Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-07-19
A Southern Pilgrim
in Eastern Lands

mai. II Is Il city OF ABOUT 9OsVOO
tants now and, Is rapidly growing. Out
side of the Suez canal the only things %
special interest about ii are the immense
breakwater, a mile or more in length,
and the fine statue of DeLesseps, the
constructor of the canal. On the statue
are the words: "Aperire terrain Cent?
bus'-"To open the world to the ma
tons"
From. Port Said to Joppa- is only
nights run. II was a pretty hard night,
though. The ship was small and was
overcrowded. Some of us had to sleep
on the seats In the dining room. But it
was only for one night, and we did not
mind IL much. We felt fully compensat-
ed for any discomfort by the reflection
that we were on our way to the Holy
Land. Early the next morning we were
up. had breakfast and were out on the
deck to catch first glimpse of the Land
of Promise. shall never forget that
first glimpse. 1t was early on the morn
ing OF. April A.. 1910. The air was balmy,
the atmosphere clear. The ship was
making for Joppa. over on the right
could be seen a coast line, with some low
lying hills just beyond. This was the
southwestern part OF Palestine, in the
region of GAIA. The country was not
especially prepossessing in appearance
from that distance. But it was the Land
the LOrQ, ..WnlCn nldQe II lilc I1OiS
Land, and that was sufficient to make !.
of the deepest interest. L remember
when 1 first saw BERTHE county, n. 9.
There was nothing particularly attrac-
tive about il as a county, though 1t is a
good county, with fine people. But 1t
was the birthplace of my father, and that
hallowed 1t to me. In an intensified de-
gree 1 felt the same way towards Pales-
tine that April morning.
JOPPA.
And now we are approaching Joppa-
the modern name is jana. The harbor
here is said to be the oldest in the world.
Just why 1t should have been selected as
a harbor so early, or in fact at all,
confess 1 do not understand, as 1t as
probably the most dangerous harbor in
the world, and certainly the most danger
Gus on the coast of Palestine. A low
ledge of rocks runs little distance out
from the shore all the way around the
narbor, except that in a few places there
are openings few feet wide and few
feet deep through which small boats may
pass. But they can only do so when the
weather is good. If the wind is blowing
and the sea is rough, the waves run over
the ledge of rocks, hiding them from
sight and making 1t impossible to deter
mine where the openings are. Woe TO
the boat which ventures out in such a
sea. II is necessary for ships to anchor
some half a mile from the shore. Some
times they must lie there for days unable
to land their passengers. 1 understand
that such was the case this year with the
Clark party, which preceded us to Joppa
by a few weeks When the German en-
peror- visited Palestine in 1898, it was
thought best that he should not attempt
to land at -Joppa at all.
ANDROMEDA.
You recall the NEUROLOGICAL story OF
Andromeda, chained to the rocks, a vul-
ture gnawing at her vitals, and her res
cue from her perilous situation by the
gallant Perseus, who came. along at a
very convenient time. The scene of this
story was at Joppa. There was probably
much truth in the story, so far as Andfo-
media being chained to the rocks was
concernedN The rocks are certainly there
now, and the Andromeda of commerce Is
still chained to them But II Perseus
ever did rescue her he does not seem TO
have done a very permanent job. She
is still chained to the rocks.
There is a good deal of confusion, by
the way, with reference to the story f.
Andromeda. Pliny, the famous Roman
naturalist, declared that the legend was
confirmed by the bones of wild beast
brought to Rome from Joppa. The length
of the bones. he says, was 40 feet, the
ribs larger than those OF an Indian ele-
plant and the thickness of the skip was
foot and a half Pliny lived in the
first century A. d. Writing in 1922 A. ID.
Sir John Vaudeville declareu that "Joppa
is one of the oldest towns in the world,
for it was founded before Noah's food
And there may still be seen in the rock
there the places where iron chains were
fastened, wherewith a great giant was
and N nrfSnn hafOTa NOan
food, rib of whose side, which is 10
feet long is still shown" A pious monk
by the name of Father Eabri, who made
pilgrimage to Jerusalem In the 18th
century, by way OF Joppa, says that ''the
bones OF that sea monster which Perseus
slew were Of vast size and are publicly
on the beach over against the city. Some
declare that these were the bones of the
virgin giantess, Andromeda, which seems
impossible, because Perseus took Andro-
media away with him into Persia and end
ed his days there, and we nowhere read
Of his coming back to Jaffa-"
While there has been a good deal of
fabrication-if 1 may be pardoned the
pun-with regard to Andromeda, yet
agree with Father Fabri that the bones
10 feet long were those OF the sea mon
ster, and not OF Andromeda. l agree
with him also that the bones are still at
JOppd IN the shape Oh THESE TOCkbs WHICH,,
stretching along the coast. sofewhat re-
semble the bones Of some monster. and
were evidently the foundation for the
story OF Andromeda.
JONAH.
IT was here at Joppa also that Jonah
aas his very thrilling experience. My
readers will recall the story as related
in the first and second chapters of Jonah,
how when the Lord commanded Jonah
to go to Nineveh to preach against 1t he
attempted to fee away from the pres
ence of the Lord, to get out of having to
perform an unpleasant duty. He came
to Joppa, found ship going to Tarshish,
paid his fare, took passage! went down
into the "innermost parts of the ship"
and fell fast asleep. But the Lord did
not intend that he should escape so cas-
fly. There was mighty tempest" on
the sea, the sailors were frightened out
of their wits and "cried every man unto
his god" The storm continued. The
shipmaster found Jonah asleep, awolxe
him and told him to call upon his God
They cast lots to find out who was the
cause OF the trouble. The lot fell on Jo-
nah. He acknowledged his guilt in iee-
ing from the presence of the Lord AMI
told them to cast him into the sea as \
propitiatory sacrifice. They did so and
the tempest ceased. But the Lord pre-