Jericho

1926
November

Ancient Jericho is situated on the western shore of the Dead Sea, surrounded by irrigated gardens and palm trees. To the south ^[1] the beautiful Gilboa mountains with slopes of different colours, mainly dark brown and gloomy, can be seen. All around is a lifeless desert. Only occasionally are there a few plants, e.g. the peculiar small crown flower (Calotropis procera) with inflated fruits ^[2] and the original ‘cucumbers of the prophets’, also called ‘gooseberry gourds” (Cucumis prophetarum). These are the size of small plums and covered with thorns and, although edible, they are not tasty but somewhat salty. ^[3] This is all the vegetation on these yellow clayey or sandy expanses.

Notes:

1. Another huge geographical mystery, possibly one to ignore. The Gilboa mountains (more properly a long ridge) are about 65 km north of ancient Jericho. What, then, were these mountains Vavilov noted to the south? Judea?
   Picture from World of Steroviews. [↩]
2. Although he mentions the inflated fruits, Vavilov does not apparently allude to the Apple of Sodom’s ability to “dissolve into smoke and ashes”. [↩]
3. The Wikipedia entry says bitter rather than salty. [↩]