The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-09


 W during which time I shall visi the most interesting places, going on foot on horseback and in carriages from tn Mediterranean to the Dead sea and iron Beersheba to Dan. I shall have m, camera with me, and with pen and pho tograph shall show you the land O our Lord as 1t looks in this good yea 1910
 In the first place, let me give you 1 bird s-eye view of the country Palestine is not large. With one of MT. Wright'i aeroplanes we could fly over the whole O 1t in very few hours, and were 1t cross ed by railways a fast express would carry us from one side to the other in abou 50 minutes. Including Syria, which takes in the mountains of Lebanon and much other country in addition to Palestine proper, 1t is not as long as from New York to Pittsburg, and It's average width is less than 30 miles. It begins at the boundary of Asia Minor on the north and extends from there soutinward along the line of the Mediterranean sea unti 1t Is lost In the sands of Arabia
 As for the Holy Land itself, that is not as big as Rhode Island. If you could take 1t up and stretch 1t over the United States 1t would hardly make patch oi court plaster on Uncle San's body. Drop ped down upon New England. with one end at Boston, the other would be al Mount Washington, and the most of the country would not be wider than from Boston to Springfield. If spread out upon northern Illinois the whole might be in- cluded inside line drawn from Chicago to Aurora and thence to Decatur and back to Chicago.
 A Land of Milk and Honey
 ha Pihla has callad fbis Itff1a farrfforv a land of milk and honey. The expression must have come by contrast with the dreary sand of the Sinai desert, through which the Israelites travelled on their way to It. As I know it from former travels. it is more rocky than any part of the AL legnemes. and the Blue Ridge of vir- ginia, which Is covered with stones, Is the Mississippi valley compared with it. The country has & backbone of moun- tains comprising the hills of Judea. Samarfa and Galilee, with a low coastal plain, where the Philistines lived, running between 1t and the Mediterranean sea. On the other side of the backbone is the great ditch in which the Sea of Tiberias and the Dead sea lie, with the winding Jordan running from one to the other. This ditch Is below the level of the sea and parts of 1t have the hottest and most oppressive climate on earth. On the op- posite side of the Jordan toward the east is country much richer than Palestine. It is composed of highlands from 2o00 to 3O00 feet above sea level. giving excellent pasture and, in the north, large crops of wheat. This was the Basnan, Gilead and Moab of the Bible, and it Is now inhab- ited chiefly by Mohammedan Bobouins, who live in tents, driving their camels cattle and sheep from place to place. In the past 1t was thickly populated, and its ruined cities are now being excavated.
 Explorations are also going on in the lands west of the Jordan. Many discov- cries have been made at Jerusalem, and the Palestine exploration fund is unearth ing other cities. During our travels WI may visit old Jericho, where the Aus trians are now working; and not fal from where I am writing, on the way tt Jerusalem. is the ancient town of Gezar which has been recently exposed to tn, light of day. As to these things, how ever. I shall describe them as we gt over the ground.
 From Egypt to Palestine
 I came here from Egypt. I took tn, express train at Cairo. and In four hour was landed at Port Said, at the moutl of the Suez canal, where I got steame which brought me to Jaffa.7 The whol way was through the lands of the Bible The depot from which we started lies no far from the spot where the guides sa the baby Moses lay in the bulrushes, an the railroad runs over the old carava route, down which Jacob and his son came into Egypt for corn and over whic Joseph and Mary must have brought tn infant Jesus when they fled to escap King Herod, the baby killer. We struc the canal at Ismailia, about midway o the Tsthmus of Suez, and thence rod northward along its banks to Port Said. Our steamer was crowded with pilgrim from Russia, Egypt and North Africa There were many Americans, French an Germans travelling first class, and hun dreds of Syrians and Egyptians goint steerage. We left at o'clock in th evening, and our first view of the Hol Land came at o'clock the next morn ing We had been awakened at 6 wit the cry that we were nearing shore, bu this was a ruse of the captain to ge breakfast out of the way before landing When I first came up on deck nothin but the sea was in sight. The sun wa about two hours high and the sky, High blue with long streaks of f1eecy whit drawn like hslf-veil over it, fitted dow into the ocean at the eastern horizon. A I looked I saw two lines of hay gra rise up as 1t were out of the water, whicl
 
 the sun The first line wss the sand beach that edges the rich plains of Shar on, and the second the wall of smok gray which marks the hills of Judea o the highlands of Palestine. Coming near CT these lines increased in size, and tn first turned to dazzling, white sand, ou of which little later the wooded gree strip of the port of Jaffa came into view Nearer still we could see the shippin In the harbor, and above and behind tn walls of Jaffa one of the oldest town of the world.
 In the Footsteps of Jonah We get some idea of the age of Jaff from the story of Jonah, for the Bibl says that 1t was from here Jonah tool passage upon the ship from which h was thrown overheard into the mouth o the whale. He remained in the whale belly three days, during which time h prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spak to the whale, whereupon he was vomite out upon dry land Jonah was born abou $50 years before Christ. He was a bab | when Homer was telling the story of tn | Had, and 100 years had yet to elaps before the founding of Rome. I am no sure as to the exact spot where iona | was taken up by the sailors and throw | into the sea, but he Is said to have bee l buried not far from Jerusalem, and ther | are dragomen in Palestine who will sho, | you his tomb.
 Ever since Jonah's time sailors hay held superstition against having preach CTS on board, thinking that such pas sengers bring bad luck to the ship. How ever that may be, the harbor of Jaff is one of the worst In the world. It almost always rough and often it is i'm possible to land. Upon our arrival tn | sea was quiet, but nevertheless the swe was such that the boats which took u ashore bobbed up and down and tn waves soaked our baggage before reach l ing rnrt