At any rate, we let such thoughts predominate, when we were obliged to relinquish13 the overland journey. And whatever we missed, I flatter myself that the readers of these desultory14 sketches15 will lose nothing. I should have indulged a certain curiosity in riding over a country as rich in memories as it is poor in aspect, but I should have been able to add nothing to the minute descriptions and vivid pictures with which the Christian16 world is familiar; and, if the reader will excuse an additional personal remark, I have not had the presumption17 to attempt a description of Palestine and Syria (which the volumes of Robinson and Thompson and Porter have abundantly given), but only to make a record of limited travel and observation. What I most regretted was that we could not see the green and fertile plain of Esdraelon, the flower-spangled meadow of Jezreel, and the forests of Tabor and Carmel,—seats of beauty and of verdure, and which, with the Plain of Sharon, might serve to mitigate18 the picture of grim desolation which the tourist cames away from the Holy Land.
Finally, it was with a feeling akin19 to regret that we looked our last upon gray and melancholy20 Jerusalem. We had grown a little familiar with its few objects of past or present grandeur21, the Saracenic walls and towers, the Temple platform and its resplendent mosque23, the agglomeration24 called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the ruins of the palace and hospice of the Knights25 of St. John, the massive convents and hospices of various nations and sects26 that rise amid the indistinguishable huddle27 of wretched habitations, threaded by filthy28 streets and noisome29 gutters30. And yet we confessed to the inevitable fascination31 which is always exercised upon the mind by antiquity32; the mysterious attraction of association; the undefinable influence in decay and desolation which holds while it repels33; the empire, one might say the tyranny, over the imagination and the will which an ancient city asserts, as if by force of an immortal34 personality, compelling first curiosity, then endurance, then sympathy, and finally love. Jerusalem has neither the art, the climate, the antiquities35, nor the society which draw the world and hold it captive in Rome, but its associations enable it to exercise, in a degree, the same attraction. Its attraction is in its historic spell and name, and in spite of the modern city.
Jerusalem, in fact, is incrusted with layer upon layer of inventions, the product of credulity, cunning, and superstition7, a monstrous36 growth always enlarging, so that already the simple facts of history are buried almost beyond recognition beneath this mass of rubbish. Perhaps it would have been better for the growth of Christianity in the world if Jerusalem had been abandoned, had become like Carthage and Memphis and Tadmor in the wilderness37, and the modern pilgrim were free to choose his seat upon a fallen wall or mossy rock, and reconstruct for himself the pageant38 of the past, and recall that Living Presence, undisturbed by the impertinences which belittle9 the name of religion. It has always been held well that the place of the burial of Moses was unknown. It would perhaps have conduced to the purity of the Christian faith if no attempt had ever been made to break through the obscurity which rests upon the place of the sepulchre of Christ. Invention has grown upon invention, and we have the Jerusalem of to-day as a result of the exaggerated importance attached to the localization of the Divine manifestation39. Whatever interest Jerusalem has for the antiquarian, or for the devout40 mind, it is undeniable that one must seek in other lands and among other peoples for the robust41 virtue42, the hatred43 of shams44 and useless forms, the sweet charity, the invigorating principles, the high thinking, and the simple worship inculcated by the Founder45 of Christianity.
The horses were ready. Jerusalem had just begun to stir; an itinerant46 vender47 of coffee had set up his tray on the street, and was lustily calling to catch the attention of the early workmen, or the vagrants48 who pick themselves up from the doorsteps at dawn, and begin to reconnoitre for the necessary and cheap taste of coffee, with which the Oriental day opens; the sky was overcast49, and a drop or two of rain fell as we were getting into the saddle, but "It is nothing," said the stirrup-holder, "it goes to be a beautiful time"; and so it proved.
Scarcely were we outside the city when it cleared superbly, and we set forward on our long ride of thirty-six miles, to the sea-coast, in high spirits. We turned to catch the first sunlight upon the gray Tower of David, and then went gayly on over the cool free hills, inhaling50 the sparkling air and the perfume of wild-flowers, and exchanging greetings with the pilgrims, Moslem51 and Christian, who must have broken up their camps in the hills at the earliest light. There are all varieties of nationality and costume, and many of the peaceful pilgrims are armed as if going to a military rendezvous52; perhaps our cavalcade53, which is also an assorted54 one of horses, donkeys, and mules55, is as amusing as any we meet. I am certain that the horse that one of the ladies rides is unique, a mere56 framework of bones which rattle57 as he agitates58 himself; a rear view of the animal, and his twisting and interlacing legs, when he moves briskly, suggest a Chinese puzzle.
We halted at the outlet59 of Wady 'Aly, where there is an inn, which has the appearance of a Den22 of Thieves, and took our lunch upon some giant rocks under a fig-tree, the fruit of which was already half grown. Here I discovered another black calla, and borrowed a pick of the landlord to endeavor to dig up its bulb. But it was impossible to extract it from the rocks, and when I returned the tool, the owner demanded pay for the use of it; I told him that if he would come to America, I would lend him a pick, and let him dig all day in the garden,—a liberality which he was unable to comprehend.
By four o'clock we were at Bamleh, and turned aside to inspect the so-called Saracen tower; it stands upon one side of a large enclosure of walls and arches, an extensive ruin; under ground are vaulted60 constructions apparently61 extending as far as the ruins above, reminding one of the remains62 of the Hospice of St. John at Jerusalem. In its form and treatment and feeling this noble tower is Gothic, and, taking it in connection with the remains about it, I should have said it was of Christian construction, in spite of the Arabic inscription63 over one of the doorways64, which might have been added when the Saracens took possession of it; but I believe that antiquarians have decided65 that the tower was erected66 by Moslems. These are the most "rural" ruins we had seen in the East; they are time-stained and weather-colored, like the remains of an English abbey, and stand in the midst of a green and most lovely country; no sand, no nakedness, no beggars. Grass fills all the enclosure, and grain-fields press close about it. No view could be more enchanting67 than that of the tower and the rolling plain at that hour: the bloom on the wheat-fields, flecked with flaming poppies; the silver of the olive groves68; the beds of scarlet69 anemones70 and yellow buttercups, blotching the meadows with brilliant colors like a picture of Turner; the soft gray hills of Jud鎍; the steeples and minarets71 of the city. All Ramleh is built on and amid ruins, half-covered arches and vaults72.
Twilight73 came upon us while we were yet in the interminable plain, but Jaffa announced itself by its orange-blossoms long before we entered its straggling suburbs; indeed, when we were three miles away, the odor of its gardens, weighted by the night-air, was too heavy to be agreeable. At a distance this odor was more perceptible than in the town itself; but next day, in the full heat of the sun, we found it so overpowering as to give a tendency to headache.
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1 lessened | |
减少的,减弱的 | |
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2 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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3 stimulating | |
adj.有启发性的,能激发人思考的 | |
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4 sordid | |
adj.肮脏的,不干净的,卑鄙的,暗淡的 | |
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5 puerile | |
adj.幼稚的,儿童的 | |
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6 superstitions | |
迷信,迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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7 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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8 humiliation | |
n.羞辱 | |
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9 belittle | |
v.轻视,小看,贬低 | |
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10 belittled | |
使显得微小,轻视,贬低( belittle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11 inspection | |
n.检查,审查,检阅 | |
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12 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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13 relinquish | |
v.放弃,撤回,让与,放手 | |
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14 desultory | |
adj.散漫的,无方法的 | |
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15 sketches | |
n.草图( sketch的名词复数 );素描;速写;梗概 | |
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16 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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17 presumption | |
n.推测,可能性,冒昧,放肆,[法律]推定 | |
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18 mitigate | |
vt.(使)减轻,(使)缓和 | |
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19 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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20 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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21 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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22 den | |
n.兽穴;秘密地方;安静的小房间,私室 | |
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23 mosque | |
n.清真寺 | |
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24 agglomeration | |
n.结聚,一堆 | |
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25 knights | |
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马 | |
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26 sects | |
n.宗派,教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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27 huddle | |
vi.挤作一团;蜷缩;vt.聚集;n.挤在一起的人 | |
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28 filthy | |
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的 | |
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29 noisome | |
adj.有害的,可厌的 | |
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30 gutters | |
(路边)排水沟( gutter的名词复数 ); 阴沟; (屋顶的)天沟; 贫贱的境地 | |
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31 fascination | |
n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 | |
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32 antiquity | |
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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33 repels | |
v.击退( repel的第三人称单数 );使厌恶;排斥;推开 | |
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34 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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35 antiquities | |
n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 );古迹;古人们;古代的风俗习惯 | |
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36 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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37 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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38 pageant | |
n.壮观的游行;露天历史剧 | |
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39 manifestation | |
n.表现形式;表明;现象 | |
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40 devout | |
adj.虔诚的,虔敬的,衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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41 robust | |
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的 | |
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42 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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43 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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44 shams | |
假象( sham的名词复数 ); 假货; 虚假的行为(或感情、言语等); 假装…的人 | |
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45 Founder | |
n.创始者,缔造者 | |
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46 itinerant | |
adj.巡回的;流动的 | |
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47 vender | |
n.小贩 | |
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48 vagrants | |
流浪者( vagrant的名词复数 ); 无业游民; 乞丐; 无赖 | |
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49 overcast | |
adj.阴天的,阴暗的,愁闷的;v.遮盖,(使)变暗,包边缝;n.覆盖,阴天 | |
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50 inhaling | |
v.吸入( inhale的现在分词 ) | |
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51 Moslem | |
n.回教徒,穆罕默德信徒;adj.回教徒的,回教的 | |
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52 rendezvous | |
n.约会,约会地点,汇合点;vi.汇合,集合;vt.使汇合,使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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53 cavalcade | |
n.车队等的行列 | |
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54 assorted | |
adj.各种各样的,各色俱备的 | |
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55 mules | |
骡( mule的名词复数 ); 拖鞋; 顽固的人; 越境运毒者 | |
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56 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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57 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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58 agitates | |
搅动( agitate的第三人称单数 ); 激怒; 使焦虑不安; (尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而)激烈争论 | |
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59 outlet | |
n.出口/路;销路;批发商店;通风口;发泄 | |
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60 vaulted | |
adj.拱状的 | |
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61 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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62 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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63 inscription | |
n.(尤指石块上的)刻印文字,铭文,碑文 | |
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64 doorways | |
n.门口,门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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65 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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66 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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67 enchanting | |
a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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68 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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69 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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70 anemones | |
n.银莲花( anemone的名词复数 );海葵 | |
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71 minarets | |
n.(清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的)光塔( minaret的名词复数 ) | |
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72 vaults | |
n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 );地下室;撑物跳高;墓穴 | |
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73 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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