The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1854-04-08
Irereus Letters from Palestine.
ESCAPE FEuM Til. ARABS.

l. .
The assurance we received at Beyrout thai
the countrv was quiet. and trayelin. in Sv-
ria and Palestine >ai;. as usual. proved TO be
sadly I. fault We had not been dav ON
our journey before We found that the Arabs
were in commo.ion and that great caution
would be necessary on our rart. if We prose
cucd our design Of rcachia.iycf,>aj M
OF the adventures o' tie frs. six IavS and
nights | shall not at present write. We
reached Nazareth The sccnc of The Saviour'>
childhood: village IN soft, secluded val,
surrounded hv hills, over wlirh The holy
child Jesus must have wandered often :nu>inr
on the great future. bearing about even then
in his body the diving which he at last ac
comp!i>hcd on Calvary. ! love Children
and perhaps for this, loved N1arcth the
more. and :hc scenes on which the Young
Messiah locked so often: where he was a
comfort to his gentle mother and filed her
heart with wonder at the strange words of
wisdom from his infant lips.
Bnt here ut Nazareth we lcarnr,! that a
civil war had broken ont in Palestine two
families, Ion" hostile, had seized the present
as a favorable moment to revive an ancient
tcu1. and to fight it ont when the government
has higher aim than the settlement of a
rcttcy quarrel between rival chicftains of
harharous tribes They had called uron the
Hcdawins over .Jordon to rive their bloody
aid, and these men. The terror of the moun-
tain, the desert and the plain, were haunting
the roads, plunlering the traveller. burnin4
villages. numbering men and women. and
filling the land with cenfssion and di~mav
To return was dangerous, lut we were As
surcd We might pursue our Journey two da,
farther to NabIous, without much apprclcn
sion. as the Bcdawins were chiefly beyond
1t would be wise to take an escort Of two o
three armed men, whose presence would.prc
vent an attack, although it would be impos
siblc to resist eilcctually in case we encounter
' cd a large body Of robbers Yielding to thi
counsel, we first engaged two men who ha
> often acted as guards for travelling partic.
one OF them Shcikh of decided charactc
} who agreed to conduct US to Jerusalem. I
these We soon added a third, and under til
$ protection we lett the Latin Convent on
bright morning in January. Ascending tn
hills thai surround the town, after followin
pass for some distance to the south, W
stood upon a height that commanded wild
and magnificent view of the great battl
, plain of Es'lraclon. Mount Carmel strct h,
. to the sea On our right, Mount Tabor rise
domclikc on our left, Gilboa and the lesse
llcrmon arc before us, and such throne O,
Scriptural and sacred association come o
the soul, as no spot Of earth On which I ha
cvor stood could awaken and gather. Her,
after | viii speak of thcm-of Elijah an
Elisha; of Deborah and Barak, and Si>er
! fleeing before them with his chariots of iron
OF Saul and Jonathan slain on the h;u
places of Israel; of the Shunamitc moth,
and her dead boy revived; OF Jcsrcel an
Jazabel and the vineyard of Naboth. an
!, host Of persons and scenes in ancient an
: even in modern history: for here on this Yer
plain Napoleon fought pitched battle wit
|, the Mamc!ukes. Now We descend and Gro,
: this plain, day s journey, and in the mid
CT it party OF Ecdawins riding in sinyi
5 file rcconnoitrc US from a n.ount; on wL;c
were the ruins Of village. With their lon
S spears glittering in the sun, and their CUR
swung over their shoulders. they were form;d
= at!e in appearance, but our par,v. no,
seventeen in number, with more than tw.ut
T: horses and mule, was not to be attache
i without danger, and they did not come ,ca