Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-07-19
ADAYIN JOPPA.
One of the Oldest Cities in the World.

One Of the Oldest Cities in the World.
Landing at Joppa, DR.. Geikie begins
his observations at once. Joppa is one
of the oldest cities in the world. ard the
first possible landing place as one said
northward from Egypt. Yet there is diff
ficulty in landing. Reefs OF rocks de.
fend the shore, the bay is shallow. sharks
are not unknown, and the coast is much
exposed. Your vessel anchors half q mile
out at sea, and a throng of fiattish- bot
toned coolies soon surround the ship to
carry .passeng ers through the opening in
the reefs to land. A babel of cries, I'm
intelligle to western ears, fills the air; but
by degrees the motely crowd of dock
passengers, of the most varied national
tiles, yelled women, shawl covered Arabs,
black NubiEnS with their led fezes, brown
Levantines, turbaned Syrians, or Egyp-
tlans with their flowing robes OF all
shades, all drift by degrees INTO the
boats, and for & time at least you see the
last of their red or yellow slippers, and
hear their noisy jargon no more. Then
you, who have shrunk possibly from this
crushing crowd of orientals, have your
turn, and the skilful and strong armed
oarsmen whisk you through the opening
In the reefs across the shallow harbor
and then suddenly, when you are twenty
or thirty yards off shore, you are seized
and carried In the bare arms or on the
back of a boatman through the shallow
water to the tumbled- down old quay built
of stone from the rufus of Cesarea, and
at last you find yourself tregding on the
soil of the Holy Land.
Not very dignifed entrance, perhaps,
but the boats could not approach closer,
and you have Jared no worse than the
bead-eyed Greeks Or the hook-nosed Ro-
mans did thousands of years ago? At
one period Venice organized a spring
and autumn packet-service (how strange
~ modern that sounds) to Joppa and
built mole to protect the shipping; but
since the reign of the "unspeakable
Turk" everything has relapsed into
state of nature. And so from the earli-
est times Phoenician and Egyptian, Rom
an and Crusader, English and American,
all have to acknowledge the power Of the
treacherOus waters.
Pursuing our way through the street,
we find it rough enough. Once paved,
the stones have long since risen or sunk
above or below their proper level. Dust
bins and sew RS being apparently alike
unknown to the idle oriental, every kind
of foulness hestrews the way. The build
ings are of stone, with little or no wood
anywhere, timber being scarce in Pales-
tine. The archis, hence, univ srsal. AS you
ramble on you see that no light enters
the shops except from the front-that
they are in fact something like minea
lures of tie gloomy holes sometimes,
made out of railway arches in England.
Tables of cakes or sweetmeat5 line the
narrow streets. Rough awnings or mats
often sorely dilapidated, or tent-cloths,
or loose boards resting on a rickety
structure of poles, partially shade the
roadway. Now we must meet turbaned
water carrier with huge skin bottle on
his back. The bottle is, in fact, defunct
calf, with water instead of veal within,
and without legs, head or tail, and offer
ing a most forcible illustration of the
reference to the placing new wine in old
bottles.
Farther on we see a bare-armed indi-
vidual in ragged skull cap, cotton jacket,
cotton knickerbockers, chaffering with
roadside buckster for some deIicacy, cost
ing farthing or two, from some of the
mat baskets or table, the bearded ven
dor also bare-armed and bare-legged, sits
as he tries to sell, is head swathed in a
white and red turban, and his body in
pink and white cotton. Of course there
is a lounger at his side looking on.
Then again we see an Arab in "kefyeh"
or head shawl, with band of cancels hair
rope, very soft, around his head to keep
the flowing gear in its place, and brown
and white stripped "ebba" for his outer
dress; he bargaining for bridal at a
saddler's, and trying to cheaper it; and
the saddler sits cross-legged on counter
and under a shady projection of wood
and reeds, which gives him much-needed
shade. And thus we see glimpses of
ordinary everyday life in the old town of
Joppa.-Quiver for June.