Sacramento daily record-union., 1884-06-14
IN PALESTINE.
INTERESTING LETTER FROM REV.
DR.. DWINELL.
sketches of Visits to Cities and
Places Made Familiar and
Sacred in Bible History.
Lsnn Francesca Bulletin.l

till YOU come to Samaria. 4ou pass some
of the massive stone works of ancient
workmanship, which are in this land
sure sign of the skill and resources Of the
old Roman. You pass over trails that
would be regarded as intolerable in any of
the wild passes of the American mountains.
You see land the arabic portions of which
are poorly cultivated, and large portions
are the pitiless possession of loose stones |
and rocks. And just now, where it is pos
sible there should be mud, the horses feet |
and knees are sure to ind It.
And the one thing which astonishes a
man who lives in country where, in the
main law and confidence prevail, and
keeps him in perpetual wonderment, is that
you travel through a land in the agricult-
ural districts of which there is not a single
habitation, not the sign of house or tent
or human residence. This utter emptiness
in the farming regions, of homes dotting
the landscape here and there, extends from
the Mediterranean to the Jordan, from
Bethlehem TO Damascus, from the Dead
Sea TO Beirut. There are vineyards wheat
fields, barley fields, olive trees, tig trees,
men even blowing and sowing, and women
carving water-pots on their heads through
Inc IlpltlS Dill llOl plCC W llNS III III lllC
open country. The people all have their
homes in villages. They will go miles to
work in the day or to collect bundle of
sticks from the mountain side but they
will not on any consideration intrust their
families and their defenseless homes and
treasures to the
MERcILEss OPEN COUNTRY.
No one visible fact could more clearly
symbolize the universal sense of public in
security and distrust And this feeling is
not directed to ones neighbor and ac-
ouaintances but to the unknown man. In
fact the people of the Orient are very con-
fiding and truStful to their own circles &;
much more so than we of the Occident
They will huddle together in their villages
and leave their goods exposed TO one an
other without any fear. We saw in crowd
ed streets baZaars full of articles for SALE
the owners of which had left them with
only the protection of curtain in front,
only partially concealing the trinkets which
one might brush against in passing, They
are suspicious of the strangers who roam
over the country, among whom may be
marauders, against whom the Government
affords no protection. In despair of the
Government they huddle together, like
frightened sheep, and find their security i'll
their numbers and confidence in one an
other No other sight more wildly i'm
presses on an American the advantages of
living in a country in which the humble
citizen may build his home where ahiS
land is-anywhere in the mountains, or
valleys, or plains of the frontiers, and feel
that, alone and weak as he is, he is shield
ed by the genius of law and order, which
broods over the whole republic and makes
his home his castle, and his family and
DOSSeSSiOQS almost uniformly safe.
TOMB OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Amid such scenes and reyeries you at
length reach a point from which you see
Samaria resting on the upper part of high
conical hill rising up out of surrounding
narrow valleys. ~ sharp climb brings you
TO the remains of an old mosque which
had previously been a church erected over
the place where the remains of John the
Baptist we're first deposited, and you de-
scend into the deep vault cut in the rock,
which marks the supposed spot. 4 short
ride from here around the upper part of the
conical HILL which at this elevation may
have been a half-mile in diameter, and
turning to the left, you enter the remains OF
the splendid colonnade and cripto-porticO
of Ahab. Several pillars are still standing,
Others are lying on the ground, and others
and many fragments are built into modern
stone walls This colonnade was built 900
wards long, and must have been a mag
nificent sight. On the opposite side of the
summit are similar pillars, many standing,
marking the position of the royal palace.
Descending from the hill is the sight of two
theaters, one above the other, formed by
excavating the sides Of a steeply descending
ravine and levelng an arena at the bottom.
The row of pillars back of the stage, OF the
upper and larger theater, is still standing.
These are supposed to he relics of the
Roman period and the reign of Herod. 1t
is clear that these two voluptuous kings,
Ahab and Herod, had fine eve for the
beautiful and picturesque in the selection OF
sites on which to lavish their wealth.
WATER CARRIERS AND wAsHERwoMEN.
We lunched near a large fine spring above
Jeba, under a zig tree Women from the
village nearly mile below were washing
clothes at the spring or carrying water III
large Jars nicely balanced on their heads
down to their homes They have been
coming to this spring for these purposes,
doubtless, for thousands Of years, when a
small outlay al any one time would have
enabled them 10 build IN aqueduct, bring
ing the water TO their doors. Hardly less
prodigal is their method of washing clothes.
They dip them in the cold stream. lay them
on a fiat rock, and with another smooth
stone or club pound them, turning and
rinsing them meanwhile, and it is done,
A TURKISH REGIMENT IN CAMP.
We spent the night at Senin, ancient En-
Gannin having passed on our left the
peaceful little valley of Dothan, where Jo-
seph went in his coat of many colOrs to
visit his brethren. At Jenin we found the
best camping-grOuud occupied by hundreds
of small tents. Ii proved to be a regiment
Il 4 .
mascus to Jerusalem, with their trains of
baggage and munitions moved by pack
camcls They entertained us greatly by
the novel sights strange noises and really
sweet music with which their bands whiled
away the evening hours Early in the
morning We saw the picturesque vision dis
solve The tents disappeared; the bugle
notes sounded the bands one after an
other struck up a lively march; the sol
diers fell into iine in piatoons, and the long
procession of Camcls, soldiers and persons
on horses. with several women concealed
in palanQuns on the backs OF mules, wound
its way over the plains and soon disap-
peared behind the hills. leaving rs alone
on the edge OF the great plain of Jezreel
THE PLAIN OF JEzREEL.
The day following is a memorable one.
The plain which we uaversed or stirted all
the daY Is SlIlGUHly magnificent one.
There is nothing that equals il in all Pales-
tine Ii is by far the largest; it is bOunti-
full productive, free from stones. and is
surrounded by historic mountains. The
main valley is go feet below the level of
the sea and has no outlet. Different parts
of il have different names, as the part in
front of Jezreel is named after that place,
and another large portion IS called the
plain of MiZddo, l. G., The Great Plain
bat the name Esdraelon is now applied as
the general designation Of the whole.
THE BROOK or KIsHRoN.
We passed northward across it 70 Jezreel.
in doing 20 We rode over Iittle stream,
now only yard or two wide and flowing
with a reluctant and impercepubie current,
and were astonished to find that this is all
there is of the Kishron, and more than
there generally ofthat historic stream. The
town Jezreel risesu outof this plain hkean