Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/195

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next excursion was to Jericho and the banks of the Jordan. We left Jerusalem early on Monday morning, 14th January, and crossing the valley ascended the Mount of Olives, passing the Garden of Gethsemane, and the village of Bethany, the home of the young Sheikh who accompanied our party, and whose father is lord paramount of the district we were to traverse. I took a great fancy to this young fellow from his appearance and conduct. He was slight of build, sat his horse gracefully, and was always polite and ready to oblige. It is unnecessary for me to attempt to describe the well-known road from Jerusalem to Jericho; no parable is better known than that of which the scene is laid here; and, one may add, no example is more rarely followed than that of the Good Samaritan!

The hills which bound the valley are much of the nature of the chalk downs of the South of England. From Bethany onwards towards the Wâdy-es-Sidr they consist of limestone, sometimes chalky, and dipping steadily eastwards. We are now on the eastern side of the great arch of Central Palestine, as we were on the western side when ascending towards Jerusalem from Ramleh. On approaching the Wâdy-es-Sidr, however, we find that the strata become contorted; and on crossing the brook, the cause of this disturbance of the beds becomes evident, in the occurrence of a mass of volcanic rock, which has here been intruded into the limestone, and has to a great extent altered and calcined the rock itself. This volcanic rock is of a red colour, variegated with yellow and white; it is soft, and resembles "Domite" in general character, except that I could not recognise any crystals of mica, hornblende, or other minerals. It seemed to me, that we have only here the upper surface of a deep-seated mass, where it has come in contact with the limestone, so that we have no opportunity of judging of its characters as they would appear if observed at some depth. Its presence at the surface is due entirely to