DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0164
148
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
a rocky mountain, we came down into a valley,,
bounded on all sides, and apparently shut in by
stony mountains. We followed the valley for
more than an hour, finding the land good and well
cultivated, with abundance of grapes, vines, and ol-
ives, as in the day when the spies sent by Moses
entered it; and I can only wonder that, to a hardy
and warlike people like the Israelites, after a long
journey in the desert, the rich products of Hebron
did not present more powerful considerations than
the enmity of the men of Anak. We turned a
point of the mountain to the left; and at the ex-
treme end of the valley, on the side of a hill, bound-
ing it, stands the little city of Hebron, the ancient
capital of the kingdom of David, But it bears no
traces of the glory of its Jewish king. Thunder
and lightning, and earthquakes, wars, pestilence,
and famine, have passed over it; and a small town
of white houses, compactly built on the side of the
mountain, a mosque and two minarets, are all that
mark the ancient city of Hebron.
As soon as we came in sight of the city, the
sheik dismounted ; and, arranging his saddle, made
Paul take back his dromedary and give me my
horse ; and placing me on his right hand, and draw-
ing up the caravan with the order and precision
of-a troop of " regulars," we made a dashing en-
try. It was on Friday, the Mussulmans' Sabbath ;
and several hundred women, in long white dresses,
were sitting among the tombs of the Turkish bury-
ing-ground, outside the walls. We passed this
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
a rocky mountain, we came down into a valley,,
bounded on all sides, and apparently shut in by
stony mountains. We followed the valley for
more than an hour, finding the land good and well
cultivated, with abundance of grapes, vines, and ol-
ives, as in the day when the spies sent by Moses
entered it; and I can only wonder that, to a hardy
and warlike people like the Israelites, after a long
journey in the desert, the rich products of Hebron
did not present more powerful considerations than
the enmity of the men of Anak. We turned a
point of the mountain to the left; and at the ex-
treme end of the valley, on the side of a hill, bound-
ing it, stands the little city of Hebron, the ancient
capital of the kingdom of David, But it bears no
traces of the glory of its Jewish king. Thunder
and lightning, and earthquakes, wars, pestilence,
and famine, have passed over it; and a small town
of white houses, compactly built on the side of the
mountain, a mosque and two minarets, are all that
mark the ancient city of Hebron.
As soon as we came in sight of the city, the
sheik dismounted ; and, arranging his saddle, made
Paul take back his dromedary and give me my
horse ; and placing me on his right hand, and draw-
ing up the caravan with the order and precision
of-a troop of " regulars," we made a dashing en-
try. It was on Friday, the Mussulmans' Sabbath ;
and several hundred women, in long white dresses,
were sitting among the tombs of the Turkish bury-
ing-ground, outside the walls. We passed this