Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1882-04-06
Letter from Palestine.
JAFtA, January y, 1852

SNFF \ January - 4NN-
My DFAE-
have jus, returned here after a long
Journe, through the mountain, and valleys
Of th- land and the more see Of Il the
more strange and interesting /, appears.
Whtn standing on Noun, Oliye,. Jerusalem
Is spread out before You ike map. You
can all over the city as YOU 4re between
two and three hundred feet above II, walls,
The city i. surrounded On three sides by
three deep valleys, Jeho,haphat. Hnnom
and G,hon and the Tyropean vale, rams
through the city and unte> with the others
beyond the pool Of Sloan All thes, you
see from Mount Oliyet. Iuu also ,ce Beth
chem, Bethany and Bethphage. You can
see the river Jordan " here 1t enters INTO the
Dead Sea, and all the northern part Of the
Dead Sea, and YOU can trace the course uf
the Jordan nearly 10 is source By the green
growth on It's bank. which hide the water
from view ten mile, from the Dead Sea up
10 its source. There are two routes from
here to the Jordan. Bs the most southern
one YOU leave the northwestern corner of
Jerusalem. pas. down into and acro>, the
valley OF Glhon. through the fuller~ field
leaving the upper pool on your night Isaiah
:. 81. passing the site where solomon was
anointed king Of Israel, II hing, !. 81. cross
the valley Of RephaIm, e Samuel }. i, 2j),
and pass Rachcls tomb on Your right,
tGen 3j Is, l9), The next We come TO is
Solomons pools and gardens, (EccIesia>tcs
,. y. We pass just above the site of Elan,
Judges H. 5, l6l, leaving David's well on
our left Just before We enter Bethlehem.
Here King David was born here Jesus was
born; here Jesse lived; here Ohed lived all
born here, and here Boaz lived and married
Ruth the Moabitlsh woman who came here
with Naomi. The Holy Sepulchre Is here.
| visited ii and all things around here of
which will tell YOU when ! see you. The
brook kedron passes along the valley Of Je-
hoshaphat between Jerusalem and continues
dIoHP Ndi4cN past pSttitHtul' loilO"4tiE
in the valley which falls thirteen hundred
feet in its course from Jerusalem and enters
the Dead Sea. We now leave Bethlehem
and turning to the east cross the field Of
Boaz where Ruth cleaned ruth >. 4, 23).
and SEE where the Shepherds watched their
focks by night luke , y. Here is the
valley Of the kedron. We will now turn to
the right and follow it down about two miles
and visit Mar Sala. The valley begins to
narrow and the gorge deepen, as We pass
along on lis edge, the mountains towering up
on our right as We descend, and as we near
the place cayerns appear in the sides of the
mountains. Now the rayine becomes deeper
and deeper on the left and the mountains
wilder and gtander, with here and there
dark openings of caves and grottoes in the
sides of the cliffs, which show that we are
entering the haunt of the old hermits The
men must have had superior taste for soil
tude who could cut out their solitary abode in
the cliffs of this awful ravine. Soon the
massive walls and towers burst, as it were,
into full sight, graphing to the side of the
ravine, covering it from bottom to the very
top In the wild and awful solemnity of the
place, Mar Sala will out-vie any building in
the whole length and width of Palestine
Where this convent stands on the right