William Francis Lynch

“ They were to bring ten spears, and formidable ones they proved to be. The road becoming difficult for the carriages, we moved slowly, and our Arab scouts soon overtook us. They had all assumed the garb of the desert, and each, with a flowing dark aba (cloak) on, and the yellow koofeeyeh upon his head, bound round with a cord of camel’s hair, dyed black; and bearing a spear eighteen feet in length, some of them tufted with ostrich feathers, looked the wild and savage warrior. ”

“ The governor, who was a relative of ’Akil , was among the first who called.
There was no doubt of the high standing of Sherîf and his nephew, Sherîf Musaid, a much younger and very prepossessing Arab, who had recently joined us. The governor was a small intelligent Arab, with a dark Egyptian complexion. Our friends soon left us to quarter upon him.
Our sailors were delighted with the novelty of having a roof above them, and we all felt relieved in no longer hearing the shrill and vociferous screams of the camel-drivers, — the noisiest of the children of men. ”

“ Since leaving the olive groves of Turan we had not seen a tree or a bush, except on the hill-sides of Lubieh; yet the whole surface of the valley was dotted with unenclosed fields of growing grain, and carpeted with green.
We continued rising until, at 2:25, we opened on our right a magnificent crater-like series of slopes, with a bare glimpse of the Sea of Galilee and the mountains of Bashan beyond. These slopes are fields of grain, divided into rectangles of different hues and different stages of growth. ”

“ It is raised almost exclusively for the camel. We saw no cattle. Camels, horses, mules and goats were the only four-footed animals to be seen.
P.M. We pulled up the lake, and visited Mejdel, on the plain of Genesareth. It must have been a singular sight from the shore, — our beautiful boats, the crews, in man-of-war rig, with snow-white awnings spread, and their ensigns flying, the men keeping time with their oars, as we rowed along the green shores of the silent sea of Galilee! ”

“ Ragged peasants were ploughing in the fields; but not a tree, not a house. Mount Tabor now bore due south. Pursuing the route along the northern ridge of this valley, in half an hour we came to a fountain, on the high road from Jerusalem to Damascus. Some Christian pilgrims, from the latter to the former place, were seated around it; their tired horses, with drooping heads, waiting their turn to drink. Soon after leaving them, a small party passed us; among them, the only pretty female we had seen in Palestine: a young Syrian girl, with smooth bronze skin and regular features. ”

“ Each day, some of the sherîf’s or the sheikh’s followers brought us a, sheep or a lamb as a present, for which, however, they expected, and always received, a fair equivalent. In doing so, they placed a quiet trust in Providence with regard to the payment, for which they never asked. Where the value of things is so well ascertained as among this primitive people, how much better is this plan than a haggling bargain! ”

“ It is small; the houses are built of uncut and uncemented stone, with flat mud roofs, not exceeding one story in height. Just beyond the village, over the brow of the hill, we pitched our tents upon the outskirts of an olive orchard. In the plain, immediately beneath, was fought a decisive battle between the Syrians and the French. Mount Tabor bore S.S.W. We were in the lands assigned to the tribe of Zebulon. By invitation, I accompanied Sherîf and ’Akil into the village, and smoked a pipe and drank coffee with its sheikh, who wore the graceful and becoming turban. ”

“ It was my anxious desire to avoid taking camels down the Ghor; but, from the best information we could obtain respecting the river, I was obliged to employ them. As the Jordan was represented to run between high banks which form the terraces of another valley yet above them, I felt that our safety and the success of the expedition would depend materially upon the vigilance and alacrity of the land party. I therefore placed it under command of Lieut. Dale. It consisted of Dr. Anderson, Mr. Bedlow, Mr. Lynch, Sherîf, ’Akil, Mustafa and ten Bedouin videttes. ”

“ It was shortly, however, succeeded by another and another, and the caravan was obliged to abandon the road altogether. Winding along the flanks of several hills, we came, at 2.30, upon an elevated plain of cultivated fields. Turning then more to the north, and skirting a ridge of rocky limestone, we gradually ascended a slope covered with olive orchards. Presently we came in sight of Turân, an Arab village.
In our acceptation of the word, a village means a number of scattered peasant dwellings, but here it is a stronghold of the agricultural population. ”

“ How we grieved that our duties prevented us from visiting a place which, with Bethlehem and Calvary, the scenes of the birth, the residence, and the death of the Redeemer, are of most intense interest to the Christian! To the left, almost due east, one hour distant, lay Cana of Galilee.
ARAB EXERCISES
Who has not, in thought, accompanied the Saviour to that marriage-feast, and thanked him from his heart, that he should have gladdened with his presence the fleeting festivities of sinful man, and that his first miracle should have been, to all succeeding generations, a lesson of filial love! ”

“ Our friends, who had preceded us and Sherîf , with one of his followers, had gone aside to perform their devotions in a field apart.
While at this fountain, wishing to take some bearings, one of our swarthy friends, in the most graceful and polite manner, held my horse, and otherwise assisted me. Thus far these terrible Arabs had conducted themselves like gentlemen. In courtesy, civilization could not improve them.
At 1:45 we passed immediately north of the village of Lubieh, differing only in its less conspicuous position from Turan and Abelin. ”

“ This difficulty overcome, we shall only have our own familiar element to deal with. We shall, therefore, have to brace ourselves to a desperate effort. The boats could come no farther than the fountain, where the caravan stopped for the night. Along the elevated plain the trap formation made its appearance in scattered fragments, covering the brown soil; large boulders then succeeded, and on the shore enormous masses crop-out in the ravines.
TIBERIAS
Winding down the rugged road, we descended to the city, seated on the margin of the lake. ”

“ But, if the situation be beautiful, the place itself is indescribably poor and filthy. The houses, built of uncemented stones, are mostly one story high, and have flat, mud roofs; and without, and encircling the whole, is a row of small, dome-roofed hovels, made entirely of mud, and used for baking bread; all enveloped in a most offensive atmosphere, tainted by the odour of the fuel, the dried excrement of camels. ”

“ Pulling to the shore, we inquired the name of the place, of a fellah who was watering his donkey. His reply was, “Mejdel.” This is the ancient Magdala, the birth-place of Mary Magdalen, and was once visited by our Saviour. We were coming in closer, and yet closer, contiguity to sacred scenes. On our way from Beïrût to Haifa, we had passed the ruins of Tyre, where the Saviour yielded to the importunities of the Canaanitish woman, and healed her.
Passing between Nazareth and Cana, and approaching this lake, we looked at them from a distance, but here we were upon their threshold. ”

“ In the middle of Wady en Nafakh (Blowing Valley) , we came to a halt, three miles from Abelin. It was yet early, 3 P.M.; but the great regulator of every thing connected with life and motion in the East is water. We had passed a well about a mile back, and between us and the next one was a narrow defile, presenting great obstructions to the passage of the boats. We therefore pitched our tents upon a gently sloping esplanade, and our Bedouin friends were over-against us. ”

“ Many of the children are quite handsome; but filth, poverty, avarice, and tyranny, have changed the old into disgusting libels upon humanity. Compared to them, our wild Arabs are paragons of manly cleanliness.
The pashas and governors, in this country, have an offhand, arbitrary, and unfeeling mode of transacting business. When our camels broke down at Acre, Sa’id Bey was applied to, by our consul, for additional ones.
MUSTAFA, THE COOK
There happened, unfortunately, to be a fellah coming from Nazareth with two loaded camels, just then without the walls. ”

“ Called all hands, breakfasted, struck tents, hitched camels, and started at 8:20 A.M. The carriages, with the boats, were drawn by three camels each, two abreast and one as leader, with twelve spare ones, to relieve every half hour. Our party numbered sixteen in all, including dragoman and cook, with eleven camels, laden with baggage, tents, instruments, &c; and fifteen Bedouin, all well mounted, the followers and servants of the Sherîf of Mecca and Sheikh ’Akil Aga el Hassee. ”

“ It is Humboldt, I believe, who remarks that in all climates people show the same predeliction for heat. In Iceland the first Christian converts would be baptized only in the tepid streams of Hecla; and in the torrid zone, the natives flock from all parts to the thermal waters.
In all this luxuriant plain, which might be a perfect garden, there were only some cucumber and melon beds and fields of millet. The melons of this valley, according to Burckhardt, are celebrated all over the east. ”

“ That book, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt says, declares that creation will return to primitive chaos if prayers are not addressed to the God of Israel at least twice a week in the four holy cities. Hence the Jews all over the world are liberal in their contributions. ”

“ Unlike all other places we have seen, the women are not more cleanly than the men; and while the married ones carefully conceal their hair, they all studiously exhibit the formation of their breasts, which renders them anything but attractive.
The men have the abject, down-trodden look which seems peculiar to this people in the east. ”

“ In a square vaulted chamber is a circular basin about eighteen feet in diameter and four feet in depth. The temperature of the water is 143° — almost too hot for endurance. It is only by slow decrees that the body can be immersed in it. ”

“ They were directed to keep as near to the river as the nature of the country would permit, and should they hear two guns fired in quick succession, to leave the camel-drivers to take care of themselves, and hasten with all speed to our assistance. ”

“ There are about three hundred families, or one thousand Jews, in this town. The Sanhedrin consists of seventy rabbis, of whom thirty are natives and forty Franks, mostly from Poland, with a few from Spain. The rabbis stated that controversial matters of discipline among Jews, all over the world, are referred to this Sanhedrin.
A BUYURULDI
Besides the Jews, there are in Tiberias from three to four hundred Muslims and two or three Latins, from Nazareth. ”