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

-
After you have passed this land Of
the @Philisti,ies you begin TO asecnd
,hc hills of Judea, and you keep 60
ing up until, twenty miles further,
you reach Jerusalem, The city covers
about hcSspace of three hundred
and twenty ncrc farm. Walls
about twenty-five feet high surround
It, and there arc about fifty thousand
people packed inside of these.
In going up to tho city, L was struck
with tho evidence of the splendid
agricultural condition of Palestine
in the past. Every hill was once
torrncca, and there is no ioiibt but
once the whole land was q garden.
Even now there arc many olive
groves dotting the hills, and the
flowers bloom in every crcvicc. l
shall never forget the poppieSof Sha-
ron. They wcrc as blood, and rs
big round as the bottom of tin cup.
There were millions of them and
they carpctcd the plains FOR miles.
They bloomcd upon the mountains,
and picked them out of the holes
in tho walls upon the Via Dolorosa
upon whici, Christ was dragged to
his cruciiix;on. The flowers, which
arc seen everywhere, arc the cvi-
dcnces Of tho great possibilities of
this land under the proper cultiva-
ton and freed from taxation. If
any other people than the Turks
could own it, the terraces wonld
gradually creep back to the hills, and
the land would again bloom as it did
when little David kicked up his heels
in the farm house of his father Jesse.
1t is ii wonderful fruit growing
country. There arc no finer oranges
in the world than those which grow
about Jaffa. Great quantities of
these are exported to Europe.
Palestine exports great deal of
olive oil, and the Mount of Olives
has its sides to-day covered with
tho.Sc silvcry green trees. The trees
grow to a great age, and are gnarlcd
and knotty. a great deal of wood
is brought into Jerusalem and made
into collection plates for churches,
papcr-knivcs and other sovcnirs,
Which are sold to tourists and also
exported in large quantities. The
olivc-picking is done at the same
time all over the country. The pco-
pie shake the trees or pick them.
They sort the crop, using the best
for eating, and making oil out Of the
poorest. In some parts of the
country the oil is used for lighting,
and the probability is that the lamps
of the wise and foolish virgins were
lighted with olive oil. The making
of the oil is of the rulcst dcscrip-
ton. visited an oil mill in Jcru-
salem. 1t consisted of Il cave cut
out of rock, in which a very tall
camel and Il very small donkey went
round and round circle, operating
Il mill like that which grinds the bark
in tanncry. This grinds tho olives
to pulp. In another part of the
cave there was a stone ledge about
rs high as table, and into this
hole had been cut, and one of the
dirticSt Arabs ever saw stood here
with his clothes ii ght about his waist,
and trampcd the oil ont of the
olive mush with his bare feet. He
was pcrspiring profuscly, and there
was nothing but n linen cloth be-
tween him and the mush. As this
cloth got wet he would pull it up,
and wiring out the oil into a can on
the ledge. Erom this it was poured
out into pots, to be strained for the
market. The refuse Of the oil is
made into sort Of cake, and used to
feed camcls and cattle. IL is said To
be very hcalthful and the animals
grow fat on il.
Palestine is slowly improving in
The Jews are coming
back to the land from Europe and
other parts of the world, and the
strangcst Colony is that known as
the Gaditcs, supposed to be one of
the lost tribes, who hail from South
ern Arabia. The people are engaged
in agriculture, and am told they
make good farmers. The Israclitish
Alliance, consisting Of the Roths-
childs and other wealthy Jews have
Il number of agricultural
colonies in different parts OF Palcs-
tine. They have model farms in the
Holy Land. One OF these is on the
plains Of Sharon. IT consists Of tens