DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0317
300
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
wherever he came. And now a body of Turkish
horsemen, with drawn cimeters in their hands,
rushed out of the gate, dashed down the valley
and up the sides of the mountains at full gallop,
clearing the way for the governor ; and then came
the governor himself, under a salute from the for-
tress, on a horse of the best blood of Arabia, riding
as if he were a part of the noble animal, preceded
by the music of the Turkish drum, and bowing
with a nobility and dignity of manner known only
in the East, and which I marked the more particu-
larly, as he stopped opposite to me and beckoned
to me to join him. Then came the pilgrims again,
and I sat there till the last had gone by. Gallop-
ing back to the gate, I turned to look at them for
the last time, a living, moving mass of thousands,
thousands of miles from their homes, bound for the
sacred Jordan, and strong in the faith that, bathing
in its hallowed waters, they should wash away
their sins.
In a few moments I was at the convent; and,
sending Paul before me to the Damascus Gate,
I went to take my leave of the superior. He told
me that, though I was an American (the only
Americans he had seen were missionaries, and he
did not like them), he liked me; and, bidding me
a kind and affectionate farewell, he put into my
hands a pilgrim's certificate, which follows in these
words—
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
wherever he came. And now a body of Turkish
horsemen, with drawn cimeters in their hands,
rushed out of the gate, dashed down the valley
and up the sides of the mountains at full gallop,
clearing the way for the governor ; and then came
the governor himself, under a salute from the for-
tress, on a horse of the best blood of Arabia, riding
as if he were a part of the noble animal, preceded
by the music of the Turkish drum, and bowing
with a nobility and dignity of manner known only
in the East, and which I marked the more particu-
larly, as he stopped opposite to me and beckoned
to me to join him. Then came the pilgrims again,
and I sat there till the last had gone by. Gallop-
ing back to the gate, I turned to look at them for
the last time, a living, moving mass of thousands,
thousands of miles from their homes, bound for the
sacred Jordan, and strong in the faith that, bathing
in its hallowed waters, they should wash away
their sins.
In a few moments I was at the convent; and,
sending Paul before me to the Damascus Gate,
I went to take my leave of the superior. He told
me that, though I was an American (the only
Americans he had seen were missionaries, and he
did not like them), he liked me; and, bidding me
a kind and affectionate farewell, he put into my
hands a pilgrim's certificate, which follows in these
words—