The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1884-08-08
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en- his faish. Having Arrived &c / stats
Of mind. ili1 reaAoa othahl Iszs
perisnees Whereby I xas prepared for
anything, and having besn forewarned
u 70 the disappointing nature of, the
oonntry, Twas able TO endsxs xil con-
siderable composure the dbodh1Gsts Of
the journey. At this time of the year
most people make the trip Of forty miles
during the night; but I wanted to see
the country, whstever the heat Of the
sun, and 80 went in the day. The
trip has to he made in rickety, un-
covered wagon, drawn by three horses
harnessed abreast. Emerging from the
orange and lemon groves Of Jaffa we
proceeded to cross the Plain Of Sharon,
the greatest plain In vi this country,
immeaaurablys superior to Me plains 81
Tyre, 6idon and even EsdEaeloG The
plain appeared to be quite fertile, and
wheat and barley fields strstch On eth
or side ofrthe aroad&as far as the eye
could reach. As the codntfyKrew more
hilly we could see large Aocks Of sheep;
goats. camels, asses and cows grazing
in the pastures, just as they are repre-
sented rs doing in I. Chronicles, xvii,
70. In some places the fellahin were
ploughing. A single man can carry on
his shoulders whole set of those ma
tive farming utensils, including plough,
yoke, bows and ox-goad. The plough
is wooden, with the exception Of q sin
gle iron point like the fuke of 0 small
anchor. It has but one handle, as an
ancient times Luke, ix., 82), and il the
man who is guiding the plough looks
around for q moment the whole thing
dops over. The yoke is small,
straight, round pole, with straight
sticks in each end, which go down on
each side of the neck of the OK, and are
tied with asmall string under the throat.
The ox-goad is from eight to ten feet
long, armed with sharp piece of iron
at one extremity which is used for
cleaning the plough, and spear at the
other extremity for prodding the OK.
In time of riots the natives use the OK
goad as weapon just as they did In the
time of Shamgar; but I havesnot heard
of anyhody's doing as much mischief
with the goad in these modern times as
Shamgar did.
We met great cavalcades of ragged
looking camels on the way. and over
took some bound for Jerusalem loaded
with American coal-oil. I saw one poor
camel loaded with heavy stoves. For
the first twelve miles Icounted the cam
els, and then stopped because it was too
hard work. Thenumber was above 300.
Twelve miles out Of fJafta We reached
Ramleh, an enterprising modern village
Of about 4 600 inhabitants, BY all odds
the largest town between Jaffa and Je-
rusalem. Owing to the constant inter
course with pilgrims and European
travellers, the village has assumed q
more modern metropolitan aspect than
any other town OF it's size in Palestine.
Most of the European countries have
consular agents stationed there. New
ertheless, there is a tremendous amount
Of filth lying about in the lAind alleys,
just - there is in all these cities of the
Holy Land. In the suburbs I inspected
some miserable mud novels, and won
dered If it were such as those in which
the apostles were won't to dwell. Each
house consisted of one room, made out
Of plaster and sticks, without windows.
The whole family dwells, eats, cooks
and sleeps in this single unsavory apart
ment. In winter manure is heaped
about the hut to keep it warm, and the
cattle are admitted to the interior. The
floor which the family then occupies is
something like two feet higher than
that upon which the. cattle stand. the
managers being constructed along the
separating line. e II thus happens that
q mangcr is avery convenient place in.
which to cradle an infant, snd people
here tell me that it is quite common
things to see infants thus Graded.
At regular intervals on either side of
the road, perhaps three or five miles
apart, were barracks where Turkish SOL
diers were stationed to guard the high
way. Palestine is full Of robbers. The
Bedouins, or wandering Arabs, are pro-
fessionals. The Turkish soldiers and
officials are worst of all.
We rode on through country bar
rem of everything except scriptural as
sociations, though rich indeed in them.
Our last halt for resting the horses was
made in valley ut the foot of the last
mountains prior to reaching Jerusalem.
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