The northern tribune. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1847-1855, 1847-11-12
THE HOLY LAND.
BY HARRIET MARTINEAU.
BETHANY AND PLAIN OF JERICHO.

We made an excursion from Jerusalem tG
the Jordan and the Dead Sea: going by way
of Bethany and Jericho, aud returning by the
Convent of St Saba. There is at this day so
much danger of falling among thieves in
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, that
travellers join parties when they can, and
unite their guards into a corps of armed men.
Our own party of four joined the ten with
whom we had travelled in the Desert: and
four trangers-European gentlemen-Ie
quested permission to ride with us. Thus we
were eighteen: and the dragomen. cooks,
horsekeepers, and mule drivers. who took
charge Of our tents and baggage, and ten
armed guards, swelled our number to that of
a caravan which no robbers were likely to
attack Indeed we scarcely saw any body the
whole way. The dangerous part of the road
appeared deserted, and the plain of Jericho,
once studded with towns, and filled with
fertility, lay before US almost as lifeless as
the basin of the Dead Sea.
We left Jerusalem by st. Stephens gate
my three friends, myself, and our servant and
baggage, and met the rest of the travelling
party at the bridge in the valley of Jehosho-
phat, at 8 A. M. We proceeded by the camel
road to Bethany, which winds up the side of
Olivet and crosses its ridge to the east AS
soon as we had passed the ridge, Bethany
came in view, lying on the eastern slope of
the mount Of Olives, and, as We all know,
" fifteen furlongs" distance from Jerusalem.
1t is now a village inhabited by about twenty
families; very poor place; but looking less
squalid, than might be expected. from its
houses Icing built, as everywhere in that
country, of stone,-sqnare, substantial, and
large, compared with cottages in England
Its position on the side of the hill is very fine,
seen from below.
Before descending the hill, however, we
alighted from our horses to visit an old tomb
which is called the tomb of Lazarus. No
enliShtened traveller believes this to be really
the place where Laza. US was buried: but to
see any ancient tomb on that spot was an OPP
portunity not to be missed and we gladly
went down the dark rock hewn steps to the
little chamber where some corpse had once
been laid. have often wished that tie old
painters had enjoyed such opportunities ; and
then we should have had represent ,tions of
Lazarus coming forth from chambers in the
rock, and not rising from such a grave as is
dug in European churchyards. The lime
stone rocks of Judea are full of holes and
caverns; and we know from the Scriptures
how abundantly these were used by tie old
inhabitants as dwellings for themselves and
refuge to the fugitive, hiding place for
robbers, and place of deposit for the dead.
Where a cavern was found with holes or re-
cesses in its sides, little labour would make
it an extensive place of burial. BY squaring
the entrance, and giving some regularity to
the arch of the roof. a handsome vestibule
was obtained: and then the recesses were
hewn into form for the reception OF bodies.
Sometimes these recesses had pits; sometimes
inches in their walls. so that each recess
would contain several bodies and sometimes
they were small, so as to contain only one
each. Sometimes the vestibule opened out
into passages, which had recesses on each hand F;
so that large company of the dead might lie
hidden in the heart of the mountain. The
whole was secured from wild beasts and other
intrusion by stone door fitted to the entrance,
or large block rolled up against it. Those
who have seen these Eastern tombs can never
be puzzled, as was in my childhood, when
reading of the chambers of the grave and
of the dead calling to ore another in the house
of death, and of the stone being relied away