Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-09-15

No country has been so often described
or so infinitely described by travellers OF
all sorts of tastes and interests as Pal
estine has been; and this is natural, for
none has excited so keen an interest for
SO long Il time and in so many nations.
AS we nave all at some time or other
read much about the country, it may we'll
be thought that nothing now remains to
he said about Palestine, except by
archaeologists. whose explorations of the
sites of ancient cities are always bringing
fresh facts to light. But IL all of us have
read a good deal about the Holy Land,
most of us have also forgotten a good
deal, and our Ideas of the country-ideas
colored by sentiments of reverence and
romance-are often vague and not always
correct.
A Small Country.
Palestine is a tiny little country. Though
the travellers ~dboO prepare him to
find 1t small, 1t surprises him by being
smaller than expected. Taking 1t as the
region between the Mediterranean on the
west and the Jordan and Dead sea on the
east. from the spurs of lebanon and Her.
mon on the north to the desert of Beer
sheeba on the south, 1t Is only ITO miles
long and from 50 to 60 b~road-that is to
say. 1t Is smaller than New Jersey, whose
area Is 1900 square miles.
or this region large parts did not really
belong to ancient Israel. Their hold on
the southern and northern districts was
but slight. while in the southwest a wide
and rich plain along the Mediterranean
was occupied by the warlike Philistines
who were sometimes more than a match
for the Hebrew armies.
Little Natural Wealth.
Palestine is a country poor in any nat
ural resources. There are practically no
minerals. no coal, no iron, no copper, no
silver, though recently some oil wells have
been discovered in the Jordan valley.
Neither are there any large forests. md
though the land may have been better
wooded In the days of Joshua thar 1t is
now. there is little reason to think tina
the woods were OF trees sufficiently large
to constitute a source of wealth. A COM
paratively small area is fit for tillage.
To an Arab tribe that had wandered
through q barren wilderness for 10 weary
years.. Canaan may we'll have seemed a
delightful possession; but many a county
In Iowa. many a department In France,
could raise more grain or win than all the
Holy Land.
Such wealth as the country has con-
sists in Its pastures. and the expression,
IA land flowing with milk and honey
appropriately describes the best 1t has to
offer. for sheep n goats can thrive on
the thin heritage that covers the hills,
and the numerous aromatic plants furnish
plenty Of excellent food for the bees; but
1t IL nearly all thin pasture. for the land
y dry n the soil mostly shallow.
The Sea Of oaliIes.
Though not comparable in beauty either
to the lakes of Britain or to those that lie
among the Alps. or to Lake George in
New York n Lake Tahoe in California,
the Sea of Galilee has a quiet charm of its
own.
h shores are bare of wood and the en-
clrcling mountains show no bold peaks;
yet the slopes Of the hills. sometimes
abruptly. sometimes falling in soft and
graceful lines. have q pleasing variety,
and from several points a glimpse may be
caught Of the snowy top of Hermon ris-
ing beyond the nearer ranges. A great
sadness broods over the silent waters.
The cities that decked 1t like a necklace
have. all but liberals. vanished 90 ut