DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0400
92
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.
[chap. x.
CHAPTER X.
bethlehem.
Brightest and best of the sons of the mcrning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid!
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid !
Bishop Hebeb,
I felt little inclination to linger at Jerusalem after I had ex-
plored the prescribed localities, and such as I had selected for
myself. It was now midsummer ; and the sun, reflected from
the white walls and marble pavement, seemed to surround me
with a fiery glow. The very zephyrs were so languid from the
heat, that they refused any longer to wander through the streets,
narrow as these were made, in order to stimulate their energies :
the scorched leaves had no quiver ; the living city was more
silent under the oppression of that sunshine than at midnight ~
and the whole world seemed to be gradually growing red-hot. I
felt escape was absolutely necessary, and prepared to avail my-
self of an invitation from our bishop to Bethlehem, where he had
been staying for some time.
My last hour at Jerusalem was passed in a negotiation with
Abdallah, a Sheikh of Bedouin, to escort me to the Dead Sea:
he assured me that the way was very dangerous, and that not
less than a dozen horsemen and twice that number of dismounted
men could confer any chance of safety. As he sat upon my
divan, perfectly free from embarrassment as from presuming, he
looked so like a gentleman that I was almost tempted to believe
him. It is true, that his chin had never known a razor, or his
foot a boot; that his dress consisted of a sheet, with some cun-
ningly-devised holes and folds to give it the appearance of a Ro-
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.
[chap. x.
CHAPTER X.
bethlehem.
Brightest and best of the sons of the mcrning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid!
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid !
Bishop Hebeb,
I felt little inclination to linger at Jerusalem after I had ex-
plored the prescribed localities, and such as I had selected for
myself. It was now midsummer ; and the sun, reflected from
the white walls and marble pavement, seemed to surround me
with a fiery glow. The very zephyrs were so languid from the
heat, that they refused any longer to wander through the streets,
narrow as these were made, in order to stimulate their energies :
the scorched leaves had no quiver ; the living city was more
silent under the oppression of that sunshine than at midnight ~
and the whole world seemed to be gradually growing red-hot. I
felt escape was absolutely necessary, and prepared to avail my-
self of an invitation from our bishop to Bethlehem, where he had
been staying for some time.
My last hour at Jerusalem was passed in a negotiation with
Abdallah, a Sheikh of Bedouin, to escort me to the Dead Sea:
he assured me that the way was very dangerous, and that not
less than a dozen horsemen and twice that number of dismounted
men could confer any chance of safety. As he sat upon my
divan, perfectly free from embarrassment as from presuming, he
looked so like a gentleman that I was almost tempted to believe
him. It is true, that his chin had never known a razor, or his
foot a boot; that his dress consisted of a sheet, with some cun-
ningly-devised holes and folds to give it the appearance of a Ro-