DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0276
260
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
About half way across we passed the edge of a
stagnant pool, nearly covering a Mussulman bury-
ing-ground ; the tombstones were washed from
their places, and here and there the ghastly skele-
tons were visible above the muddy water. In one
place, crossing a stream, we met three Abyssin-
ians, who had come from the remotest point in
the interior of Africa where the name of Christian
is known, to bathe in the sacred Jordan. Two or
three times we were obstructed by brick fences,
intended as ramparts, to protect the inhabitants
and their flocks against the incursions of wolves;
and at about four o'clock we arrived at the ruined
village of Jericho.
I have observed that travellers generally, when
they arrive at any place of extraordinary interest,
find the right glow of feeling coming over them
precisely at the proper moment. I never had any
difficulty in Italy; for there, in the useful guide-
book of Madame Starke, beautifully interspersed
with valuable information about hotels, post-horses,
and the price of washing linen, the reader may
find prepared for him an appropriate catalogue
of sensations for almost every possible situation
and object, from a walk in the Coliseum by moon-
light to a puppet-show at San Carlino in Naples;
but, in a country like this, a man is thrown upon
his own resources ; and notwithstanding the inter-
est attached to the name of Jericho, I found it a
hard matter to feel duly excited.
Jericho was the first city in Canaan which fell
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
About half way across we passed the edge of a
stagnant pool, nearly covering a Mussulman bury-
ing-ground ; the tombstones were washed from
their places, and here and there the ghastly skele-
tons were visible above the muddy water. In one
place, crossing a stream, we met three Abyssin-
ians, who had come from the remotest point in
the interior of Africa where the name of Christian
is known, to bathe in the sacred Jordan. Two or
three times we were obstructed by brick fences,
intended as ramparts, to protect the inhabitants
and their flocks against the incursions of wolves;
and at about four o'clock we arrived at the ruined
village of Jericho.
I have observed that travellers generally, when
they arrive at any place of extraordinary interest,
find the right glow of feeling coming over them
precisely at the proper moment. I never had any
difficulty in Italy; for there, in the useful guide-
book of Madame Starke, beautifully interspersed
with valuable information about hotels, post-horses,
and the price of washing linen, the reader may
find prepared for him an appropriate catalogue
of sensations for almost every possible situation
and object, from a walk in the Coliseum by moon-
light to a puppet-show at San Carlino in Naples;
but, in a country like this, a man is thrown upon
his own resources ; and notwithstanding the inter-
est attached to the name of Jericho, I found it a
hard matter to feel duly excited.
Jericho was the first city in Canaan which fell