The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-08-28
WHOLE No 578
APPEARANCE OF JERUSALEM.

IA LiNiNCL VI JLNlClLLM.
Byard Taylor writes from Jerusalem
to the Tribune, under date of April %,
and says:-Climbng out of this valley,
we descended by stony staircase, as
rugged as the ladder OF Tyre, into the
Wady Belt Harimeh. Here were gar
dens of orange in blossom, with orchards
Of ounce and apple, overgrown with
vines, and the fragrant hawthorn tree,
snowy with its bloom. A stone bridge,
the only one on the road, crosses the
dry bed of the winter stream, and look
ing up the glen, saw the Arab village
of kulonich, at the entrance of the val
ley of Elah, glorious with the memories
of the shepherd-boy David. Our road
turned off to the right, and we common
ced ascending long dry glen between
the mountains which grew more sterile
the further We went. 1t was nearly two
hours past noon, the sun tiercely hot, and
our horses were high jadsd out with the
rough road and our impatient squirting.
| began to fancy We could see Jerusalem
from the top ofthe pass, and tried to think
of the ancient days Of Judea. But it
was in vain. A new picture shut them
out, and banshed even the diviner
images of our Saviour and his Disciples.
When climbed the last ridge, | looked
ahead with sort of painful suspense;
Jerusalem did not appear. We were
1000 feet above the Mediterranean,
whose blue We did dimly see far to the
West, through notches in the chain of
hills. TO the north, the mountains were
gray, desolate and awful. Not shrub
or tree relieved their frightful barren
ness. An upland tract, covered with
white volcano rock. lay before US. We
met peasants with asses-who looked
Ito my eyes) as if they had just left
jerusalem. Still forward we urged our
horses, and reached ruined garden,
surrounded with hedges of cactus, over
which | saw domes and walls in the
distance. drew long breath and
looked at Francois. He was logging
along without turning his head; he
could no have been so Indifferent if that
was really the city. Presently we
reached another slight rise in the rocky
plain. He began to urge his painting
horse, and at the same instance we both
dashed the spirit into ours, dashing on
at break-neck gallop, round the COR
ner OF an old wall on the top of the hill,
and lie! the Holy City! Our Greek
lerked both pistols from his holsters, and
fired them into the air, as we re,ned I'M
on the steep. From the descriptions Of
travellers, | had expected to see in Jeru-
salem and ordinary Turkish town; but
that before me, with its wall, fortresses
and domes, was it not still the CITY Of
David | saw the Jerusalem of the
New Testament, as had imagined it.
Long lines of walls crowned with a
notched parapet and strengthened bv
towers; few domes and spires above
them; clusters of cypress here and there:
this was all that was visible of the CITY.
On either side the soil sloped down to
the two deep valleys over which il hangs.
On the east, the Mount of Olives.
crowned with chapel and mosque,
rose high and steep, but directly over
the city, the sight fell far away upon
the lofty mountains of Moab, beyond
the Dead Sea. The scene was grand
in its simplicity. The prominent coors
were the purple of those distant noun.
talns, and the hoary gray of the nearer
hills. The walls were of the dull veil
low OF weather-stalned marble, and the
only trees the dark cypress and moon
lit olive. Since We arrived, | have
looked down upon the city from the
Mount ofOlives, and up to it from the
valley OF Jehosophat. but | cannot re-
store the illusion of that first view.