Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1890-08-14
Farn,ins Palestine.


sadly deteriorated since the days
when the Israelites took possession
of it. The cattle upon thousand
hills have dwindled to scanty herds,
and the hills themselves which were
once terraced like tho choicest lands
sof Italy, yielded skins Of wine and
tons of fruit, have been dcnuded of
their earth by centuries of rain.
Such milk as sold in Jerusalem
and in the various Villages Of tho
& Holy Land is made up of q mixture
frcm camcls, goats and COWS, and
there arc probably more cattle on
the Western Reserves of Ohio than
in all Palestine. Compared with
tho rich countries of the nineteenth
century, Palestine ncvor was fertile
country. The 1sraclitcs, coming out
OF tho desert, exaggerated its vir-
tues and described tho beauties of
the country with all the cxubcrance
of oriental imagery. 1t seemed TO
them q little world in itself, and
still, Palestine is not much bigger
than some Texas counties. The
whole land, including that possessed
by the Philistincs and the Israclitcs,
is not more than fifty miles wide; and
standing on the Mount of Olives
you can SEQ tho Mediterranean on
one side and the silvcry Jordan on
the other. A fast railroad train
could cross it in an hour, and if
there was a railroad running from
the North to the South it would not
take moro than three hours to tra-
verse its entire length. From Dan
to Bccrshcba is no further than
from New York to Washington, and
the long journey which David made
from Jerusalem to the banks of the
Jordan, is only fourteen miles. The
Mount of Olives is only 100 feet
by actual measurement. You can
walk up it in half an hour, or a don
kcy will carry you to its top in
twenty minutes. l crossed the
plains of Sharon in coming from
Jaffa to Jerusalem and l found these
garden-spots only twenty miles wide.
I drove in carriage from Jerusalem
over the fields whore the shepherds
lay and watched the star which
marked the coming OF Christ to
Bethlehem, and the distance was
only seven miles. | saw shepherds
attending their ilocks on the spot
where David killed big Goliath with
his sling, and as l looked on my
rocky surroundings, it did not seem
to mo that the land was worth the
fight. Mcziah, the little town upon
tho spot whore the prophet annointcd
tho farmer boy, Saul, king, when he
was hunting his fathers asses, would
not bring q hundred dollars at auction
in America; and all the donkcys and
asses / saw in the country were so
shabby and shaggy that it would be
n second miracle to give them the
strength to open their mouths and
speak, or even bray, at the turbancd
balaams who rode them. The Palcs-
tine of to-day, however, is nothing
like that Of tho past. For centuries
the land has been stripped of its
best men to fill the armies of the
Sultan, and for ages its farmers have
been ground down to the earth by
tyranny, corruption and taxation.
The farmer Of Palestine pays taxes
upon everything. If he plants Il
fruit tree, he is taxed from the day
the spront shoots through the sur
face, and the taxes of vineyard
often amount to more than the crop.
The rule is that one tenth Of the
whole crop must be given to the
Sultan; but this tenth is estimated
while the seed is in the ground, and
the collection Of it is famcd out to
corrupt tax-gathcrcrs, who get from
twenty to thirty per cent of the
crop instead of ton. The farmers of
Palestine live in villages, and the
Sheik or ruler of the village often
acts as judge and tax-gathcrcr. He
is responsible to the Sultan for the
wcll-doing and revenues of his sub
jects. Just outside of many of the
villages there is Il thrcshing floor,
where the grain is troddcm out or
failed out as it was thrcshcd in the
days of the cripturcs. The farmer
darcs not take away his grain from
the door until the tax -gathcrcr has
come and picked out the SuItan's
tenth, and after him the banker or
the rich, who has loaned to the
farmer, has the right to take his debt