Morning journal and courier., 1884-07-30
AROUND THE WORLD.

] sssH
 ] A Journey in Northern Palestine
 Robbers-Novel Processions-DVveII- ] CTS in TOmbs-Samarta-So of the | Interesting Incidents Connected With It-DOthan-A Thrilling Night 1 in Jen1n-On the Plain of EsdraeIon l -Jezreel-Naboth,s Vineyard-A Re- l markable Landscape-Dfrty Shunem Main and EndOr-Mount Tabor. ] TIBERIAs, Sea of Galilee, June IS. | To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER
 l One cannot hope to say much of anything about northern Palestine in single newspa-
 per letter, and rather than attempt to cover ! great deal of ground superfcially, I shall simply essay to describe single journey of l two days as typical of the whole. We left
 Nablons, the modern representative of an cient Sheckem, at three o'clock yesterday morning. The journey from Jerusalem l thither had been through wild, desolate country such as would give any Occidental the blues of the most azure description in five minutes. As we emerged from Sheckem the country improved visibly, though still l unworthy of even moiety of gush. The country in that vicinity had a reputation in 1 Bible times for brigandage, and this attrib- l ute seems to have been handed down reli- giously through all the ages. Mr. Floyd pointed out the camping ground where he had pitched the tents of the H. NJ Field party a few years ago. and related to me the circumstances of burglary whereby lady in the party lost several hundred dollars ! worth of jewelry, which was never recovered, and letters of credit for & good many hun dreds of pounds sterling, which were after wards found few rods away from the tent. Of course the articles were stolen by the mil itary guard, and shared with the sheikh or pa sha, so that restitution out of the ques- 1. Il II c-1I.l
 the fields were in many cases armed and that band was always left behind in the village
 to protect it against Bedouin invasion So, also, the shepherds who were driving their fiocks along the road either carried gun
 over their shoulders or picked up rock and
 held it menacingly as we approached.
 At one place couple of men were engaged in harvesting wheat by the roadside. We refined up for a short rest and MT. Floyd in quired in Arabic, ''Is that fine field of wheat yours?" ''Its none of your business whose it is, was the surly reply. We did not stop to barley away further, as both of the rob bers were doubtless armed. The peasants are always courteous because expectant of bucksheesh; while the robbers frankly an nounce their unfriendly character at the out start. The only thing to be done was for MT. Floyd to report the matter at the next village
 The processions of fellahin going to the
 
 quite novel in appearance. Nearly every wo- man carried cradle containing her sleeping infant balanced on her head, unsupported by either hand. In fact the women seemed to do all the lugging of whatever description. The men carried miserable sickles, with which they hacked at tiny handfuls of the grain, but pulled most of the stalks up, roots and all, by means of the left hand. The sheep in some of the fields were almost numberless, and were all equipped with ears from one foot to eighteen inches long.
 Frequently mountains of solid rock were perforated with openings, which Mir. Floyd said were tombs. To this day the natives hew out such mountain tombs in some places. Once or twice I saw people dwelling in these ancient caverns, just as they do in the Pot ters' Field at Jerusalem. Then it flashed upon me what was meant by the passages in the gospels which speak of the two Gada- renes, or Gergesenes, who were possessed of devils and 'Ewore no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs." As I look over across this blue sheet of water to the rocky bluffs on the other side, it all seems as natural as though I were witnessing the cpl sode Even had the men been in full pos session of all their powers they might have dwelt in sepulchral abodes.
 When Ebal and Gerizim had been put ten miles behind reached the hill upon which are the ruins of that storied city, Sa- maria. The hill is isolated and conspicuous, rising by terraces some 500 feet above the level of the encireling valleys The modern village is very insignificant Josephus says that it received it's name of Sebastia from Herod in honor of Augustus The city has been sacked and plundered times without number. Upon it's extreme summit Ahab had his famous ivory palace, and this aero polls constituted the capital of the ten tribes until they were carried captive into Assyria. The modern remains, which are the finest I have seen in the Holy Land outside of Jeru- salem, only date back nominally to the time of Herod, of course; but it is doubtless true that Herod employed much of the material of former ages in creating his splendid struc- lures; in which event the debris represents 8 pre-Herodian antiquity Against the city for it's idolatry Micah and Hosea launched forth the invectives of prophecy: 'EI will make Samaria as heap of the field and plant ings of vineyard and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley and I will dis cover the foundations thereof" 'ESamaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces," etc. There have been numerous literal fulfillments of these predictions. Looking down into the valleys, as we rode around the hill, we frequently discerned broken columns and building rubbish.
 We rode completely around the hill, cir cult of about two miles, tracing the remains of Herod's magnificent colonnade. There were evidently four rows of columns clear around the hill supporting a porch above. The porch has vanished, but great many of the massive columns are still standing. 9th CT pillars are broken in two, lie prostrate or are utilized in the construction of stone walls. We counted nearly one hundred, and MT. Floyd says that the great majority have either been destroyed by the natives or cart ed away to Europe to occupy inches ln mu- seums. The level place at the extreme top of the hill was adorned by sixteen very large columns. It was doubtless in the general enclosure that the great temple of Baal stood, which was utterly destroyed by Jehu, after he had received the heads of Ahab's seventy sons in baskets at the gate of Jezreel, and mercilessly slaughtered all the priests of Baal, as recorded in the tenth chapter of 2d Kings
 It was very near Samaria that Elisha dwelt when the horses and chariot of Naanan, the Damascene leper, halted before the door of his humble home. Now, as then, leprosy holds carnival in Damascus, and is regarded as incurable as it was by the King of Israel, when he rent his clothes under the impress sion that the audacious Naaman was a tool of Benhadad's to pick quarrel with him. Grasping penurious Gehazi was made to in herit the 1eprosy of the Syrian captain, which should cleave unto his seed forever" Per haps some of the modern Nablous lepers are the inheritors of this fearful legacy of Geha- | zi My impression is that it was dreadfully | stupid of Naaman to put confidence in the l word of native like Gehazi. Elisha's per | sistent refusal of gifts must also have been phenomenal.
 What terrible agony there must have been in Samaria during that memorable siege of the indefatigable Benhadad. After having | travelled through the Orient it does not seem at all incredible to me that the people resort ed to doves dung for food, until it actually | became costly luxury ed Kings, 6:25.)
 Not only did Elijah and Elisha work won ders in Samaria, but even the apostles wrought miracles and preached there. The revival which was started by Philip, who | far eclipsed the witcheries exercised by Si- | mon the Sorcerer induced the apostles who | had remained behind in Jerusalem to rein force him by sending Peter and John thither. l Then was the Holy Ghost given which Simon | sought to buy with money the first impulse | of an Oriental when he thinks there is no | chance of getting thing as free gift) We | were shown the ruins of an interesting cathe- 1 dral known as the Church of St. John, in | which it is claimed (preposterously1 the be- | loved disciple met his death. Apart from this foolish assumption, the ruins were arch l itecturally interesting.
 The next site of historical interest which | we passed was the hill where the Biblical Do | than stood There were no traces of modern | Ebo 6oca of 4ba