Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine/Chapter 18

by Edward Hull

CHAPTER XVIII.

RETURN TO JERUSALEM BY NAR SABA.

Next morning we left Jericho on our return journey by Nebi Mûsa and Mar Saba. For several miles after again crossing the Kelt, our way ran along the base of the escarpments of limestone which form the western margin of the Jordan Valley. The beds of limestone are here largely interstratified with dark chert, and are often contorted; but the general dip is westwards, from the plain into the hillside. An excellent section of the strata is shown in the W. Jorif Guzel, three miles south of the Kelt. After passing this, we struck up the deep gorge of the W. el Kueiserah. This valley introduces us into a country of smooth chalky downs, traversed by deep ravines, sometimes covered with grass, but generally bare and white. Here amongst the beds of limestone occur others, consisting of dark shales and bituminous limestone, which, as it is compact and takes a good polish, is manufactured into vases, cups, dishes, and ornaments by the artizans of Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

The Cities of the Plain.—If any of our friends expected that we should discover the ruins of Sodom or Gomorrah, they will be disappointed. I might add that we also failed to discover Pharaoh's chariots in the Red Sea! Both were equally probable, or impossible. As Captain Conder has well observed, it ought not to have been expected that ruins of such antiquity would remain to the present day; and the remarks which I have hazarded regarding the rapid disintegration of the native rocks apply with even greater force to ruined walls of an antiquity of nearly four thousand years. From the description in the Bible, I have always felt satisfied that these cities lay in some part of the fertile plain of the Jordan to the north of the Salt Sea, and to the west of that river; and when visiting the ruins of Jericho, and beholding the copious springs and streams of that spot, and how applicable to it would be the expression "that it was well watered everywhere,"^[1] the thought occurred. May not the more modern city (ancient Jericho) have arisen from the ruins of the Cities of the Plain? A period of over four hundred years intervenes between the destruction of these cities and the first mention of Jericho.^[2] There seems to be nothing improbable in the supposition that, at some period during this interval, the materials may have been utilised in the erection of the latter city; even as those of the older Jericho were utilised (as we may suppose) in the construction of the more modern city of the same name, built by Hiel the Bethelite, 534 years after.^[3] But of this second city, which, according to Eusebius, was destroyed by the Romans during the siege of Jerusalem, how little even now remains! Nothing, in effect, but the foundations and tanks.

Amongst these hills has been erected the huge mosque of the Nebi Mûsa (Tomb of Moses), where the remains of the prophet are supposed to lie;— in defiance of all history. Thus we have had the name of the prophet of Israel "cropping up" no less than four times during our pilgrimage: first, at Ayun Mûsa, near Suez; then at Jebel Mûsa (Mount Sinai); again at the Wâdy Mûsa (or Valley of Petra); and, lastly, at Nebi Mûsa, on the western side of the Jordan! It is certain the prophet of Israel never came here; and exceedingly improbable (as it seems to me) that he ever entered the Valley of Petra. The place, however, is worthy of honour, as there are excellent wells in the valley below, from which, as we passed, damsels were drawing water, and readily allowed us to slake our thirst at their pitchers.

After crossing another ridge we descended into another glen, the Wâdy Mukalik, by a path so steep that it was found desirable to dismount and lead our horses. At the bottom we found ourselves in the dry bed of a mountain torrent amongst nearly vertical cliffs of gravel, clinging to the sides of the older limestone strata. Here we rested, partly to allow the baggage mules to come up with us, and we watched with some curiosity to see how they would manage to scramble down the almost precipitous path with their ponderous loads. Wonderful indeed was the strength, skill, and sagacity they displayed in supporting their loads, choosing their footing, and scrambling down the banks. All arrived safely at the bottom; and, after a rest, commenced the as nearly steep ascent of the opposite bank. Next to the mountain road from the Wâdy Kuseibeh to Petra this was the most difficult road we had yet travelled in the East.

The Wâdy Mukalik is of much interest from the fact that it once formed the bed of an ancient lake, probably at the time when the waters of the Salt Sea rose about 600 feet above their present surface. When first we came in sight of the valley there appeared in the centre of a circular range of limestone hills a flat terrace of lighter coloured material, through which numerous deep channels had been cut by torrent action. On descending into one of these it was found that the terrace is formed of sand, marly gravel, and boulders, more or less rudely stratified, and terminating against the marginal banks of limestone, which rise in some directions several hundred feet above the surface of the terrace. The only outlet is the narrow gorge in the direction of the Salt Sea plain; and it is easy to conceive that when this plain was filled with water to the level above indicated the waters of the lake basin were banked up; but that as those of the Jordan Valley were lowered, the channel communicating with them became deepened, until ultimately the lake itself was drained. It is not improbable there may be other lake deposits of a like description amongst these hills.

I was unable to observe any good evidence of the unconformity between two sets of limestone beds to which Canon Tristram refers when describing this tract of country. The appearance to which he alludes is probably due to the plications and contortions into which the strata have been thrown; so that, when seen on the side of a hill, or of a valley, the upper portions of the same beds are not parallel to those below, and in fact recline at a considerable angle from them. All along the district, from the entrance to the Wâdy-el-Kueiserah to that of the Kedron near Mar Saba, the strata are much disturbed, and their contortions are often visible from long distances on the chalky downs, owing to the scantiness of the herbage, and the occurrence of numerous bands of dark chert. These bands enable the eye to follow the planes of bedding, with their numerous curves and foldings on the sides of the chalky downs, and the effect is often very striking.

We camped at noonday for luncheon near the borders of an extensive undulating plain. It was usually our practice at such times to loose the horses and mules and let them feed on the pastures—in some cases fastening the head by a halter to one of the legs. Generally the animals were easily secured when wanted; but on this day the horse which Bernhard Heilpern bestrode, having gained his liberty, and rejoicing in getting rid of a tolerably heavy load, showed a marked preference for the pleasures of freedom over the duties of the saddle. Several times he was driven up towards the tent by one of the muleteers, but no sooner was an attempt made to seize his halter or his mane than tossing his head he would turn round and bolt!

Having watched this manœuvring for a little, and having mounted on my own more tractable steed, I put him in pursuit of the runaway. After an exciting chase I managed to turn his head towards the tent, and to drive him up towards a long rope held at either end by the muleteers in readiness to throw round him; but just at the critical moment he would turn and be off again, I in hot pursuit. Others now joined, and for the space of about half-an-hour our steeds were galloping over the plain after the fugitive; and we thus gained some idea of the excitement of lassoing wild horses in the pampas of South America! Our young Sheikh also joined, and we soon left the chase to him. It was amusing to watch the display of horsemanship; and the graceful curves, windings, and retrogressions through which he put his Arabian, but he was no more successful than ourselves; the fugitive was not to be caught just yet; and as time was wearing on, and we had still a long ride before us, we left the horse to his fate; for we well knew that when we had all started he would rejoin his companions. And so it proved. We had not proceeded more than two or three miles when, on turning round, I perceived Heilpern cantering after us, and doubtless his steed had to pay dearly for his escapade.

The road to the entrance of the Kedron Valley was in some places difficult in the extreme, and with less trustworthy horses than ours would have been even dangerous. Rising at one moment over steep banks of broken rock it would then descend along slippery slopes, or skirt the sides of a precipice where a false step would result in precipitating horse and rider to the bottom. The hills were often formed of alternating beds of chert and limestone folded and waved; and there were interesting examples of the process of the formation of ridges and scarps by atmospheric agency. This was specially remarkable along the southern slopes of El Muntar, where the harder cherty strata form the crests and upper surfaces of the ridges, and from their dark hues contrast remarkably with the white chalky limestones which enclose them above and below. Towards evening we reached the road which winds along the deep gorge of the Kedron, and shortly afterwards our tents, which we found pitched in a rocky glen behind the Convent.

The remarkable gorge of the Kedron at Mar Saba has been often described. Like that of the Kelt it is a water-worn channel of the Kedron when in flood, carried down through nearly vertical walls of limestone to a depth of about 400 feet from the upper surface of the country.^[4] Tristram mentions the occurrence of a fossiliferous bed of Hippurites liratus. It occurs at a depth of 82 feet from the surface, and indicates the Cretaceous affinities of the strata. With the exception of this bed of characteristic fossils the limestone is remarkably unproductive of organic remains. The depth of this channel, with its dry bed, is one of the many indications one meets with in Palestine, that at a former period fluviatile action was much more effective than at present. The channel owes its existence entirely to water action, and there is no evidence of any "rent" or fissure running parallel with its course. The only fissure (or fault) is that which crosses the gorge transversely at its northern entrance. This fault ranges in a due east and west direction, with a "downthrow" on the northern side, by which the white chalky beds on that side are brought into contact with the yellowish limestone of the Mar Saba gorge which belongs to a lower geological horizon. On crossing the fault the dip of the beds is northwards, but they afterwards become flat, and then dip towards the south. On approaching the Valley of Hinnom, by the Kedron Valley, the marble beds of the Jerusalem plateau rise from below the white chalk, and crop out in the cliffs of Aceldama.

We returned to Jerusalem on Thursday evening, the 17th January, and made preparations for our final journey through Northern Palestine (as we hoped), upon which we intended to set out early on the following Monday. We little anticipated the disappointment which was in store for us!

Our traverses from the shores of the Salt Sea to Gaza, and again from Jaffa to Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, together with our excursions to Bethlehem and Solomon's Pools, had enabled us to obtain an approximately complete knowledge of the general features of the country and of its geological structure, and we looked forward to a further reconnaissance northwards to the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and thence across to Mount Carmel and onwards to Beyrût, to enable us to complete our geological survey of the whole country;—but this was not to be, as my narrative will show.

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1. Gen. xiii, 10.
2. Compare Genesis xix and Numbers xxii, 1.
3. 1 Kings xvi, 34. The city of Jericho mentioned in connection with our Lord's ministry was a third city, or village, probably situated where is now the modern village of Er Riha.
4. Tristram, supra cit., p. 264, &c. There is an excellent enpravimg of this gorge in "Picturesque Palestine."