Frederic E. Church to Erastus Dow Palmer

March 10. 1868

Jaffa-Palestine-
March 10th 1868—

My dear Palmer
I have seen much since I saw you
last—so much indeed that I am at
a loss to know what to tell you—and
what to commence on—
First I must speak of the great
disappointment to us that we could not
see you before we left — Our leaving a
fortnight sooner than we had anticipated
hurried me so terribly at the close that
I was compelled to forego anything not
connected with our journey—
We had a long and stormy voyage and
finally landed at Brest—What I saw
in Paris or in a weeks visit to London
I will not encumber this sheet with
for it is in a great measure an old
—course I saw the Louvre and
the Royal Gallery & c each once. I did
not see the Exposition as it was closed
two or three weeks before we reached Paris—
By the way It was a gold and not
a silver medal awarded to me—It was
finally decided that Bronze medals
should be given to all who received
awards and so I stepped up by
invitation and pocketed 500 francs as
the difference between gold and bronze—
Landscape Art in France and England
is crude enough—Jerome is strong in
Figures and some others as well you know—
I saw Boughton and wife in London
quietly nested in a modest home. She
seems much attached to him-is modest
and womanly I thought and spoke
strongly of her desire to reside in the
States—I took a capital lunch with

[page 2]
with them—He had two or three things
on the Easel—very good—of course he
inquired particularly about you-
After our hurried visit to Paris we
went to Marseilles and took steamer
for Alexandria a six days trip—
Three days in that dirty queer city
and we sailed again for Beyrout
a 3 days sail where we arrived all
well—We soon got well settled in
a comfortable Hotel and we lived there
a few weeks quietly and comfortably
our rooms are right on the seashore
and we have the murmur of the
waves to soothe us to sleep—
I dread beginning any descriptions
there is so much to describe —
These oriental Cities are strange
to our eyes the houses are usually
of stone with stone vaulted roofs
The streets especially the old ones
are narrow (some not more than ten
feet wide) and winding often a
good part of the streets are arched
over-so that the stranger gets about
the same impression as if he were
walking through a liberal sewer with
an occasional aperture for light—
On each side of the streets are small
rooms entirely open in front like coal
bins—there are shops and in them
are piled up various wares and at
the mouth of the den sits a crosslegged
Turk or Greek or Armenian or some
other demurely awaiting a
customer—These streets for the sale

[page 3]
of goods are called Bazars and there is
a certain order in the arrangements
for you will find one street devoted
to shoe and sandal makers another
to arms and munitions and our to
jewelry &c &c—Beyrout is really
a fine city and the new part has wide
and clean streets and fine houses
The Dwellings are often quite grand
They have a large room called the court
in the center often 30 x 50 feet or larger—
and perhaps 30 feet high and smaller
rooms on each side these rooms are all
paved with marble in patterns—The roofs
are flat and cemented over—I have
got new and excellent ideas about
building since I came abroad. The
solidity of everything here would amaze
you—There is delightful society in
Beyrout—The Missionaries there are
among the most delightful people I have
ever met and their kindness and
attentions unremitting—Their
influence is prodigious And has worked
a revolution in this wretched country—
I say wretched because I am thinking
of the Government—the ignorance of the
natives—their bigotry &c. &c.
Five weeks ago or more—I left Beyrout
leaving my family there and came
down to Jaffa with a friend. We were
bound to Jerusalem where we met another
gentleman we had agreed to go to Petra
that strange mysterious city which
few have seen and that few only glanced

[page 4]
at— We secured the services of the best
dragoman in Syria— Michail El Hene.
I told Michail that I wanted to go
to Petra to work to sketch and that
he must arrange it so that I could—
He took two Sheikhs of tribes friendly
to the Petra Bedawins One Robber
chief and one other Arab who bristled
all over with weapons—We had a
train of sixteen camels—two horses—
and twenty one men altogether
We had were about 12 days from
Jerusalem to Petra passing over
terrible and dreary deserts among
tremendous rocks & c &. But we
didnt—starve we had two tents a cook
and waiter—a soup two courses of
meat vegetables a pudding-nuts
figs raisins & oranges and coffee every
day at dinner—other meals to
correspond—From all I could
gather from books and from close
inquiry at Beyrout and Jerusalem
and from inquiry of the last person
who had been there—I learned that
the trip was to a certain extent one of
risk—The Petra Bedawins are entirely
beyond all allegiance to any per power
and do as they please that no one
is allowed to stay more than two days—
That above all things no one is allowed
to sketch alive there—Indeed some
years ago an artist who ventured there
was shot while attempting a sketch
These and other cheerful bits of information

[page 5]
made a rather lugubrious look out for
us still we were in for it and started—
Michail was great and we knew
It—His tact, diplomacy and courage
stood us in good past—I took the
precaution while everyday after we
had stopped to sketch before the
Bedawins of our party, so that they
might get accustomed to the thing
and showed them what I did occasionally
I was constantly sketching too on camel
back—So the fellows soon got quite
used to the see me at work I trusted
to their speaking of it to the Bedawins
at Petra—Finally the last day
before entering Petra arrived we were
right before Mt. Hor on which Aaron
was buried a wild ragged mountain
The next day we started winding up
a gorge we were soon among the most
terrible crags and yawning chasms
I ever saw jagged black rocks
piled up in awful grandeur—We were
lost in amazement—And yet as we
progressed they became still more
terrible—The path wound in and out
and around gradually ascending
until we reached the highest point of
the pass. I sketched a few of the
views selected more with regard to con-
venience than for excellence—
We descended on the other side and
while the train slowly defiled among
the precipices we scrambled up to the

[page 6]
top of Mt Hor—after a short stay we
descended the mountain and commenced
a two hours walk for Petra which is
engulfed among the most tremendous
of these sublime precipices—The
success or non success of our visit
was soon to be decided—The Petra
Bedawins had been forwarned of our
coming for several days-we soon
got among a great number of
tombs cut out of the rocks which
interested us strangely but we hurried
on—surmounted a low ridge and
beheld a valley walled in by lofty
rocks full of Temples and tombs cut
out of the rock itself—And on a small
piece of green in the center our two
white tents like a couple of innocent
mushrooms—we presently reached
them and found a hundred
wild bedawins in a circle all
yelling at the top of their voices and
our old sheikh vainly attempting to
stem the Torrent—Michail finally
stepped in requested the sheikh
to leave the matter to him and shortly
by his inimitable diplomacy all things
were amicably arranged. We had a
good dinner and retired early so as to
have a vigorous days work—The Arabs
were clamoring and jabbering all night
I believe for I heard them until I
went to sleep and then again the first
thing in the morning—at daylight I
made a crevice in the tent and secretly
got two or three sketches before breakfast

[page 7]
determined to have something to take
away—After breakfast four Arabs
were apportioned to us as guides and
guards. I took by largest Portfolio
and got Michail to instruct them not
to disturb me in any way but simply
to attend me stop when I stopped and
progress when I progressed move where I
moved—We went straight to the
famous Khasné first as being the best
of all the Temples at Petra—I saw it
was astonished and then deliberately
opened my three legged stool sat upon
it opened my sketch book spread
out the paper sharpened the pencil
took a square look at the Temple and
an askant one at the Bedawins and
made my first line—They made no
motion, and after a few rapid touches
I felt that the mystery was solved in my
favor—I could sketch without let or
hindrance a freedom unaccorded before—
So now that while the fellows are
warming themselves by a fire of sticks
with their matchlocks resting against
the cliff—we will take a hasty glance
at the Khasné together—
-2- represents a narrow gorge
(drawing of map)
varying from ten feet to 2’
between very lofty
rocks-4 is another
gorge at right angles
and 3 is the Khasné
as you see directly before
the gorge 2- called the sik

[page 8]
The sik was the principle entrance to
the Petra valley so travellers after
traversing for a half mile or more this dark
torturous wild crevice came suddenly upon
the Khasné what effect would be
you can readily imagine when you read
the very rough sketch I shall now give
of the temple itself—
The rock itself is a sheer precipice of
several hundred feet— stained by time
and the weather to a gloomy blackness
Right in this rock blazes a Temple
of a luminous light reddish salmon
color—The rock was hewn out and
pared down so as to present a smooth
perpendicular face and then the Temple
was cut out The natural color of the
rock being the rich red orange that I spoke
of—This temple is about 150 feet
high by 80 feet front—a façade with
vestibule columns &c. There are two
stories The upper being curious and of
a style peculiar to Petra—a divided
pediment and between a circular
Temple like form surmounted by a vase.
The Architecture is Corinthian and is
very rich The capitals are very beautiful
more so than the Roman Corinthian—
The bas reliefs are much worn and
disfigured which is strange for the
capitals and other delicate ornamentation
are as sharp as if just finished—
The columns are five feet in diameter
within are 4 rooms cut out of the
rock the larger at 40 feet square and

[page 9]
40 feet high. These are perfectly plain
without any ornament what ever—
You can imagine this fairy like temple
blazing like sunlight among those
savage black rocks-There are temples
Tombs dwellings &c innumerable about
Petra and the valley is one vast heap
of hewn stones and occasionally the
remains of a temple of squared stones
looms up—I cannot in one letter attempt
to describe Petra—It is wonderful and
yet for Centuries its very location was
unknown—Who built it? —The Bible
tells—It is Edom the inheritance of
Esau—Edom means red—and the rocks
here bear out the name. It was conquered
by various powers—But it was the
object of terrible phop prophesies and
is now the strangest scene of desolation
I ever saw—
There are the most wonderful rock colors
here that I ever saw—The Khasné is
of a pretty uniform but—but usually
the most gorgeous colors blend in waving
stripes, crossed by bars of varied colors tints
The most astonishing effects are
produced, especially in the cuttings
of the Tombs &c—purple shades into
varied tints of red and orange purple
and grey follows the same having
lines perhaps a rich orange blending
into lemon yellow follows with while edging
usually the graded tints of red and
alternate with purple and grey. Certainly
I never saw anything so gorgeous

[page 10]
I made a few rough oil sketches
and some hurried pencil studies but
I have got the thing in my head pretty
clear— We only staid about 2 1/2
days a coming storm of hail and snow-
Our friends who bid us good bye with
lengthened faces and hoped we would
get back safely are surprised at our
success and especially that I was
enabled to sketch—I not only held
my big box of oil freely but the Arabs
insisted on carrying it for me and they
were delighted to watch my work—
We reached Jaffa 4 days ago intending
to take the steamer of the 9th for Beyrout
but a storm prevented the steamer touching
(for there is no harbor here) and we are
waiting for the next in this the dirtiest
and most picturesque of cities—
We are well and have been—I
communicate with my wife by Telegraph
So she knows of my safe return from
Petra—I am anxious to hear how you
and Mrs Palmer and the family married
and unmarried are—how you like the
new house what you are doing &c. &c.
Write immediately and direct to me
care of I. Augustus Johnson
Consul General of the United States
Beirût
Syria
My kind regards to
all
your friend
Frederic E. Church
This is my last sheet
be thankful

[Erastus Dow Palmer Papers, AQ 185, B1, F6]