What Are Called Roads Are Simply Bridle-Paths, And, In
Many Cases, The Paths Are So Indistinct That The Guide Is More
Likely To Take You Forward With Reference To A General Direction
Than To Attempt To Lead You By A Recognized Trail.
The Mountains of Gilead present a rugged appearance, but, in the
main, are clothed with vegetation; hence they are beautiful in
their majesty.
The olive and the prickly oak are abundant. The
villages are not numerous, and are situated far up the slopes, or
even on the tops of the ridges. These villages are clusters of
squalid huts constructed of stone and mud, and can afford no
accommodation such as an American might desire. But, in many
instances, they occupy sites identified with places and events
noted in Bible story.
These mountains were given to Gad in the allotment of Joshua and
Eleazar. Surely at that time the prospect must have been much more
pleasing than at present, or the Gadites would not have been so
anxious to receive this district as a permanent possession. True,
even now, a few narrow valleys, or wadies, show signs of great
fertility, but the greater part is quite uninviting. Yet to the
tourist there is much of interest in this region.
My way to the Jordan lay over these mountains, especially that
part known as the Jebel Ajlun. Sometimes it seemed impossible to
proceed because of rocks and underbrush. The mountain sides were
so steep in some places that we were barely able to climb them;
many of the wadies, washed by winter torrents, were next to being
impassable; and when our way led along the sides of precipitous
slopes I shuddered to think of the consequences of a misstep upon
the part of my horse. The course I had chosen through this East-
Jordan country was an unusual one (as already noted) - one over
which my dragoman had never gone, and one over which, he said, not
one in a thousand tourists to Palestine ever asked to go, - a
statement corroborated by the United States Consul at Jerusalem,
who has written extensively on the trans-Jordanic highlands. This
statement was not very encouraging to me, but I had set my heart
on reaching the Jordan by this route, so simply said, "Lead on."
Several times I feared I had made a serious mistake, but having
come thus far I could not go back. After we had passed through the
old cemetery our ascent was gradual until we reached the modern
village of Suf, three miles northwest of Gerasa. Here we see "two
women grinding at the mill." The mill consists of two circular
stones about fourteen inches in diameter, the one stone rests upon
the other, and the grain to be crushed between them is supplied by
one of the women while the other turns the upper stone round and
round, thus grinding the meal for the uninviting bread of their
less inviting floor-table.
This place has been suggested by Major Condor as the probable site
of Mizpah in Gilead.
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