FROM JERUSALEM TO NABULUS.--HISTORIC PLACES ON THE ROUTE.
During the night after the incidents described in our last chapter the
storm cleared away, and the sky at sunrise was without a cloud.
Everybody had slept well and recovered from the fatigue of the journey,
and the exposure to rain and snow. Frank and Fred were quite ready to
make a fresh start, and laughed over the troubles of the previous day as
the merest trifle in the world.
[Illustration: THE HOTEL-KEEPER.]
Doctor Bronson had a long conference with the dragoman and the keeper of
the hotel, together with the American consul, who happened to be
stopping in the house. It resulted in an announcement that the party
would start the following morning for Damascus.
Of course the decision gave great delight to the youths. The Doctor made
the following explanation of the plan for the new journey:
"Ali tells me that the heavy storm we have just passed through will be
in our favor, as there is a good prospect of fair weather to follow it
for a week or ten days. It is not the right season for the 'long route,'
as the ride from Jerusalem to Damascus is called, and the majority of
travellers at this time of year prefer the 'short route.'
"Perhaps I may as well say here that if we followed the latter we would
return to Jaffa and take steamer for Beyroot. There we land, and proceed
by carriage-road to Damascus, and when we have done with that famous
city we go back to Beyroot the way we came, and are through with Syria.
I had thought of taking the short route, but as we are now well
accustomed to the ways of travel, and have proved our abilities to
endure the severities of a winter storm, I am inclined to the long one.
Our American companions have left the whole arrangements in my hands,
and I have decided that we will go through to Damascus by the overland
way."
Frank asked how much time they would take on the journey.
"The ordinary time consumed in it," the Doctor answered, "is seventeen
days; it may be extended as much as we choose, since we hire the
dragoman by the day, and he is to provide us with everything; and it may
be shortened three or four days. I have arranged that he is to get us
through in fourteen or fifteen days, and he will do so if we are not
delayed by storms or accidents.
"The best time of the year for this journey is in spring, between 'the
early and the latter rain' which the Bible mentions. The country is then
in its best condition, the climate is delightful, and the chance of fine
weather far better than now. But as we cannot suit the season to
ourselves we will run the risk; with stout hearts and plenty of
water-proof clothing we ought to go through without difficulty."[8]
[8] The author begs to inform the reader that the incident of the storm
between Jericho and Jerusalem was his own experience in a visit to the
Holy Land. He did not make the overland journey between Jerusalem and
Damascus, and consequently the description of the route followed by
Frank and Fred is not given from personal observation.
The afternoon was devoted to making a few purchases of articles likely
to be needed on the journey, the completion of letters, and a few sights
that had not been made during the first visit to the city. Doctor
Bronson engaged a trusty man, who was recommended by the consul, to go
to Jaffa and take the baggage of the party to Beyroot, where he would
deliver it to the proprietor of the hotel to await their arrival. This
was thought to be safer than ordering it sent forward as ordinary
freight, and trusting to the agents of the steamer to deliver it.
Steamship agents in the Levant are not worthy of the fullest confidence,
as the writer of this book can bear witness. Travellers are advised to
look carefully after their own affairs, and be wary of the oleaginous
tongues of those from whom they purchase tickets.
As soon as the arrangements had been completed Ali disappeared from the
hotel, and was not again seen till evening. He was busy with his
preparations for the journey, as it was necessary for him to hire
additional horses, and secure a stock of provisions sufficient to carry
them through to Damascus with what he could purchase on the route. The
pack-train, with the tents and provisions, was sent away in advance. The
party had a long ride before it for the next day, and before nine
o'clock everybody was in bed.
[Illustration: SCENE ON THE OVERLAND ROUTE FROM JERUSALEM.]
They were off by daybreak, leaving the city by the Damascus Gate, which
we have already seen in their company. They passed near the tombs of the
kings, and descended into the Valley of the Brook Kedron, which is here
much smaller than where they crossed it at Mar Saba. They met a few
natives on their way to the city, with trains of donkeys laden with
vegetables and grain for sale in the markets of Jerusalem, and in one
place they were crowded against a rough wall by a line of camels that
kept the road to themselves in the manner for which those animals are
famous. The road, though used for centuries, is impassable for wheeled
vehicles, and the beasts of burden that traverse it follow in the
footsteps of those who preceded them ages and ages ago.
In several places the route was over rocky ridges, where all the earth
had been swept or washed away, leaving the ledges entirely bare. Frank
observed that the feet of the camels had worn broad holes in the rock;
the Doctor recalled to him the proverb hitherto quoted, that a continual
dropping will wear away stone, and said the feet of the camels had
dropped for hundreds of years in the same places, so that it was no
wonder the stones were worn away.
From Jerusalem to Nabulus is a ride of eleven hours; it is customary for
travellers to pass the night at Bireh or Ramallah, as the majority of
tourists are unwilling to make the entire journey in a single day. But
our party had tested its ability to endure fatigue, and determined
without hesitation to reach Nabulus before night if possible. It was for
this reason that an early start was made, and the halts along the road
were few and short.
[Illustration: BY BABEL'S STREAM.]
The farewell view of the Holy City was taken from the side of the Hill
of Scopus, which was reached by ascending from the Valley of the Kedron.
Its domes and minarets stood out clear and distinct under the deep-blue
sky of Palestine, and every member of the party was reluctant to turn
away his eyes from the place which is sacred in the thoughts of every
Christian, and familiar to his ears since he first heard the stories of
the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of the Saviour of mankind. Frank
called to mind the words of the Israelite by Babel's stream: "If I
forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do
not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."
From the crest of Scopus they looked down upon a broad plain or plateau,
where the first view seemed to be one of desolation. Limestone rocks
were spread in ridges, one beyond the other, until they appeared to
leave but little space for arable land. Close observation showed that
between every ridge and its neighbor there was a strip of soil which
might be made productive with a little care and industry, and the sides
of the hills and valleys were terraced till they sometimes resembled a
series of broad steps.
"This land is full of promise," one of the boys remarked.
"Yes," responded the Doctor, "and by cultivation it can be made to
answer the scriptural description. The Land of Promise was a land of
'vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive, and
honey,' as we read in the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy.
[Illustration: THE GRAPES OF ESHCOL.]
"Observe what this land might be rather than what it is. The fig-tree
and the olive would grow and bear fruit in the spaces between the ridges
of rock, and the vines might clamber up the sides of the terraces, and
be as luxuriant as they were in the days when the spies visited Eshcol,
and brought back the famous grapes described in the Bible and
represented in the books of our infancy."
Fred asked if such grapes were found at present, and where Eshcol was
supposed to be.
[Illustration: HEBRON.]
"There is some doubt on that score," was the reply, "but it is generally
believed that the Brook of Eshcol was in the neighborhood of Hebron.
There are extensive vineyards at Hebron, and their grapes are larger and
finer than in most places in the Holy Land. The clusters are often very
long, but nobody in these modern days has ever seen them so large that
it would require the strength of two men to carry one of them.
"The Bible does not say that it required their strength to carry this
burden. Read the passage in Numbers xiii. 23, and you will find it says,
they 'cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they
bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates,
and of the figs.' Remember that a bunch of grapes cannot be carried in a
sack like pomegranates and figs, but must be suspended, so as to
preserve the fruit from injury. The spies had a long way to travel, and
there was no other mode of transporting the fruit of the vines of Eshcol
than the one described."
The guide called attention to the village of Shafut, a little distance
from the route, and said it was supposed by some to occupy the site of
the ancient Mizpeh. A little farther along on the other side of the road
was a rounded hill, which has been identified by some writers as the
site of Nob, mentioned several times in the Old Testament. Beyond it is
Tuliel-el-Ful (Hill of Beans), where once stood Gibeah, the scene of
several important incidents described in Judges, Samuel, and other books
of the Bible. Doctor Bronson said it was quite probable that the meeting
of David and Jonathan took place in the valley between these two points,
and the scriptural account certainly carries out his theory.
They passed Er-Ram, which corresponds to the Ramah of Benjamin (1 Kings
xv. 17), and was formerly a populous city, but is now a miserable
village. As they rode along, one of the boys recalled the murder of the
descendants of Saul, and the devotion of Rizpah, who spread sack-cloth
on the rocks, and watched by the bodies of her sons all through the
summer days to prevent their being devoured by birds.
"Yes," responded Fred; "and don't you remember the picture we saw at the
Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia representing the scene?"
Frank remembered it perfectly, and said the painting and the engravings
that have been made of it would now have a renewed interest for him
since he had looked upon the spot where the incident happened.
As they passed Ramah, Fred referred to the passage in the Book of Judges
where Deborah is said to have dwelt under a palm-tree "between Ramah and
Bethel, in Mount Ephraim." Very naturally he asked if they were near
Bethel.
"We are not far from it," answered the Doctor, "though it is not on our
road. The village of Betin, the ancient Bethel, is a couple of miles
from our route, and can be reached most easily from Bireh. There is
nothing of consequence to be seen there, and it is only for its historic
associations that the place is worth visiting. It is a village of three
to four hundred inhabitants, and they are no better than the average of
the people we have thus far met.
"There is another biblical site, too, a little off our road," the Doctor
continued; "I refer to Seilun, the ancient Shiloh.
"In spite of the completeness of its description the site of Shiloh was
unknown for centuries, and was only identified in the last forty years.
It is described in the Book of Judges as being 'on the north side of
Bethel, on the east of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem,
and on the south of Lebonah.' Exactly in such a position there is a mass
of ruins covering a considerable extent, and it is now agreed by
biblical students that they are the ruins of Shiloh.
"Now that I have told you what it was, perhaps you can say why Shiloh
was famous?"
"I'll try," Fred responded, and after a pause of some minutes he was
ready to reply. He let his horse fall out of the line while thinking on
the subject, and it is just possible he glanced into the guide-book he
carried in his satchel. We may remark, by-the-way, that every traveller
in the Holy Land has his guide-book in readiness, and if his memory is
at fault at any time he has a good authority to refer to. It saves a
vast amount of 'reading up;' and you sometimes find a man who makes a
pretence of great learning, when the fact is he has been drawing freely
from the portable authority in his possession.
"Shiloh was the place where the tabernacle of the Lord was first set up
permanently in Canaan," said Fred, "and the Israelites came here to
receive their shares of the promised land. The infant Samuel was
dedicated here to the Lord by his mother, and it was at Shiloh where
Eli dropped dead when he heard his sons had been killed in battle.
There was a festival here in honor of the ark. It was held every year;
and once while the maidens were dancing at this festival the Benjamites
rushed in suddenly and carried off two hundred of them. There were
several other incidents of less importance in the history of Shiloh, and
it seems to have been destroyed long before the beginning of the
Christian era."
"I know where you found all that," Frank whispered; "and you ought to be
very grateful to the man who hunted it out for you: 'Murray's Guide,'
page 312."
"Quite right," replied Fred, "but some of it runs over on page 313."
With this candid acknowledgment of a fact which many persons seek to
conceal, or even do worse about, they changed the subject of
conversation. The author has in his possession a book of travels by a
prominent member of the Church, in which there are numerous pages and
paragraphs taken bodily from other works, and especially from
guide-books. Its writer even goes so far as to say that all measurements
given in his book were made by himself, and can be relied upon. It is
observable that he agrees exactly with the guide-book, even in two or
three instances where the latter is known to be at fault; and yet that
man would probably refuse to tell a falsehood for a dollar!
[Illustration: STREET SCENE IN BIREH.]
Our friends halted an hour at Bireh, the ancient Beeroth, to rest their
horses and partake of a much desired and well earned dinner. It was
spread on the table of a little inn close to the entrance of the
village, and the most of the materials composing it had been brought
from Jerusalem in the saddle-bags of the dragoman. Bireh is on the
summit of a ridge, and had been in sight for some time before the party
drew rein at its gates. It is a considerable village, with a population
of seven or eight hundred, nearly all of whom are Moslems. There are the
ruins of a church which was built by the Knights Templar when the
Crusaders held Jerusalem. Parts of the walls and roof are standing, and
not far off is a khan which is supposed to have been a Christian hospice
when the knights lived here.
[Illustration: A NATIVE GROUP AT A FOUNTAIN.]
During the halt a hasty visit was paid to the church, and also to the
khan, and a glance was taken among the ruins that lay scattered about.
Close to their halting-place was a mosque of much later date than the
church, and there were groups of women and girls around a fountain which
the mosque protects. The Doctor remarked that Beeroth was one of the
four cities of the Gibeonites whose people made a covenant with the
Israelites through false representations, and became hewers of wood and
drawers of water for the conquerors of the land.
On the road again, after saying farewell to Bireh, the travellers had a
ride of little more than an hour to Ain Yebrud. They passed many
orchards of fig and olive trees, and found the country more productive
in appearance, at least, than nearer Jerusalem. The road now descended
into a narrow and wild valley, with steep cliffs rising above on either
side, and with numerous terraces which were formerly cultivated, but are
now of little use.
Suddenly at a bend in the road they came to a spring which flowed from
the side of a cliff. The cool appearance of the water brought them to a
halt, and they dismounted. Frank asked the name of the place.
"This is Ain el-Haramiyeh," the guide answered.
"Which means?"
"The Robbers' Spring."
"It has borne this name for centuries," said Doctor Bronson, "and very
properly too. This valley has long been considered a dangerous place,
and we do not wish to remain long at the spring. Hardly a year passes
without a robbery in this vicinity, and not infrequently the plundered
traveller is killed if he offers any resistance."
Having satisfied their thirst, the party resumed their saddles and rode
on. At the very next bend in the road they met half a dozen Arabs, who
demanded backsheesh in a surly tone, and laid their hands menacingly on
the long guns they were carrying. No attention was paid to their wishes,
and in a few minutes they were left out of sight.
They passed the branch of the road that leads to Shiloh; the boys were
desirous of visiting the place, but the Doctor told them they could not
well spare the time, and besides there was very little to be seen.
"There is a heap of ruins," said he, "and the hills in the neighborhood
are such masses of broken rocks that it is not easy to move about among
them. Travellers frequently miss their way among the rocks, and besides
you would be liable to a good deal of annoyance from the natives. They
are insolent in their demands for backsheesh, and flourish knives and
guns in a very disagreeable way. If you show the least desire to
conciliate them they increase their rudeness, and sometimes they resort
to actual violence. So we won't go to Shiloh."
[Illustration: BEASTS OF BURDEN.]
Ascending and descending from valley to ridge, and from ridge to valley,
passing among terraces and through little orchards of fig and olive
trees, winding among fields which are planted with corn in summer,
looking now and then on flocks of goats carefully tended by their
keepers as they fed on the hill-sides, meeting or passing little groups
of natives, who eyed them longingly or suspiciously, and were
suspiciously eyed in return, the party continued on its way. Frank and
Fred thought it was not a good sign that all the men they met were
armed, some with guns, some with pistols or knives, and many with all
three weapons together. They asked the Doctor about it, and he thus
explained the matter:
"I think I have told you before about the existence of blood-feuds not
only in this country but in various parts of the world. We have them in
America among our native Indian races; they exist in France and Italy,
especially in the latter, where they are known as 'the vendetta.'"
"I remember them," said Fred, "but perhaps Frank doesn't know."
"In this part of the Holy Land there are blood-feuds that have lasted
hundreds of years. A man of one tribe or family has been killed by a man
of another--the losing party proceeds to take revenge by killing a
person of the offending one, then the latter takes its revenge, and so
the fight goes on. These feuds exist between tribes, villages, or
families, and are perpetuated through centuries. Every man goes armed,
because he fears to be killed by some avenger of blood, and he is
constantly on the lookout both to slay and to prevent being slain."
"Why don't they come to a sensible arrangement among themselves, and put
an end to the quarrelling?" one of the boys asked.
"It is a matter of religion with them," said the Doctor, "and also of
family pride. Doubtless you could get one tribe to make an end of its
feuds if another would do so _first_; but the great difficulty is to
find the one who will be the first to act. These blood-feuds may be said
to be commanded by the Koran, and they existed in the time of the Old
Testament. In fact, they were so numerous that the children of Israel
appointed six cities where any person who had killed another 'unawares
and unwittingly' might take refuge from the avenger of blood. These
cities are named in the twentieth chapter of Joshua, and there is a
fuller account of the customs of the time in this matter of blood
revenge in the nineteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. We are approaching one
of the cities of refuge, and shall spend the night there. Nabulus is the
ancient Shechem, which was one of the six places to which I just
referred."
[Illustration: ROOF OF A HOUSE IN NABULUS.]
They were on the crest of a ridge looking down upon a plain bounded on
its farthest side by a broken chain of mountains. In an opening between
two mountains the guide indicated the position of Nabulus, and far to
the north was Mount Hermon; Gerizim and Ebal were the two mountains
between which lay Nabulus, and the rays of the declining sun bathed them
with golden light of that peculiar richness rarely seen away from the
tropics. The hills around the plain were terraced with orchards of
olive-trees, while the broad stretch of level ground had every
indication of fertility. Taken as a whole, the scene was one of the
prettiest that our friends had looked upon since leaving Egypt.
"We are in the land of Ephraim," said the Doctor, "and you can realize
how much Ephraim was blessed in comparison with Judah and Benjamin. The
soil is more fertile, and the inhabitants have an easier life of it than
in the neighboring districts: what was true of it in the days of the
patriarchs is true at present. Ephraim is indeed blessed with 'the good
things of the ancient mountains.'"
As they descended to the plain and crossed it in the direction of
Nabulus there was a manifest impatience on the part of the youths. The
guide had told them they were coming to Jacob's Well, and their
curiosity was roused to its highest point.
They found a cistern about ten feet square hewn in the solid rock; the
recent rains had partly filled it, but the guide said it was generally
dry in summer. Its depth is about eighty feet, but was formerly much
greater. A church was built over it at the time of the Crusades, but it
is now in ruins, and a considerable part of the material is supposed to
have fallen into the well.
Night was approaching. The lengthening shadows warned our friends not to
tarry long on their way; but they rested while Doctor Bronson read in
his clear, impressive voice the fourth chapter of John, containing the
beautiful story of Jesus at the well of Jacob, and his conversation with
the woman of Samaria.
A ride of less than half an hour brought them to the walls of Nabulus;
the white tents ready to receive them on the camping-ground outside the
town were a welcome sight.
[Illustration: THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA.]