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ain from the bank that makes the►per channel of the river till near the:e of Old Jericho, is a barren landterspersed with only a few copses oforn-trees, and other diminutive rubs. “At length, says a writer, re come upon a few scattered prickly jube-bushes, then upon a rude fence ‘boughs thrown lightly on the ground, it impenetrable from the sharp re-lrved thorns with which every twig studded. An artificial rill of waterswaggering young Arab Sheik from Jerusalem, had pitched their tent in the back garden of the modest hostelry in which we sought accommodation.” The site of the ancient Jericho, the old city of Joshua soon after crossing tile Jordan, is placed in the immediate neighborhood of this fountain of Elisha. In the times of the Crusaders a fewje«bjthsaeadecr“]aihuts were clustered round the fortirtures the crop, and we are within le slovenly farmed oasis of Jericho. -re ride through a varied wildernessindescribable luxuriance, the little)ofcs of corn, melons, or tobacco inter-►aersed among a dense tangle of false alsam-trcc or zukkum, agnus casti, nd dom-tree, not to omit the apple of odom, with its potato-blossom and right red or yellow fruit. Yet among 11 these where are the trees frombuilt here for the protection of pilgrims. The plains had not then ceased to be prolific, and were extensively cultivated and laid out into vineyards and gardens by the monks. A late description runs thus:—“A square tower isglt;blt;blt;tbe only architectural feature of thewretched village, and this is dignified by the name of the house of Zaeheus. It is occupied by a few Turkish soldiers. The huts round it are built of the re-wfiitl1cwhich Jericho of old obtained its name, ;s fame, and its wealth—the palm? lot one remains. There are no strag-lers in that wild and thorny tangle rhich have survived from the destrue-ion of the gardens of Cleopatra; not ne sorghum stem springs by the water ide as a relie of the plantations which ielded such vast revenues to the Cniirhts of Jerusalem; no balsam-treemains of older buildings, and the inhabitants are a peculiar degraded and most degenerate race, very dark, and quite distinct from either Bedouin or the fellahin of the upper country. We feel inclined, as we look at them, to agree with the Jewish belief that they are the descendants of the old Canaan-ites, degenerated by the oppressive climate and the vices of the Ghor.ingers in the maze of shrubbery; and, hove all, the last palm is gone,and its ;raeeful feathery crown wares no more ver the plain, which onee gave torericlio its name of the City of Palm-rees.” It is said that the palm-tree is tow comparatively rare in any part of lie country once possessed by Israel. !t seems that its history has been al-nost emblematical of the people whosethat land. On onelome was onee in ;idc of the well-known coin of Vespasian is the figure of a mourning woman eated under a palm-tree bewailing lie overthrow of the Holy City and •he captivity of Zion. Near the site )f the Ancient city, or Old Jericho, is the Prophet s Fountain, now called Ain-s-Sultan, which is shaded by a fine Sg-tree, and which still breaks forth in an immense volume of clear water from the foot of a mound which hasThey are the only people who reside during the whole year in the Jordan valley. The fellahin higher up only come down in autumn and winter tocultivate, and the Bedouin in springThe chief resource of theto pasture.population now in the backsheesh ob-*tained from travellers for the performance of their Zikkars, or native dances. Near the gardens and plots round the villages may be noticed many of the tropical plants which are the mostutlwwftariVstriking natural features of the dis-nievery appearance of being artificial, as it is full of the fragments of pottery, and other remnants in broken andburied ruin, that tell of an ancient population that has perished forever. This fountain has a most remarkableWe read that Elishah thetriefc. Not only the two kinds ofZiziphus-trees, the dom and the nubk,the false balsam, the oleaster, and thegum-arabic acacia, but the gorgeousLoranthv.s indiens. a scarlet parasite ofstriking beauty, is abundant on thetrees, and the apple of Sodom aboundseverywhere, while there are occasionalplants of the curious Nubian asclepiad,the ‘Osheri with its hollow puff ballsfilled with silky cotton fibre, and usedfor their matchlocks by the Bedouin.”This last, and one other quotation are from Picturesque Palestine, which is now being issued by Messrs. Appleton Co., in numbers.history.prophet returned to Jericho after Elijah was taken up into heaven, “and the men of the city said unto Elishah Behold, I pray thee, the situation of tliis city is pleasant, as iny lord seeth, but the water is naught, and theround barren.” Of these connectedtrftcircumstances a late writer remarks:— No one who has visited the site ofUJericho can forget how prominent a feature in the scene are the two per-rcnnial springs which, rising at the base of the steep hills behind the town, sendev*soi:uau01thtlieir streams across the plaia towardsthe Jordan, scattering, even at the hot-test season, the richest and most grateful vegetation over what would other-Owise be a bare tract of sandy soil. At the time in question part- at least of this charm was wanting. One of the springs was noxious—had some proper-setlitl:ties which rendered it unfit for drinking, and also prejudicial to the land. At the request of the men of Jericho Elisha remedied this evil. lie tookciditltlhgsalt in a new vessel, and cast it into the water at its source in the name of Jehovah. From the time of Josephus the tradition of the cure has been attached to the large spring N. W. of the present town, and which now bears, pi ob ably in reference to some later event, the name of A in-cs-Sultan.'1 The following incidents are taken from Lawrence Oliphant's Book—The Land of Gilead. The author has quite recently returned from an extensive exploring tour which was made with the view of selecting a territory for colonization on the east side of the Jordan.slt;ktinhAfter having crossed the plains on the east side of the river he says:—“Scrambling through the dense thicket whichfringes the river, we found it boiling down in a turbid yellow flood, but were relieved to find that our call brought forth a ready response from the ferrymen on the other side, and that they showed no hesitation in manning the ferry-boat. Notwithstanding considerable difficulty in embarking and disembarking our loaded animals, one of whom fell back into the river, we were soon all safe on the other side, and made a most futile attempt to bathe in a back water of mud, for the torrent was tooeaahvsVaItItcfi1tlt;1]fierce to admitof our venturing out intothe stream. Then we pressed on up the steep, slippery slope on the right bank, and rapidly traversing the intervening plain, arrived a little before sunset at Jericho. Here we once more came in contact with the signs and evidences of civilization.A party of Americans, with the star-spangled banner floating over their tents, were encamped above the Ain-es-Sultan; and some tourists, under the escort of a
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Plymouth Restitution
Plymouth, Indiana, US
Wed, Apr 27, 1881
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GB 15 Jun 2021
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