Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and The Holy Land by Mary G. Damer

Author:Mary G. Damer [Damer, Mary G.]
Language: deu
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2017-08-10T22:00:00+00:00

VOLUME 2

DIARY. CHAPTER I.

Pilgrimage to Bethlehem—An Arab funeral—The Wilderness—The grotto—David's tomb—Prince Pückler Muskau—Jewish masonry—Pool of Bethesda—Armenian convent—Bazaar of Jerusalem —A disagreeable mistake.

DECEMBER 4TH.

—We were nearly deterred from our pilgrimage to Bethlehem, by the account of the dust and wind; but fearing that at this season the weather was not likely to improve, we set off in a perfect whirlwind, and the fine dust so blinded us, that Minney and I resigned ourselves, têe baissée, to a little black slave's guidance. After an hour and a half's actually painful ride through a black valley, and over a cold mountain, we arrived at a monument distinguished as Rachel's tomb.

The spot is, I believe, correctly chosen as the place of her interment, but the building itself does not appear of an ancient construction. An Arab funeral was taking place close to it, attended by about fifty wild and starved-looking Arabs. The only ceremonial appeared to consist in each individual contributing a stone towards raising a mound, which had gained considerable elevation when we passed it a few hours afterwards, on our return from Bethlehem.

There was a wild, ferocious expression of countenance prevailing among these Arabs, that we had never before been so much struck by; the very whiteness of their teeth and shape of their mouths gave them a false and savage appearance. One would most unwillingly have met them in a less frequented path.

We left Bethlehem on our left, for the purpose of visiting the Pools of Solomon, and passed a fountain which our attendants pointed out as the spot where the shepherds first heard “the tidings of great joy.” There was everything in the position and the neighbouring pasturage to favour the impression, and I look back to it with much more conviction than any I received subsequently, on being shewn the spot where the Saviour was born, and the magi adored.

The pools are situated in a valley, surrounded on all sides by a desolate rocky country. They are only three in number and of immense size, in perfect repair, and are undoubtedly the work of Solomon, for the conduit still exists, which to this day supplies the mosque of Omar with water. The pools are fed by considerable springs a few hundred yards from the upper one.

Commanding the pass is a Turkish castle, flanked by four towers for their protection. This precaution was necessary in a country which, besides the innumerable wars it has had to encounter with its foreign enemies, has been at all times torn by civil discord and petty warfare.

Within ten years Bethlehem has been at war with Jerusalem; hostilities, jealousies, and hatred lasted six years, and impeded all communications to such a degree that travellers were compelled to be protected by the Arabs of one town during their progress to the other, and were thus handed on in their journey through hostile bands. “The abomination of desolation” is depicted at every step.

On leaving these wells or pools for Bethlehem, the aqueduct runs along the path you

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