Letters from Palestine / Written during a residence there in the years 1836, 7 and 8

by J. D. Paxton

While passing over the plain of Sharon, it would have been out of all propriety not to have thought of the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. I did think of them, and was on the watch for them; and so eager was I to get one, that could I have met with any sort of a flower that would in any fair way have admitted the name, I would most willingly have reported it, but not one could I find. I consoled myself, however, with the thought, that I only shared the disappointment which other travellers had experienced. For what traveller in these regions has not sought the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley? And what one has been able to assure and satisfy the public that he has found them?

As we approached the hills, the face of the plain became more uneven; the points of the ridges ran out irregularly, and more rocks began to appear on the surface. The line of hills is however more regular than is usual, and the transition from the plain to the hills is more gradual than is usually found on the borders of large plains. We passed over a low, rocky point of a ridge, and saw some ruins; and at one place the large hewn stones and broken pillars indicated buildings of some consequence. The hills are not continuous ridges, but knobs, not very high, nor very steep; the top rounded over. Many of them are separated from each other almost to the base; but a greater number join at one or more sides, at various heights from their bases. Taking the hollows, and the passages between the hills, (and in some places there are little level spots,) as the level of the country, I should say that the general level, as we pass east, rises; and the height of the hills above this general level, continues about the same for a great part of the way from the commencement of the hills to near Jerusalem. This district is well called the "hill country of Judea." Nothing could better express it. They are usually in books called mountains; but their size, that is their height above the general level of the country, hardly entitles them to that appellation. They are rather hills than mountains.

As we rode among the hills, we began to see a few small shrubs and bushes of oak. Most of them, however, were small; few as high as a man on horseback. There were also, at some places in the hollows, where, during the rains, water flows, some bushes, thistles, and other kinds of vegetation, but small of size and few in number. As we passed farther in among the hills, the vegetation increased, both as to size and quantity; it however never amounted to much. We saw, from time to time, some orchards of olives, and a few scattering trees; as we approached the higher part of the hilly district, we saw some hills that were to some extent covered with the olives. Still but a small, a very small part of the country was thus made to minister to the wants and comfort of man. As we advanced, the rock became more abundant; it was all limestone, mixed in some places with veins of flint; usually horizontal, and often projecting out on the sides of the hills, and much stratified; and the various strata being of different degrees of firmness, causing them to have a singular appearance. The soft stratum had in many places disintegrated, and formed a stratum of earth, which entirely concealed the rock; while the hard stratum formed a kind of wall, and in many places, from its regularity in thickness and direction round the side of the hill, it had much the appearance of having been the work of man. In some places again, where a hard stratum lay directly over a soft one, the crumbling away of the soft one formed a kind of natural cave under the hard one; places could be seen where a man might find shelter from the rain under rocks thus hollowed out by the wearing away of a soft rock, while its more sturdy fellow above held on to its proper size and shape. A ride of between two and three hours, from the time we entered the hill country, brought us to the higher part of the district. Our road still lay along what may be called a hollow, and on each side of us the hills rose to a considerable size.

We passed on this high district one or two villages. In one of them were some pretty good houses, and an old ruin, which, from its size and form, seemed once to have been a building of some importance. The country around this village was in a better state of cultivation; more trees, figs, and vines, than I had seen since leaving Rumla. From a part of this high ground we had a most extensive and fine view of the seabord; the deep black sea, till where it met the sky; the white sand-hills along the shore, and the wide and long plain of Sharon, extending as far as the eye could reach, to the north and south, and coming up to the hilly district, on the top of which we stood. The view was interesting, and especially so when we thought how often the pious Israelites, when going up to the house of the Lord, must have stopped at this place, and looked back on that rich and lovely part of their inheritance. The "flocks of Sharon" was a term which then expressed much; but now few flocks feed there, and those of an inferior kind of cattle.

After taking this, as I supposed, farewell-look at the plain of Sharon, the sea-bord, and wide-spread ocean behind it, we set forward, and thought we must soon reach a point from which we could see Jerusalem. We found, however, that we had to descend a hollow, wind along it for some distance, and then a long ascent to make, to gain about the same level from which we had taken our farewell-look at the vale and sea behind us. Above half an hour must have been spent in doing this. This is said to be the valley of Elah, where David slew the Philistine. The precise spot where the engagement took place is not known. We now found ourselves on ground which was nearly as high as any near us. We had passed to our right, at some considerable distance, a cluster of buildings on the top of a hill, called the tomb of the Maccabees. It looked like a fort, or place of defence, and was, as I am told, not long since, the residence of Aboo Goosh, who used to make free with the property of other people; in other words, was a notorious robber. But Ibrahim Pasha has taught such gentry a good lesson. He has nearly, if not wholly, put a stop to such practices; he has taken the matter into his own hands. What people have to spare, he himself takes, or has taken from them; and, indeed, much more than they are willing to part with; but as to every fellow who chooses taking for himself, as was the old way of doing things, why that is not now permitted. The time was, when a company could hardly have passed from Rumla to Jerusalem, as we did, without having been relieved of some of their cash, and perhaps clothes into the bargain.

We passed a district where an immense quantity of stone had been quarried and removed; the refuse stone lay in piles, and the excavations showed that large quantities had been procured. The face of the high ridge, or kind of table land, over which we now passed, was almost wholly destitute of vegetation. A few thistles and an occasional small thorn-bush might be seen; but a more naked district I had not seen in the holy land. Several miles to the right, I saw a hill or hills pretty well covered with trees of some sort—olives I thought from their looks; and at a greater distance on our left I saw several patches of trees on the side of a high and long ridge, and a small village or two near them; but more immediately about me, and over the whole face of the ridge which I was passing, all was naked—all was destitute of vegetation, except a small enclosed spot. I was struck not only with the absence of vegetation, but with the enormous quantity of rough rock that almost literally covered the face of the ground. Much of it lay in irregular patches, projecting from eighteen inches to five or six feet above the little earth that could be seen. It really appeared as if the district was given up to be occupied by rocks, to the exclusion of all other matter. We soon began a slight but gradual descent, and after a little, some towers came into view. These were the parts of Jerusalem first seen. Presently we saw the top of the walls—the minarets, the domes, and the whole city.

Jerusalem stands on the east side of a high, flattish ridge, which runs nearly north and south. To the west of the city, and at some distance above, towards the top of the ridge, a small hollow begins, and running south-east, deepens rapidly, and forms the southern boundary of the city. This is the channel of the rivulet Gihon. In it are the pools, the upper and lower; but it is only in wet weather that there is water in them. The lower part is called the valley of the Son of Hinnom. The brook Kedron, or the valley in which the water would run, if there were any water,—for you must know except during the rains it is a dry channel, runs nearly north and south, and has a deep channel, with high steep banks. The valley or ravine of Gihon falls into that of the Kedron, nearly at right angles, with a high point forming the angle between them. On this point the city of Jerusalem stands. It fills, or did originally, the space that lies between these two ravines, for some distance up both of them. The ground on which the city stands has a considerable declination to the east, and is on the side of a hill, on the lower end of the ridge, when it terminates abruptly at a deep ravine, both on the south and east. The site has other inequalities. At the south-east corner, next the Gihon, was the highest point. That is the hill of Zion. Part of it is now without the walls, and used as a burying-ground. The missionaries have recently procured a small plot on Mount Zion for a burying-place, to be appropriated to Protestants who may die at Jerusalem. A little north of Mount Zion, and close on the bank of the Kedron, is Mount Moriah, or an elevation so called. On this the temple stood, and on the same site now stands the mosque of St. Omar. This elevation was formerly separated from Mount Zion by a considerable valley. It is now nearly filled up, at least that part within the walls, and much so without; still it is very perceptible without the walls, and especially at the pool of Siloam, which lies at the junction of this ravine with the valley of the Kedron. Mount Zion was once connected with Mount Moriah by a bridge or elevated causeway; but the filling up of the ground within the walls has covered it, or supplied its place.

There is a large space around the mosque of St. Omar which forms a fine promenade, but Christians are not allowed to enter it. They are not allowed to enter the mosque, or at least this is the general understanding. In many cases, however, it has been entered lately; a party of English had been all through it, under the special protection of the governor, but a few days before my arrival. There is little doubt that in a few years, unless some reaction takes place, free admission will be allowed, and many other foolish and unreasonable customs and prejudices of the Mohammedans will pass away.

Jerusalem has a high, strong wall around it, and is occupied by a large body of the Pasha's troops. There are at present but four gates open and used, several having been walled up some time since. The Jaffa gate, by which we entered; the Zion gate being east of the Jaffa, and on Mount Zion; St. Stephen's gate, which opens next the valley of Kedron and north of Mount Moriah; and the Damascus gate, which lies on the north side of the city. The highest part of the city is a little west of the Jaffa gate, at the point where the wall leaves the top of the hill near Gihon, and runs north and north-east toward the Kedron.