Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-06-28
TIE TRUTH ABOUT PALESTINE.
The Country safe. Fertile. and Rela-
lively Very Prosperous-Jewi-h Far


Correspondence Of the New York Sun.
HAIFA, May Is Considering the
number of tourists, both American and
EnglisE, who annually visit the Holy
Land, ! have been much struck with
the erroneous impression which still
continues to prevail in regard to its
availability az field of colo1iz alton,
and as an opening for foreign enterprise
and capital.
For some time past discussi on has
been taking place in the Jewish papers
on both sides of the Atlantic, in which
the merits of Palestine from thispoint OF
view have been canvassed, and can
only account for the extraordinary
inaccuracies which have characterized
the arguments OF the disputants by the
superstition that they have derived
their information from sources which,
owing to the change which have taken
place in the country during the last
few years, may now be considered
obsolete. A remarkable illustration OF
this has lust come to my notice in the
account which DR.. Thomson gives OF
THE PLAIN OF EsDRAELoN
in his well-known work, the Lind
and the Book" which fully deserves
the high reputation it enjoys, and which
when it was published, twenty-three
years ago, presented a mort faithful
picture of the Holy Land and its in
habitants. That anybody who now took
this work SIS an authority upon the
actual condition of many parts of the
country would be most wofully misled,
may best be judged of from a short
extract of what ne says OF the Plain OF
E,draelon, on the borders of which
have been living for the last six months,
and comparing it with the result of my
own observation.
"The Bedouins resort here" be re-
marks, with Their hoclzs and camels,
and the whole OF Esdraelon will be
shortly abandoned to them. Their sys-
tenn OF desolation is worked out in this
fashion: they pitch their tents in the
vicinity of a village and in such mum
bers as to bid defiance to the inhabi-
tants. OF course their oamels and
focks roam over the unfe. ced plain,
and devour a large part of the grain
while growing; and when ii Isl ripe, they
either steal it or compel the farmers to
present them with a heavy percentage
rs the price Of their protection. From
the village Itself chickens, eggs, sheep,
cows, and even horses disappear and
can never be recovered. Many of the
inhabitants soon move off to escape
from their annoyances, and the village
being thereby weakened, the Arabs
provoke quarrel, some one is wounG-
ed or killed, and the place is
gACRFD Or pTfpNEp
The end aimed at is nov reached, and
the land belongs henceforth to tho law
less Ishmaelite. In ten years there
will not be an inhabited village IN Es-
draelOn unless this wretched work Is
checked and even now it is unsafe to
traverse this noble domain in any di-
rection, and everybody goes armed
and prepared to repel force by force.
But q small portion OF the plain Is I'M
der cultivation. The lower end is not
more than six miles wide, and mo OF
1t is too wet and fiat for cultivation, but
the Arabs delight in it, particularly in
winter, and it is even now dotted over
with their black tabernac!es. Over
grown with thistles and long grass, it i.
the favorite haunt of the gaZelle." and
so forth.
Your readers will be surprised tC
learn, in the face of this description
that almost every acre Of the plain o
Esdraelon is at this moment in the
highest state of cultivation; that, Sc
far from plundering and desDoiling vii
lagos, the few Bedouins, whose black
tabernacles are now confined to the
southern margin of the plain, have, II
their turn, become tho plundered anC
despoied, for they are all reduced t,
the position of being subject to inexor
able landlords who charge then exor
bitantly for the land which they occu
Ply, and for which they pay in hare
cash, under penalty of instant election
which is ruthlessly enforced, Sc tina
the inhabitants Of the villages. wi d
which the plain is now dotted, live il
perfect security, though more thai
twenty years have elapsed since it wa
predicted that Gin ten years more ther
would not be an inhabited village j
Esdraelon." 1t looks to-day like
A HUGE GREEN LAKE OF WAVING WHEAT
with its village crowned mounds risin
from it like islandsr and it present
one of the most striking pictures c
luxuriant fertility which it is possibl
to conceive.
When, therefore, l read the othe
day, as an argument why colonie
should not be established in this pal
of Galiee, description of the DANCE,
which would attend any such exper
ment, was amazed at the temerity {
the assertion, until recognized soma
of the phrases above quoted, whic
must be my excuse for making the e.
tract. But as so much attention is jui
now devoted to the consideration of th
agricultural capabilities of Palestine,
think it only rigkt that the delusior
y which evidently continue 10 exist on th
subject should be dissipated with 8
little delay as possible. The fact is thu
nearly the whole plain of E.craelon
divided between two great proprietor
the Sultan himself, who has recent
acquired a great part of the easter
portion of it, and the Sursocks, th
richest bankers in Syria, who are res
dent in BeyrOut and who own nearl