The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-09-18


barring the shooting of a splendid speci-
men of the Syrian partridge by one OF the
guards. These beautiful birds are almost
as large as our Guinea hens and are excel
lent game for the European sportsman. l
was struck with the peculiar manner in
which the Bedouin fastened to cut the
partridge's throat to let out the blood be-
fore it was entirely dead the Mohamme-
dan theory being that animal food is unfit
to be eaten unless this course is pursued.
Reaching my old quarters at Jerusalem
once more babe my Scotch 'compaguon
du voyage" final adieu, and, after busy
day OF preparation, started off alone upon
the long tenting tour through interior Pal
estine.
L have always made it rule in my
travels to avoid Cooks conducted par
ties, and other similar arrangements, as |
have no relish for being dragged here and
there by an all-important conductor, along
with dozen or so OF other miserable NOR
tails who are compelled to be at certain
points exactly at certain hours, and whose
personal convenience is never in the
slightest degree consulted. Nevertheless,
while l have avoided their conducted par
ties vigorously l always used the Cook
offices and made all nv arrangements
through their agents in Syria and Egypt,
for the simple reason that Cook & Son"
have a practical monopoly of all that is
most desirable and convenient in connec-
ton with travel in those countries. l
therefore contracted with Mr.. Clark. the
| courteous American who has charge of
| the firms interests in Jerusalem, to fur
nish me with one sleeping tent one cook
ing tent, two horses, four mules, three
donkeys, a dragoman, a cook and three
muleteers. OF course, my being entirely
alone, so far as fellow travellers we're con-
cerned, made ii more expensive than If l
had accompanied party, but | was amply
repaid in the complete freedom of action
l enjoyed and the coming and going as it
suited my convenience. In other words,
| was monarch Of all | surveyed for the
time being, and as we filed out OF the
! Damascus gate" and over the Mount of
Scopus in single file, my little retinue OF
six persons and nine horses, mules and
donkeys made quite an imposing process
sion. Sasoor and myself were in front
mounted on the same horses We had rid
den to the Jordan, followed bv the cook
| and muleteers on donkeys and the pack
mules loaded with the tents, baggage,
cooking utensils, etc, and last, but not
least, "BarGd," the dog, who was an i'm
portant member of our happy family. l
! had adorned my head with the regulation
"cafeah" and "agal, and with long cam
els hair cloak embodied about me and
gun strapped across my back, made quite
a representative Bedouin sheik | had
borrowed a shotgun from a gentleman of
Jerusalem, not only as protection against
marauders, but with great visions of the
game that expected to destroy along the
way. However, beyond an occasional
shot at distant jackal, hyena or gazelle,
accomplished but little in that direction.
The conduct of the beautiful light-footed
gazelles was particularly eXasperating, and
for the first few days they kept me busy
running up and down the mountain sides
in futile efforts to get near enough for a
pop at them.
Hamed, my chief muleteer, was quite
a character in his way, and as he
had previously accompanied me to the
Jordan valley, and other excursions, we
were already old friends, but there was
one fault under which he labored that l
could not forgive, and that was an uncon-
trollable disposition to sing the songs of
his native land Any one who has ever
heard an Arab song will never forget the
monotOnous, doleful funereal chant in
which there seems to be but one note and
the least possible resemblance to a tune
Hamed was an aspiring young man of
family-in fact two families-being the
legal possessor of two wives, with great
hopes of soon getting another, as he proudly
assured me. He was a firm believer in
the value of personal adOrnment and dec
Grafton as an aid to securing the affections
of the gentler sex, and with TWO rings in
the extreme tops of his ears and COR
geous ring on his thumb, he was gotten up
in q manner highly calculated to mash the
susceptible moslem maiden, His ambi-
tons all seemed to rather lie in this direc-
ton and he looked forward with great
anticipation to the time when he should
make the pilgrimage to Mecca and return
with the title of "Hadji" and the right to
wear green turban the rest of his days,
and especially his translation to Paradise
after death with forty beautiful wives to
attend him, as is promised to all of the
faithful who have made this holy pill
grimage.
As we rode up the hill of Scopus we
stopped for farewell look at Jerusa-
lem, as from this point there is a splendid
view of the city, and then continued on
over the plain by way of Shafat the an
cient Mob, "city of the priests" where
David fled from the anger of King Saul
and ''Tuliel-el-Ful'' Little hill of beans }
generally believed to be the Gibeah where
/ Saul was born and where he located his
capital when che abode in Gibeah under
tree Il Sam, xxi, o.. 1t was here also
that Rizpah gave her touching example
of a mothers devotion by keeping her
| lonely watch for many months over the
! dead bodies of her unfortunate sons,
! Armoni and Mephibosheth, suffering
| neither the birds of the air to rest on
them by day nor the beasts of the field by
night" II Sam, xxi, 10.).
A short distance further on we pass by
the wretched Arab village of FL Ram or
| Ramah, frequently mentioned in the bible
under the latter name, and crossing the
! border dividing the lands of Benjamin and
Ephraim, pass through Ell Birch (ancient
! Beeroth) where IL is claimed Joseph and
Mary, stopping for the night, discovered
that the young Jesus had been left behind
! in Jerusalem disputing with the elders in
! the temple. Less than an hours ride from
/ FL Birch and we arrive at the ruins of
venerable Bethel, that place so celebrated
/ in biblical history where Jeroboam set up
| his idolatrous golden calf" where
/ Abraham "called on the name of the
| Lord" and where Jacob had his glorious
dream of the ladder set up on the earth
/ and the top of it reached to heaven" (Gen-
esis xxviii). 1t was also somewhere about
/ here that the wicked "forty and two child
rem" Knocked the prophet Elisha
crying, "Go up, thou bald-head," and
\ were deyoured in consequence by