New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1889-04-24
ton in the Easss;; you have to pay full


for entrance fee to the carefully en-
closed colossal ruins so famous at Bal
bek,
1t IS not known for certainty when
the colossal temple of Baal was built
or who built it but in regard to dimen-
sions and art, the temple of Balbek is
ahead Of the pyramids of Egypt. Pill.
lars 100 feet high in three sections of
seven feet diameter with a wonderful
ceiling whose bass-reliefs are carried
out in an enchanting manner, are the
attractions of this structure. One solid
nicely hewed square piece of the rock
lies finished at an angle of about 20 de-
gress length ways in the stone about
half an hours easy walk from the tenn
pie: it measures in length sixty feet in
width 16 feet and in thickness 12 feet.
How to transport such a solid piece Of
rock is d puzzle to our modern engine
ers. There are many pieces of stone In
the foundation Of the Temple, 16 feet
long, s feet wide and feet high. The
most temples and houses OF Christian
worship compared to these gigantic
works of Idolatry aresno more than a
child's toy to the master pieces of great
men of our age. ! The valley leading to
Balbek about 50 miles long and on an
average OF l5fmiles wide is most pic
turesque one being bounded by high
mountains on both sides running from
Northeast$and to Southwest. The land
is fairly2well cultivated with cereals of
all kinds and even with cotton. The
villages are a little better than those of
the Arabs in Egypt and Palestine.
There are no houses in this section of
the country for if, was there moving
bands of Arabs and Bedouins would rob
ernm9nt has little Or no control of the
vicious Arabian tribes. A man who
lives here told me that if agriculture
andhorticulture were carried on in pro.
per shape, what the Arabs would not
steal, the Turkish government would
take so not much is to be done to raise
anything here worth speaking of. The
mountains with beautiful fertile hills at
their feet have no roads or timber of
any kind. The people Of the Orient
have SO little fuel that not even CHM
neys are needed in the towns. Camel
dirt of which saw immense quantities
before the walls of Damascus to be
dried by the sun, is used fer fuel. [
saw girls from 10 to Is years of age in
Cairo, Egypt as eagerly picking up
with their fine shaped hands what don.
keys and camels had thrown away with
out blushing as the bees gather the
sweet honey from the flowers. 1t was
interesting to watch these girls grace
fully throw the precious excrements
right straight into their baskets which
they kept on their heads without putt
ing them on the ground. They carefully
look at every standing and moving ami
NAL to see what they may give for fill
ing up their little willow baskets. Ar
abian bread is highly sought for be-
cause baked exclusively with camel
dung for fuel. Fuel is rare article in
the Orient as all standing trees and
bushes are being destroyed and none
are being planted to take their place
| saw many women and girls from the
surroundings of Jerusalem and particu-
larly from Aboutosch, carrying heavy
loads of brambles and miserable brush
es, distance of four to five hours walk
hurrying to Tho Holy City where they
get from 10 to 15 cents each for the
heavy burdens. Women in Christian
lied countries should look at the most
miserable condition of their sex in pag-
an lands and they will appreciate Christ
ianity much better as many of them do.
The female sex of the Indians of the
West and of the Oriental regions have
about the same lot of misery and slav
cry. And it is only very little better
in China, Japan and India and even in
some parts Of Africa, aud after all, in
the whole world there is nothing like a
genuine American lady! The climate
of Syria is strange and changing.
Whitest orange and peach trees are
blooming here in Beirut, figs are half
grown on some trees and finest barley
is already heading. Well developed
large roses are nodding along the ver
anda of the court yard in my hotel.
Everything here is even ahead of the
flora around and in Damascus. The
avenue from Beirut to Damascus run
ming over high mountains and winding
through fertile valleys as well as
through sterile ravines and rocks, is in
a splendid condition. The very large
and heavy day STAGE is drawn by six
horses. three horses abreast. The ca
pacity of a day stage is Is persons and
most Of the seats are occupied. The
night stage is calculated for seven per-
sons and drawn by three horses only
and all three go abreast. They always
| drive the horses ut full speed and
change them after TWO hours drive.
Turks andArabs have no compassion on
mules. camels or horses; they use them
sometimes whole day without feeding
or watering them. Big. heavy men,
often two af them are riding little don
| KEYS hardly three feet high; mules car
ry from 400 to 500 pounds and camels
frequently 1900 pounds each. Dumas
Gus represents q very nice view to the
! traveller from Beirut, much more at
tractive than it really is.
| AS everything is changing very slow
| II in the Orient, Damascus of to-day
is Damascus of 1000 years ago. The
streets are just as marrow as they were
in the time of ST. Paul; the gate and