Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine/Chapter 19
CHAPTER XIX.
SNOWED UP IN JERUSALEM.
By Saturday evening all our preparations for an early start on Monday morning were concluded. We had taken leave of our friends, made our last purchases in the shops and bazaars, sorted our baggage, a large portion of which was entrusted to Mr. Clarke, the agent of Messrs. T. Cook and Son, for direct transmission to England. The horses and baggage mules had also been secured, and Bernhard Heilpern was again to act as our conductor as far as Beyrût. The length of the journey was estimated for fifteen days.
On the following day we attended Divine Service in the English church, and we retired to rest expecting to be on our way soon after daybreak; but it was not so to be! At the time appointed Heilpern knocked at our doors, saying, "You need not stir, gentlemen, we are snowed up; travelling is impossible!" So it was! The wind had shifted to the west, increasing to a gale, and with it came a heavy snowfall, which did not cease till the whole country was covered to a depth of 2 feet and upwards. Such a fall had not occurred for five years. During the whole of Monday the storm raged furiously, accompanied by snow and rain, and during that night Laurence's thermometer registered four degrees of frost (28° Fahr.). But we resolved to wait for a day or two longer in hopes of a change of wind and a rapid thaw such as sometimes happens in these parts. Our hopes, however, were not destined to be realised. The air continued bitterly cold up till Tuesday evening, and little progress was made in thawing the snow even during the noonday sun. All traffic, even by road, was stopped; the postman to Jaffa was obliged to halt at "half-way house," and the telegraph wires were broken. On Wednesday morning, seeing that further delay would be useless, arrangements were made for a return to Jaffa in order to catch the Austrian Lloyd's steamer on the following Friday; and I despatched letters to the Secretary of the Society, and to relations at home, to announce the termination of our Expedition.[1]
Our hotel at Jerusalem, however comfortable it may have been in warm weather, was far from being so in winter with snow on the ground. The upper part being open to the air affords a good supply of oxygen, where it is very much needed, but also admits snow or rain without stint. Fuel also began to run short; it had not been thought necessary to lay in a large store, and the daily supplies were cut off; so that at length we were obliged to have recourse to old boxes, or other useless lumber, wherewith to feed our stoves. Still, Jerusalem under snow had its attractions. The howling of the dogs at night ceased for the nonce; what became of these wretched animals during this period I could not make out—they must have had a bad time of it! It was pitiable to see the inhabitants, sometimes barefooted, or thinly shod, and clad in apparel fit only for the summer months. To protect the head and neck seemed their chief cause of anxiety; and these parts of the body they enveloped in thick shawls;— the wearers seeming to care little for the feet and legs. The market-place in front of the hotel, usually the scene of a noisy crowd bartering for fruit, vegetables, firewood, and other necessaries, was tenantless. Snow covered the whole country in every direction, rendering communication difficult or impossible; while a most bitter wind caused all who could do so to keep within shelter. By Wednesday, however, the wind fell, and a rapid thaw set in, so as to lead us to expect that by the following day we should be able to accomplish our journey of forty miles to Jaffa. I took the opportunity of ascending to the roof of our hotel for a last look over the sacred city, and the surrounding country. The scene was most striking. So clear was the air, that the snow-clad plains of Moab and Jebel Attarus, though at a distance of thirty miles, were quite distinct; as were also the glens and promontories descending therefrom on to the Valley of the Jordan. The snow lay still undisturbed in the sheltered spots, and ice was on the surface of the Pool of Hezekiah below us; the well-known solitary palm flung its plumes into the cold air, high above the buildings, bravely defying the ungenial elements: under no circumstances could a better view be obtained.
Looking away in the far distance, towards the table-land of Moab, past "the green domed mosque," and through the deep depression of the Kedron Valley, the upper terrace of limestone, and the lower of sandstone of a faint reddish hue, were clearly discernible; while the sunlight brought out in relief the bold headlands and ridges, and cast into shadow the deep furrows and glens which descend into the Jordan valley along the Land of Gilead on its eastern side. Amongst these, the cliffs bordering the gorge of the Wâdy Zerka Maïn were the most prominent. It was truly astonishing how objects so distant could be seen so plainly. I was able to distinguish even the bands of colouring of the sandstone cliffs at this distance, which was over twenty-five miles in a straight line!
Withdrawing our eyes from these distant points, we observe how truly the hills are said to "stand round about Jerusalem," in almost every direction, except the gorge of the Kedron which forms the natural outlet for the waters which descend, on the one hand, from the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and on the other from the Valley of Hinnom. Looking across the valley towards the east, there lay the Mount of Olives, crowned by its mosque and minaret, from the summit of which we had enjoyed so extensive a prospect on the morning of our descent into the plains of Jericho, crossed by the road from Bethany, and recalling an event ever memorable in Christian annals. Below, towards the right, the little Garden of Gethsemane, shaded by its ancient olive-trees, and decorated with flowers. In our immediate front is the beautiful dome of the mosque of Omar, standing as a stately monument over a spot once the "Most Holy Place" of the children of Israel, now regarded as sacred by Jew, Moslem, and Christian alike; a little beyond, the Church of El Aksa, built over the ancient approaches to the Temple of Solomon. Around, extends the spacious court of the Temple, white with unmelted snow.
Looking across the domes and flat-roofed houses, crowded together, and beyond the Damascus Gate towards the north, there may be observed a low, flat-topped hill, usually covered with grass, now with a sheet of snow; and breaking off in the direction of the city wall in a cliff of limestone rock. A cave, known as "Jeremiahs Grotto," where the prophet is supposed to have dwelt when penning the Book of Lamentations, has been hewn in the face of the cliff. The hill is the property of a Sheikh, and its summit is used as a Moslem burying, ground. Unprofaned by any structure, secular or sacred, this platform "without the Gate," and overlooking the city from the north, as Olivet does from the south, is now generally regarded as Mount Calvary. For myself, I feel confident that this is so; and I am happily spared any necessity for adducing arguments in favour of this view, after those which have been so clearly stated by Captain Conder.[2] Seen in certain directions, the rocky platform bears a not unfanciful resemblance to a skull, which may have given to it the name of "Golgotha." It lies beyond the gates of the city;[3] and an ancient Roman road has been discovered to lead from the precincts of the temple in this direction—probably that by which the Saviour was led to Calvary. No determination carries with it more interest, or certainty, than that of the place of the Crucifixion. It is exactly on the opposite side of the city from that of the Mount of Olives, where the Lord first "beheld the city and wept over it."[4]
Such is the scene which presented itself on the day previous to our departure—one of indescribable interest rather than of beauty; but so rich in the memorials of the past, that no scenic beauty could enhance the interest in the mind of the Christian traveller.
Having taken leave of our friends, we left Jerusalem on Friday morning, 25th January, for Jaffa, in order to catch the Austrian Lloyd's steamer which was to touch at that port, on her way to Constantinople.[5] Snow covered the country all the way to the entrance of the Bab-el-Wâdy. We passed a carriage imbedded in the snow drift, which had been left behind, horses and passengers having proceeded onwards to Jerusalem. The storm had made much havoc amongst the olive groves; and notwithstanding the Government prohibition against cutting firewood, abundance of this material had been provided by the power of the winds, especially amongst the older trees. As we rode over the plain of Ramleh, the early flowers were already beginning to decorate the fields, amongst which the brilliant scarlet anemone, and the delicately tinted dwarf iris, were the most conspicuous. We wound our way to the Jerusalem Hotel, amongst the orange and lemon groves, heavily laden with ripe fruit, which the rigorous enforcement of quarantine in the Mediterranean ports was causing to rot on the ground. For a few pence we purchased a small hamper of these delicious fruits for use on our voyage; but it was clear that, at this late period, it would be utterly impossible to send to market one half of the magnificent crop which was blooming on the trees, and bending with the weight of fruit their branches to the ground.
- ↑ I need scarcely observe that in a country where there are no roads, only mountain paths, travelling on horseback and camping at night with thick snow on the ground was not practicable; but, even had this been the case, it would not have been possible to make observations on the geology, or on the natural history of the region traversed.
- ↑ Supra cit., p. 195, et seq., and still more recently by General Gordon.
- ↑ The present wall is stated to have been built by Agrippa, about ten years after the Crucifixion, to enclose the surburbs north of the city, but the Church of the Sepulchre was probably inside the former wall. (Ibid., p. 195.)
- ↑ I have again referred to this interesting case of recent identification further on page 190.
- ↑ Mr. Armstrong remained behind, in order to complete the drawing of the map of the Arabah Valley, and to complete some business connected with the Palestine Survey. He returned to London a few weeks later.