The New York herald., 1879-12-30
GENERAL MOVES IN PALESTINE.

DANGERS OF BATHING IN THE DEAD SEA-
ADVENTURES OF THE GENERAL AND HIS
PAMLY-TURkIsH REFORMS.
JAFPA. Dec. 8. 1879.
General Noyes and party arrived this morning
from Jerusalem. and leave for Cairo tomorrow.
hastcned to congratulate them their return. for
strange rumors OF the narrow escape from death Of
some of the party had reached The General
cordially received me and said. The ladies' are rest
ing. owing to fatigue and Mrs. Noyes especially has
become quite wornout from tho excitement and
care consequent upon the dangerous illness of the
maid. which was caused by her swallowing great
quantity Of the acrid water of the Dead Sea-"
"How did it happen, General?"
"why. we had. on the whole. very pleasant jour
ney. The weather was magnificent. and reaching
the Dead Sea Miss Stevens and the maid took bath
in 1t. My son had been in and found how buoyant
the water was-that he could not sink, and no dam
ger was anticipated. The maid went in some dis
tance. and somehow or other lost her footing and
fell. and her head went under and feet uppermost.
She struggled desperately and was terribly fright
ened. swallowing quantities Of water. Miss Stevens
lected and endaavored to pull her up. She sue
ceeded In turning her over and got her by the
but was clutched by the maid and pulled over.
She then screamed for help, and dragoman, FL
Hany. and muleteer at once went to their assist
alarmed and swallowed no water, but the poor maid
did, aud the result has been that both lungs
inhamed and she is dangerously i'll. We were de-
tanned in Jerusalem on her account. We however
shall take her with US to Cairo, which, the doctor
says is the best place for her. Fortunately we had
Q sedan chair with US. in which carried her to
Jerusalem.
EvKSTFuL youRNEYsL
This incident apart, continued Mr.. Noyes,
"our journey was . continual source Of delight to
me. On starting from Jerusalem We had the three
cort who exerted themselve to please us They
ran their horses. hurled spears. frod guns, and
never in my life had seen anything to equal their
Bedaween mon and women came and exhibited their
sword dance aud gave war cries. In fact.
from the Dead Sea we fell in with o long
string Of twenty or more mules laden with
sssv ss sssv ~hsn ssex BY our escort
animation 1t proved to be salt they were smuggling.
Our sheikhs hnding but few men in charge OF it.
Upon this. one of the salt smugglers to
neighboring hill and shouted. In few minutes
places Of concealment. and. finding our party too
strong to attack. on before to the brow of
mn s1 which overauns 81 the road % and began to hurl
sheikh three times. and by dint OF shouting and
stone throwing they managed at last to get the
mules clean away The sight Of the fray revived old
times and was for firing upon them, but FL Hany
wouldn't have It. the responsibility was too much
for him. Down at the fords of the Jordan saw
great number Of fine camels. some Of them huge
fellows. never yet accustomed to burdens; they
were the largest had seen. and looked more
Like elephants than anything else"
TURKISH REFORMS
what is your opinion. General. OF the talk of
Turkish reforms; you have been now several weeks
IN the country and must have attained some knowl-
edge OF the state of affairsY
"Haven't particle Of faith in reforms" said
the General; under the present government they
are an impossbity, and spoke very frankly to all
pachas and officials whom met, telling them that
1t was hopeless to expect the country to flourish
under system OF bribes and robbery, and the only
way to progress was to put end to 1t At and
encourage agriculture and commerce. AS matters
now were they could not expect the people to seek
improvements when they can't be sure of anything
they make or own, and at any time may lose their
hard earned money by exactions and also be robbed
with impunity by thieves and vagabonds who thrive
under the administration. In every instance the
pachas admitted the truth of my observations and
said they willing do their best, but they had
bad subordinates. They were honest. others bad
DC. The only remedy. in my candid opinion. Is to
take the management OF the country entirely out of
their hands and place 1t under other rulers who will
that justice s carried out. else all talk of re-
forms Is q sheer sbsurdity.''
General Noyes has recently come from Constan-
ttnople; has visited Damascus, and Beirut and Jeru-
salem; has seen, in fact what Sir Henry LayArd has
seen, and the foregoing Is his deliberate judgment.
1t should be well pondered by those statesmen who
during the past thirty-ive years have connfved at
and in tact have helped to bring about this state Of
affairs.