St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-08-13
Travels in the East.

EoHi0r Of tie fdIo,ioHi0H To travel
constantly Is L" work hard. If | had
MARKED less | should have written
more. for it is Il pleasure to commune
cate Ia others impressions of persons
and things >crm IN travel. The world
is to" beautiful. national customs are
To-" entertaining. local myths. trIditinn>
ami histories are too interesting to lie
observed and studied and enjoyed alone
And yet. ~ II l. out of place to talk
white one is eating. So it seems hardly
the thing To write while one l. travel
ing. Resting here tor IA few dakS
nave IN opportunity of writing you Of
some things have seen.
When wrote YOU last | Na> in
Egypt. Sin weeks of beautiful weather
We're spent in Palestine. Jerusalem.
with lis cncicling hills and villages
field OF Joseph. its twin mountains Ehal
and GeIiZIm: Nazareth. the home of
Jesus : the sea of GaIilce with the ruin
eel cities on its shore Mount llermon
with its snow covered summit Mount
Lebanon. with It's guodly cedalS Da-
ma>cuS. with lis memories of Paul: the
land OF Blshan, with its giant cities
liaalhrk. with its imposing ruins. and
BcNIout with its American institutions
all these and many other places in the
Holy Land were visited during my
horseback ride of five hundred and fifty
has been. gives the charm to travel in
that sacred land. The sight OF con
tending >rctS IN the church of the HOLY
ScpulclIrc at Jerusalem in the Greek
Easter week. and attendance upon IL
Samaritan service full of SupcrstitiorIs
rites performed III the shadow of Mount
Gcrizim. led me to feel that the time
has come "Whcn neither in this noun
tain non Vet at Jerusalem" shall the
true w"rshlprlS of the Father he found
And when the glad liding> of great Joy
reached me from my native town and
my adopted state. | felt that ''thc hour
romcth and now is when the true wor-
shippers III every land shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth
The land of Baslam. as it is called in
the Bible. has seldom been visited hy
tourists. hecause. until quite recently.
it has been dangerous to enter it. Ii
lies south of Damascus. and east of the
upper Jordan and sea OF Galilce Even
now the tourist in visiting il is obliged
To procure Il guard of two natives. either
Bcdouin Arabs or Druzrs. This guard
we were unable ia obtain at Librrias.
ami 81 we could not visit the southern
cities of Kcnath and Bozrah and their
We did. however. visit Il
few ot the most northern cities of
Basllan and were we'll repaid for our
time and trouble. The region il usual
~ spoken of a. the Hauran. In the
third chapter of Deuteronomy it is
called the land OF Bashan. In this
region are ancient cities. which have
been deserted for five hundred Years.
The cities. rs such. are in ruins. but
many of the houSeS are standing in al
most perfect condition. These houses
were erected not less than two thousand
Years ago. ~ tablets on some of them
show. and Vet they give no signs of
decay. In fact they are built in Il man
ner Ia make decay almost impossible.
The material USED is black hasalt. The
walls ale from five To eight feet in
thicki,e>>. The floors the ceilings. the
roof. are composed of long thick slabs
of stone. Even the doors and window
shutters are OF stone. with projections
at top and bottom fitting into sockets
"t stone for hinges. These doors are
still swinging on their hinges lust AZ
they did tw" Thousand Years ago. We
entered some of these houses. and into
one great temple whose shrine>. once
c"nSeclated To pagan divinitieS, have
long been deserted. By some if j.
claimed that these cities is we now So.
them We're the homes of the giants of
Bashau, of whom Og was king in the.