Thurs 4. [4 January 1900] Warm but a little cloudy. We drove up to
Elisha's well and then walked up the hill to the Monastery of
Quarantaina (Kuruntul). Very fine, clinging to the rock, so narrow that
there was only room for one row of cells, the cliff behind. Up again,
skirting a strong wild gorge to the summit, enclosed by a wall, the site
of the Temptation. They are building a little chapel there and have
found the foundations of an old basilica with rows of columns. The
view shut in by bare hills towards the west[?], to the north the Great
Jordan valley with the Dead Sea [(Yam Hamelah, Bahret Lut)] and the
Mts of Moab. Bare foot hills, regular desert scenery. So back to the
monastery where we had the usual refection, and to our carriages,
passing by the uninteresting looking ruins of Old Jericho, and home to
lunch. At 2 got on our horses and rode to the bridge. This is the high
road between Syria and Arabia, a mere track, running first over bare
thorny country, then through an extraordinary belt of slime pits of
surprising shapes and so to the Jordan valley, here very wide and full
of Tamarisk trees and willows. We asked a man how far it was to the
bridge "Oh near" he said "1/2 an hour - at any rate you will get there
before sunset" it was then 2.30! Heaps of caravans of donkeys
carrying charcoal into Syria and bringing back chiefly petroleum.
Watched a caravan paying toll and going over the bridge - 4
metalites a beast and 2 a man. Asad had a sore back so Charlotte
rode a donkey. So home by 5 - glorious evening. The Hoppers had
arrived with 2 children, nice people. They paid a visit on us after tea.
A cross Frenchman next me at dinner.