It educated me and opened my mind amazingly.'
'It seems to have done so,' said Tancred, quietly.
Shortly after this, Tancred, attended by Baroni, passed the gate of
Sion. Not a human being was visible, except the Turkish sentries. It was
midsummer, but no words and no experience of other places can convey an
idea of the canicular heat of Jerusalem. Bengal, Egypt, even Nubia, are
nothing to it; in these countries there are rivers, trees, shade, and
breezes; but Jerusalem at midday in midsummer is a city of stone in a
land of iron with a sky of brass. The wild glare and savage lustre of
the landscape are themselves awful. We have all read of the man who had
lost his shadow; this is a shadowless world. Everything is so flaming
and so clear, that it would remind one of a Chinese painting, but that
the scene is one too bold and wild for the imagination of the Mongol
race.
'There,' said Baroni, pointing to a group of most ancient olive trees
at the base of the opposite hill, and speaking as if he were showing the
way to Kensington, 'there is Gethsemane; the path to the right leads to
Bethany.'
'Leave me now,' said Tancred.
There are moments when we must be alone, and Tancred had fixed upon this
hour for visiting Gethsemane, because he felt assured that no one would
be stirring.
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