Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-02

| but in easy walking distance, is the
| seaport of Haifa, an increasingly inn
portant town. 1t has a population of
about $4,000 people, and is by far the
cleanest Turkish town in Palestine 1t
shines by contrast with the older and
more historic Acre, which is only five
miles away on the northern shore Of
the Bay of Haifa, roadstead formed
by the projection OF the promonotory
of Carmel. Haifa is the Mediterranean
terminus of the Hadjaz railway which
runs from Haifa, by way of the Sea Of
Galilee, to Damascus This is the
longest and most important railway in
the Holy Land, and it crosses the great
German Arabian railway which pene-
trates the deserts of Moab to the east
ward of the Jordan. The operation of
this railway was interrupted by the
disorders attending the Young Turk
revolution, but it has been reopened
under new administration which
promises to make it q factor in the
restoration of the prosperity Of the
country of Galilee.
The native population of Haifa seems
to have proflted by the example of the
thrifty German colonists who are their
neighbors. The town is blessed with
many schools, Latin, Greek and Protes-
tant, and even the Mohammedans have
established an educational system
which goes beyond the mere recitation
of the Koran. The natives are thrifty
and industrious, and their orange groves
rivals the performance of professional =
and vineyards show evidence of indus
trious care.
One may seen in Haifa any day an
exhibition of physical strength, which
strong men in the west. Haifa is the
port through which the weavers of
Damascus import their cotton.
Practically all of this is Egyptian cot
ton and comes in the large Egyptian
bales of five hundred pounds each. The
Arab longshoreTnan takes one of these
huge bales for his particular burden.
Four men lift it to his back, and a
rope which passes around the bale Is
placed over his forehead, and he walks
along in a half crouching attitude,
from the dock to the warehouse, dis
tance of a hundred yards carrying
this burden of a quarter of a ton and
supporting it's weight by the band
across his forehead. 1t seems almost
impossible that so many men could
be found in any one place possessed
of such great strength, but it is moth
ing unusual to see procession of q
score of these longshoremen each
carrying a bale of cotton.
Haifa is built on a western model,
it's streets are wide enough to admit
the use of carriages, its shops have
glass windows and some of them even
have showcases. It's police force is
gaily uniformed in a costume which is
hot Rprlif1 and (tnn-
stantinople. Once the city boasted d
system of street lighting and the lamp
posts with their sockets for oil lamps
are still in evidence, but the moonless
night now wells the city of Haifa in
darkness as deep as ever hung over
Egypt
The town is interesting because 1t is
new, because it's business is a combi-
nation of marine shipping and rail-
way activity, because its religious
energy is devoted to teaching the
young and not to the exploitation of
some sacred shrine, and because 1t
shows a promise of that physical re-
generation which may be possible in
Palestine under the combined infiu-
ence of the Young Turks, the Zionist
Jews and the Christian missionaries.
On the shores of this bay, set in the
protecting arm of Carmel, many cities
Here was a seaport of the Hittites,
here was a stronghold of Canaan over
thrown by Joshua. Here was the
landing place of Alexander the Great
and here was built the great Greek
CITY of Ptolerais. Here landed por-
ton of the Roman army which COM
pleted the destruction of the Hebrew
nation. Here came Richard of the
Lion Heart to support Christian dy-
nasty, and here the crusaders made
their last stand against the victorious
armies of the Crescent Here strug-
gled the contending forces of Arabs,
Egyptians and Turks for mastery in
the Syrian littoral Here came Ma
poleon the Great, laying in blood the
foundations of his glory. And now
here comes the railroad, the telegraph
and the missionary, the three elements
which destroy the ancient day and
compel acceptance of what we are
pleased to call modern civilization.
But over it still stands Carmel un.
changed and unchanging, the altar OF
the Most High God, the sentinel when
watches over the Holy Land.
Tomorrow-Worlds Sunday School Con-
Vention