DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0316
PILGRIMAGE TO THE JORDAN. 299
I had received an invitation from the governor
to ride in his suite ; and, while,waiting for him at
the gate, the terrible Abougos, with his retainers,
came out and beckoned me to join him. I fol-
lowed him over the Brook Kedron and the Valley
of Jehoshaphat to the Garden of Gethsemane,
where I stopped, and giving my horse to an Arab
boy, I stepped over the low fence, and seating my-
self on the jutting root of the tree marked by the
knives of pilgrims as that under which our Saviour
was betrayed, looking over the heads of the
Turkish women seated on the fence below, I saw
the whole procession streaming from the gate,
crossing the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and filing along
the foot of the garden. They were on foot and
on horseback, on donkeys, mules, dromedaries, and
camels, and here and there were well-equipped
caravans, with tents and provisions for the monks
of the different convents. It would be impossible
to give any idea of this strange and extraordinary
procession ; here might be seen a woman on horse-
back, with a child on each arm ; there a large pan-
nier on each side of a mule, with a man in one and
a woman in the other; or a large frame on the
high back of a camel, like a diminutive ark, carry-
ing a whole family, with all their quilts, coverlets,
cooking utensils, &c. Among them, riding alone,
on a raw-boned horse, was a beggarly Italian, in
a worn and shabby European dress, with a fowl-
ing-piece and a game-bag, and everybody made
way for him; and there was a general laugh
I had received an invitation from the governor
to ride in his suite ; and, while,waiting for him at
the gate, the terrible Abougos, with his retainers,
came out and beckoned me to join him. I fol-
lowed him over the Brook Kedron and the Valley
of Jehoshaphat to the Garden of Gethsemane,
where I stopped, and giving my horse to an Arab
boy, I stepped over the low fence, and seating my-
self on the jutting root of the tree marked by the
knives of pilgrims as that under which our Saviour
was betrayed, looking over the heads of the
Turkish women seated on the fence below, I saw
the whole procession streaming from the gate,
crossing the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and filing along
the foot of the garden. They were on foot and
on horseback, on donkeys, mules, dromedaries, and
camels, and here and there were well-equipped
caravans, with tents and provisions for the monks
of the different convents. It would be impossible
to give any idea of this strange and extraordinary
procession ; here might be seen a woman on horse-
back, with a child on each arm ; there a large pan-
nier on each side of a mule, with a man in one and
a woman in the other; or a large frame on the
high back of a camel, like a diminutive ark, carry-
ing a whole family, with all their quilts, coverlets,
cooking utensils, &c. Among them, riding alone,
on a raw-boned horse, was a beggarly Italian, in
a worn and shabby European dress, with a fowl-
ing-piece and a game-bag, and everybody made
way for him; and there was a general laugh