The times., 1901-04-21
NAZARETH OF THE PRESENT.
4 Description of the Land Where
Jesus Once Lived.
(From the Christian Herald)

Dr. N X. Jamel, a native of Palestine
now in this country, but who has lately
revisited his own land. has furnished to
the Christian Herald this interesting
description of Nazareth as 1t is today
'As the town is approached from the
south, it presents very pretty sight,
nestled along the brow and slope of
hill facing directly east, and the spot
less white buildings looking refreshingly
picturesque The quaint, odd-looking
dwellings with their fiat roofs are here
slantinS-r buildings the tiles fresh
from the factories of Marseilles, France.
AS Oriental cities go, Nazareth is re-
markably clean and healthy; in fact, all
who visit the town are loud in their
praises on that score.
During harvest time, between June and
August, the first sight that meets the eyes
of whoever enters the town from the
south is great thrashing floor. This is
a perfectly level twenty-acre piece of
ground, where the neUly-reaped crops or
wheat barley, and lentilS are gathered
in sheaves and piled in separate heaps,
each being of larger or smaller proper
tions according as it represents an indi-
vidual farmers harvest returns for the
season AS the heaps stand thus, they
are ready for thrashing. which process is
performed by leveling off the borders of
the pile to a depth of one foot and a width
of five to six feet. Then horses. asses. or
mules are driven or ridden. singiy or in
pairs round and round the heap. grind
ing and trampling under foot the grain
out of the ears and the stalks into chan
until the heap is thoroughly thraShed. 1t
Is then gathered up and removed sepa-
rately. and another part of the heap is
leveled off for the thrashing process. This
is kept up until all the heap is done.
when the newly-thrashed pile is fit for
winnowinG. This work is very tedious.
as in fact. are all the various depart
ments Of field labor in Palestine, for the
farmers are destitute of every vestige of
machinery or labor saving apparatus that
are used by more fortunate peoples. In
spring. the thrashng floors afford unsur-
passed facilities for camping. on account
of their being securely sheltered from all
winds by the surrounding hills and ele-
VdttOn- Anybody who has experienced
the hardships of camp life during wind
and storm will appreciate Il sheltered
spot.
"A very conspicuous building i'm NaZa
reth is the English Orphanage which
was erected under the auspices of the
Female Educational Society in England
in 1879 and conducted by that society
until 1899, when II was turned over to the
management of the Church Missionary
Society. This school provides for the
education of poor orphan girls from
Nazareth and its vicinity, and affords a
home for them. These eighty to one
hundred girls are taught English and
Arabic. grammar. reading, and writing
arithmetic, geography, history. house
keeping. sewing, and fine needic-work.
The staff of teachers includes five Eng
The common belief, in other lands
is that snow never falls in the Holy Land
This, however. is not the case. The win
ters are occasionally quite severe in
Palestine, and heavy snowstorms are
nothing unusual in the elevated parts OF
the country. The brow of the hill on
which stands the Nazareth Orphauage
is nearly 800 feet above the sea level