DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0401
WADY SHIB'A.
365
ones are within the means of the poorest person. Four small water-coolers can be bought
for a penny (see page 363).
In the East this business must have been one of the most essential branches of industry
from the remotest times. The ground about some of the ruined cities in Bashan is literally
covered with broken pottery. On some of the artificial mounds in the Jordan Valley we have
seen it so thick that it could easily be raked into heaps. However deep about any city
excavations are carried, the debris is found to be composed largely of the same material. In
practical use the waste of the article must be immense ; and this has been true in all the past.
One finds in the pottery various light shades of colour, although perhaps red is the most
common ; while in the New Testament times the black, which is still found in some markets,
was considered the most valuable. It appears from the Talmud that Kefr Chananyah, a town
in Galilee, had a monopoly of its manufacture.
About one hour north-east of Rasheiyet el Fukhar (see page 363), over a road characteristic
of these mountains, we reach Hebbariyeh (see page 367), a village interesting on account of its
position among these wild and barren hills, and also because it contains the ruins of an ancient
temple (see page 366). This was fifty-eight feet long by thirty-one feet wide. The walls were
thirty-two feet high and six feet thick. Many of the stones were large, and one at least that
Dr. Robinson measured was fifteen feet in length by two feet nine inches in width, and the
same in thickness. The capitals are Ionic, and the temple faced the east, looking up the
great gorge which opens before it " as if to catch the first beams of the morning sun rising
over Hermon."
Wady Shib'a, the gorge just referred to, is one of the grandest about Jebel esh Sheikh.
The village of the same name is said to be the highest in these mountains, and the property of
the villagers has in days past consisted largely of goats (see page 367). They climb up and
feed where men cannot go, and thrive where other domestic animals would perish. It is easy
to see how, during the summer months, these people are very comfortable even in the rude
hovels which serve as their abodes ; but in winter, when the valleys are filled with snow and
ice, and the hills above them are covered with the same, it is a problem how they keep from
perishing, to say nothing of the luxury of communicating with neighbouring villages and towns.
The citizens of New York or London who pine for mountain air would find in Wady Shib'a
one of the most charming and healthful places in the world. We ourselves have enjoyed in
this valley our sweetest sleep. Great fountains of ice-cold water, clear and sparkling, burst from
the ground and rush down the way of the torrents, filling the mighty chasms with the noise of
their united and angry streams. Here everything is invigorating and inspiring; sunrise and
sunset among these royal peaks, the air doubly freighted with life, Nature in its wildest aspects,
all conspire to reanimate the body and make the mind buoyant and hopeful.
The fountains bursting on all sides from the foot of Hermon and Lebanon, and supplying
copious streams to fertilise the valleys, are a peculiar feature of these memorable hills ; while in
vast sections they are bleak and barren themselves, yet they supply that which for miles in
*
365
ones are within the means of the poorest person. Four small water-coolers can be bought
for a penny (see page 363).
In the East this business must have been one of the most essential branches of industry
from the remotest times. The ground about some of the ruined cities in Bashan is literally
covered with broken pottery. On some of the artificial mounds in the Jordan Valley we have
seen it so thick that it could easily be raked into heaps. However deep about any city
excavations are carried, the debris is found to be composed largely of the same material. In
practical use the waste of the article must be immense ; and this has been true in all the past.
One finds in the pottery various light shades of colour, although perhaps red is the most
common ; while in the New Testament times the black, which is still found in some markets,
was considered the most valuable. It appears from the Talmud that Kefr Chananyah, a town
in Galilee, had a monopoly of its manufacture.
About one hour north-east of Rasheiyet el Fukhar (see page 363), over a road characteristic
of these mountains, we reach Hebbariyeh (see page 367), a village interesting on account of its
position among these wild and barren hills, and also because it contains the ruins of an ancient
temple (see page 366). This was fifty-eight feet long by thirty-one feet wide. The walls were
thirty-two feet high and six feet thick. Many of the stones were large, and one at least that
Dr. Robinson measured was fifteen feet in length by two feet nine inches in width, and the
same in thickness. The capitals are Ionic, and the temple faced the east, looking up the
great gorge which opens before it " as if to catch the first beams of the morning sun rising
over Hermon."
Wady Shib'a, the gorge just referred to, is one of the grandest about Jebel esh Sheikh.
The village of the same name is said to be the highest in these mountains, and the property of
the villagers has in days past consisted largely of goats (see page 367). They climb up and
feed where men cannot go, and thrive where other domestic animals would perish. It is easy
to see how, during the summer months, these people are very comfortable even in the rude
hovels which serve as their abodes ; but in winter, when the valleys are filled with snow and
ice, and the hills above them are covered with the same, it is a problem how they keep from
perishing, to say nothing of the luxury of communicating with neighbouring villages and towns.
The citizens of New York or London who pine for mountain air would find in Wady Shib'a
one of the most charming and healthful places in the world. We ourselves have enjoyed in
this valley our sweetest sleep. Great fountains of ice-cold water, clear and sparkling, burst from
the ground and rush down the way of the torrents, filling the mighty chasms with the noise of
their united and angry streams. Here everything is invigorating and inspiring; sunrise and
sunset among these royal peaks, the air doubly freighted with life, Nature in its wildest aspects,
all conspire to reanimate the body and make the mind buoyant and hopeful.
The fountains bursting on all sides from the foot of Hermon and Lebanon, and supplying
copious streams to fertilise the valleys, are a peculiar feature of these memorable hills ; while in
vast sections they are bleak and barren themselves, yet they supply that which for miles in
*