Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1847-09-24


sr'sn under mary a stone and bush and
The poppy. mais,a ,honIeck ard Wild oats.
Which grew as thckly as in anv English
ned ge. ! did not know before that these
weeds were as ..Imon here as with us
and never before did the sight Of them
give me so much pleasure. 1t would have
been pleasant anywhere to meet these "a
miiar weeds so far from home; bit the
delight TO day was to think that He and
His disciples were as n1uch accustomed
to them as ourselves, and that walk in
the early Spring was, In the pure country,
much the same thing to them as to US.
But we soon came up with traces which
showed that the expanse of pure country
here was small in those days. compared
with what it Is now. The .to&yns must
have been more thickly set here than in
any otacr country | ever was in Patches
and masses of ruins showed themselves on
every hand, near eack other as to in
aicafc that the land must have been peo-
pied to q degEee nov no where known.
I'iie FIRST Iionehing 'Ee had seen for many
weeks was astrilssnfg sight 10 rs; n mere
scratching of the soil at the icot of the
hills but close by lay heap of building
stones the iro,sains of a town or village,
Presently ~Ec saw Il rude plough, with
single al work and al hand was
s~qr- &tarsiation wall laid in FAR distant
century. On a height farther on were
.;hc remains of Il large ancient building,
sxith two broken pillars standing, marking
she sight ofthe Arocr Of Scriptures, III. n,
,hough h re were water-cour>cs aLou:
every hill, wells began 10 aha911i SUB
s:antial, deep wells. built wit 4 RIA y H..
holes in ii. to receive the covering stone,
such wells as tell of n settlement /, side
them. We stopped carly this day part
ly because i was Sunday, ana partly be-
cause our Arab guards, who know moth
ing of our Sunday, found convenient
place amdng the hills, sOmCwha: shelter
cd from the cold wind and here. Il vcr,
few miles from the boundary, the gentle
SAT down in II midst Of what WIS o"c, =
large town, though the place ppcarrd 4
mere stony track, Ike many We had pas
scd. In the morning early went out
TO sec for myself; and was asio..i-hcd at
the extent OF the rui;.s which shoald
not have observed while merely riding by.
| could trace the lines Cf foundation walls
fer half a NILE and building stones, over
grown with grass, lay in hlllocks for :
considerable distance round. The many
cavc,Es I'm the limestone rocks, now used
as beds for the goats. were found TO be
the vaults of large buildings now gone to
ruin. In a few minutes we traced three
tcn,pl,s, or Other such buildings, by thCi!
overihrown pillar Our eyes bt Ing now
opt ned, this day saw more and more
leuans till we were convinced that al,
the way from the boundary to Hebron,
the land was rhickset with towns, and
swarmirg with inhabltants IN the days OF
its glory; the days when The Teacher
wcnt up and down IN 1T, mcditating the
changes which must make II what have
seen il now. lis hills and streams, its
skies and flowers, arc TO day what theJ'
were b,lcfv His eyes but where He saw
towns on every height, and villages in
every nook, there Is now hardly left one
stone upon another. A group Of black
Bedouln tents on Il hill side, Il camel OF
two browsing here, and a Hook of goats
there. are all that relieve the utter solitude
where there was then an innumcrabic
throng OF men.
As We advanced, on the Monday, tn c
soil became richer, anu field was Joined to
6cid, so that we began to look for the
landmarks which are here used, instead
II fences 10 bound field property. We
catered upon ,hlckets aud strawberries,
where white roses, the cyclamen, convoI.
vuluS, and fragrant herbs abounded, Soon
after noon new scene opc. ed upon It's.
On our left hand lay wide. deep basin a.
rnong the hills, full. Of vine yards and olive
grounds. where the stones from the soil
were built up into fences, and in almost
1yerv plot rose garden house. This
was sure sign that we were near a town;
and as we rounded the hill on our tight.
I'VE came In sight of the two cminences
-on which Hchren Is built. There stood
the town where John the Baptist was