Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-02-20
Gen. N0yes in Jerusalem.


morning from Jerusalem. and go on to
Cairo tomorrow. Rumors of the mar.
row escape from death Of some OF the
party had reached US, and I went
promptly 10 make inquiries. The
General said: 1.-THE ladies' are resting
from their fatigue. and Mrs. Noyes
especially is worn out from the excite
ment and care consequent upon the
dang ,rous illness Of the maid, which
was caused by her swallowing q great
quantity OF the acrid waters Of the
Dead Sea-"
"How did it happen. General?"
"Why, we had, on the whole, very
pleasant journey; the weather was
magnificent. and on reaching the Dead
Sea. Miss Stevens, my cousin, and the
maid took bath in it. My son had
been in and found how buoyant the
water was, that he could not sink, and
no danger was anticipated. The maid
or other, lost her footing and fell. and
her head went under and her feet went
up. She struggled desperately and
was terribly frightened. swallowing
quantities of water. Miss Stevens
bravely went to her assistance. She
succeeded in turning her over, and
seized her by the shoulder, for you can
not sink in the dense water, but was
clutched by the maid and pulled over.
She then screamed for help, and our
dragomar and muleteer at once went
to their assistance and brought them
out. Miss Stevens was not alarmed
and swallowed no water, 6nt the
poor maid did, and the result has been
that both her lungs are inhamed and
and she is dangerously ill. We were
detained in Jerusalem on her account.
However, we shall take her to Cairo,
which the doctor says is the best place
for her. Fortunately we had a sedan
chair with us, in which we carried her
to Jerusalem.
This incident apart, our journey
was a continued source of delight to
me. My son, a youth of fourteen, who
has never been accustomed to riding,
enjoyed the novelty exceedingly. His
horse was fine animal, and he soon
got to understand his management, and
ran races with the Arabs; in fact, had a
good time.
"On starting from Jerusalem We had
with US three principal Sheikhs of the
Jordan district and an escort, who
exerted themselves to please us. They
ran their horses, hurled spears, and
fred guns; and never in my life had
seen anything to equal their agility in
managing their steeds. Down at Jeri-
cho, Bedouins, men and women, came
and exhibited their sword dances, and
gave war cries; in fact, we were intense
" amused and delighted. On return
!, ing from the Dead Sea, we fell in with
a long string of twenty or more mules
| laden with salt. When questioned by
our escort, the drivers said they had
barley, but on examination it proved to
be salt they were smuggling. Our
| Sheikhs, finding few men in charge of
it, drove the animals before us, intend
ing to seize it. Upon this, one of the
salt smugglers ran to o neighboring hill
and shouted; in few minutes about a
hundred men were seen running up
from places of concealment, and finding
our party too strong to attack, ran on
before us to the brow of hill which
overhung the road, aud began to hurl
stones down at our escort, and the
| IOuukoI 0uCAAh WI neA uOA ohtOC eAIAOCS
and by dint of shouting and stone
throwing they managed at last to get
the mules away. The sight OF the fray
revived old times, and was for firing
upon them, but our dragoman wouldn't
allow 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 accustomed yet to burdens.
They were the largest I had ever seen,
and looked more like elephants than
camels."
"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 knowledge
of the state of affairs? ?"
~ haven't q particle of faith in
reforms Under the present govern
ment they are an impossibility, and l
spoke very frankly to all Pashas and
officials whom I met, telling them that
it was hopeless to expect the country to
flourish under system of brides and
robbery, and that the only way to ad-
vance was to put an end to it at once
and encourage agriculture and com.
mefCo. AS maCtcTb uOW dTos lu0y COuAeA
not expect the people to seek improve.
ments 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 Psshas admitted
the truth of my observations, and said
they were willing to do their best, but
they had bad subordinates - they
themselves we're honest, others bad,
etc. The only remedy, in my candid
opinion, is to take the management of
the country entirely out of their hands
and place it under other rulers who will
see that justice is carried out; else all
talk of reforms is sheer absurdity."
| Gen. Noyes has recently come from
Constantinople, has visited Damascus,
Beirut, and Jerusalem-has seen, in
fact, what Sir Henry Layard has seen
and the foregoing is his deliberate
judgment.-Letter from Jaffa in the
N. Y. Tribune.
Why does tbs old memory ever come
4 Al