Crossing the torrent-bed from the parallelogram, and mounting the next hill, we were at Hhizmeh; then leaving ’Anâta on the left, we traversed the Scopus near the Mount of Olives, and reached Jerusalem in four hours and a half of easy riding from Remmoon.
One ought not to quit the mention of this land of Benjamin by omitting the Wadi Farah.
This is a most delightsome valley, with a good stream of water, at a distance of rather more than two hours from Jerusalem to the N.E.
The way to it is through ’Anâta, already described, from which most of the stones were quarried for the English church in the Holy City, and then alongside the hill on which stands
the ruins with the double name of ’Almân and ’Almeet, discovered by me as above-described.
Once, in the autumn season, a party of us went to Wadi Farah, and arriving on its precipitous brink found the descent too difficult for the horses; these, therefore, were left in charge of the servants, while we skipped or slid from rock to rock, carrying the luncheon with us.
The copious stream was much choked near its source, which rises from the ground, by a thick growth of reeds, oleanders in blossom, and gigantic peppermint with strong smell. There were small fish in the stream, which was flowing rapidly; wild pigeons were numerous, and a shepherd boy playing his reed pipe, brought his flock to the water. Need it be said, how refreshing all this was to us all after the long summer of Jerusalem.
There were remains of a bridge and considerable fragments of old aqueducts, i.e., good-sized tubes of pottery encased in masonry, but now so broken as to be quite useless; these lead from the spring-head towards the Jordan at different levels, one above another. There was also a cistern of masonry, with indications of water-machinery having been at one time employed there; but all these evidences of population and industry are abandoned to savages and the action of the elements.
Dr James Barclay of Virginia, author of “The City of the Great King,” believes this site to be
that of “Ænon, near to Salim,” where John was baptizing, “because there was much water there,” (John iii. 23.)