Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-08-08

party consisted of some twenty five
tourists, mostly Of the United States
persuasion, some English and one
Hebrew. About one-fourth of the
party We're preachers of nearly as !
many different persuasions as they
were in numo4r but everything
passed off very pleasantly in a social
way and / believe all parted with the
best Of feeling towards each other.
l have stated that the tourists num-
bered some twenty-five, but the at
tendants, cooks, mulcteers, dragomau,
etc, etc, We're some thirty or more and
there We're sixty to seventy horses and
mules. About fifteen tents were re-,
quired to cover the party at night.
Beds, bedding, chairs, cooking utensils
and provisions had to be carried on
horses ard mules, except vegetables.
fresh meat and eggs, which were pur-'
chased from the natives as we mean
dered on along the rough and often
dangerous roldS, but trails. We,
sometimes had to dism0unt for fear
that both man and beast would come
to an untimely end. but the native
, horses are rena rkably surefOOted and
all got through safely. L did not hear
of any of the tourists who expressed
any desire to repeat the trip from
Jerusalem to Beyrouth but they We're
perhaps all glad they had made it.
| think | have in former letter
J mentioned that the country, Palestine,
is very rocky ana urlnviting-which
by the way, was 10 disappointment to
me, as | was prepared for it. | think
l am safe in saying that | did not see
a tree growing III a wild state from
the time we left Jaffa till we reached
the upper end of the waters of Merom
around the sources OF the Jordan ana
along the slopes of Mount HermOn,
where some rather scrubby oaks are
growing, but which by writers Of
guidebooks are called majestic. l will
make one or two exceptions. The old
oak, So-called, at Mamre (and a few
younger ones at the same place, near
Hebron) may be native and probably
is, but it is not at all likely to be the
one seen by Abraham. Also along the
feeble looking trees, that is, if they
can be clasSed much above bushes.
On the plain of Jericho We're growing
quite a number of thOrntreeS, or,
rather, bushes, producing long and
! very sharp thOrns-said to be the va
I rietY from which was made the crown
with which our Savior was crowned
Nh.
! same variety is also growing in and
around Jerusalem, so that the SuppO-
/ sition is probable enough. Olive and
! fig trees, as we'll as grapevineS, are
! quite numerous and they seem to en-
joy growing in many places, as nearly
as may be, out of the solid rock. The
soil, what there is of it, and even the
rocks, when crushed, are fruitful, both
being of a calcareous nature. No fer
tilizerS are used, which was evident
from the large manure hears seen i'm
every village we passed through, and,
on questioning our dlGg0man on that
point, he said the people were too lazy
to carry them out, but when they be-
came large enough they would use
We often laugh at people I'M the east
| for still using their crude and old
Fashioned plows and other agricul-
| tural tools, but l can assure you that
! the best pillow ever turned out or ever
will be produced by the noted Fuller
& Johnson works, would in most places
here be at a heavy discount, as per-
TsTatlr
ern pillow ever made can not
work up solid rock, nor turn
furroW in soil, say a couple of
inches deep. At Bethlehem 1 saw
them actually blast rock out of the
solid mountain and crush it for gar
den purposes. This I considered as
gardening under difficulties.
Notwithstanding the general dreari. |
ness of the country as a whole it is !,
evident that the northern portion must
in early times have been more prosper
GUS and the people more wealthy and ,
Independent in sentiment, which may
account, at least in part, for the re-
fuSal of the ten tribes to submit to the
prospective iron scepter of the son of
Solomon. Of the former glOries of the
country or of it's noted cities--except
Jerusalem and one or Two Others-and
even these, at least the buildings, are
comparatively mOdeTn-there is moth
ing left but heaps of ruins. The Jews
were not builders n the same sense as
the Romans, Greeks or Egyptians.
They left no enduring monuments of
that kind, though it is claimed that
part of the wall under the temple
area in Jerusalem, is from the time Of
King Solomon. King Herod the great
was builder, but he was not a He
brew nor did his work endure. About
the only remnants left worth mention
ing, is at Samaria and CaeSarea Phil
ippi where a large number of widely
marble columns are found.
A good deal more might OF course be !
written about the trip through Pales-
tine and the country, but l must pass I
on over Mount HermOn. where the
snow was near at hand, along the !
hills of Bashon'' towards Damascus,
which We could see in the distance,
where we reached the highest point of r
our road, apparently only half Il days /
journey off; but We did not reach it i
till late next day, Notwithstanding We ]
as fast as we could. i
Damascus is, as you know, noted for i
the beauty Of its location Though the i