Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1900-04-03

Plain of Sharon And now having
seen all Palestine, | say once for all
that I have been agreeably disap-
pointed as To its productive quail
ties. | had expected chiefly barren
country. But in the Plain OF
Sharon. and of Esdraeslon, and all the
plains and valleys, as well as-on many
mountain slopes. there is most fertile
soil and the products are abundant
There is also close and careful cultl-
walton. The limestone formation is
constantly enriching it. Beautiful
and extensive wheat fields appear.
Gradually the plain became roll
ing, and then we were In the Judean
hills. Now large olive orchards come
into view Yonder to our right Is an
agricultural college, and every lover
OF humanity is glad it is here to en-
tighten these needful people. Yonder
also in plain sight is where Samso %
caught the foxes and set fire to the
wheat. Watch houses are seen, and
they were formerly used TO protect
travellers, but are now no longer
needed They are built SO closely to
each other that a traveller would not
disappear from the vision of one
watchman till he was seen by the
next one. No fences are seen, and
the soil is all uuder cultivation as in
the valley of the Nile. Large numbers
of cattle and sheep are grazing, invari-
ably attended by shepherds.
And there is modern village, the
houses being built of dirt, with green
grass growing on the fat roof. The
l.. tNal
the peculiar Arab bread, more like a
pancake in appearance, Is baked.
LYDIA. the ancient Lud, Is sta
ton, and then comes Ramleh, the
home of Joseph of Arimathea. To our
right is Ekron and GeZer to our left.
And now comes the valley of Ajalon
made famous by General Joshua.
Yonder is lot OF "black tents" on
that hill. They are inhabited by
Bedouins, and in that manner lived
Abraham and Lot and Jacob.
Our undulating surface changes in
to mountains and our train creeps
serpent like around the slopes. For
a time the scenery is as beautiful as
in the Rockies; cattle and goats are
grazing on the slopes. Great ravines
and great rocks give a scene of gran
deur. The hard rocks have been cut
away to make road for US to travel.
But there is another view. Succeed
ing terraces appear one above the
other, with rims of stones carefully
laid, and even the mountain slopes
are under cultivation. Wheat and bar
ley are growing, and it givesa pleas
ing scene of beauty, as We lock
upward at platform after platform of
green And now the mountain
heights grow somewhat less. We
are approaching Jerusalem. Stone
fences here divide little fields from
each other. Our passports are col
lected and we are at the STATION. To
carriages we are led and our drivers
dash us down hill and up hill at a
lively pace till we are at our hotels
1t is Friday, and if we see the Jews
wailing it must be this afternoon, SO
as soon as we can we go through the
j fla Gate (our hotels are all outside
the walls) and down David and Solo
mon s Temple streets till we stand
before the Jews who are reading their
Hebrew Bibles, some standing with
their faces over their hands, and
some going from place to place kiss
ing the rocks in the wall. Most of
the men have their hair shingled
closely, except spot over each ear,
which is permitted to grow long and
hang down in front of the ear. We
were told that these were priests,
but did not exercise much conf
dence in the informant. MANY OF
them were richly dressed IN flowing
robes of purple or of gold. Others
there were who were poorly clad.
All seemed earnest and were not in
the least disturbed by the presence
of visitors ELLwooD Q. ELLIS