DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0108
92
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
of the rock we saw the fa9ade of a beautiful tern*
pie, resembling in its prominent features, but
seeming larger and more beautiful than, the
Khasne of Pharaoh opposite the principal entrance
of the city. I have no doubt that a visit to that
temple would have abundantly repaid me for the
day I should have lost; for, besides its architec-
tural beauty, it would have been curious to ex-
amine, and, if possible, discover why it was con-
structed, standing alone outside of the city, and,
as it appeared, apart from every thing connected
with the habitations of the Edomites. But as yet
we had work enough before us. Disencumbering
ourselves of all our useless trappings, shoes, pistols,
swords, tobacco-pouch, and water-sack, which we
tied together in a sash and the roll of a turban, by
dint of climbing, pushing, and lifting each other,
after the most arduous upward scramble I ever
accomplished, we attained the bald and hoary
summit of the mountainh, and, before we had time
to look around, at the extreme end of the desolate
valley of El Ghor, our attention was instantly at-
tracted and engrossed by one of the most interest-
ing objects in the world, and Paul and I exclaimed
at the same moment, " The Dead Sea!" Lying
between the barren mountains of Arabia and Ju-
dea, presenting to us from that height no more
than a small, calm, and silvery surface, was that
mysterious sea which rolled its dark waters over
the guilty cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; over
whose surface, according to the superstition of the
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
of the rock we saw the fa9ade of a beautiful tern*
pie, resembling in its prominent features, but
seeming larger and more beautiful than, the
Khasne of Pharaoh opposite the principal entrance
of the city. I have no doubt that a visit to that
temple would have abundantly repaid me for the
day I should have lost; for, besides its architec-
tural beauty, it would have been curious to ex-
amine, and, if possible, discover why it was con-
structed, standing alone outside of the city, and,
as it appeared, apart from every thing connected
with the habitations of the Edomites. But as yet
we had work enough before us. Disencumbering
ourselves of all our useless trappings, shoes, pistols,
swords, tobacco-pouch, and water-sack, which we
tied together in a sash and the roll of a turban, by
dint of climbing, pushing, and lifting each other,
after the most arduous upward scramble I ever
accomplished, we attained the bald and hoary
summit of the mountainh, and, before we had time
to look around, at the extreme end of the desolate
valley of El Ghor, our attention was instantly at-
tracted and engrossed by one of the most interest-
ing objects in the world, and Paul and I exclaimed
at the same moment, " The Dead Sea!" Lying
between the barren mountains of Arabia and Ju-
dea, presenting to us from that height no more
than a small, calm, and silvery surface, was that
mysterious sea which rolled its dark waters over
the guilty cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; over
whose surface, according to the superstition of the