William Francis Lynch

“ It is the ambition of an Indian father to bestow his daughter on the bravest warrior of the tribe: an Arab sheikh will sell his child to the meanest fellah, if he be the highest bidder. The Arab is yet more lascivious than the Indian; and in no part of the world is the condition of woman more abject than it is in the East. The wandering Arab does not, like the wild Indian, destroy the implements of agriculture, but watches and waits, and sweeps off the fresh-gathered harvest of the laborious and timid fellahin. ”

“ There were the mountains, the desert, and the forest of gardens; the last intermingled with walls, and domes, and minarets, and untold roofs, and the tops of trees, and the glittering sheen of running water, all forming a scene of beauty unparalleled and indescribable. Damascus, with its gardens, is a city in a grove; and conveys the idea of art seated in the lap of nature, — an island of architecture in the midst of a sea of verdure. A little after 7 P.M., we encamped, for the night, by the village of Damur, on the right bank of the Barada. ”

“ It is the beautiful emblem of faith, springing from and surviving the ruins of its earthly temple. Passing through the gateway, over columns of porphyry and massive fragments of sculptured marble, we came to a broad pedestal near the upper end, which must have been the site of the grand altar. How it moves the heart to its inmost depths to reflect, that before that high altar have stood the Beloved Disciple and the Apostle of the Gentiles! In fancy, one hears the tremulous tones of the first, as he repeats over and over his favourite exclamation, “My children, love one another.” ”

“ At 8 P.M., went down to the beach and looked long and anxiously but could see nothing of them, although a dark object could have been discerned at a great distance, for the surface of the sea was one wide sheet of phosphorescent foam, and the waves, as they broke upon the shore, threw a sepulchral light upon the dead bushes and scattered fragments of rock. Returned to the camp and placed every one on guard, for all our men but one being absent in the boats, our weakness, if coupled with want of vigilance, might invite an attack from the strange Arabs, who, we knew, were upon the cliffs above. ”

“ Beyond, the left-hand shore extended north-west and north, to the mountains of the Balkan, “the sentinels of an enchanted land,” and thence to the dark, swift rolling Danube. To the right, the mountainous shores stretched in a continuous range towards the site of Sinope, the ancient capital of Pontus and the birth-place of Diogenes. Towards the north and north-east was one broad expanse of water, which, so far from presenting a gloomy appearance, rippled its tiny waves before the breath of a gentle breeze, and basked in the rays of an unclouded sun. ”

“ CHRISTIANS OF KERAK
When, at length, they left us to ourselves, for the first time, in twenty-three days, we lay down beneath a roof, having first enjoyed the unwonted luxury of a draught of sweet milk. Placing a board against the door, that its fall might rouse us at an attempted entrance, we lay down with our arms in our hands, with a feeling of uncertainty as to what the morrow might bring forth; for although ’Akil was there, he had but four followers, one of them wounded; whereas the Kerakîyeh could muster 700 fighting men. ”

“ The grass and cereal grains had all the vivid tints of early spring, while the white and the pink blossoms of the nectarine and the almond were interspersed with the graver hue of the dark and abounding olive. While enjoying the scene, we heard the tinkling of bells, and looking to the left, beheld a caravan of camels rounding a distant hill. In a long line, one after the other, slowly, sedately, with measured strides, they passed along the road towards the west. Each one was laden with heavy packages, except two, which had women and children perched high upon their uneven backs. ”

“ We had spent the day in the glare of a Syrian sun, by the salt mountain of Usdum, in the hot blast of the sirocco, and were now bivouacked under the calcined cliffs of Moab. When the water was exhausted, all too weary to go for more, even if there were no danger of a surprise, we threw ourselves upon the ground, — eyes smarting, skin burning, lips, and tongue, and throat parched and dry; and wrapped the first garment we could find around our heads to keep off the stifling blast ”

“ While one, therefore, may not be convinced with regard to all, he feels that the traditions respecting them are not wholly improbable.
From the summit, the view was magnificent. On the one hand lay Jerusalem, with its yellow walls, its towers, its churches, its dome-roof houses, and its hills and valleys, covered with orchards and fields of green and golden grain, while beneath, distinct and near, the mosque of Omar, the Harem (the Sacred) , lay exposed to our infidel gaze, with its verdant carpet and groves of cypress, beneath whose holy shade none but the faithful can seek repose. ”

“ The rock of Gibraltar, abrupt on this, its western side, and on the other absolutely precipitous, has a summit line, sharp and rugged, terminating with a sheer descent on its northern face, and sloping gradually to Europa point at its south extreme. From an angle of the bay, this rock, 1400 feet high and three miles long, presents the exact appearance of a couchant lion; — his fore-paws gathered beneath him, his massive, shaggy head towards Spain, his fretted mane bristling against the sky, and his long and sweeping tail resting upon the sea. ”

“ Here descending the precipitous hill to the plain or terrace below, they came once more upon the banks of the Jordan.
Numerous black tents occupied the green and richly cultivated plain, or were scattered here and there, close to the river bluff, half hidden by the pale green willow and the deeper shadow of the tamarisk. Here they pitched the tents and waited for the boats — the whole population crowding round them in speechless admiration of all that transpired. ”

“ Diversified in scenery, luxuriant of foliage, and, like virgin ore, crumbling from their own richness, they teem with their abundant products. The lowing herds, the bleating flocks, the choral songsters of the grove, gratify and delight the ear; the clustering fruit-blossoms, the waving corn, the grain slow bending to the breeze, proclaim an early and redundant harvest. More boundless than the view, that glorious land is uninterrupted in its sweep until the one extreme is locked in the fast embrace of thick-ribbed ice, and the other is washed by the phosphorescent ripple of the tropic ”