New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-07-15

/ AIfG
90. p.Iestine into Christian hands, and it will
.na;n aow with milk and honey. Except some
psrts of Asia Minor, no portion oil the LeVant Is
capable of yielding such harvest OF gram sliK'
woel fruits, oil and wine. The great disadvantage
under which the country labOrs, is its frequent
drouths, but were the soil more generally cult
waited, and the old orchards replanted, these would
neither be so frequent nor so severe.
We gradually ascended the hills, passing one OF
two villages, imbedded in groves OF olives III 'i0
little valleys, slanting down to the plans 'i'
Arabs were still blowing and sowing, singing ."o
while an old love- song with it' chorus Vi y"
ga-alee! "a gazalee" (oh gazelle on gazeheJ
| The valley narrowed, the lowlands behind Us
s,reod ont broader. and in half an hour more we
were threading narrow pass, Det"eeH o'o"'
hills overgrown with lex, myrtle, ana o"a'i o'N'
| The wild purple rose of Palestine bossoneu Oh
ali sides. and a fragrant white honeysuckle Ill
some places hung from the rocks. Inc PAIN was
terribly rough, and barely wide enough Tor TWO
nersops on horseback to pass each other' we
met few pilgrims returning from Jerusalem anu
struggling company Of armed Turks, VINO hau
such piratcalair, that without the solemn asseVe
ration Of Franc DIS that the road was quite saie'
should have felt uneasy about our baggage Most
of the persons we passed were Mussulmen, few OF
whom gave the customary " Peace be with you
but once Syrian Christian saluted me with,
GOOD 90 with YOU, Pilgrim" For two hours
after entering the mountains there was scarcely
sign of cultivation. The rock was limestone,
or marble, ing in horizontal strata, the broken
edges of which rose like terraces to the SUBMITS
These shelves were so covered with wild shrubs
in some places even with rows of olive trees-that
to me they had not the least appearance of that
desolation so generally ascribed to them.
In little dell among the hills there is a small
ruined mosque, or chapel, II could not decide
which,) shaded by group of magnificent terebinth
| trees Several Arabs were resting in its shade,
end we hoped to find there the water we were
| looking for, in order to make breakfast. But it
was not to be found, and we climbed nearly to the
summit of the first chain of hills where, in small
olive orchard, there was a cstern, filled by the
late rains. 1t belonged TO two ragged boys, who
brought us an earthen vessel of the water, and
then asked, "Shall bring you milk, o Pill
grims!" | assented and received small jug OF
thick buttermilk, not remarkably clean, but very
refreshing. My companion, who had not recOv-
cred from his horror at finding that the inhabitants
of Ramleh washed themselves in the pool which
supplied US and them, refused to touch it. We
made but a short rest, for it was now nearly noon,
and there were yet many rough miles between us
and jerusalem. We crossed the first chain Of
mountains, rode short distance over stony up
land, and then descended into a long, cultivated
valley, running to the eastward. At the end
nearest us appeared the village OF Aboo I Gosh,
| which takes its name from noted BedOun
shekh, who distinguished himself few years ago
| by levying contributions on travellers. lie OBJ
tanned large sum Of money in this way, but as he
added murder to robbery, and fell upon Turks as
well as Christians, he finally captured, and is
now expiatipg his ofenses in some mine on the
coast of the Black Sea.
Near the bottom of the village there is large
ruined building, now used a stable by the in
habitants. The interior is divided into and
two side-aisle by rows of square pillars, from
which spring pointed arches. The door-w is
at the side, and is Gothic, with dash Of the
Saracenic in the ornamental holdings above it.
The large window at the extremity OF the nave is
| remarkable for having round arches, which cir
cumstance, together with the traces Of arabesque
| painted ornaments on the columns, led me to
| thin it might have been a mosque but DIR. Rob-
| inson who is now here, considers it Christian
church, of the time of the Crusaders. The vii
lage of Aboo'l Gosh is said to be the site of the
birthplace of the Prophet jeremiah, and can
well imagine it to have been the case. The aspect
of the mountain country to the east and north
east would explain the savage dreariness of his
lamentations. The whole valley in which the
village stands as well as another which joins it on
tie east is most assiduously cultivated. The
stony mountain sides are wrought into terraces
where, in spite of soil which resembles an Ameri-
can turnpike patches Of wheat are growing luxu-
| riantly and olive-trees, centuries sd hold on to
| the rocks with clutch hard and bony as the
hand of Death. In the bed Of the valley the s.-
tree thrives, and son etnes the vine and zig grew
together, forming the patrarchal arbor of shade
familiar to us all. The shoots of the tree are still
young and green but the blossoms Of the grape do
not yet give forth their goodly SAVIOR. did not
hear the voice Of the turtle, but nightingale sang
in the briery thickets by the brook side, as we
passed along.
Climbing out Of this valley, we descended by
stony staircase, ruggei as the Ladder of
Tyre, into the Wady Bet-Harisleh. Here were
gardens of orange in blossom, with orchards of
ounce and apple, overgrOwn with vines and the
fragrant hawthorn. tree snowy with its bloom.
stone bridge, the only one on the road, crosses
the dry bed of the winter stream, and looking up
the glen, saw the Arab village of Kulouich. at
the entrance OF the valley of Elah, glorious with
the memories of the shepherd-bOy David. Oar
road turned of to the right and commenced as
cendng long dry glen between mountains which
grew more sterile the further We went. 1t was
nearly two hours past noon, the sun fercey hot,
and our horses were nigh jaded out with the rough
road and our impatient squirting. began to fancy