Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-01-26

A PECULIAR CITY
We spent the night at the city o
Beilan, a city peculiarly built In ,
mountain gorge. the construction beini
| that the front OF one house o. on a leve
! with The fiat roof Of the house lowe
down. the steep mountain side beiul
thus covered with houses
a couple Of hours run took us t. th'
port Of Alexaudrctta. where. after tn,
business In regard to the shipment of
rugs referred ~ was attended 90, w,
called ON our consul Mr.. W Ross Da.
Wis. We found Mr. Davis quite a pleas.
ant gentleman who took the trouble tC
show us what was worth seeing In the
town, ana its near surroundings Dur
ing our stay ut AleXandretta Mr.. Dayl.
received Book " Mormon which had
been ordered for him from England by
Elder Holloway.
AN ANCIENT CITY.
AIcxandretta Is situated In the Bay
Of lgsus In the extreme east of the
Mediterranean. Is the principal port Of
Northern Syria. Is fairly wei protected
from the winds and has "a good anchor.
age. deep water being close 20 the
shore. IL has population Of about
10000 with the foregoing advantages II
has the disadvantage n there being be.
hind the city "a series Of mud flats,
making 30 very unhealthy In the sum
mer months when nearly an The IN
bitauts who can aff0rl 10. leave the city
and stay In the mountains few miles
IN, going 20 AleXandretta 20 transact
their business, and returning after IL
Is accomplished During the months Of
july and August IL Is "a regular fever
nest / think as ] write OF the sailors
rhyme OF western Africa
Beware. beware Of the Blight Of Benem
Where one man comes out, where five
men went in
They are filling up the swamps, and
have made a Comparatively favorable
showing IN the health OF those living
there, but II Is slow work, and II viii
take lf0 years according 20 the calcula-
tIons Of a German engineer 70 complete
the Job
one Of the places we visited was an
old fort Of the Crusaders. the walls
standing but the interior turned into
an orchard, and at this early date, we
had tie pleasure Of eating ripe Man
DARN oranges.
Alexandretta was founded and named
after Alexander the Great, who landed
his troops here 90 meet the Persian
army IN the year h. G. $685. The Per-
Sian army not coming over the Bellan
pass as expected. but over a pass 20
the north, they we're met there by Alex
auder az lssus. and there was fought
one OF the decisive battles OF history.
this victory causing the rise Of the
Greek and the downfall OF the Persian
empire
THE PILLAR OF JONAH.
Close by here Is what IL called the
Pillar Of Jonah. IL being claimed that
a triumpha arch which now lays in
ruins. was ereAed 20 commemorate the
place whore Jonah was thrown on land.
a remark | heard In regard 10 this, was
10 the effect that on passing the MAS
matte flats Of Alexandretta, the smell
from the swamps had such a power
over the whales stomach that II could
hold him down no longer. and 80 II was
compelled 20 disgorge Brother Jonah.
Leaving Aexandretta Nov. 5. We
started for Aleppo, again crossing the
Bellan pass, but this time our travel
was 10 the south.
on the road a little incident occurred,
travelling along. Elder Booth being per-
haps a couple Of miles ahead. a dozen
or so village Arabs. who mostly came
from blowing, came up with rocks In
their hands. and the road suitable for
a bicycle being quite narrow, com
PEELED me to dismount | had TO show
them how II worked, and one Arab had
to try and ride but not being able to
sta. on. and the road becoming bet
te.. I Jumped on, ana soon left them
behind. and though / expected rocks
would be thrown, ] felt pleased when
they did not throw,
The dividing line between the Turk
ish and Arabic languages Is a little
north Of Aleppo, which we now reached
and IN Aleppo. the principal city Of
this part OF Turkey. Arabic Is the gen
eral speech Of the people.
In Aleppo We have a branch Of the
church Of about 40 members, entirely
Armenian by race. expect 20 write
AN ARABIAN TRADITION.
Haleb, or Aleppo. latitude 81 deg. 10
min. ~. longitude 81 deg. II min. f..
capital u Turkish province. population
10000, has an eventful history.
This for generalitles. but as the above
description may not Ak In the readers
mind the situation. l win relate the
Arabian tradition az 10 the name ~
the city This tradition is 10 the ef-
feet that Abraham used 20 reside here
that he had COWS, and that being very
charitable he used ON the site of this
city 10 give milk away to the poor who
would wait until the milking was over.
and then exclaim. "haleb. haleb." being
In Arabic. he has MIXED
! give this tradition for what Il Is