The Lands of the Saracen: Pictures of Palestine, Asia Minor, Sicily, and Spain — John Shaqi
The Lands of the Saracen: Pictures of Palestine, Asia Minor, Sicily, and SpainTaylor, Bayard
History
The Lands of the Saracen: Pictures of Palestine, Asia Minor, Sicily, and Spain
Taylor, Bayard
Middle East -- Description and travel; Spain -- Description and travel
sparkling in the bosom of Galilee, like the sheen of Assyrian spears, and
the glare of the great fires kindled on the opposite shore.
The next day, we travelled northward along the lake, passing through
continuous thickets of oleander, fragrant with its heavy pink blossoms.
The thistles were more abundant and beautiful than ever. I noticed, in
particular, one with a superb globular flower of a bright blue color,
which would make a choice ornament for our gardens at home. At the
north-western head of the lake, the mountains fall back and leave a large
tract of the richest meadow-land, which narrows away into a deep dell,
overhung by high mountain headlands, faced with naked cliffs of red rock.
The features of the landscape are magnificent. Up the dell, I saw plainly
the Mount of Beatitude, beyond which lies the village of Cana of Galilee.
In coming up the meadow, we passed a miserable little village of thatched
mud huts, almost hidden by the rank weeds which grew around them. A
withered old crone sat at one of the doors, sunning herself. "What is the
name of this village?" I asked. "It is Mejdel," was her reply. This was
the ancient Magdala, the home of that beautiful but sinful Magdalene,
whose repentance has made her one of the brightest of the Saints. The
crystal waters of the lake here lave a shore of the cleanest pebbles. The
path goes winding through oleanders, nebbuks, patches of hollyhock,
anise-seed, fennel, and other spicy plants, while, on the west, great
fields of barley stand ripe for the cutting. In some places, the Fellahs,
men and women, were at work, reaping and binding the sheaves. After
crossing this tract, we came to the hill, at the foot of which was a
ruined khan, and on the summit, other undistinguishable ruins, supposed by
some to be those of Capernaum. The site of that exalted town, however, is
still a matter of discussion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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