Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1854-10-28
LAKE OF rlBER1As AND THE JORDAN.

clothed in exquisite verdure, shut II IN; '"e
clear waters glitterlike silverin the sunbeam
The snowy summit Of Hermon g leams away
10 the north; the battlemented CITY Of liOe'
rias, at distance, lends enchantnent to the
view. BY moonlight the scene is quite as
beautiful besides those associations winch
throng The heart and hush the voice. that
Iiit up the silent prayer, and make one feel
for ,he lime, ,ha, he has lived long enough
on earth. iai tf's2 ~ = ~
The lake is now found 10 fill a concaSe ba.
sin about one hundred and sixty-fve feet oil
creates, depth is about twelve miles long,
and five broad delicious fish Of i've varIe-
ties abound, and ii is still subject to violent
! squalls, as in the saviours time. Nothing
has changed save that silence and desolaiion
have crep, over the once busy scene, a desert
succeeded TO continued cluster oI villages
and towns, the desolatlng despolism Of the
thieving Arab and lazy Turk, 10 the compar-
ative protection Of the Roman Empire
Tiberias, to be sure, has been greatly injured
by earthquakes; the last one, in Junuary'
| 1887, completely leveled part Of the city
walls, filled up some of The streets with Fu'
ins, and by its destruction Of life, gave the
poor people warning which they are not
disposed to take. But the other places a.
long the shore, Chorazin Bethsaida, Caper-
naum, ETC., are entirely gone. The site oI
some of them is greatly in dispute T; halt a
dozen houses mark the location Of Magaala,
which recent travellers have. fancied 10 bc
capernaum; bu, Tiberias is the only town
worth naming and that, though handsome
enough when seen from the hill tops is u
mass of poverty, filth, disease, Jewish ianat-
icism, and melancholy ruin. It's one Of the
four Holy cities, Hebron, jerusalem, saitet
and Tberius; and thousands Of exceedingly
wretched European Jews, who come here to
die, are stripped by the government Of near
ly everything they possess, and, through in
dolence, desttution, uncleanness, the debili-
~ and disease of tho fervid atmosphere, and
natural depression Of spirits, no doubt die
soon We had taken pains 10 see the Jews
in various countries, and had wondered ev-
erywhere at the miserableq quarters into which
they are crowded, the ancient rags. in which
they pretend 10 clothe themselves, and the
woe.begone visases, which tell loudly C.
nough how the iron of oppression has en-
tered their souls. But in Palestine, there
is still lower depth which forlorn wre'ches
have reached more rags, filth, sickness and
despair. The cities they most frequent ate
especially disgusting; the quarters given up
for their abodes are amazingly uncomely
and uncomfortable. It accounts little for
the different views given by travellers Of the
same place, that Jerusalem for instance, in
the Christian portion, is as clean and we'll
paved as ii is disgusting and impossible in
the Jewish. Only at Damascus do the Jews
seem 10 live and flourish, decurate their
persons gaily, fare sumptuously, occupy
houses gorgeous as an oriental dream, and
umass fortunes in the eyes Of all men, with
none to molest or make them afraid.
The Jordan was never thoroughly kno@r
until the laborious, successful and really no.
BE expedition permitted rather that patron
lied, by our government. ABritishleuen-
ant, indeed, had attempted it, but his IN
timely death deprived the public Oftany ben
eft from his sulferngs. Lieutenant Lynch
did his work SO thoroughly lha, it need not
be done again; having answered some Of The
mcst interesting questions, sometimes indeed
in very unexpected manner.
As the Dead Sea has been reported 10 lie
more than one Thousand feet beow,he sea
of Tiberias, the distance between these two
Expansions of the jordan being but sixty
miles, and no rumor existing OF any grea,
falls, it was supposed that some serious mis-.
take had been made in the reckonage. The
American party settled this matter quite
satisfactorily. The distance between the
one "sea" aud tho other is really only sixty
miles, but the Jordan makes two hundred oil
it by its perpetual windiugs; and though it
has no cataracts, il has continual rapids, go
that wooden boat could not live upon the
uneasy stream, and the one purchased at Ii.
berias had to be abandoned because Of its
shattered condition. The Jordan is in fac, O
headiong mountain torrent, rushing somu.
times twelve knots an hour, changing its
wintry depth Of twelve feet into summer
shallow Of sometimes less than three. The
plain, through which this winding stream
huris itself down with such rapidi,y that The
bathers are every year washed away and
drowned, called the "Ghor," is generally
treeless, barren, and cherries. Some naked
and lofty mountains border the sides, anL
add 10 the desolate air, and frequently one
bank is lined with an impenelrable Jungle o.
canes, willows, ,amurisks, and olcarders. =
Az " Ou,.,,,I,, Por;e,p H..