Hannibal journal. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853, 1853-01-20
NOTES OF TRAVEL
IN p ALE S TIN z.
Written for the National hielhgcncer by a
CdiseH Of Washington.
THE DEsoLATE CITY.


This was dreary day; from the rising Of the
sun nothing in sight but waste Of waters on
the left, desert plan on the right, and the
blanched and rugged heights of Carmel dim in
the distance Our road lay along the coast of
PhGnicia, over barren rocks and beds of sand,
all parched and shadowless.
Evening came, ard thick clouds covered the
sky; the sun was hid in the gloom; there was
neither heat cor cold, nor glare nor darkness;
but dim, death-like pail was outspread upon
the earth. No bird of the air or beast of the
field was in sight; no sound broke upon the still
ness but the sad moaning of the surf; no sign OF
life, or hope, or promise was within the vast
sweep of desolation around.
We rode silently on our way; and about the
seventh hour of our journey from El Mu'ihalid
we beheld aiar upon the shore ruined city,
Fragments of walls and towers rent asunder,
and masses Of ramparts, shattered by earth
quakeS and the ravages Of war, loomed darkly
through the haze. The Arabs stopped, and
pointing to the ruins, said that there lay all that
was left of Cesdred.
/ We rode on, and drawing near saw that the
ghostly city was walled around with ramparts,
and masses of ruin were scattered round about
over the plain. A few sickly weeds grew a
mong the banks of broken columns and shattered
wallis but there was neither shrub nor leailet
nor green sod there's all was withered and life
less.
stopped awhile to sketch the ruins, while
my comrades passed through and went their
way towards Tantura. When | had finished, /
entered through a crumbling archyay and wan
dered about, lost in wonder at the utter desoIa-
ton of the place. Not living soul was there;
not living thing that | could see; not sigh, or
whisper or sound Of life came from out OF the
ruins. The silence of death was everywhere;
mot Z, on Tho low vail Ct the surf now reached
me through the masses Of shattered walls; and
thought how terrible was the wrath that had
thus smiten the abodes of men with destruction:
how phe Lord maketh the earth empty and ma
keith it waste, and tuneth il upside down, and
scattcrcth abroad the inhabitants thereof
There was nothing but ruin everywhere high
walls rent in gaping fssures; towers shivered
asunder to their bases; great archways cast down
in rugged masses; streets chofed and .illed with
shattered columns, OF covered over with blasted
earth. all waste ana sodless. Not a bird Of good
or evil omen sat upon the fragments; not a beast
haunted the ruins; it was all still, all silent and
without life.
Ruined cities there are scattered broadcast
throughout this land of desolatiOn: yet all that
had seen had some remnant Of vitality within
their walls. Dark and squalid men and mask
women haunted them; dogs and wild beasts OF
prev and birds Of evil omen fed upon the deaC
things that were cast out from the doors; but
: here there was nothing Of the present; all was
silent, all dead; all Of the past
No foul odors from dark and narrow streets
no bearded men with downcast faces, stalking
sadly through the fallen city; no dark-eyed wo
men to steal flashing look at the stranger, NJ
human voice to utter word of welcome, or sa!
la fNll pI Tn
phet to soowl his hatred, or pass unheedlng by
all was dead; all of the past
sat upon a broken column, and looking will
a saddened heart upon this scene OF desolation
r wondered what had become Of all that had IIvel
here: the good, the wicked, the Grave, tho bcaU
tful, and the gay; how lived they; how dIeC
they; were all the records Of their deeds for cen
turies past buried with them, and nothing left
but the brief records of others; was there hap
piness within these walls, did they feel as W,
, who looked upon these ruins felt; did they lool
I back over the past and forward tq the future
c and in their ambition enclrcle the wide world
a and turn to dust at last to feed the worms OF tn
r earth and nourish the weeds; and was this mas
i of ruins all they had left to mark the spot?
e There was not a breath TO answer; not a lea
: to whiEper of the past: all were dead; all gone
never to walk through the desoIoe city, or pom
y a soul but myself was there, stranger from
distant land the only inhabant now.
. In the grave yard, where the dead rest, thcr
IS lis only the gloom Of death; silence is all "
=, look for there; but here in the abiding place
e men, where once there was the din Of life
), there was the silence of death and more than il
II gloom; for these walls were built for the living
: vet no living soul dwet within them. had war
dered through ruins in other climes where tw
m thousand years ago a city was buried and a
/ were buried within it in the midst of life; yet
;, saw their homes unchanged; the frescoes upo
" the walls; the marks idly made by the soldier
lr the bedrooms, the wine cellars, the signs up1
e, the doors, the tracks of the carriage. wheels
TO the streets, as they were buried two thousan
wears ago; so fresh, so liGe-like, that one wOuI
,e scarcely be startled 10 see the dead arise and n
,e sumo their avocations. But here nothing br
OF the bare aud ruined walls was iet to tel of Il
IS, mast; there was no connecting link TO unite
at with the present. nothing within the shatter'
I'd gateways, or abroad over the desert around b'
H. fragments of columns and massive stones
he waste of ruins; all dreary and voceless-i
wrupt in desolation.
IS, The silence of a ship upon the sea at uigf
es when all are buried in sleep, and the waite
Ia, have ceased their diree, is without gloomi f
,r the stars in the heavens are worlds whe
.g. Thought may wander; where the soul may driI