The record-union., 1899-08-28
PALESTINE TODAY.
Jewish Co1onists Transforming
Deserts Into Gardens.


Deserts Into Gardens.
Lord Amherst presided at the an
nual meeting of the Palestine Explora-
tion Fund, at the Royal Institution, on
Tuesday. Commenting upon the re-
port of the years proceedings, w. Nor
rison, M. P, remarked that it was very
fortunate that when they took up the
work of exploring Palestine, thirty
years ago, they began at Jerusalem,
for the population of that city was now
three times what is was then, and ex-
cavation would be a very costly pro-
cess But there still remained all over
the country any number of mounds
with fragments of rocks, stone and pot
terry, showing that they We're the sites
of ancient destroyed towns. They
hoped that the public would supply
enough money to enable them to go on
with their investigations. The work
cost f100 a month; they had now t10O in
hand, and it would be difficult to keep
on in the autumn without substantial
aid
Sir C. Wilson gave an address on his
recent travels in Moab and Edom, and
said he was sorry to note that the tomb
hunter, who had done such infinite
damage in Egypt was abroad in Pales-
tine. Places had been uncovered most
unskilfully by the Arabs, and their
contents had passed into the hands
of private persons. Another great
change that was taking place was a
medieval revival of a, scramble for
last twenty years was extraordinary.
The number of monasteries and similar
places that had been built during the
last twenty years was extraordinary
There was hardly any site that was
not occupied by some large monastery
or church. A large proportion of these
buildings were of the ugliest descrip
tiOn, and those on elevations were little
better than great square redoubts of
bare wall In making these changes a
great deal of damage had been done TO
the antiquities, not only in Palestine
generally, but also in Jerusalem. An
other place that had been damaged was
what was supposed to be the site of
Capernaum, where the Franciscans had
covered the remains of the synagogue
and planted mulberry trees over it.
A great change in the landscape of
the country was due to the Jewish colo
nies. He was not at all prepared for
the extraordinary change they had eff
fected. They had turned places that
he remembered as absolute waste land,
and almost desert, into the most beau
tiful gardens and fields of wheat and
barley. (Applause) One especial set
! tlement had been most successful in
producing olives, almonds and other
fruits, and was good example of what
could be done when the land was prop
erly cultivated. Baron Edouard de
Rothschild had certainly set to work
on good lines. Young Jews
had been trained in the
best schools of France, and were now
applying their knowledge to the recul-
| tivation of Palestine. Whereas in 1870
the Jordan Valley was without Guilt
walton, it was now covered with gar
dens, and planted with almonds and
olives. 1t was no good saying that the
Jews were not good agriculturists, for
he had seen them working with their
hearts and souls These colonies had
reacted to a certain extent on the
Christian and Mohometan methods in
cultivating their vineyards and gar
dens
His visit to Moab and Edom was a
very short one, amounting almost to a
scamper through the two districts, but
he was able to realize the formation of
the country. 1t was due to the frac-
ture of the earth's crust which formed
the Jordan Valley. In the lowest part
they had sandstone, and on that very
high limestone plateau overlooking the
Dead Sea. Then they had a great tract
of country running east, that was like
the downs of the South of England or
the wolds of Yorkshire, and he believed
that this country was the richest pos
sibe description. 1t was cut up by
deep ravines, which in the higher part
were rich valleys, and then suddenly
dropped down to rocky defiles, like the
canyons of America.
He had been very much struck by the
way in which the physical conditions
of the country agreed with the descrip-
tions in the Bible. He was unprepared
to find a plateau over 5000 feet high
In the south of Edom there was the
most dreadful desert that he had ever
travelled over. For two days it was
as fiat as a table, and covered with
loose black fiints, and the effect under
a hot sun was most trying. There was
very curious fight going on in Pales-
tine between Russia, as representing
the Russian branch of the Greek
Church, and the Greek Church itself
The Russians had started great num-
Der of schools, where Russian was
taught, and their object was to create
a National Church in Palestine. The
Greek Orthodox Church resisted this
very strongly, and one of the incidents
of the game now being played was the
hoisting by the Greeks last Easter of
the Turkish flag on the campanile of
the Church of the Holy Sepulehe1
That was the first time in history
when the Turkish flag had been
hoisted on any building connected with
the church in Turkey.-Birmingha
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