The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-08-28
JERUSALEM TO JERICHO.
BETHANY AND THE WILDERNESS.
Another Palestine Letter From Mr.. English
-Elijah's CRve-The Apostles Spring
The Fountain of Elisha-Trse of
Zaccheus-Bedouin Robbers.

JERICHO, Palestine. II Special. "A day
of absolute rest was found TO be neces-
sary following the long excursion to Beth
lehem and Hebron, after which l was
again at work preparing for a trip TO Jeri-
che and the historic valley OF the Jordan.
My young Scotch felow-traveler being
still in Jerusalem, induced him to Join
my party, and together we rode away
gayly one fine morning, accompanied by
''Sasoor," the dragoman; "Hamed," the
muleteer, and two ferce-looking Bedouin
guards named "Moussa" and abdul"
who made a picturesque appearance as
they strobe along in front, armed with
their long, old-fashioned rifles, highly or
namented with numerous brass rings
placed along the barrels. The chief ambi-
ton OF the Bedouin is to cover his gun as
completely as possible with this brass
ornamentation and his horse with
flowing trappings OF bright colors;
then wrapped i'll his camel's
hair cloak with head covering
OF "Caieah" and "Agal'' and perched upon
his clumsy Arab saddle with knees drawn
up almost under his chin, he makes
striking looking figure. In this instance
we were TO pass over the toughest noun
tain road that the sun ever shone upon,
where the little Syrian horses had to pick
their way carefully among the stones,
never moving faster than walk, and our
Dalo.,.,, - 4 I,,k
walked OH in front of our little procession
as it moved along the narrow path in
single file, and it was remarkable that
although we covered some twenty-five or
thirty miles day, they never seemed the
least fatigued
The Jordan valley has long been noted
as the part of Syria most likely to prove
dangerous to the adventurous tourist,
and therefore an escort is always
taken here. These guards serve a two
fold purpose, first as a protection
against wandering Bedouin marauders
OF all kinds rather numerous in this part
of the country, and secondly. being fur
nished by the chief of one of the princi-
pal tribes, through which the traveller
passes he is certain of immunity from the
members of that band, at least, the sheik
finding this an easy and convenient way
of levying blackmail. In other words,
the traveller is given to understand that
by employing guards from that particular
tribe its members will certainly not modest
him-while they otherwise in all proba-
bility woodland at the same time they
will do their best TO protect him from
others, and some guardianship is un-
doubtedly necessary over the bleak, dis
NAL and dangerous roads that lead through
the mountains of Iudea where robbery
and violence are OF frequent occurrence,
especially as the Jordan is neared where
the tribes are dangerous and
troublesome owing TO the ease
with which escape may be made into the
wild regions OF Moab on the other side of
the river. As we rode along through the
most desolate and forsaken part of the
route and had just passed a band OF scowl
ing Bedouin ruthans VINO looked as if
they would cut n throat for hall a dollar,
and an Indiana one for even less l was
comforted by being told by Sascor that if
attacked by any considerable party our
guards would not protect US by fighting
but would run away as fast as Their legs
could carry them. ! expressed q decided
lack OF appreciation oil that kind of pro-
lection untisit was explained that if at
tackled by numbers two guards could ac-
complish nothing by resistance but by
fastening 10 the nearest government
station with information of our capture and
by what tribesmen the authorities would
Immediately place the shiek of that
tribe under arrest, holding him respon-
sible for the acts of his subjects, thus
forcing our release and the restoration of
our property, so, after all, running away
was apparently the best possible thing to
do under the circumstances, but somehow
/ felt little sad TO think that / was not
the fellow who was to do the running
Throughout all these Turkish countries
there are established stations where two
or three "bashi bazouks," or soldiers, are
stationed as sort of police force, but they
are so few and far between as not to be of
much service. except as a means of con-
veying information. Each division is un-
der an official called ''mudir," who is a
combination of Judge, chief OF police and
commander OF the district. In ordinary
affairs he comes pretty near being supreme
in his own immediate bailiwicK, and an
arrested man who has money enough 10
"see" the mudir seldom gets up to Jerusa-
lem for trial.
As we left Jerusalem we rode once more
over the Mount of Olives and came to
Bethany, where we halted long enough to
see the "tomb of lazarus" where Jesus
"called Lazarus out OF his grave and raised
him from the dead, " and the house of his
sisters Martha and Mary, where 'they
made him supper and Martha served
and the gentle "Mary took a pound of
ointment of spkenard, very costly, and
anointed the feet of Jesus" John xii,
2-l7.) Continuing on by the Apostles
spring." the only source of water for
many miles of our journey, we come at
midday TO the KHAN Of the Good Samar-
itan," located at the place where tradition
says the linn" stood to which "a certain
Samaritan as he iourneyed, removed the
wounded wayiarer who went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among
thieves" luke Y, S0.l Here we stopped
for lunch to find that the place
was still sustaining its scriptural
reputation, for only the night before the
keeper of the khan had fallen "among
thieves" and had been robbed of all his
valuables by wandering band of cut
throat Circassians. The Williams had not
only taken all the poor mans money, but
had cruelty tortured him TO make him re-
veal its hiding place after which they fled
across into Moab, where large tribe OF
them had been transported by the Turkish