Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/207

Rh Society, and to relations at home, to announce the termination of our Expedition.

Our hotel at Jerusalem, however comfortable it may have been in warm weather, was far from being so in winter with snow on the ground. The upper part being open to the air affords a good supply of oxygen, where it is very much needed, but also admits snow or rain without stint. Fuel also began to run short; it had not been thought necessary to lay in a large store, and the daily supplies were cut off; so that at length we were obliged to have recourse to old boxes, or other useless lumber, wherewith to feed our stoves. Still, Jerusalem under snow had its attractions. The howling of the dogs at night ceased for the nonce; what became of these wretched animals during this period I could not make out—they must have had a bad time of it! It was pitiable to see the inhabitants, sometimes barefooted, or thinly shod, and clad in apparel fit only for the summer months. To protect the head and neck seemed their chief cause of anxiety; and these parts of the body they enveloped in thick shawls;— the wearers seeming to care little for the feet and legs. The market-place in front of the hotel, usually the scene of a noisy crowd bartering for fruit, vegetables, firewood, and other necessaries, was tenantless. Snow covered the whole country in every direction, rendering communication difficult or impossible; while a most bitter wind caused all who could do so to keep within shelter. By Wednesday, however, the wind fell, and a rapid thaw set in, so as to lead us to expect that by the following day we should be able to accomplish our journey of forty miles to Jaffa. I took the opportunity of ascending to the roof of our hotel for a last look over the sacred city, and the surrounding country. The scene was most striking. So clear was the air, that the snow-clad plains of Moab and Jebel Attarus, though at a distance of thirty miles, were quite distinct; as were also the glens and promontories descending therefrom on to the Valley of the Jordan. The snow lay still undisturbed in the sheltered spots, and ice was on the surface of the Pool of Hezekiah below us; the well-known solitary palm flung its plumes into the cold air, high above the buildings, bravely