I was in Palestine; that I saw Mount Olivet and Mount Zion; and--I know
not how it was--my sight grew weak, and all objects trembled and wavered
in a watery film. Since we arrived, I have looked down upon the city from
the Mount of Olives, and up to it from the Valley of Jehosaphat; but I
cannot restore the illusion of that first view.

We allowed our horses to walk slowly down the remaining half-mile to the
Jaffa gate. An Englishman, with a red silk shawl over his head, was
sketching the city, while an Arab held an umbrella over him. Inside the
gate we stumbled upon an Italian shop with an Italian sign, and after
threading a number of intricate passages under dark archways, and being
turned off from one hotel, which was full of travellers, reached another,
kept by a converted German Jew, where we found Dr. Robinson and Dr. Ely
Smith, who both arrived yesterday. It sounds strange to talk of a hotel
in Jerusalem, but the world is progressing, and there are already three. I
leave to-morrow for Jericho, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea, and shall have
more to say of Jerusalem on my return.

Chapter IV.

The Dead Sea and the Jordan River.

Bargaining for a Guard--Departure from Jerusalem--The Hill of
Offence--Bethany--The Grotto of Lazarus--The Valley of Fire--Scenery of
the Wilderness--The Hills of Engaddi--The shore of the Dead Sea--A
Bituminous Bath--Gallop to the Jordan--A watch for Robbers--The
Jordan--Baptism--The Plains of Jericho--The Fountain of Elisha--The
Mount of Temptation--Return to Jerusalem.

"And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape;
the valley also shall perish and the plain shall be destroyed, as the
Lord hath spoken."

--Jeremiah, xlviii. 8.

Jerusalem, _May_ 1, 1852.

I returned this after noon from an excursion to the Dead Sea, the River
Jordan, and the site of Jericho. Owing to the approaching heats, an early
visit was deemed desirable, and the shekhs, who have charge of the road,
were summoned to meet us on the day after we arrived. There are two of
these gentlemen, the Shekh el-Arab (of the Bedouins), and the Shekh
el-Fellaheen (of the peasants, or husbandmen), to whom each traveller is
obliged to pay one hundred piastres for an escort. It is, in fact, a sort
of compromise, by which the shekhs agree not to rob the traveller, and to
protect him against other shekhs. If the road is not actually safe, the
Turkish garrison here is a mere