The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-09-29
STRIFE AMONG THE CHURCHES IN PALESTINE
Dissatisfaction With the Greek Clergy Against
Whom Serious Charges Are Made Influence
Of Newspapers in the Life OF Jerusalem To-day.
BY Rev. IRA w. HENDERSON.
in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

I CQuTC OIL Inc f1Oly oepulSLAe d I'LL
tian, rather than a Mohammedan. A
thoughtful man might regard it ever
as a blessing that in the present state
of religious unregenerateness the
Holy Land is in the hands of the
Turk.
But there are other things than
church feuds and church edifices in
Palestine. Jerusalem has donkeys
! that run you down if you do not
hustle out of their way. hardly any
that hasten out Of yours and others
that sleep unconcernedly upon the
| sidewalk, just outside the Jaffa gate.
| Damascus has a trolley system that
is a great convenience, If you know
!, how to use it. 1t is easy to learn.
1t doesn't go to either railroad sta
| ton, and you change cars and pay
| another fare in the middle. 1t ap-
! proaches annoyingly neal the station
! of the Turkish Railroad to Haifa and
| cheerfully neglects the French sta
ton, whence you leave for Beyrouth.
| Beirut has one line in operation, the
tracks without wires for another and
the wires without tracks for a third.
| Some day there will be a system, and
maybe some watered stock. (The
! Moslems have learned to drink Chris
tian beverages, containing one-half of
one per cent. or more Of alcohol, and
! they are in a way to acquire other
| Occidental habits.) 1t is said that an
| application is being considered to per-
nit the erection and operation of a
trolley road from Jerusalem to Beth
lehem, and that another b%eseeching
| permission to put up telephones in
| Jerusalem may be granted. A motor
stage line. in competition with the
railroad, which runs twice a day each
way from Jafa to Jerusalem, is
rumored. It's predecessors are the
motor from Damascus to Palmyra,
| and the two cars that have been max
ing daily trips from Beirut to Sidon
and return. The success Of two Eng
lishmen, who went recently from
| Damascus to Bagdad in a motor car.
has stimulated much favorable com.
ment anent the possibility Of a mail
route between those points. The auto
does in six days what it takes the
| camel twenty-one to do.
The railway service of the country
is better than n would suppose.
The road from Jaffa to Jerusalem is
narrow gauge and the poorest of the
80 L.k a. G--4 o1o-c 11~~,olo-
tions are by NJ means uncomfortable
| for a four-hour ride and the scenery
is magnificent. The road from Haifa
to Damascus along the foot of Holy
Mt. Carmel, across the battle worn
plain of Esdraelon, through the val
ley Of Jezreel Of Bible story. along
the Jordan, skirting the GalileaD
Lake upon it's southern shore, climb.
ing the rugged sides of the indescrib.
able beautiful valley of the Yarmuk
River, racing across the fertile fields
of the Hauran to the oasis of the
Damascus, is provived with strictly
first class equipment in every depart
ment, and, though it is narrow gauge
and owned by the Turkish Govern.
ment-as is the road from Jaffa to
El-Kuds-is a delight to the traveller
and a welcome relief to the tourist
who has known only carriages and
! horses and donkeys for many days.
| The French road from Damascus to
Beirut offers a majestic ride and &C.
ceptable accommodations, though not
so new as those provided on the road
just named. The line from Reyak.
on the main division from Damascus
to Beirut, to Baalbek is apparently
between narrow and broad gauge.
It's accommodations are entirely salts
factory, while the landscapes to be
viewed maintain the extremely high
average that is characteristic of the
railroads of the Lebanon district in
particular and of the whole of Pales-
tine in general. 1t simply remains tc
connect Haifa with the Holy City tc
reconstruct in it's entirety the prob.
lem of tourist travel in the Holy
Land.
1t must not be thought. however.
that invention and reform are having
all a bed of roses. The railroad
through Moab southwark to Mecca
is having constructive troubles with
the Bedouins, who persist in tearing
up a track that here, as we'll as every.
where in Palestine, is laid in the
finest sort of easily obtained rock
ballast, and it is only a week ago that
troops had to be sent from Jerusalem
to Nablus to preserve order and tc
prevent further outrages by the con.
servatives in that town upon the rad.
icals who compose the organization
Of the Young Turks.