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.
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