MONDAY, MAY 22. Having completed all the necessary arrangements, given the officers and men time to recruit, and to see Jerusalem and its vicinity, I settled the accounts of the Expedition with H.B.M. Consul, Mr. Finn, broke up the camp, and started to run the line of level across to the Mediterranean, thirty-three miles distant, in a direct line. The desert being passed, we substituted mules for camels, to transport our baggage.
1 P.M. We recommenced leveling from the benchmark we had made north-west of Jerusalem, and carried the line to the highest point, but little less than four thousand feet above the surface of the Dead Sea, before skirting down the Wady Lufte. The road, which was frightful, ran at first along the mountain ridge, looking down into the beautiful valley, with a convent toward the head of the gorge, and Ghebel Samwil, the highest peak in Palestine, towering to the north-west, its summit crowned with a ruined mosque. It is supposed to be the Mozpeh of the Old Testament, the reputed birth-place and the tomb of the Prophet Samuel. We here overtook a number of Jews, of both sexes and various ages. They were separating, one part to return to the city, the other to pursue the route towards the sea coast. Their sobs and tears, and clinging embraces, were truly affecting. The vegetation increased in luxuriance, and in vividness of colour, as we descended. The mountain-sides are cut in terraces, many of them but a few yards wide, bearing olive, fig, and apricot trees, and numerous extensive vineyards. At 3:25, crossed a massive stone bridge of one arch, which spans the now dry torrent bed of Kulonieh, and proceeding half a mile farther, stopped for the night on the edge of an olive-grove, a short distance from a fountain. The tents looked picturesque, pitched upon the green sward, with the highly cultivated valley before, and the village of Kulonfeh perched high on the hill above them. Soon after camping, we caught a cameleon, six inches long. It was deep green, with dark spots; but the colour became of a lighter hue, and turned brown, when the animal was placed upon a stone.
* This cameleon was brought safely home, together with a pheasant from the vale of Sharon. Nearly everything else, including some singular blue pigeons from the Dead Sea, perished.
By a regulation most necessary for the security of travellers, the nomadic tribes are not permitted to pitch their tents west of Jerusalem. The only extortion to be now apprehended, is from the powerful and rapacious family of Abu Ghush, the sheikh of which, Lamartine, with his usual exaggeration, represents as having fifty thousand Arabs, subject to his sway. In order to evade the severe military conscription under the Egyptian rule, some of the Arabs of this district put out one of their eyes; but Ibrahim Pasha counteracted their purpose, by forming a one-eyed regiment. The night was clear, and quite cool; the dew fell heavily, and the morning found us enveloped in a mist. TUESDAY, MAY 23. At 4 A.M., very cold. Wishing to send to Jaffa some things, which were cumbersome to carry about, and could be dispensed with, I roused one of the Arab mule-drivers, and bade him go up to the village, about a mile distant, and procure another mule. He sprang instantly to his feet, and, from where he stood, called out in a stentorian voice to some one in the village. To my surprise, he was answered almost immediately, and very soon afterwards the mule was brought. It is astonishing how far, and how distinctly, the Arabs can hear and recognise each other’s voices in this hilly country. In the descent of the Jordan, and repeatedly along the cliffs of the Dead Sea, when we could only hear a faint halloo, or inarticulate sounds, our swarthy friends could distinguish words, and sometimes recognise the tribe of the speaker from his voice. They seem to have distinctive cries, corresponding to the whoops of our Indians.