Two thirds of the great highway from Jerusalem to its sea-port Joppa, laid through their territory; and the long winding ravine by which this road ascends from the plain of Sharon into the mountainous region that encircles Jerusalem, affords admirable facilities for plundering. Until very recently, the upper extremity of this ravine was occupied by Aboo Ghoosh, at the head of a set of daring fellows, who regularly laid contributions on travellers; while a village near the other extremity bore no better reputation. Dr. Clarke’s baggage was seized upon, and carried to the latter town, where he had great difficulty in recovering it; and, more recently, the French traveller, De la Martine, found it prudent by judicious means to secure in season the good favor of Aboo Ghoosh. This robber-chief, whose power extended over a large tract of country, and was well systematized, has recently been appointed by the Pasha of Egypt to a high office in Jerusalem; and we saw him on our visit enthroned in his new state, where he seems ill at ease. Mohammed Ali has thus removed a nuisance and secured a powerful friend; but it is not probable that his robber-propensities will be greatly checked by these new dignities.
When shall this desert region rejoice and blossom as the rose, and when shall we be able to speak of “the excellency of Carmel and Sharon?”—“The highways” now “lie waste, and the wayfaring man ceaseth; Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down, and Sharon is like a wilderness.”—Though it is sad to look at a plain like this of Sharon, about eighty miles in length by twenty in width, and of [extensive] fertility, and bordering also on the sea, yet now little more than a desert waste; though sad, there is nothing very remarkable in it, for it is the character of many such plains in Asia; but there is something very remarkable when we think of this country in connexion with the strange people whose father-land it is, a people who are over the whole face of our globe, an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word; turning ever with warm desires towards the home of their fathers; yet still “scattered among all people, from one end of the earth to the other,” and among them finding no ease nor rest, but distressed “with a trembling heart and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind”—outcasts every where, the “heaven over their head is brass, and the earth under their feet is iron.” I do not see how a man can read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, and be satisfied that it was written at the time it purports to be, and yet remain an infidel; and that it was written at that time, is a matter capable of very easy proof. I have seen the Jews in a great many countries; and if we were to sit down to describe their condition, we could not find terms to express it more accurately than is done in that chapter, penned 3287 years ago.
About nine o’clock we discovered lights ahead, and heard the barking of dogs, and soon after entered Ramla, the ancient Arimathea, which was to be our stopping-place for the night. Here, to our surprise, we found also an agent of our government, a vice-consul appointed by the consul at Jaffa, to whom, I believe, he had paid a consideration for the office. He was an Armenian gentleman, apparently wealthy, and certainly kind and hospitable. Our arrival had been expected, and every thing grateful to hungry and wearied pilgrims had been provided. Tables were loaded with fowls and mutton, and with the delicious water-melons of Jaffa, as well as abundance of other fruits, and with wine. When our large company had all been fed, such conveniences as the house afforded for sleeping were freely given up to us; our host all the while sitting unobtrusively at one side of the eating room, and seldom speaking, except to order additional supplies of refreshments. However, Mon. Damon, the consul at Jaffa, who with his lady had come with us, in order that the credit for the entertainment might not be lost, took it all to himself; bustling about, and telling us that the house was his own, that he had provided the feast, and bidding us welcome. I am happy to be able to add, that through the influence of Commodore Patterson, this gentleman, Mr. Marcus Abers, has since received an appointment independent of the consulate at Jaffa. We received, with the freedom of sailors, what was so freely and generously offered; and when, in the morning, our caterer, after some hesitation on the score of delicacy, offered remuneration, as the company was so large and miscellaneous, it was declined, and the party was cordially invited to repeat the visit on our return.
Ramla has at present little to detain a traveller, though it was formerly a city of considerable dimensions; its population now is about 3,000, principally Mahommedans and Christians of the Greek church. At the borders on the western side, [thirty miles from Jerusalem], are some vast subterranean apartments belonging to the ancient times of the city. One is one hundred and fifty feet long by forty in width, and is twenty-five feet deep; the second and third are each seventy feet square, and of the same depth as the former. Adjoining the second, is a tower twenty-five feet square, and still one hundred feet in height, and a conspicuous object at a great distance on the plain. Our time did not admit of a visit to these ruins, and for the dimensions I am indebted to Mr. Thompson, by whom they have been described. Mr. Thompson was at Ramla during the recent earthquake, and heard a debate on its causes by the learned men of the city; The Cadi, or Judge, spoke at last, and with gravity suitable to his high station, gave his solution of the phenomenon. “The earth,” he said, “has seven foundations; the first, water; second, air; third, a mountain; fourth, a cushion; fifth, (Mr. T. does not recollect;) sixth, a great rock; and seventh, the horn of the great ox. When the ox becomes fatigued, he changes the rock from one horn to the other, and that caused the shaking.”
After some slight refreshment, at an early hour on the 16th we resumed our journey, and soon found ourselves once more breathing the country air. We passed some ruins on our right just after leaving the city, and also, soon after this, a company of about 200 cavalry at drill on the plain. Our road, I ought to have remarked before this, was not directly across the plain, but in a slanting direction, Jerusalem being situated a little to the south of east from Jaffa. The distance from Ramla is thirty miles. We descended two or three steep banks, separated from each other by intervals of several miles, and thus arrived, at length, at the lowest level of the plain, which appears to consist of this level, and, on the west of it, of a succession of terraces, each about forty feet in height, and three or four miles in width. The country, during our morning ride, was not of so melancholy a cast as on the day previous, patches of millet or indian corn occurring here and there, with other signs of cultivation; but the sun now beat upon us with scorching power. About ten o’clock we passed a miserable village close on our left, and an hour after, a cone-shaped eminence on our right, with some ruins, supposed to be the remains of Beth-Horon, noticed in 2 Chron. viii. 5. 1 Samuel, xiii. 18.[14]
The hill is about 400 feet in height, and in most parts is of difficult ascent; it was well adapted for defence, and the extensive and massive ruins on the top show that it was a place of considerable strength. This was probably the upper city: for the site of the “Nether-Beth-Horon,” we must look among the broken ground that skirts the lower part of the eminence. This was a place of importance, as it commands the entrance of the winding ravine, along which the road ascends from the plain into the mountainous district, or what is called in the first chapter of John, the “hill country” of Judea.
The entrance into this ravine is about two miles east from Beth-Horon; and as it stood gaping before us, with the mountains on either side towering to a great height, while the representations of travellers had led us to expect beyond it only mountains, still darker and more dreary, we turned some reluctant looks backward towards the plain. The roads over these mountains we had been also informed by Mr. Damon, were the worst possible; but in this latter respect we were to meet with an agreeable disappointment. One of the consuls at Jaffa, a merchant, (I believe the Sardinian consul,) in order to divert the trade of the Mecca and Jerusalem caravans from Damascus to his own city, had lately put the road in excellent order. In many places he had blasted rocks, and at others had built up walls; the operation had been an expensive one, and the enterprise of the gentleman merits a better reward than I am afraid it will receive.
As we were entering the ravine, we met a company of Egyptian soldiers; and, further on, in a narrow part, encountered a much larger force, returning to the west. They had with them a great number of camels loaded with baggage and accoutrements, and often with field-pieces, some of the latter (brass six pounders) being lashed to spars which were fastened to the backs of two camels, one before the other. The soldiers, though the balance of power was greatly on their side, were very civil; and in no instance showed a disposition to offer annoyance, or give us unnecessary trouble. It was in this pass that the Roman army, under Cestius, were almost totally destroyed.
We found the ascent up to the ravine, though long, yet far from being toilsome. At the summit, at a spot commanding a view of all the plain of Sharon and the sea beyond, we stopped in an olive grove for dinner. This was near the village of the ex-robber, prince Aboo Ghoosh; but a change has come over the country under the sovereignty of Mohammed Ali, for the people did not even come to look at us.
Descending again, we passed, at the bottom of a valley, a village, on the borders of which is a large church belonging to the time of the crusades. A more desolate scene than presented itself as we wound up the hills beyond this village cannot be easily imagined. The rocks in all this region are secondary limestone, and the hills, consequently, are rounded, presenting few bold peaks or precipitous ridges; but all was gray rock from the bottom to the summit, and the senses became pained by the gloomy monotony of the scene, a wide and dreary waste of bare rocks. By and by, descending again, we found ourselves in a valley watered by a rivulet, and with some fields and a vineyard; but soon plunged again into the same succession of bare rocky hills, where not a tree nor shrub was to be seen, and not a living thing, except a bird now and then [whirling] in its solitary flight. A steep descent brought us at length into the narrow defile where occurred the battle between Ibrahim Pasha and the rebels already noticed; and skeletons of horses were still scattered, by the road side. This pass is also a favorite haunt of robbers; particularly at a spot where a bridge crosses a dry channel which winds through the bottom of the valley.—Siste viator. This channel, now dry, but covered by a considerable stream in winter, is that from which David selected pebbles for his sling when going to meet Goliath; I believe, however, this event occurred some distance further down. We passed this bridge on our return an hour before daylight; and, as we approached, an officer of the Pasha’s household who accompanied us, made the party halt and form into compact order; and then had the bridge reconnoitred before he allowed us to proceed. There was no one there, but further on, at the battle ground, a strange horseman rode up and passed us several times, as if scrutinizing our company, and others were seen on the other side of the glen; but apparently they did not like our equipment, as they gave us no further trouble.