The Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1870-1875, 1870-11-24
a WESTERN GLANCE AT EASTERN
6CESES.
Palestine. its cities and lls PeOpl

Palestine, It's Cities and its People
EEw HkRsroNY, IND, Aug. 10Th, 1870.
Hessrs. Editors;
Having just returned from a leo
turing tour, undertaken by the direc-
ton Of the Trustees Of the Indiana
State University. / now enclose a
letter chiefly on Palestine. Before
entering On details. permit me to sug-
gsst to your readers. as I did to my
audience, frequently, when present.
ing this subject. the very efficient
means By which the evidence, regard
ing most of the sacred places about
to be described. was obtained and
preserved.
Helena, the mother Of Constantine,
after residing 10 a palace near Treves
or Trier, one of the points at which
the Prussiaus are now massing their
forcess being a deVout Christian, Wis
tied the Holy Land, for the purpose
Of identifying, as far as praetible, the
most sacred and interesting places.
This journey took place A. D. 326,
when she was still able 90 avail her
self Of the evidence offered by such
dsvout and learned christians as
Eusebius, as he did not die until six
teen years later. Only ten years in
ter7ened between the birth Of Fuse
bus and the death of the great chris
tan Father, Origon, Of Alexandria,
who died at Tyre, so that there could
be little difficulty in finding living wit
nesses as we'll as the records written
by such learned men; and 0rigen, IN
his time, lacked only eighteen years
OF living at the same time with Poly
carp. who as himself a disciple Of
job the Evangelist, an eyewitness
o. nearly everything that mainly con-
cerned the life Of our Saviour. Thus
| the chain Of evidence is almost m
broken, while passing through three
/ individuals, between the eye witness
John and the pi0us Lady Helena,
who had chapels erected TO marx all
the most interesting localities. These
/ either remain, or were replaced by
others now standing, which we're
erected on the same spot, so that IN
many places the exact locality IS
( identified, while IN others il cannot
/ vary more than q rod or two, except
! disputed points, such as Cana, Of Gal
lice, Tell Hatlin and QaaFaesris.
/ DR.. Thompson recently in his Land
/ aud Book, has very ably described
the most prominent places, manners
and customs, plants and animals, of
Palestine, as many other di5tin-
guished writers had previously done.
/ Perhaps little that is new remains 60
be said. nevertheless, each traveller
/ views these scenes from q standpoint
/ somewhat different from that aOcu-
I pied by his predecessor, q sd sees OBJ
I iects under, occasionally, rev phases
I hence I hazard Q few remarks. Pal
! estine, exclusive of Syria, although
/ only about one hundred and forty
miles long, aud forty TO fifty miles
vide, must always be a country OF
/ special interest to the christian from
/ its being the geographical centre
round which many Of the earliest his
( torical records cluster, but especially
from its being the theatre Of the great
\ gents upon which are founded mis-
faith and his hope.
Before entering Palestine We have
at least Two points Of interest; one Of
these is the noted
STDON.
Notwithstanding Our having 3 late
/ start from Beirut, We reached Sidon
soon after dark, eZpeditiBg our arri-
val by good long gallop on the sands
although the usual travelling gait is a
/ quick walk, and next morning had an
l opportunity to examine this ancient
I city. which is first mentioned IN the
/ 10Th chapter of Genesis, being prOba-
bly, named after 8 great-grandson OF
N oah.
On the route to this city we passed q
number Of stone collins, or ssrcophagi,
/ and were almost within sight of the
residence Of the late eccentric Lady
/ Hester Stanhope, We could also dis
tinguish the promOntOry Of Mt.
/ Carmel in the distance. Sidon sent
out the colony which founded Tyre,
and at one time divided with her the
entire empire of the sea. According
/ to tradition, = vas also the coast NJ
On which lhe prophet aonah was
, thrown. Ills nov g town Of no CREST
Importance, although il bns g pretty
GOOD bazaar, AID carries or some
/ trade - fruits. The bananas OF this
region axe noted. Sponses are OBJ
tanned on this coast, chiefly by diving,
t sometimes using the a1Ving bell
picked up, On the shore. specimens Of
! the genera OF SHELLS, I0l8Hm &1.aT1uDB.
TugBo. FoAcQ. P0ts u, sad some
bi7alves Of tie family cf NeneTGeIr
Small crabs we're also pursHa6 bV as
here on hieh and dry ground but
usually made their escape by rapid
si5eione u9Femeut.
o. oar ray TO tyre We touched
rear cagef a the ancient AareDhathy
here tue wid0W'5 5arrel Of neal
vested rot, aud her CRUISE az OF failed
not, sndSThere Elijah lagl.y TestCFea
her 500 % Tie, e. detailed ln I Kings,
xFlI Chapter Here So saw S new
ls5 Of oriental lie z square basin
IS lone bad been r4Is8a and enclosed
rannd q spEing 0r fountain sad a
1r buiit Gloss 6g, With Deusa
sr nvsr Clio basin. AZ this place
sea and, atta had 1alsa-
wa left .Tanel,lr arrived
Tor earUa end aE afslly,
~ thcnf gr spells Sc.
"a oN slippers. de-
a M a1, an6 Tollad