Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-06-16
score of wears preceding It's oreapizatiou.

BETTING place for ferocious wild beasts
| st. Sabas was plous man, and thousand
Of followers came here with him to assis
in building and maintaining the Conven
| of Marsaba, as it was called. 1t is NOR
| of fort in construction than church
| There are numerous buttresses, turrets
caves, chapels with simple facades, cells
steep stair flights and narrow galleries
The holy chapel is beautifully furnished
and is said to be the richest in utensils o
the altar in Palestine. The same is sale
of the convent, and many believe thai
enormous wealth is concealed in it, The
plundering Bedouins have long sought tC
pounce upon it and carry off the rich
spoils of their bravery; but no Arab ever
entered 1t. Permits are secured, and with.
out these the gate is closed to all who
knock. The monks are sixty-fve in num-
Der and spend most of their time in
prayer, eat no flesh, fast often, and do nc
manual labor, except to take care of the
convent. Things of interest to be seen are
the lair of the lion whom the saint
politely invited to evacuate the place, and
he did it; the palm tree planted by St
Sabas, and the spring created by miracle.
The crypts of the martyred saints of
Marsaba are filled with the bones of the
victims. These are exposed to view, and
some of the skulls of their leaders placed
In receivers, where the faithful may kiss
them, privilege they crave to enjoy.
Nearly 10000 skeletons lie here like fallen
reeds-the skulls alone arranged in order.
After seeing the tomb of St. Sabas, we
came away feeling that no such building
and solitary surroundings are elsewhere to
be seen, and that although it has been
plundered by Persians and Turks, and suf-
fered the terrible devastation and the I'M
mitigated persecution of the Crescent
against the Cross" still it stands, and
will stand until the world falls heir to the
Biblical treasures of which these monks
are the sole custodians, and Christian
students the only heirs.
At Bethlehem the shiek of the Dead Sea
guided us through his territory There
was war in his dominion between his peo-
pie and those of a contiguous tribe. Mr..
Floyd, our dragoman, got the two angry
chiefs to shake hands at the door of the
Church of the Nativity. They had not
spoken for two years. "That day were
Herod and PLATE made friends" Our
sheik had the expression of an Arab.
His mien was savage, his vigilance like an
argus, and his department willy and insidi-
Gus. He has six bullets lodged in his
body, and always goes armed to the teeth
His presence is necessary in descending
the Valley of the Jordan, for we had to
pass Robbers Cave" and go over the
road where the Certain man went down
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among
thieves, who beat him and stripped him of
his clothes and left him half dead"
The presence of this chief will protect
from such fate, and without native
guide let no one venture. When we
reached the high mountains of the Kidron,
occasional glimpses of the Dead Sea were
had. The water appears leaden, and re-
flecting rays of light did not mirror sur
rounding objects on its banks, as do fresh
waters. The nearer we approached the
more beautiful appeared the landscape.
Before us, and at our feet, lay the AS
phaltic lake." Eastward and along the
lake the blue range of the mountains of
Moab rose like a background to the scene !;
and still more distant northeast, the pur-
pie dome of Mt. Nebo, wearing long rib
bons of virgin snow that lay in his rock
rifted assures, lifted his royal crown as if
Won't to do as Moses did,
And view the landscape DER.
When at the edge of the sea, the east
ern mountains show brownish-red color.
and those on the west are gray mingled
with white, and are bare. The view of the
valley Of the Jordan is inspiring. As far
as the eye reaches to the north the broad,
fertile plain extends, and tens of thousands
of acres of the richest land in Palestine
lies unplowed and, with few exceptions,
the "earlier and later rains" have ceased
to bring seed to the sower and bread to
the eater"
The Dead Sea is forty-six miles long
and ten wide at its greatest point, and is
l ,3l6 feet below the Mediterranean. |
have often heard it said that it was i'm
possible to sink in its tide, and concluded
to attempt it. Professor Fleet, an Amer
lean who went down with us from Bethle-
hem, joined me ia an experiment in which
we sought to press our bodies under the
water. We lay fiat upon our backs, with
arms folded across the chest. the hands of
the Professor were placed on my chest and
and the pressure made directly
downward 1t resulted in him lifting him
self nearly out of the water, while my
body was not out of sight. We changed
positions, and had like experience.
The catastrophe which befel the ci les of
the plain has its proof in the geological
formation and in the traditions of the
wild jewellers about here, as well as in di-
rect statement of the Scriptures. Mr..
Grone, in Bible Dictionary denies the
quote above.
The river Jordan is the only stream in
Palestine that nigh the called a river. That
the name took its rise from the confluence
of two streams rising from Mt Hermon
named Jor and Dan is rather doubtful.
The Jordan is supplied by numerous per-
ennial fountains, the most prominent of
which are the Dan and Banias. These
flow into the Hasbany and are joined by
Esh-.Shor, this constituting the sacred
river" of the Holy Land. 1t passes
through Lake Huleh, and descends about
600 feet within the space of nine miles,
and enters Lake Gennesaret. 1t leaves
the lake again at the southern extremity,
and winds its way on and on, down, and
still deeper down, creating cascades, ed
dies, and accelerating leaps over its de-
scending bel until it reaches the Dead
Sea. 1t is fed by few streams from
the mountains below Gennesaret, the larg-
est of which are the Hieromax and the
Jabbok, now called Farmukan Zerka. The
direct distance of the river from its rise to
the sea is sixty miles, but its meandering
course is 200 miles. In bounty and dis
trihution it is an appropriate figure of the
goodness of God, visiting numerous COM
munities to slake their thirst and water
their gardens, and even offers its living cur
rent to the dead waters of the ''Sea of Lot"
and being refused, are lifted again into the
clouds to fly over the parched deserts of
Arabia to bless the wild Bedouin in his
tent
There is not an important event in the
history Of the Israelites," says writer,
that is not connected either directly or
otherwise with the Jordan" We are now
at the slower ford,' where the Israelites
crossed over when the waters divided be-
fore the Ark of God Here also the 200
young men watched the prophets Elijah
and Elisha pass over the cleft current, and
on the opposite banks Elijah went up in
a chariot of fire." John baptized Jesus
and the multitudes of people who followed
him here. Then there was the pursuit of
the Midianites by Gideon; Ephriam's
chastisement by Jephthah; the recovery of
the bodies of Saul and his sons at Beth
shan by the men of Jabeshgilead. and the