DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10358#0210
r82
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
population that Captain Conder estimates the number of ruined sites to average three for every
two square miles. We ascend the whole way, for Hebron lies two thousand one hundred feet
above Beit Jibrln, and the hills we cross to reach it are three hundred feet higher still. For two
miles the path winds among the charming olive-groves by the side of the old Roman road to
Jerusalem, still very distinct and even perfect in places. Emerging from the olive-groves we
continue up a narrow wady, for some way by the side of the Roman road and aqueduct, with
the characteristic rounded and rocky hills of Judsea shutting us in on all sides and forbidding
any distant view. Then turning eastward we wind up a labyrinth of little wadys, the lower
portion always cultivated with corn, by the edge of which we ride, guiding our course by
compass and map alone, for the valleys meet and intersect in bewildering confusion, and we
find not a solitary human habitation the whole way, and rarely meet a fellah at work or an
Arab wandering on foot. After three hours' ride over rugged hills and through little winding
stony valleys, carpeted with green wheat, we find ourselves in front of a dome-shaped hill,
round the base of which the valley divides. The sides are perforated with caves. For the
first time to-day we see families of women and children sitting in front of the scattered caves.
We have in fact come on a troglodyte village. We are told that the next hill is Ed el Miye,
and declining the hospitable proffer of coffee if we will only alight, we ride on to the head of
a little glen which opens out on either side. To the right and left the brown stony hills,
brilliantly stippled with cyclamen and. anemone, are studded with countless caves. In front
is an isolated hill, round which these wadys sweep, clothed with green turf and crowned with
low ruins—" Khurbet Ed el Miye," the old city of Adullam (refer to page 142, vol. i.). To
this we climb direct; up the hill, and just below the brow, where it dips on the opposite eastern
side, is a small whitened dome—the Mukam of Neby Mudkhar. The prospect hence surprises
us. A fine broad valley (Wady es Sur) is spread before us, the upper part of the Vale of
Elah, the land of Samson and of David's wanderings. Here and there a terebinth, one of
them an especially noble tree, forms a conspicuous feature in the valley. On the opposite side
rise other bare and rounded hills. Close by the wely is the low opening of a well-smoked
cave, still inhabited. It is nowhere lofty, but very extensive, and several of its branches have
been built up. We afterwards found one of these branches which had been built off, with an
opening cut in its roof. There was certainly here abundant room for David's four hundred
refugees. The mouth of the cave commands a fine view, and is well situated for security from
surprise. It must have been an admirable station from which to make forays and sweep down
on any hapless travellers making their way to or from the Philistian plain by the wady below.
Descending the hill of Adullam, the route to Hebron lies up the wady, now called the
Wady es Sur. Below, at the junction of another valley, stands one of the largest trees in
Palestine, and which sometimes gives its name to the valleys. It is conspicuous from afar,
and reminds us of the ancient name lower down—Emek Elah—the Yale of the Terebinth
(W^ady es Sunt, see page 157). An old road, not Roman, but earlier, may be traced up the
valley towards Hebron, passing between Keilah and Hharass, or Hareth. WTe rapidly ascend,
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
population that Captain Conder estimates the number of ruined sites to average three for every
two square miles. We ascend the whole way, for Hebron lies two thousand one hundred feet
above Beit Jibrln, and the hills we cross to reach it are three hundred feet higher still. For two
miles the path winds among the charming olive-groves by the side of the old Roman road to
Jerusalem, still very distinct and even perfect in places. Emerging from the olive-groves we
continue up a narrow wady, for some way by the side of the Roman road and aqueduct, with
the characteristic rounded and rocky hills of Judsea shutting us in on all sides and forbidding
any distant view. Then turning eastward we wind up a labyrinth of little wadys, the lower
portion always cultivated with corn, by the edge of which we ride, guiding our course by
compass and map alone, for the valleys meet and intersect in bewildering confusion, and we
find not a solitary human habitation the whole way, and rarely meet a fellah at work or an
Arab wandering on foot. After three hours' ride over rugged hills and through little winding
stony valleys, carpeted with green wheat, we find ourselves in front of a dome-shaped hill,
round the base of which the valley divides. The sides are perforated with caves. For the
first time to-day we see families of women and children sitting in front of the scattered caves.
We have in fact come on a troglodyte village. We are told that the next hill is Ed el Miye,
and declining the hospitable proffer of coffee if we will only alight, we ride on to the head of
a little glen which opens out on either side. To the right and left the brown stony hills,
brilliantly stippled with cyclamen and. anemone, are studded with countless caves. In front
is an isolated hill, round which these wadys sweep, clothed with green turf and crowned with
low ruins—" Khurbet Ed el Miye," the old city of Adullam (refer to page 142, vol. i.). To
this we climb direct; up the hill, and just below the brow, where it dips on the opposite eastern
side, is a small whitened dome—the Mukam of Neby Mudkhar. The prospect hence surprises
us. A fine broad valley (Wady es Sur) is spread before us, the upper part of the Vale of
Elah, the land of Samson and of David's wanderings. Here and there a terebinth, one of
them an especially noble tree, forms a conspicuous feature in the valley. On the opposite side
rise other bare and rounded hills. Close by the wely is the low opening of a well-smoked
cave, still inhabited. It is nowhere lofty, but very extensive, and several of its branches have
been built up. We afterwards found one of these branches which had been built off, with an
opening cut in its roof. There was certainly here abundant room for David's four hundred
refugees. The mouth of the cave commands a fine view, and is well situated for security from
surprise. It must have been an admirable station from which to make forays and sweep down
on any hapless travellers making their way to or from the Philistian plain by the wady below.
Descending the hill of Adullam, the route to Hebron lies up the wady, now called the
Wady es Sur. Below, at the junction of another valley, stands one of the largest trees in
Palestine, and which sometimes gives its name to the valleys. It is conspicuous from afar,
and reminds us of the ancient name lower down—Emek Elah—the Yale of the Terebinth
(W^ady es Sunt, see page 157). An old road, not Roman, but earlier, may be traced up the
valley towards Hebron, passing between Keilah and Hharass, or Hareth. WTe rapidly ascend,