Mount Hermon

“ Our actual ascent of the mountain is without much interest, except that on the way we pass a very well-preserved wine press, hewn out of the solid rock. The horses are at the door at four a.m., but not until six can we venture out, for Hermon is veiled in dark cloud, and over the Rashêyan Valley bursts a terrific thunderstorm, the thunder reverberating grandly among the mountains. ”

“ To-night we are camping near the same valley, and have a very wide sweep of it in view. We can see the long, whale-backed ridge of Mount Hermon projecting above the eastern hills. The “dews of Hermon” are falling upon us now, and the tents are almost soaked with them. ”

“ We shall feel as tired as though we had been run through a rolling mill; climbing Mount Hermon is serious business, and a thing to do once. Nobody would undertake it a second time, for the mere pleasure of the trip. ”

“ I cried out in ecstacy, "Behold Mount Zion." Through the mists of earth I saw the splendors of heaven. The story of the transfiguration on Mount Hermon, in the days of Jesus, if taken literally, is not so marvelous as the history we call the life and character of Jesus. Both belong to the realm of the supernatural. The "life" granted, the transfiguration has no surprise in it. So I discover the strange blending of the natural and supernatural in the Land and the Book,—in the Land as to-day hallowed by the Book,—in the Book as to-day supported and made real by the Land. ”

“ The western mountains rise gradually toward their northern end, where they attain an elevation of over 11,000 feet. The eastern chain, however, reaches its culmination in its southernmost peak, Mount Hermon, which is 9,000 feet above the sea. ”

“ We are in front of the mountain of Hermon, known here as Jebelesh-Sheik, and it is observable that in several places the temples are made to face it, leading to the supposition that the mountain was an object of veneration and worship.
We pass the night in our camp, at the little village of Rasheiya; we are not in the village, but near enough to enable the beggars and the lame, halt, and blind to find us without trouble and ask for “backsheesh,” which they are sure to do. The white top of Mount Hermon rises above us, and we look upon it with longing eyes. ”

“ One of our objects in coming to Hâsbeiyâ was to ascend Mount Hermon. We send for the Druse guide and the Christian guide; both of them assure us that the adventure is impossible on account of the deep snow, which has increased during the last fortnight. We can not get within a mile of the summit. The snow will be waist-deep in the hollows. ”

“ The lofty mountain in the extreme distance is Mount Hermon.
distant masses, or near crests of them, seem to accompany you as you move. And as you travel through the history of the land it is in the same companionship. The Jordan valley lies along the western side of the mountain range, a place of luxury and temptation. But Israel abides on the hills, sending down to it only the most degenerate of her children. It is a very striking fact that Jesus was tempted to sin for bread on the mountain almost within sight of Jericho, where the Herodians were sinning with surfeits of wine and rich meats. ”

“ We have, as usual, the floor only to sit and sleep on. We are beginning to be quite clever at squatting à la Turc, but must admit that we think chairs, tables and beds more comfortable. The Rashêya Christians in 1860, were, as in Hasbêya, decoyed into the castle by the Turks, and by them basely betrayed to the Maronite Druses, who massacred man, woman and child.
Mount Hermon, we believe, has not been ascended to the summit by any Englishman for some years. ”

“ On the way we fortunately got some camel’s milk from a party passing near us. The weather was hot, but exceedingly clear. The Salt p. 417mountain of Sodom, (Khash’m Usdum,) showed itself well at the southern extremity of the lake, thirty miles distant; and from a raised level near its northern end we gained superb views of Mount Hermon (Jebel esh Shaikh) in the Anti-Lebanon, capped with snow. This was entirely unexpected and gratifying; but I could nowhere find a spot from which both Hermon and Sodom could be seen at once. Perhaps such a view may be had somewhere on the hills. ”

“ It is called by the Arabs the Snowy Mountain: misled probably by this the text books on the subject boldly assert that its summit is perpetually covered with snow, but this is not the case, nor is it so even with the loftier peaks of Lebanon, on the opposite side of the plain. From Hermon the snow disappears some two months at least, and although we find it cold there is not a trace of snow anywhere. The bare white limestone sides of mountains are often mistaken at a distance for snow, but few travellers ever attain the summit, and hence the perpetuation of the perpetual snow fable. ”

“ I claim the right to correct misstatements, and have so corrected the color of the water in the above recapitulation. The waters of Genessaret are of an exceedingly mild blue, even from a high elevation and a distance of five miles. Close at hand (the witness was sailing on the lake,) it is hardly proper to call them blue at all, much less "deep" blue. I wish to state, also, not as a correction, but as matter of opinion, that Mount Hermon is not a striking or picturesque mountain by any means, being too near the height of its immediate neighbors to be so. ”

“ He met no one whom he knew until he came in again to the main traveled highway beyond the town. This road led directly to the railroad station at Carbon Creek. It had been his purpose to wait here for the stage that left Mount Hermon every morning for Carbon Creek, carrying passengers and mail. But he was in no mood to stand still, and, besides, the chilly October air made exercise a necessity. So he walked quickly along, feeling that the farther from Mount Hermon he could get the safer he would be. ”

“ We infer from the Bible description that the Garden of Eden was by no means a small one, and must have included all Syria Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt, if not the whole of the world. As we are soon leaving Anti-Lebanon, we may observe that this mountain range extends from Banias, at the head of the Jordan Valley, to the plains of the Bukâa, in which is Baalbec. Hermon is sometimes reckoned as part of it, but on account of its almost isolated position, is often considered to be as a mountain in business for itself. ”

“ The top of Hermon consists of three rocky peaks; two, north and south, of equal height—the third, to the west, considerably lower. On the southern peak are the ruins called Kŭsr esh Shabîb—a rock-hewn hollow or trench, and a circular dwarf-wall, with a temple just below the peak on the south. On the plateau is a rudely-excavated cave, with a rock-cut pillar supporting the roof, and a flat space levelled above, probably once the floor of a building over the cave. Of all these objects of interest we made careful plans, as well as of the shape of the summit. ”

“ They selected grand spots, as did the Egyptians of old, for burial places, as if they designed that when the voice of God should reach the sleepers, they should walk forth and open their eyes on scenes of glorious beauty. On the east, the wild and desolate mountains contrast finely with the deep blue lake; and toward the north, sublime and majestic, Hermon looks down on the sea, lifting his white crown to heaven with the pride of a hill that has seen the departing footsteps of a hundred generations. ”

“ That honour is reserved for Hermon, the range and summit which Antilebanon thrusts south from it into Galilee, just opposite Damascus. It is happily named “the sheikh.” Go where you will in Palestine, Hermon seems to lie at the end of some vista or other. For many miles around it, Hermon commands everything. Its mass tilts the plain and sends out innumerable spurs of rich and fertile land; its snow shines far and gives character to the view; its eastern waters redeem the wilderness through many a mile of Hauran; and from its western roots spring all the fountains of the Jordan. ”

“ The ridge of Hermon, rising into a dome-shaped summit, is 20 m. long, extending north-east and south-west. The formation of the lower part is Nubian sandstone, that of the upper part is a hard dark-grey crystalline limestone belonging to the Neocomian period, and full of fossils. The spurs consist in some cases of white chalk covering the limestone, and on the south there are several basaltic outbreaks. The view from Hermon is very extensive, embracing all Lebanon and the plains east of Damascus, with Palestine as far as Carmel and Tabor. ”

“ Hermon, is a mountain on the north east of the Holy Land, beyond Jordan a little southward of Lebanon. The dew that falls on it is beautiful and fine: In a summer evening it will wet one to the skin and yet is in no danger of sleeping at night, is we are told, in the open field. ”

“ The whole land was now secured to Israel to the base of Lebanon, and the four northern tribes were settled in their allotted possessions.
HERMON FROM THE NORTHERN SHORE OF LAKE HÛLEH.
Soon after passing the northern end of the lake the snowy summit of Hermon, which has been previously visible at intervals for some days, comes full into view, and forms a fine feature in the landscape. A cool, refreshing breeze flows down from its glittering heights, and is doubly welcome in the sultry plain over which we are toiling. The contrast between the near and the distant landscape is very striking. ”

“ The Arabs met us again, and said they were looking for a horse that was lost, and we saw no more of them.
In another hour my companion was taken with a strong fit of ague, which urged us the more to press onward for Safed. From the hills, as we rose higher and higher, the Lake Hhooleh was perceived to be, above one-third of it, choked up with weeds and rushes. Old Hermon showed himself in surpassing grandeur; not a confused mass—as he does from the plain looking upwards from close beneath him—but as one grand “monarch of mountains.” ”

“ The valley into which we descended lay directly under one of the peaks of Hermon and the rills that watered it were fed from his snow-fields. It was inhabited by Druses, but no men were to be seen, except a few poor husbandmen, ploughing on the mountain-sides. The women, wearing those enormous horns on their heads which distinguish them from the Mohammedan females, were washing at a pool below. We crossed the valley, and slowly ascended the height on the opposite side, taking care to keep with the baggage-mules. ”

“ At the sight of these things the colour faded from his cheeks and lips, and, as if by virtue of his guardianship he had a right to direct Hermon in the paths of art also, he forbade his ward to waste any more time in such horrible scarecrows, and awaken loathing and wrath instead of gratification, exultation, and joy. You know the consequences, but you do not know how my heart ached when Hermon, frantic with wounded pride and indignation, turned his back upon my father and severed every tie that united him to us. ”

“ Went to the top of Hermit Hill, whence I obtained a very extensive view of Lake Torrens from north-west to north-east. Mount Hermit is surrounded by low hills, and in the far distance there seems to be rising ground. To the south are broken hills, the termination of the Mount North-west range. I shall examine that part of the country to-morrow. Between this and the lake (Eyre) to the north the country is very rough—broken cliffs, with sand; the good country does not extend more than three miles. The springs are very numerous all round this mount, and seem to drain into the lake ”

“ The general view from the summit consists of a sublime assemblage of ice-born rocks and mountains, long wavering ridges, meadows, lakes, and forest-covered moraines, hundreds of square miles of them. The lofty summit-peaks rise grandly along the sky to the east, the gray pillared slopes of the Hoffman Range toward the west, and a billowy sea of shining rocks like the Monument, some of them almost as high and which from their peculiar sculpture seem to be rolling westward in the middle ground, something like breaking waves. ”

“ One ought to have seen Hermon with its white-golden crown glistening aloft in the blue sky, in order to be able rightly to understand the figure. Nowhere in the whole country is so heavy a dew perceptible as in the districts near to Hermon.” To this dew the poet likens brotherly love. This is as the dew of Hermon: of such pristine freshness and thus refreshing, possessing such pristine power and thus quickening, thus born from above (Psa 110:3) , and in fact like the dew of Hermon which comes down upon the mountains of Zion - a feature in the picture which is taken from the natural reality ”

“ Frémont, in the expedition which he made in the years 1842–1844 by order of the Government of the United States, found the highest summit of the whole chain of the Rocky Mountains to the north north-west of Spanish, James’s, Long’s, and Laramie Peaks. This snowy summit, of which he measured the elevation barometrically, belongs to the group of the Wind River mountains. It bears on the large map, edited by Colonel Abert, Chief of the Topographical Office at Washington, the name of Frémont’s Peak, and is situated in 43° 10′ lat. and 110° 13′ W. long. ”

“ Aroused by the energy of despair, he next determined to round this impenetrable barrier, and struck out to the eastward, for an isolated peak which he called Mount Hopeless. The name corresponded to the reality, for the outlook from its summit revealed nothing but a barren and burning desert, which forced the expedition to fall back by a western route to the southern coast. ”