Evening star., 1901-08-03
THE ROADS OF PALESTINE.
Report From United States Consul
Merrill at Jerusalem.

United States Consul Merrill, at Jeru-
salem, has made an interesting report to
the State Department in regard to the
thoroughfares of Palestine, in which he
says:
lone Of the greatest thoroughfares In
Palestine is that between Jerusalem and
Nablous, the ancient Shechem. For CEN
turies it has been only camel path, in
many places rough and stony, and in spite
of the vast amount of traffic 1T was not
until 1900 that an effort was made to con-
meet the two cities by a carriage road.
Early in that year the route was surveyed
and specifications sent to Constantinople,
whence orders for the construction of
roads must emanate. Work was begun the
following autumn and In March OF the
present year the first carriage passed over
the completed section between Jerusalem
and Birch.
1.-THE extreme width of the roadbed is 10
feet inches. After the grading, a bed of
cracked stones inches in thickness was
made, over which earth was spread. The
road was then well rolled. The grade is
good, there being very few places where
horse cannot trot I refer, of course, only
to the completed portion between Jeru-
salem and Birch The culverts and small
bridges on this section are twenty in num-
Der, with three additional bridges Of fair
size the largest having two ten-foot arches
separated by fifteen feet of solid masonry.
These culverts are necessary to accommo-
date the small torrents created by the Win
ter rains which often do great damage
From Jerusalem to Sinjil is little over
10 miles, and from Birch to Sinjn about 10
miles. The entire distance from Jerusalem
to Nablous is 3S11 miles. American travel
ers will remember Sinjil their camping
place the first night out of Jerusalem, go
ing north toward Damascus. 1t is a
curious fact that 'Sinjil is an Arabic adap
tation of st. Giles of the crusades, and
Birch is the Biblical 'Beeroth' mentioned
in Joshua TX. IT, Birch has good spring,
and there has been talk of bringing water
thence to Jerusalem.
1.-THE contract price for building the COM
pleted section of the road was about $23,
OOO
"The distance between Birch and Sinjil
is only one mile greater than that between
Jerusalem and Birch. but the country is
more rugged. There are many natural OBJ
stacles to be encountered. and the esti-
mated cost of that section is from $4,000 to
$44 600. Specifications have already been
sent to Constantinople and it is hoped this
portion Of the road will be built next year.
The money will be raised In the Jerusalem
district by tax upon the peasantry. The
Jerusalem district ends at Sinjil; what is
north Of that point comes under the juris-
diction of Nablous This route is associat-
ed with many famous historical events,
and the contiguous country contains the
sites of the ancient cities Of Mob, Gophna,
Beeroth, Bethel, Ramah, Shiloh, etc.
THE wagon roads already existing In
Palestine are:
"Q.) Jerusalem to Yafa, 40 miles; begun
in 1885, but number of years elapsed be-
fore wagons could pass over It. and then
only with difficulty, ten to twelve hours
being required to go down to Yafa and
fourteen to sixteen to climb back up the
mountains. Thousands Of tourists will re-
member the great discomforts OF this trip
1t was only in 1892. when the railroad be-
tween these two points became certainty,
that the Jerusalem and Yafa road was
made fairly comfortable for carriages.
"(2) Jerusalem to Hebron % miles; COM
pleted In 1890.
"(3) Jerusalem to Jericho. about % miles;
completed in 1893. Ten years were spent
in building this road.
"4) Jerusalem to the top of the Mount
Of Olives about miles: made in 1893 for
the Emperor Of Germany.
."(5) Jerusalem to Birch, miles: Just
completed.
ut is true that carriages go from Jericho
to the Dead sea and the River Jordan, but
there is no road. the carriages driving
where they please across the plain. Like
wise wagons go along the roadless sea-
coast from Yafa to Haifa. at the foot OF
Mount Carmel, the road which was made