DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0275
ItOAD TO JERICHO.
259
The scene every moment became wilder and more
rugged ; and, except in the wilderness of Sinai,
and among the wastes of Idumea, I never trav-
elled so dreary a road as in " going down to Jeri-
cho." It is on this desolate route that our Saviour
lays the scene of the parable of the good Samari-
tan; and nowhere could a more forcible illustra-
tion be given of the heartlessness of the priest and
the Levite, in " passing by on the other side."
Ascending for some distance by the precipitous
side of a yawning chasm, where a false movement
of my horse might have dashed me to atoms,
from the top of the Mountains of Desolation I
looked to the left upon a higher and still wilder
and more dreary range ; and towering above all
the rest, in gloomy grandeur, its naked sides
pierced with doors for the cells of hermits, was
the mountain of our Saviour's fasting and tempta-
tion ; before me were the Plains of Jericho, the
Valley of the Jordan, the Mountains of Arabia, and
the Dead Sea. A high, square building, like a
tower, marked the site of Jericho, and a small
stream, running between two banks of sand, was
the hallowed Jordan.
Descending the mountain, on our left, directly at
the foot, were the remains of an aqueduct and
other ruins, which, in all probability, were part of
the ancient city of Jericho.' The plain commences
at the foot of the mountains ; the land is fertile, and
well watered with streams emptying into the Jor*
dan ; but for the most part wild and uncultivated.
259
The scene every moment became wilder and more
rugged ; and, except in the wilderness of Sinai,
and among the wastes of Idumea, I never trav-
elled so dreary a road as in " going down to Jeri-
cho." It is on this desolate route that our Saviour
lays the scene of the parable of the good Samari-
tan; and nowhere could a more forcible illustra-
tion be given of the heartlessness of the priest and
the Levite, in " passing by on the other side."
Ascending for some distance by the precipitous
side of a yawning chasm, where a false movement
of my horse might have dashed me to atoms,
from the top of the Mountains of Desolation I
looked to the left upon a higher and still wilder
and more dreary range ; and towering above all
the rest, in gloomy grandeur, its naked sides
pierced with doors for the cells of hermits, was
the mountain of our Saviour's fasting and tempta-
tion ; before me were the Plains of Jericho, the
Valley of the Jordan, the Mountains of Arabia, and
the Dead Sea. A high, square building, like a
tower, marked the site of Jericho, and a small
stream, running between two banks of sand, was
the hallowed Jordan.
Descending the mountain, on our left, directly at
the foot, were the remains of an aqueduct and
other ruins, which, in all probability, were part of
the ancient city of Jericho.' The plain commences
at the foot of the mountains ; the land is fertile, and
well watered with streams emptying into the Jor*
dan ; but for the most part wild and uncultivated.