaining a passage which occurs in the Gospel according to St.
Mark:--"A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and
digged a place for the wine-fat, and built a _tower_, and let it out to
husbandmen."[102]
It is painful to find that the same animosity which attends the claims of
the several sects of Christians at Jerusalem for the possession of the
Holy Sepulchre disgraces their contentions at Bethlehem for the Grotto of
the Nativity. A few years ago, during the celebration of the Christmas
festival, at which Mr. Bankes was present, a battle took place, in which
some of the combatants were wounded, and others severely beaten; and in
the preceding season the privilege of saying mass at the altar on that
particular day had been fought for at the door of the sanctuary itself
with drawn swords.
Dr. Clarke, whose skepticism in regard to the holy places in the capital
has been already mentioned, grants that the tradition respecting the Cave
of the Nativity is so well authenticated as hardly to admit of dispute.
Having been always held in veneration, the oratory established there by
the first Christians attracted the notice and indignation of the heathens
so early as the time of Adrian, who, as is elsewhere stated, ordered it to
be demolished, and the place to be set apart for the rites of Adonis. This
happened in the second century, and at a period in the emperor's life when
the Grotto of the Nativity was as well known in Bethlehem as the
circumstance to which it owed its celebrity. In the fourth age,
accordingly, we find this fact appealed to by St. Jerome as an
indisputable testimony by which the cave itself had been identified. Upon
this subject there does not seem to be the slightest ground for
skepticism; and the evidence afforded by such a writer will be deemed
sufficient for believing that the monastery erected over the spot, and
where he himself resided, does at this day point out the place of our
Saviour's birth.[103]
Nothing, observes a late traveller, can be more pleasing, or better
calculated to excite sentiments of devotion, than this subterranean
church. It is adorned with pictures of the Italian and Spanish schools,
representing the mysteries peculiar to the place,--the Virgin and Child,
after Raphael; the Annunciation; the Adoration of the Wise Men; the Coming
of the Shepherds; and all those miracles of mingled grandeur and
innocence. The usual ornaments of the manger are of blue satin,
embroidered with silver. Incense is continually smoking before the cradle
of the Saviour. "I have heard an organ, touched by no ordinary hand,
playing during mass the sweetest and most tender tunes of the best Italian
composers. These concerts charm the Christian Arab, who, leaving his
camels to feed, repairs, like the shepherds of old, to Bethlehem, to adore
the King of Kings in his manger. I have seen this inhabitant of the desert
communicate at the altar of the Magi with a fervour, a piety, a devotion
unknown among the Christians of the West." No place in the world, says
Father Neret, excites more profound devotion. The continual arrival of
caravans from all the Nations of Christendom--the public prayers--the
prostrations--nay, even the richness of the presents sent thither by the
Christian princes--altogether produce feelings in the soul which it is
much easier to conceive than to describe.[104]
It may be added, that the effect of all this is heightened by an
extraordinary contrast; for, on quitting the grotto where you have met
with the riches, the arts, the religion of civilized nations, you find
yourself in a profound solitude, amid wretched Arab huts, among half-naked
savages and faithless Mussulmans. This place is nevertheless the same
where so many miracles were displayed; but this sacred land dares no more
express its joy, and locks within its bosom the recollections of its
glory.
Bethlehem has usually shared the vicissitudes of Jerusalem, being, both
from its situation and the nature of the relics which it contains, exposed
to the rage or cupidity of barbarian conquerors. It fell under the power
of the Saracens when led by their victorious calif; but for seven
centuries it has been guarded by a succession of religious persons who, it
has been said, suffer a perpetual martyrdom. In the time of Volney, they
reckoned about six hundred men in this village capable of bearing arms, of
whom about one hundred were Latin Christians. The necessity of uniting for
their common defence against the Bedouins, and the still morn relentless
agents of despotism, has in many instances prevailed over points of faith,
and induced the monks to live on good terms with the Mohammedans. Mr.
Buckingham assures us, that at present the town is equal to Nazareth in
extent, and contains from 1000 to 1500 inhabitants, who are almost wholly
Christians. Dr. Richardson gives the number at 300, an estimate, we should
imagine, considerably below the actual population. The men are robust and
well made, and the women are among the fairest and most handsome, that are
to be seen in Palestine.
The neighbourhood of Bethlehem presents a variety of objects too important
to be passed without a slight notice. The Pools of Solomon, connected, it
is probable, with a scheme for supplying Jerusalem with water; are usually
visited by the more enlightened class of travellers, who combine in their
researches a regard to the arts as well as to the religion of Judea. These
reservoirs are four, in number, being so disposed, says Maundrell, that
the water of the uppermost may descend into the second, and that of the
second into the third. Their figure is quadrangular; the breadth is the
same in all, amounting to about ninety paces. In their length there is
some difference; the first being one hundred and sixty paces long, the
second two hundred and the third two hundred and twenty. They are all
lined with masonry and plastered. The springs whence the pools are
supplied seem to have been secured with great care, having, says the
author of the Journey from Aleppo, "no avenue to them but by a little
hole like to the mouth of a narrow well." Through this hole you descend
directly about four yards, when you come to a chamber forty-five feet long
and twenty-four broad, adjoining to which there is another apartment of
the same kind, but not quite so large. Both these rooms are neatly arched,
and have an air of great antiquity. The water, which rises from four
separate sources, is partly conveyed by a subterranean passage into the
ponds; the remainder being received into an aqueduct of brick pipes, and
carried by many turnings and windings among the mountains to the walls of
Jerusalem. The monks of Bethlehem are perfectly convinced that it was in
allusion to this guarded treasure, so valuable in Palestine, that Solomon
called his beloved spouse a "sealed fountain."
Of the aqueduct here mentioned some traces are still to be detected in the
intermediate space, and denote an acquaintance with the principles of
hydraulics which we could not have expected among Hebrew architects. It
was constructed all along upon the surface of the ground, and framed of
perforated stones let into one another, with a fillet round the cavity, so
contrived as to prevent leakage, and united together with so firm a cement
that they will sometimes sooner break than endure a separation. These
pipes were covered with an arch, or layer of flags, strengthened by the
application of a peculiarly strong mortar; the whole "being endued with
such absolute firmness as if it had been designed for eternity. But the
Turks have demonstrated in this instance, that nothing can be so well
wrought but they are able to destroy it; fur of this strong aqueduct,
which was carried formerly five or six leagues with so vast expense and
labour, you see now only here and there a fragment remaining."[105]
In a valley contiguous to Bethlehem are the remains of a church and
convent which were erected by the pious empress over the place where the
angels appeared to the shepherds. Nothing has survived the desolation to
which every edifice in Palestine has been repeatedly subjected but a small
grotto wherein the heavenly communication was vouchsafed to the simple
keepers of the flock.
On the way back to Jerusalem the traveller is induced to leave the more
direct route, that he may visit the Convent of St. John in the Desert.
This monastery is built over the dwelling where the Baptist is supposed to
have first seen the light; and accordingly, under the altar, the spot on
which he was brought forth is marked by a star of marble bearing this
inscription:--
"Hic precursor Domini Christi natus est."
Here the forerunner of the Lord Christ was born.
The church belonging to this establishment has been described as one of
the best in the Holy Land, having an elegant cupola and a pavement of
Mosaic, with some paintings. But the appearance, nevertheless, is poor and
deserted, as if its votaries were few, and but little concerned in
preserving its ancient grandeur. The account given of it by Sandys will
amuse the reader by the simplicity of the narrative as well as by the deep
interest the good man felt in the various scenes which passed before
him:--"Having travelled about a mile and a halfe farther, we came to the
cave where the baptist is said to have lived from the age of seven until
such time as he went into the wilderness by Jordan, sequestered from the
abode of man, and feeding on such wilde nourishment as these uninhabited
places afforded. This cave is seated on the northern side of a desert
mountaine,--only beholden to the locust-tree,--hewne out of the
precipitating rock, so as difficultly to be ascended or descended to,
entered at the east corner, and receiving light from a window in the side.
At the upper end there is a bench of the selfesame, whereon, they say, he
accustomed to sleeps; of which whoso breaks a piece off stands forthwith
excommunicate. Over this, on a little flat stand the ruins of a monastery,
on the south aide, naturally walled with the steepe of a mountain; from
whence there gusheth a living spring which entereth the rock, and again
bursteth forth beneathe the mouth of the cave,--a place that would make
solitarinesse delightful, and stand in comparison with the turbulent pompe
of cities. This overlooketh a profound valley, on the far side hemmed with
aspiring mountains, whereof some are cut (or naturally so) in degrees like
allies, which would be else unaccessibly fruitlesse; whose levels yet bear
the stumps of decayed vines, shadowed not rarely with olives and locusts.
And surely I think that all or most of those mountains have bin so
husbanded, else could this little country have never sustained such a
multitude of people. After we had fed of such provision as was brought us
from the city by other of the fraternitie that there met us, we turned
towards Jerusalem, leaving the way of Bethlehem on the right-hand, and
that of Emmaus on the left. The first place of note that we met with was
there where once stood the dwelling of Zachary, seated on the side of a
fruitful hill, well stored with olives and vineyards. Hither came the
blessed Virgin to visit her cousin Elisabeth. Here died Elisabeth, and
here, in a grot, on the aide of a vault or chapell, lies buried; over
which a goodly church war erected, together with a monastery, whereof now
little standeth but a part of the walls, which offer to the view some
fragments of painting, which show that the rest have been exquisit. Beyond
and lower is Our Lady's Fountaine (so called of the inhabitants), which
maintaineth a little current thorow the neighbouring valley. Near this, in
the bottome and uttermost extent thereof, there standeth a temple, once
sumptuous, now desolate, built by Helena, and dedicated to St. John
Baptist, in the place where Zachary had another house, possest, as the
rest, by the beastly Arabians, who defile it with their cattell, and
employ to the basest of uses."[106]
It is a point still unsettled, whether the food of him who was sent to
prepare the way consisted of fruit or of insects; the name locust being
indiscriminately applied to either, and both being used by the inhabitants
of Palestine. There is less doubt in regard to the opinions of the early
Christians, who were unanimous in the belief that the Baptist lived on the
produce of a particular tree which still abounds in the desert. Nay, the
friars at the present day assert, that the very plants which yielded
sustenance to the holy recluse continue to flourish in their ancient
vigour; and the popish pilgrims, says Mr. Maundrell, who dare not be wiser
than such blind guides, gather the fruit of them, and carry it away with
much devotion.
But we must not permit the interesting associations of Bethlehem to detain
us any longer in its vicinity. We proceed now towards the extremity of the
Dead Sea; whence, after having visited the most remarkable scenes on its
western shore,--the mouth of the Jordan and the position of Jericho,--we
shall return to the capital by a different route.
After having satisfied his curiosity in church and convent, the traveller
turns his face southward to Tekoa and Hebron, those remoter villages of
the Holy Land. The former, which was built by Rehoboam, and is
distinguished as the birthplace of Amos the prophet, presents considerable
ruins, and even some remains of architecture. It appears to have stood
upon a hill, which Pococke describes as being about half a mile in length
and a furlong broad. On the north-eastern corner there are fragments of an
old building, supposed to have been a fortress, while about half-way up
the accent there are similar indications of a church now in a state of
complete dilapidation. There is preserved, however, a large font of an
octagon form, composed of red and white marble; as also pieces of broken
pillars consisting of the same material.
Farther towards the south, various manifestations present themselves of
ancient civilization, the traces of which are most distinctly marked by
places of worship and numerous strongholds. The traveler just named
mentions a ruined castle called Creightoun, situated on the side of a
steep hill, and a church dedicated to St. Pantaleone. At a little distance
there is an immense grotto, which is said on one occasion to have
contained 30,000 men; and hence it is conjectured to be one of those
retreats in the fastnesses of Engedi to which David fled from the pursuit
of Saul. About two miles farther, in a south-eastern direction, is the
Mount of Bethulia, near a village of the same name; a position which is
thought to agree with that of Beth-haccerem, specified by Jeremiah as a
proper place for a beacon, where the children of Benjamin were to sound
the trumpet in Tekoa.[107]
There is a tradition that the knights of Jerusalem, during the Holy War,
held this strong post forty years after the capital had fallen. It is a
single hill, and very high; and the top of it appears like a large mount
formed by art, being defended by a double line of fortifications and
several towers, which in a rude state of warfare might be pronounced
almost impregnable. At the foot of an eminence towards the north there are
the remains of a magnificent church as well as of other buildings. On a
slope a little farther west there is a cistern connected with a pond,
which appears to have had an island in it, and probably some structure
suited to the supply of water. These works were also encompassed with a
double wall; and it is said that two aqueducts may still be perceived
terminating in the basin, one from the Sealed Fountain of Solomon, and
another from the hilly district which stretches between Bethlehem and
Tekoa.
In reference to the tradition that the knights of Jerusalem held the
garrison of Bethulia forty years, Captain Mangles remarks, that the place
is too small to have contained even half the number of men which would
have been requisite to make any stand in such a country; and the ruins,
though they may be those of a place once defended by Franks, appear to
have had an earlier origin, as the architecture seems to be decidedly
Roman. There can be little doubt, indeed, that it is one of the works of
Herod the Great; and its distance does not differ much from that of
Herodium, which is described by Josephus as being about sixty furlongs
from the metropolis. The delineation of the hill, too, by the same
historian, corresponds with the Mount of the Franks; and when he adds that
water was conveyed to it at a great expense, we cannot permit ourselves to
question the identity of Herodium and the fortress of Bethulia.[108]
Hebron, Habroun, or, according to the Arabic orthography followed by the
moderns, El Hhalil, is considerably removed from the usual track of
pilgrims and tourists. An accident or quarrel once excited the indignation
of the inhabitants against the Franks, who during a long course of time
were dissuaded by the Monks at Jerusalem from extending their researches
beyond Bethlehem. Sandys could only report, apparently on the information
of others, that Hebron was reduced to ruins; but he adds, there is a
little village seated in the field of Machpelah, "where standeth a goodly
temple, erected over the burying-cave of the patriarchs by Helena, the
mother of Constantine, converted now into a mosque." Without minutely
analyzing the topography of this rather credulous author, we may repeat
the assurance which he gives relative to the existence of the imperial
monument dedicated to the memory of Abraham and his immediate descendants.
M. Burckhardt, who saw it in 1807, bears testimony to the fact that the
sepulchre, once a Greek church, is now appropriated to the worship of
Mohammed. The ascent to it is by a large and fine staircase that leads to
a long gallery, the entrance to which is by a small court. Towards the
left is a portico resting upon square pillars The vestibule of the temple
contains two rooms; the one being the tomb of Abraham, the other that of
Sarah. In the body of the church, between two large pillars on the right,
is seen a small recess, in which is the sepulchre of Isaac, and in a
similar one upon the left is that of his wife. On the opposite side of the
court is another vestibule, which has also two rooms, being respectively
the tomb of Jacob and of his spouse. At the extremity of the portico, upon
the right-hand, is a door which leads to a sort of long gallery that still
serves for a mosque; and passing from thence is observed another room
containing the ashes of Joseph, which are said to have been carried
thither by the people of Israel. All the sepulchres of the patriarchs are
covered with rich carpets of green silk, magnificently embroidered with
gold; those of their wives are red, embroidered in like manner. The
sultans of Constantinople furnish these carpets, which are renewed from
time to time. M. Burckhardt counted nine, one over another, upon the
sepulchre of Abraham. The rooms also which contain the tombs are covered
with rich carpets; the entrance to them is guarded by iron gates, and
wooden doors plated with silver, having halts and padlocks of the same
metal. More than a hundred persons are employed in the service of this
temple; affording, with the decorations and wealth lavished upon the
structure, a remarkable contrast to the simple life of the venerable man
to whose memory it is meant to do honour.
If the description given by Sandys in the seventeenth century was correct,
we must conclude that Hebron has subsequently enjoyed a period of
improvement. According to the traveller whom we have just quoted, it
contains about four hundred families, of which about a fourth part are
Jews. It is situated on the slope of a mountain; has a strong castle; can
boast abundance of provisions, a considerable number of shops, and some
neat houses. The whole of the country between Tekoa and Hebron is finer
and better cultivated than in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem; while the
sides of the hills, instead of being naked and dreary, are richly studded
with the oak, the arbutus, the Scottish fir, and a variety of
flowering-shrubs.
Beyond this point the information of Europeans ceased until about twelve
years ago, when the desert which stretches between the Sepulchre of
Abraham and the Dead Sea was entered by Mr. Bankes, Mr. Legh, and Captains
Irby and Mangles. After a journey of three days from Hebron towards the
south, the travellers were informed of extensive ruins at Abdi in the
Wilderness. On turning their faces to Kerek, the object of their search,
the road led in the direction of the Lake Asphaltites, through a country
which, although well cultivated, was extremely uninteresting. They
observed a variety of ruins, with some subterranean tombs in the
neighbourhood, denoting the existence of an ancient town; when, after
having advanced eight or nine miles farther, they found themselves on the
borders of an extensive desert, entirely abandoned to the wandering
Bedouins. Near the point at which this change of aspect begins is a place
called by the natives Al-baid, where there is a fountain in the rock and a
pool of greenish water.
The travellers, at some distance from this halting-place, arrived at a
camp of Jellaheen Arabs, who told them that in years of scarcity they were
accustomed to retire into Egypt,--a practice which seems to have been
handed down from the days of the patriarchs, or dictated by the same
necessity that compelled the family of Jacob to adopt a similar expedient.
At the distance of eight hours from Al-baid, in a deep barren valley, are
the ruins of an old Turkish fort, standing on a solitary rock to the left
of the track. Farther on the cliff is excavated, at a considerable height,
into loopholes; where it is probable a barrier was formerly established
for levying a certain duty on goods and travellers. The place is called El
Zowar, or El Ghor. From hence a gravelly ravine, studded with bushes of
acacia and other shrubs, conducts to the great plain at the southern
extremity of the Dead Sea; bounded at the distance of eight or nine miles
by a sandy cliff at least seventy feet high, which forms a barrier to the
lake when at its greatest elevation. The existence of that long valley
which extends from Asphaltites to the AElanitic Gulf was first ascertained
by Burckhardt; and the prolongation of it, as connected with the hollow of
the Jordan, has been considered as a proof that the river at one time
discharged its waters into the eastern branch of the Red Sea. The change
is attributed to that great volcanic convulsion mentioned in the
nineteenth chapter of Genesis, which, interrupting the course of the
river, converted into a lake the fertile plain occupied by the cities of
Adma, Zeboim, Sodom, and Gomorrah, and reduced all the valley southward to
the condition of a sandy waste.[109]
But, having reached the shores of the Dead Sea by an unfrequented path, we
have no guide to the examination of the wild country which rises on either
side of it; we therefore prefer the more wonted route which leads to its
northern border, near the mouth of the Jordan and the site of the ancient
Jericho. Avoiding, at the same time, the track of the caravan from
Jerusalem through the hilly desert which intervenes, we shall accompany
the Vicomte de Chateaubriand from Bethlehem through the interesting Valley
of Santa Saba.
On leaving the Church of the Nativity the traveller pursues his course
eastward, through a vale where Abraham is said to have fed his flocks.
This pastoral tract, however, is soon succeeded by a range of hilly
ground, so extremely barren that not even a root of moss is to be seen
upon it. Descending the farther side of this meager platform two lofty
towers are perceived, rising from a deep valley, marking the site of the
Convent of Santa Saba. Nothing can be more dreary than the situation of
this religious house. It is erected in a ravine, sunk to the depth of
several hundred feet, where the brook Kedron has formed a channel, which
is dry the greater part of the year. The church is on a little eminence at
the bottom of the dell; Whence the buildings of the monastery rise by
perpendicular flights of steps and passages hewn out of the rock, and thus
ascend to the ridge of the hill, where they terminate is the two square
towers already mentioned. From hence you descry the sterile summits of the
mountains both towards the east and west; the course of the stream from
Jerusalem; and the numerous grottoes formerly occupied by Christian
anchorites.
In advancing, the aspect of the country still continues the same, white
and dusty, without tree, herbage, or even moss. At length the road seeks a
lower level, and approaches the rocky border which bounds the Valley of
the Jordan; when, after a toilsome journey of ten or twelve hours, the
traveller sees stretching out before his eyes the Dead Sea and the line of
the river. But the landscape, however grand, admits of no comparison to
the scenery of Europe. No fields waving with corn,--no plains covered with
rich pasture present themselves from the mountains of Lower Palestine.
Figure to yourself two long chains of mountains, running in a parallel
direction from north to south, without breaks and without undulations. The
eastern or Arabian chain is the highest; and, when seen at the distance of
eight or ten leagues, you would take it to be a prodigious perpendicular
wall, resembling Mount Jura in its form and azure colour. Not one summit,
not the smallest peak can be distinguished; you merely perceive slight
inflections here and there, "as if the hand of the painter who drew this
horizontal line along the sky had trembled in some places."
The mountains of Judea form the range on which the observer stands as he
looks down on the Lake Asphaltites. Less lofty and more unequal than the
eastern chain, it differs from the other in its nature also; exhibiting
heaps of chalk and sand, whose form, it is said, bears some resemblance to
piles of arms, waving standards, or the tents of a camp pitched on the
border of a plain. The Arabian side, on the contrary, presents nothing but
black precipitous rocks, which throw their lengthened shadow over waters
of the Dead Sea. The smallest bird of heaven would not find among these
crags a single blade of grass for its sustenance; every thing announces
the country of a reprobate people, and well fitted to perpetuate the
punishment denounced against Ammon and Moab.
The valley confined by these two chains of mountains displays a soil
resembling the bottom of a sea which has long retired from its bed, a
beach covered with salt, dry mud, and moving sands, furrowed, as it were,
by the waves. Here and there stunted shrubs vegetate with difficulty upon
this inanimate tract; their leaves are covered with salt, and their bark
has a smoky smell and taste. Instead of villages you perceive the ruins of
a few towers. In the middle of this valley flows a discoloured river,
which reluctantly throws itself into the pestilential lake by which it is
engulfed. Its course amid the sands can be distinguished only by the
willows and the reeds that border it; among which the Arab lies in ambush
to attack the traveller and to murder the pilgrim.[110]
M. Chateaubriand remarks, that when you travel in Judea the heart is at
first filled with profound melancholy. But when, passing from solitude to
solitude, boundless space opens before you, this feeling wears off by
degrees, and you experience a secret awe, which, so far from depressing
the soul, imparts life and elevates the genius. Extraordinary appearances
everywhere proclaim a land teeming with miracles. The burning sun, the
towering eagle, the barren fig-tree, all the poetry, all the pictures of
Scripture are here. Every name commemorates a mystery,--every grotto
announces a prediction,--every hill reechoes the accents of a prophet. God
himself has spoken in these regions, dried up rivers, rent the rocks, and
opened the grave. "The desert still appears mute with terror; and you
would imagine that it had never presumed to interrupt the silence since it
heard the awful voice of the Eternal."
The celebrated lake which occupies the site of Sodom and Gomorrah is
called in Scripture the Dead Sea. Among the Greeks and Latins it is known
by the name of Asphaltites; the Arabs denominate it Bahar Loth, or Sea of
Lot. M. de Chateaubriand does not agree with those who conclude it to be
the crater of a volcano; for, having seen Vesuvius, Solfatara, the Peak of
the Azores, and the extinguished volcanoes of Auvergne, he remarked in all
of them the same characters; that is to say, mountains excavated in the
form of a tunnel, lava, and ashes, which exhibited incontestable proof of
the agency of fire. The Salt Sea, on the contrary, is a lake of great
length, curved like a bow, placed between two ranges of mountains, which
have no mutual coherence of form, no similarity of composition. They do
not meet at the two extremities of the lake; but while the one continues
to bound the valley of Jordan, and to run northward as far as Tiberias,
the other stretches away to the south till it loses itself in the sands of
Yemen. There are, it is true, hot springs, quantities of bitumen, sulphur,
and asphaltos; but these of themselves are not sufficient to attest the
previous existence of a volcano. With respect, indeed, to the ingulfed
cities, if we adopt the idea of Michaelis and of Büsching, physics may be
admitted to explain the catastrophe without offence to religion. According
to their views, Sodom was built upon a mine of bitumen,--a fact which is
ascertained by the testimony of Moses and Josephus, who speak of wells of
naphtha in the Valley of Siddim. Lightning kindled the combustible mass,
and the guilty cities sank in the subterraneous conflagration. Malte Brun
ingeniously suggests that Sodom and Gomorrah themselves may have been
built of bituminous stones, and thus have been set in flames by the fire
from heaven.
According to Strabo, there were thirteen towns swallowed up in the Lake
Asphaltites; Stephen of Byzantium reckons eight; the book of Genesis,
while it names five as situated in the Vale of Siddim, relates the
destruction of two only: four are mentioned in Deuteronomy, and five are
noticed by the author of Ecclesiasticus. Several travellers, and among
others Troilo and D'Arvieux, assure us, that they observed fragments of
walls and palaces in the Dead Sea. Maundrell himself was not so fortunate,
owing, he supposes, to the height of the water; but he relates that the
Father Guardian and Procurator of Jerusalem, both men of sense and
probity, declared that they had once actually seen one of these ruins;
that it was so near the shore, and the lake so shallow, that they,
together with some Frenchmen, went to it, and found there several pillars
and other fragments of buildings. The ancients speak more positively on
this subject. Josephus, who employs a poetical expression, says, that he
perceived on the shores of the Dead Sea the shades of the overwhelmed
cities. Strabo gives a circumference of sixty stadia to the ruins of
Sodom, which are also mentioned by Tacitus.[111]
It is surprising that no pains have been taken by recent travellers to
throw light upon this interesting point, or even to learn whether the
periodical rise and fall of the lake affords any means for determining the
accuracy of the ancient historians and geographers. Should the Turks ever
give permission, and should it be found practicable, to convey a vessel
from Jaffa to this inland sea, some curious discoveries would certainly be
made. Is it not amazing that, notwithstanding the enterprise of modern
science, the ancients were better acquainted with the properties, and even
the dimensions of the Lake Asphaltites, than the most learned nations of
Europe in our own times? It is described by Aristotle, Strabo, Diodorus
Siculus, Pliny, Tacitus, Solinus, Josephus, Galen, and Dioscorides. The
Abbot of Santa Saba is the only person for many centuries who has made the
tour of the Dead Sea. From his account we learn, through the medium of
Father Nau, that at its extremity it is separated, as it were, into two
parts, and that there is a way by which you may walk across it, being only
mid-leg deep, at least in summer; that there the land rises, and bounds
another small lake of a circular or rather an oval figure, surrounded with
plains and hills of salt; and that the neighbouring country is peopled by
innumerable Arabs.[112]
It is known that seven considerable streams fall into this basin, and
hence it was long supposed that it must discharge its superfluous stores
by subterranean channels into the Mediteranean or the Red Sea. This
opinion is now everywhere relinquished, in consequence of the learned
remarks on the effect of evaporation in a hot climate, published by Dr.
Halley many years ago; the justness of which were admitted by Dr. Shaw,
though he calculated that the Jordan alone threw into the lake every day
more than six million tuns of water. It is deserving of notice, that the
Arabian philosophers, if we may believe Mariti, had anticipated Halley in
his conclusions in regard to the absorbent power of a dry atmosphere.[113]
The marvellous properties usually assigned to the Dead Sea by the earlier
travellers have vanished upon a more rigid investigation. It is now known
that bodies sink or float upon it, in proportion to their specific
gravity; and that, although the water is so dense as to be favourable to
swimmers, no security is found against the common accident of drowning.
Josephus indeed asserts that Vespasian, in order to ascertain the fact now
mentioned, commanded a number of his slaves to be bound hand and foot and
thrown into the deepest part of the lake; and that, so far from any of
them sinking, they all maintained their place on the surface until it
pleased the emperor to have them taken out. But this anecdote, although
perfectly consistent with truth, does not justify all the inferences which
have been drawn from it. "Being willing to make an experiment," says
Maundrell, "I went into it, and found that it bore up my body in swimming
with an uncommon force; but as for that relation of some authors, that men
wading into it were buoyed up to the top as soon as they got as deep as
the middle, I found it, upon trial, not true."[114]
The water of this sea has been frequently analyzed both in France and
England. The specific gravity of it, according to Malte Brun, is 1.211,
that of fresh water being 1.000. It is perfectly transparent. The
applications of tests, or reagents, prove that it contains the muriatic
and sulphuric acids. There is no alumina in it, nor does it appear that it
is saturated with marine salt or muriate of soda. It holds in solution the
following substances, and in the proportions here stated:
Muriate of lime 3.920
Magnesia 10.246
Soda 10.360
Sulphate of lime .054
We need not add that such a liquid must be equally salt and bitter. As
might be expected, too, it is found to deposit its salts in copious
incrustations, and to prove a ready agent in all processes of
petrifaction. Clothes, boots, and hats, if dipped in the lake, or
accidentally wetted with its water, are found, when dried, to be covered
with a thick coating of these minerals. Hence, we cannot be surprised to
hear that the Lake Asphaltites does not present any variety of fish.
Mariti asserts that it produces none, and even that those which are
carried into it by the rapidity of the Jordan perish almost immediately
upon being immerged in its acrid waves. A few shell-snails constitute the
sole tenants of its dreary shores, unmixed either with the helix or the
muscle.
It was formerly believed that the approach to Asphaltites was fatal to
birds, and that, like another lake of antiquity, it had the power of
drawing them down from the wing into its poisonous waters. This dream,
propagated by certain visionary travellers, is now completely discredited.
Flocks of swallows may be seen skimming along its surface with the utmost
impunity, while the absence of all other species is easily explained by a
glance at the naked hills and barren plains, which supply no vegetable
food.
The historian Josephus, who measured the Dead Sea, found that in length it
extended about five hundred and eighty stadia, and in breadth one hundred
and fifty,--according to our standard, somewhat more than seventy miles by
nineteen. A recent traveller, to whose unpublished journal we have
repeatedly alluded, remarks that the lake, when he visited it, was sunk or
hollow, and that the banks had been recently under water, being still very
miry and difficult to pass. The shores were covered with dry wood, some of
it good timber, which they say is brought by the Jordan from the country
of the Druses. "The water is pungently salt, like oxymuriate of soda. It
is incredibly buoyant. G---- bathed in it, and when he lay still on his
back or belly, he floated with one-fourth at least of his whole body above
the water. He described the sensation as extraordinary, and more like
lying on a feather-bed than floating on water. On the other hand, he found
the greatest resistance in attempting to move through it: it smarted his
eyes excessively. I put a piece of stick in: it required a good deal of
pressure to make it sink, and when let go it bounded out again like a
blown bladder. The water was clear, and of a yellowish tinge, which might
be from the colour of the stones at bottom, or from the hazy atmosphere.
There were green shrubs down to the water's edge in one place, and nothing
to give an idea of any thing blasting in the neighbourhood of the sea; the
desert character of the soil extending far beyond the possibility of being
affected by its influence."[115]
The bitumen supplied by this singular basin affords the means of a
comfortable livelihood to a considerable number of Arabs who frequent its
shores. The Pasha of Damascus, who finds it a valuable article of
commerce, purchases at a small price the fruit of their labours, or
supplies them with food, clothing, and a few ornaments in return for it.
In ancient times it found a ready market in Egypt, where it was used in
large quantities for embalming the dead: it was also occasionally employed
as a substitute for stone, and appeared in the walls of houses and even of
temples.
Associated with the Dead Sea, every reader has heard of the apples of
Sodom, a species of fruit which, extremely beautiful to the eye, is bitter
to the taste, and full of dust. Tacitus, in the fifth book of his history,
alludes to this singular fact, but, as usual, in language so brief and
ambiguous, that no light can be derived from his description, _atra et
inania velut in cinerem vanescunt_. Some travellers, unable to discover
this singular production, have considered it merely as a figure of speech,
depicting the deceitful nature of all vicious enjoyments. Hasselquist
regards it as the production of a small plant called _Solanum melongena_,
a species of nightshade, which is to be found abundantly in the
neighbourhood of Jericho. He admits that the apples are sometimes full of
dust; but this, he maintains, appears only when the fruit is attacked by a
certain insect, which converts the whole of the inside into a kind of
powder, leaving the rind wholly entire, and in possession of its beautiful
colour.
M. Seetzen, again, holds the novel opinion, that this mysterious apple
contains a sort of cotton resembling silk; and, having no pulp or flesh in
the inside, might naturally enough, when sought for as food, be denounced
by the hungry Bedouin as pleasing to the eye and deceitful to the palate.
Chateaubriand has fixed on a shrub different from any of the others. It
grows two or three leagues from the mouth of the Jordan, and is of a
thorny appearance, with small tapering leaves. Its fruit is exactly like
that of the Egyptian lemon, both in size and colour. Before it is ripe it
is filled with a corrosive and saline juice; when dried, it yields a
blackish seed that may be compared to ashes, and which in taste resembles
bitter pepper. There can be little doubt that this is the true apple of
Sodom, which flatters the sight while it mocks the appetite.[116]
In ascending the western shore, the traveller at length reaches the point
where the Jordan mixes its muddy waters with those of the lake.
Hasselquist, the only modern author who describes the mouth of that
celebrated river, tells us that the plain which extends from thence to
Jericho, a distance of more than three leagues, is, generally speaking,
level, but uncultivated and barren. The soil is a grayish sandy clay, so
loose that the horses often sank up to the knees in it. The whole surface
of the earth is covered with salt in the same manner as on the banks of
the Nile, and would, it is probable, prove no less fruitful were it
irrigated with equal care. The stones on the beach, it is added, were all
quartz, but of various colours; some specimens of which, having a slaty
structure, emitted, when exposed to fire, a strong smell of bitumen,
thereby denoting, perhaps, its volcanic origin.
There is a great want of unanimity among authors in respect to the width
of the Jordan. The Swede whom we have just quoted relates, that opposite
to Jericho it was eight paces over, the banks perpendicular, six feet in
height, the water deep, muddy, warm rather than cold, and much inferior in
quality to that of the Nile. Chateaubriand, again, who measured it in
several places, reports that it was about fifty feet in breadth, and six
feet deep close to the shore,--a discrepancy which must arise from the
period of the year when it was seen by these distinguished writers.[117]
The Old Testament abounds with allusions to the swellings of Jordan; but
at present, whether the current has deepened its channel, or whether the
climate is less moist than in former days, this occurrence is seldom
witnessed,--the river has forgotten its ancient greatness. Maundrell could
discern no sign or probability of such overflowings; for although he was
there on the 30th of March,--the proper season of the inundation,--the
river was running two yards at least under the level of its banks. The
margin of the stream, however, continues as of old to be closely covered
with a natural forest of tamarisk, willows, oleanders, and similar trees,
and to afford a retreat to several species of wild beasts. Hence the fine
metaphor of the prophet Jeremiah, who assimilates an enraged enemy to a
lion coming up "from the swellings of Jordan," driven from his lair by the
annual flood, and compelled to seek shelter in the surrounding desert.
Jericho, which is at present a miserable village inhabited by half-naked
Arabs, derives all its importance from history. It was the first city
which the Israelites reduced upon entering the Holy Land. Five hundred and
thirty years afterward it was rebuilt by Heliel of Bethel, who succeeded
in restoring its population, its splendour, and its commerce; in which
flourishing condition it appears to have continued during several
centuries. Mark Antony, in the pride of power, presented to Cleopatra the
whole territory of Jericho. Vespasian, in the course of the sanguinary war
which he prosecuted in Judea, sacked its walls, and put its inhabitants to
the sword. Re-established by Adrian in the 138th year of our faith, it was
doomed at no distant era to experience new disasters. It was again
repaired by the Christians, who made it the seat of a bishop; but in the
twelfth century it was overthrown by the infidels, and has not since
emerged from its ruins. Of all its magnificent buildings there remain only
the part of one tower, supposed to be the dwelling of Zaccheus the
publican, and a quantity of rubbish, which is understood to mark the line
of its ancient walls.
Mr. Buckingham saw reason to believe that the true site of Jericho, as
described by Josephus, was at a greater distance from the river than the
village of Rahhah, commonly supposed to represent the City of Palms.
Descending from the mountains which bound the valley on the western side,
he observed the ruins of a large settlement, covering at least a square
mile, whence, as well as from the remains of aqueducts and fountains, he
was led to conclude that it must have been a place of considerable
consequence. Some of the more striking objects among the wrecks of this
ancient city were large tumuli, evidently the work of art, and resembling
those of the Greek and Trojan heroes on the plains of Ilium. There were,
besides, portions of ruined buildings, shafts of columns, and a capital of
the Corinthian order; tokens not at all ambiguous of former grandeur and
of civilized life.
Josephus fixes the position of Jericho at the distance of one hundred and
fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, and sixty from the river Jordan; stating
that the country, as far as the capital, is desert and hilly, while to the
shores of the Lake Asphaltites it is low, though equally waste and
unfruitful. Nothing can apply more accurately, in all its particulars,
than this description does to the ruins just mentioned. The spot lies at
the very foot of the sterile mountains of Judea, which may be said
literally to overhang it on the west; and these ridges are still as
barren, as rugged, and as destitute of inhabitants as formerly, throughout
their whole extent, from the Lake of Tiberias to the Dead Sea. The
distance, by the computation in time, amounted to six hours, or nearly
twenty miles, from Jerusalem; the space between the supposed city and the
river being little more than one-third of that amount, the precise
proportion indicated by the Jewish historian.
The soil round Jericho was long celebrated for a precious balsam, which
used to be sold for double its weight of silver. The historian Justin
relates, that the trees from which it exudes bear a resemblance to firs,
though they are lower, and are cultivated after the manner of vines. He
adds, that the wealth of the Jewish nation arises from their produce, as
they grow in no other part of Syria. At present, however, there is not a
tree of any description, either palm or balsam, to be seen near the site
of this deserted town; but it is admitted, that the complete desolation
with which its ruins are invested ought to be attributed to the cessation
of industry rather than to any perceptible change either in the climate or
the soil.
Rahhah stands about four miles nearer the river, or about half-way between
the assumed position of Jericho and the bank of the current. It consists
of about fifty dwellings, all very mean in their appearance, and every one
fenced in front with thorny bushes; one of the most effectual defences
that could be raised against the incursions of the Bedouins, whose horses
will not approach these formidable thickets. The inhabitants, without
exception, are professed believers in the creed of Islamism. Their habits
are those of shepherds rather than of cultivators of the soil; this last
duty, indeed, when performed at all, being done chiefly by the women and
children, as the men roam the plain on horseback, and derive the principal
means of subsistence from robbery and plunder. They are governed by a
sheik, whose influence among them is more like the authority of a father
over his children than that of a magistrate; and who is, moreover, checked
in the exercise of his power, by the knowledge that he would instantly be
deprived of life and station were he to exceed the bounds which, in all
rude countries, are opposed even to the caprices of despotism. It is
remarkable that the name of this village corresponds to Rahab, the name of
the hostess who received into her house the Hebrew spies, and signifies
odour or perfume; the slight change on the form of the Arabic term
implying no difference in the import of the root whence they are both
originally derived.
The mountains on the eastern side of the Jordan are more lofty than those
which skirt the Vale of Jericho, being not less than 2000 feet in height.
From the summit of a towering peak, which the traveller still delights to
recognise, Moses was permitted to behold the promised inheritance,
stretching towards the west, the south, and the north,--"All the land of
Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh,
and all the land of Judah unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the
plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar. And the
Lord said unto him, this is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto
Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused
thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So
Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there, in the land of Moab, according
to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of
Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto
this day."[118]
The road from Jericho to Jerusalem presents some historical reminiscences
of the most interesting nature. When entering the mountains which protect
the western side of the plain, the attention of the traveller is invited
to the Fountain of Elisha, the waters of which were sweetened by the power
of the prophet. The men of Jericho represented to him that though the
situation of the town was pleasant, "the water was naught, and the ground
barren. And he said, bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein: and they
brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and
cast the salt in there, and said, thus with the Lord, I have healed these
waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So
the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha
which he spake."[119]
Its waters are at present received in a basin about nine or ten paces
long, and five or six broad; and from thence, issuing out in good plenty,
divide themselves into several small streams, dispersing their refreshment
to all the land as far as Jericho, and rendering it exceedingly fruitful.
Advancing into the savage country through which the usual road to the
capital is formed, the tourist soon finds himself at the foot of the
mountain called Quarantina, from being the supposed scene of the
temptation and fast of forty days endured by our Saviour, who,
--"looking round on every aide, beheld
A pathless desert dusk with horrid shades:
The way he came not having marked, return
Was difficult, by human steps untrod;
And he still on was led, but with such thoughts
Accompanied of things past and to come
Lodg'd in his breast, as well might recommend
Such solitude before choicest society."[120]
The neighbourhood of this lofty eminence is, according to Mr. Maundrell,
a dry, miserable, barren place, consisting of high rocky mountains, so
torn and disordered, "as if the earth had here suffered some great
convulsion, in which its very bowels had been turned outward." In a deep
valley are seen the ruins of small cells and cottages, thought to be the
remains of those sequestered habitations to which hermits were wont to
retire for the uses of penance and mortification; and it is remarked
that, in the whole earth, a more comfortless and desert place could not
have been selected for so pious a purpose. From these hills of desolation,
however, there is obtained a magnificent prospect of the Plain of Jericho,
the Dead Sea, and of the distant summits of Arabia; for which reason the
highest of the group has been assigned by tradition as the very spot
whence all the kingdoms of the world were seen in a moment of time. It
is, as St. Matthew styles it, an exceeding high mountain, and in its
ascent not only difficult but dangerous. It has a small chapel at the
top, and another about half-way down, founded upon a projecting part of
the rock. Near the latter are observed several caves and holes, excavated
by the solitaries, who thought it the most suitable place for undergoing
the austerities of Lent,--a practice which has not even at the present
day fallen altogether into disuse. Hasselquist describes the path as
"dangerous beyond imagination. I went as far up on this terrible mountain
of Temptation as prudence would admit, but ventured not to go to the top;
whither I sent my servant to bring what natural curiosities he could
find, while I gathered what plants and insects I could find below."[121]
Mariti, whose religious zeal was fanned into a temporary flame, ascended
the formidable steep as far as the grottoes, which he delineates with much
minuteness. He pronounces the chapel inaccessible from the side on which
he stood, and is very doubtful whether it could now be approached on any
quarter, the ancient road being so much neglected. But it should seem that
most travellers are smitten with the feeling which seized the breast of
Maundrell, although they all have not the candour to acknowledge it.
Alluding to the Arabs, who demanded a sum of money for liberty to ascend,
he says, "we departed without further trouble, not a little glad to have
so good an excuse for not climbing so dangerous a precipice."[122]
The imagination of Milton has thrown a captivating splendour around this
scene, which, at the same time, he appears to have transferred to the
mountain-range beyond the Jordan in the country of the Moabites.
"Thus wore out night; and now the herald lark
Left his ground-nest, high towering to descry
The morn's approach, and greet her with his song,
As lightly from his grassy couch up rose
Our Saviour, and found all was but a dream;
Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.
Up to a hill anon his steps he reared,
From whose high top to ken the prospect round,
If cottage were in view, sheepcote, or herd;
But cottage, herd, or sheepcote, none he saw;
Only in a bottom saw a pleasant grove,
With chant of tuneful birds resounding loud;
Thither he bent his way; determined there
To rest at noon, and entered soon the shade
High roofed, and walks beneath, and alleys brown,
That opened in the midst a woody scene."[123]
Leaving the Quarantina with its dreary scenes and solemn recollections,
the pilgrim returning from the Jordan finds himself off a beaten path
which, since the days of Moses, it is probable has connected the rocks of
Salem with the banks of the sacred river. Chateaubriand informs us that it
is broad, and in some parts paved; having undergone, as he conjectures,
several improvements while the country was in possession of the Romans. On
the top of a mountain there is the appearance of a castle, which, we may
conclude, was meant to protect and command the road; and at a little
distance, in the bottom of a deep gloomy valley is the Place of Blood,
called in the Hebrew tongue Abdomim, where once stood a small town
belonging to the tribe of Judah, and where the good Samaritan is imagined
to have succoured the wounded traveller who had fallen into the hands of
thieves. That sombre dell is still entitled to its horrible distinction;
it is still the place of blood, of robbery, and of murder; the most
dangerous pass for him who undertakes to go down from Jerusalem to
Jericho.
As a proof of this, we may shortly mention an assault which was made upon
Sir F. Henniker, who a few years ago resolved to accomplish that perilous
journey. "The route is over hills, rocky, barren, and uninteresting. We
arrived at a fountain, and here my two attendants paused to refresh
themselves; the day was so hot that I was anxious to finish the journey
and hasten forwards. A ruined building, situated on the summit of a hill,
was now within sight, and I urged my horse towards it; the janizary
galloped by me, and making signs for me not to precede him, he himself
rode into and round the building, and then motioned me to advance. We next
came to a hill, through the very apex of which has been cut a passage, the
rocks overhanging it on either side. I was in the act of passing through
this ditch when a bullet whizzed by close to my head. I saw no one, and
had scarcely time to think when another was fired, some short distance in
advance. I could yet see no one, the janizary was beneath the brow of the
hill in his descent. I looked back, but my servant was not yet within
sight. I looked up, and within a few inches of my head were three muskets,
and three men taking aim at me. Escape or resistance was alike impossible.
I got off my horse. Eight men jumped down from the rocks and commenced a
scramble for me.--As he (the janizary) passed, I caught at a rope hanging
from his saddle; I had hoped to leap upon his horse, but found myself
unable; my feet were dreadfully lacerated by the honeycombed rocks; nature
would support me no longer; I fell, but still clung to the rope; in this
manner I was drawn some few yards, till, bleeding from my ankle to my
shoulder, I resigned myself to my fate. As soon as I stood up one of my
pursuers took aim at me; but the other, casually advancing between us,
prevented his firing. He then ran up, and with his sword aimed such a blow
as would not have required a second: his companion prevented its full
effect, so that it merely cut my ear in halves, and laid open one aide of
my face: they then stripped me naked."[124]
It is impossible not to suspect that the depraved government at Jerusalem
connives at such instances of violence in order to give some value to the
protection which they sell at a very dear rate to Christian travellers.
The administration of Mohammed Ali would be a blessing to Palestine,
inasmuch as it would soon render the intercourse between the capital and
the Dead Sea as safe as that between Alexandria and Grand Cairo.
Refreshing himself at the fountain where our Lord and his apostles,
according to a venerable tradition, were wont to rest on their journey to
the holy city, the tourist sets his heart on revisiting the sacred remains
of that decayed metropolis. When at the summit of the Mount of Olives, he
is again struck with the mixture of magnificence and ruin which marks the
queen of nations in her widowed estate. Owing to the clear atmosphere and
the absence of smoke, the view is so distinct that one might count the
separate houses. The streets are tolerably regular, straight, and well
paved; but they are narrow and dull, and almost all on a declivity. The
fronts of the houses, which are generally two or three stories high, are
quite plain, simply constructed of stone, without the least ornament; so
that in walking past them a stranger might fancy himself in the galleries
of a vast prison. The windows are very few and extremely small; and, by a
singular whim, the doors are so low that it is commonly requisite to bend
the body nearly double in order to enter them. Some families have gardens
of moderate dimensions; but, upon the whole, the ground within the walls
is fully occupied with buildings, if we except the vast enclosures in
which are placed the mosques and churches.
There is not observed at Jerusalem any square, properly so called; the
shops and markets are universally opened in the public streets. Provisions
are said to be abundant and cheap, including excellent meat, vegetables,
and fruit. Water is supplied by the atmosphere; and preserved in capacious
cisterns; nor is it necessary, except when a long drought has exhausted
the usual stock, that the inhabitants should have recourse to the spring
near the brook Kedron. Rice is much used for food; but as the country is
quite unsuited to the production of that aquatic grain, it is imported
from Egypt in return for oil, the staple of Palestine.
There is a great diversity of costume, everybody adopting that which he
likes best, whether Arab, Syrian, or Turk; but the lower order of people
generally wear a shirt fastened round the waist with a girdle, after the
example of their neighbours in the desert. Ali Bey remarks, that he saw
very few handsome females in the metropolis; on the contrary, they had in
general that bilious appearance so common in the East,--a pale citron
colour, or a dead yellow, like paper or plaster, and, wearing a white
fillet round the circumference of their faces, they have not unfrequently
the appearance of walking corpses. The children, however, are much
healthier and prettier than those of Arabia and Egypt.
The Christians and Jews wear, as a mark of distinction, a blue turban. The
villagers and shepherds use white ones, or striped like those of the
Moslem. The Christian women appear in public with their faces uncovered,
as they do in Europe.
The arts are cultivated to a certain extent, but the sciences have
entirely disappeared. There existed formerly large schools belonging to
the harem; but there are hardly any traces of them left, if their place be
not supplied by a few small seminaries where children of every form of
worship learn to read and write the code of their respective religion. The
grossest ignorance prevails even among persons of high rank, who, on the
first interview, appear to have received a liberal education.[125]
The Arabic language is generally spoken at Jerusalem, though the Turkish
is much used among the better class. The inhabitants are composed of
people of different nations and different religions, who inwardly despise
one another on account of their varying opinions; but as the Christians
are very numerous, there reigns among the whole no small degree of
complaisance, as well as an unrestrained intercourse in matters of
business, amusement, and even of religion.[126]
It is well remarked by Chateaubriand, who had travelled among the native
tribes of North America as extensively as among the Arabs of the Syrian
wilderness, that amid the rudeness of the latter you still perceive a
certain degree of delicacy in their manners; you see that they are natives
of that East which is the cradle of all the arts, all the sciences, all
the religions. Buried at the extremity of the West, the Canadian inhabits
valleys shaded by eternal forests and watered by immense rivers; the Arab,
cast, as it were, upon the high road of the world between Africa and Asia,
roves in the brilliant regions of Aurora over a soil without trees and
without water.
The Jews--the children of the kingdom--have been cast out, and many have
come from the east and the west to occupy their place in the desolate land
promised to their fathers. They usually take up their abode in the narrow
space between the Temple and the foot of Mount Zion, defended from the
tyranny of their Turkish masters by their indigence and misery. Here they
appear covered with rags, and sitting in the dust, with their eyes fixed
on the ruins of their ancient sanctuary. It has been observed that those
descendants of Abraham who come from foreign countries to fix their
residence at Jerusalem live but a short time; while such as are natives of
Palestine are so wretchedly poor as to be obliged to send every year to
raise contributions among their brethren of Egypt and Barbary.[127]
The picture given by Dr. Richardson is much more flattering. He assures
his readers that many of the Jews are rich and in comfortable
circumstances; but that they are careful to conceal their wealth, and even
their comfort, from the jealous eye of their rulers, lest, by awakening
their cupidity, some plot of robbery or murder should be devised. The
whole population has been estimated by different travellers as amounting
to from fifteen to thirty thousand, consisting of Mohammedans, Jews, and
the various sects of Christians.