The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-08-18
"a Dip in the Dead SEA.

Theodore Cuyler's last letter. hiit ti'f'l All ~
Our afternoons march over the bleak, tree
less and brown mountains of the, wilderness
was inexplicably tiresome until WEI came i'm
sight OF the Dead Sea, It lay two hundred
feet below us-a mirroW Of Silver act AMONG
the violet mountains OF Moab More pfecipil
tous descents over rocks and sand brought qis
by SHUTDOWN to the town towers of the, most
unique monastery on the globe. The famous
convent of Mar Saba is worth a. Gourmet to
Palestine. For thirteen centuries that wonder.
ful structure has hung against the, walls of the
deep, awful gorge of the Kidron. 1t is q co.
lossal swallows nest of stone, built to tie
height of 300 feet against the epreeipice, and
inhabited by sixty monks of the Greek, Church.
genuine Manicheane the followers of St.
Saba and ST. John Of Damascus No woman
foot has ever entered the convent waHs! '.In9
stead OF won1an's society they make love to-
the birds, who come and feed off the monks
hands. Every evening they toss meat down
to the wild jackals in the gorge below Z Hh'
We took bath in the cool, clear waters Of
the Dead Sea, and detected no difference from
q bath at Coney Island except that the water
| has such density that we fioated on it like
pine shingles No fish fire the salt ocean
can live in it.; but it is very attractive to the
eye on hot MONDAY. A scorching ride we
had across the barren plain to the sacred Jor-
dan-which disappointed me sadly. At the
| places where the Israelites crossed and our
Lord was baptized it is about one hundred
and twenty feet wide; it flows rapidly and in
turbid current of light stone color. In size and
appearance it is the perfect counterpart of the
Muskingum few miles above GAINESVILLE Its
useless water ought to be turned off to irri-
gate Its barren valley, which might be changed
into garden. For beauty the Jordan will
not compare with Elijah's Brook Cherith,
whose bright, sparkling stream went flowing
past our lodging place at Jericho. We lodged
over night in a Greek convent (very smalD,
and rode next morning to see the ruins OF the
town made famous by Joshua, Elijah, Fac
cheous and the restoration of Bartimeous to
sight. Squalid Arabs haunt the sacred spot.
---- -
New Railroad Project
The american Manufacturer, published at
Pittsburg refers to new railroad project as
follows: ...
The proposed route Of a projected railroad,
with its termini at Pittsburg and Lexington,
Va is up the Monongahela river to the mouth
Of Cheat river, which empties into the Monon-
gahela at or near the line between Pennsyl-
vania and West Virginia up the Cheat to the
head of Sandy creek passing through what is
known as the Sinks country in Randolph
county, W. Va, near the line of Pocahontas
county, and crossing the Allegheny mountain
to the North Fork of the south branch of the
Potomac to the head waters of Jackson's riv-
er and Monterey, in Highland county. Va.
From there the route goes on almost direct
through Bath, Rock bridge and Amherst coun-
ties to Lynchburg, the entire distance from
Pittsburg to Lynchburg being 305 miles, which
is said to be 200 miles less than that by the
present railway connections between the two
places. The road, if built, will first pass
through $50 miles of rich coal land after leav-
ing this city, then through 100 miles of tim
Der land, where there is an abundance ofblack
walnut, wild cherry, maple, oak and other va
rieties, and then territory is entered which
abounds in iron ore-brown hematite, specu-
lar, magnetic, fossil and red shale. Col. W.
A. Anderson, of Lexington, Va, was recently
in this city in the interest of this road He
says they have organized an association, and
that number of the leading iron manufactur-
ers of this city are going to assist in the con-
struction of the road. The plan is to organize
in Pennsylvania, West Virginia
and Virginia, and when the work is fairly un-5
der way they will be consolidated We will
be glad to hear more of this enterprise, which,
if completed ought to promote very greatly
the interests of the sections of country tray
ersed and developed.