Adventures During a Journey Overland to India: By Way of Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land, Volume 1

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R. Bentley, 1836 - Middle East
 

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Page 42 - ... the Sublime Porte, and the tawdry streets were illuminated for the news of a victory which had just been given out. Skinner, who seems to have had a happy knack of dropping in, wherever he might be, for any celebration that happened to be toward, was invited to a dance given by the European colony. " At the house of a French family I had the good fortune to meet all the principal Europeans of the city. The men were generally in...
Page 122 - The procession was over, and the monks were immoveable in prayer; their devoted attitudes, their bald heads and long beards, had a most imposing effect. The solemn notes of the organ, which was still played, the odour, and the handsome building itself, with the sudden manner in which I had descended into it from the cold hills and the deep snow, had an air of mystery about it, that seemed not of this earth.
Page 209 - BETHANY, a small village, now called Al Azirizah, about two miles from Jerusalem, on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. On the summit of the Mount of Olives, within the area of a mosque, is a small circular chapel, covering the stone which bears the footprint shown as that of our Lord.
Page 121 - ... frowning, too abrupt apparently to retain the snow. It was the Mount of Precipitation. The inhabitants seemed to be frozen. They sat without energy in their door-ways, and suffered the melting snow to wander as it listed. Small as the town is, I was nearly an hour before I reached the convent-gate.
Page 122 - ... just such a surprise did it all seem to me! Beneath the altar, which stands in the centre of the church, was a flight of steps leading into a cave, over which a soft stream of light was cast from several lamps that hung within it. I could only conjecture the characters of these evidently most sacred places, for all the monks were so absorbed in their devotions that I could not enquire. I do not think any one perceived me. At length they rose from their knees, and in a solemn procession, headed...
Page 62 - God be with you, signore!"—"And with you also!" cried I; " Pray, tell me, is not this Caifa, and where are the houses ?"—" There are no houses in Caifa," said they; " they are all washed down by the rain that has lasted here for several days. Ecco!"—pointing to the river which was sweeping with increasing force round the gable of a house at the end of the principal street—" you see, do you not ?"—" What am I to do then ?" thought I. " Pray," I continued, addressing the Jews,
Page 62 - ... relieved to perceive two men with long beards, in the Hebrew dress, creep from beneath the corner of a shed which was yet supported by a tottering pole, the rest of it having already given way. They saw me, and approaching with evident pleasure, exclaimed in Italian,
Page 161 - You promised to take us over," was the answer from my side, " and an Arab never fails in his word." " God forbid," continued he; " but I cannot swim across, and have no horse." I proposed that he should ride mine, and try the ford, and we would wait until he came back. He at once agreed, and, leaping upon him, rode into the stream. The current, however, was too strong; the horse was swept away, and the Arab, being thrown off, had some difficulty to regain the bank. He exerted himself to recover the...
Page 204 - Lazarus, at the door of some wealthy man, or to place him in a public thoroughfare stretched upon his mat or wooden litter. The blind, too, line the approaches to the city, and cry out with a loud voice to the passers-by for mercy and for charity.
Page 277 - Some travellers have fancied that the same soil of waterpot is carried by the women now. We were not so fortunate as to witness the ceremony of drawing water ; but none so large, at any rate, can be still in use. There are very few inhabitants in Cana ; and it is, like other places, nearly washed away by the rain and snow.— Major Skinner.

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