Lanterna Rally

Author: Lady Elizabeth Butler

Publisher: Theclassics.Us

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 18

ISBN-13: 9781230287881

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ... SOLOMON S POOLS, NEAR JERUSALEM, LOOKING TOWARDS DEAD SEA Shows the central one of three reservoirs which are built one below the other on a slope inclining towards valley of the Dead Sea. Measurements of Solomon's Pools: --LTpper one, 380 ft. by 236 ft., 25 ft. deep; middle one, 423 ft. by 250 ft., 39 ft. deep; lower one, 582 ft. by 207 ft., 50 ft. deep. new and delightful sensation to me. We started this morning at sunrise, my sketching things handily strapped to my saddle by W.'s directions, in a flat straw aumoniere. Isaac had swathed his tarboush in a magnificent "cufia," and our retinue wore the baggy garb of Syria. W. rode a steelgrey Arab, I a silver-grey, Isaac a roan-grey, and the man, whom we call the "flying column," because he is to accompany us with the lunch bags, while the heavy column with baggage, tents, etc., goes on ahead by short-cuts, rode a chestnut. We passed through Bethlehem and down to the Field of the Shepherds, where I completed, as well as I could in the heat and glare, my sketch begun the other day. A group of some twenty Russian pilgrims arrived as we did, and we saw them in the grotto of the sheepfold, each holding a lighted taper and responding to the chant of their old priest, who had a head which would do admirably for a picture of Abraham. These poor men were in fur coats and high clumsy boots, and one told us he had come from Tobolsk, and had been two years on that tramp. He assured us he could manage his return journey in no time, only ten months or so. Their devotion was profound, as it always is, and was utterly un-selfconscious. I think we English are too apt to suppose that because devotion is demonstrative it is not deep. Great pedestrians as we are, how many Englishmen would walk for two years...