The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-10-18

The total cost Of the railway was
50 0 5000. or a little less than $4,000
per mile. The road was originated oy
an American, a civil engineer nameu
zimpel. who came to Paiestlhe as .
peddler of a patent medicine which he
called s.sun-light pills" He rough
the railway scheme before the sultan
at Constantinople but failed to get
the concession to build it. After ms
death the matter was taken up by the
French, who put the road through ana
now own 1t.
This was the first railroad built in
Syria, and it is the father of q railroad
system which is now opening up a
great part of the country. One section
of the system is the line. which runs
from Damascus to Mecca, and inject
ed with it are others which will even
tually join the Holy Land TO the valley
Of the E~uphrates, as Well as to Asia
Minor and Turkey.
The Hills Of Judea.
The trip from Jaffa to Jerusalem
| gives one a fair idea Of the character
Of Palestine. The coastal plain is typ
ical of the richest part Of the coun-
try. It's soil is a chocolate brown, the
grass is as green as that Of Egypt anU
there are big orchards Of olives and
fruits Of all kinds. The roads are car
peted with rich red peoples and wild
flowers are everywhere.
Climbing the hills is like jumping
from the Nile valley into the desert.
There is nothing but rocks with d
sparse vegetation scattered here and
there through them. The limestone
crops out everywhere, and in places
mountains Of stones have been picked
up in clearing the fields. Such fields
are fenced with stone walls. There
are also corrals for the sheep walled
with stone.
a Treeless Land
There are absolutely no bushes Or
trees. Palestine is a treeiess land.
| There are no forests of any descrip-
ton, and the only trees are fruit trees.
with now and then a funereal cypress,
perhaps, in g garden. Our consul, Mr..
Wallace, tells me the country has two
| groves which the people call forests.
One of these contains forty scrub oaks,
and the other is not quite SO large.
He says that a few q there was
some brush on the hillside, but that
the people " even dug up the roots
and sold them for fuel.
Indeed. fuel is one of the most cost
ly things in his country. 1t is SO ex-
pensive that it is seldom used except
for cooking. and that notwithstanding
the climate is cold. Wood is SO Valua-
BILE that the older olive trees are being
cut down, and it is feared that the
groves Will gradually disappear. These
old trees are often of considerable
thickness. but they are only twenty or
thirty feet tall and one will supply but
a small amount of fireWood. The olive
tree is as hard as the apple tree and
far more knotty and gnarly. It's wood
is heavy and is sold by the ton. It's
price now being about SIS for 1000
pounds. The wood is brought in on
the backs Of donkeys and camels and
every stick has to pay a tax before
it gets inside the gates Of Jerusalem.
A common fuel here is charcoal,
which is made mostly of olive wood.
The chief manufactures Of it are at
Hebron. about ~twenty-three miles
south of Jerusalem, near the cave in
which Abraham. Isaac, and Jacob are
buried, and where tradition says Adam
died. Hebron is about 500 feet higher
than Jerusalem, but it has big or
char0s Of olives, almonds and appIes,
and the brush and the lead wood Of
these are used to make charcoal.
AS to the use of coal itself. that is
almost prohibitive on account of the
high rates over the railroads. The
same charge is made for carrying coal
as for carrying silk. the rate being 81
per ton. or about 8 cents a, ton per
mile. Such Goa as comes here is in
the shape of briquettes. 1t sells for
SIS a ton.
Solomon's Pools.
Another want from which the Holy
Land suffers is water. The rainfall
In the southern sections is something
like SIX inches and upward a year. the
amount gradually increasing. as one
goes toward Gallilee. The
country has always been one Of pools
and wells, and today every house IN
Jerusalem has it's roof so made that
tney drain into ciSterns placed in the
courts. In dry seasons water is SOLD.
ana the mar no has q spare cistarr,
gets a big price for his surplus last
summer the American consul received
soo Tor the water he sold, and the
american colony outside the CITY paid
$40 for a cistern half full.
nearly all the wells of the ol6en
ne remain, and are pointed out by
lne Well where Christ met the Samar-