The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-04-12
The Holy Land
yiseeunf James Bryce Writes of
Geography. of Palestine


washington, April 4---OI peculiar
American interest III the future CT
Palestine, is a comm nunIcation 70 tie
NatiaRai Geographic Soeiet3 ff0lfi
TiscSunt James Bryce. former Hf'~
ism Ambassador te the United states
The historic Holy Land. feleased
fTeE deadly 1iosleIn dosaiEatioii, may
take its place among the prosperous
ana even popuious9 eivliized states OF
today, he states, If administered oJ a
goYern1nealt which should give non
est administrator, repfeas bfisano-
axe, dsfuae education; irrisate the
nov desoiate, because stinseorehed,
yaiSey of the lower Jordan By water
drawn from the upper, course or the
river
part ef VsccuHta aRryce;s conn1u-
nicStion follows:
Palestine IS tiny little countr5:.
Tncugn the traveieS,s hsnaboeks pre-
pare him to find It small, it surprises
MIN By being sn s:ier than he expect
esa. Taking IL as the region between
shs Mediterranean on the west and
the Jordan and Dead Sea Oh the east,
from Ghe spurs Of Lebanon and Her
mon on the north TO the desert at
Eeersheba on the south, it is only llV
miles long and from so TO 60 broad
shat is TO say. it is smaller than Ne7
jersey
"Gf this region large parts did not
reait9 belong TO ancient Israel Their
mold on the southern and northern
districts was but slight, while III Fhe
southwest vide ana rich plain
along the Mediterranean was occu-
pied by the warIike Philisr;nes, who
were sometimes more than a match
for the Hebrew armies. Israel mad, III
fact, little more than the nil country
Wnieh lay between the Jordan on the
east and the maritime plain on the
vest: King David, IN the days OF his
power, looked down from the hill
cities Of Benjamin, just north OF
Jerusalem, upon Philistine enemies
only 25 miles off, on the one side,
and lcoked across the Jordan TO Aoa-
bite enemies aroat as far of, On tns
ctner.
Nearly ali the e--ents in the his
tory of Israel that are recorded in the
Old Testament happened within a
territory no bigger than the State Of
Connecticut whose area is 800 square
miles. and into hardly any other
country has there been crowded from
the days Of Abraham till our own SO
nucn ilistory-thaf is to say. so
many events that have been recorded
and deserve TO be recorded in the an
mails of mankind.
ssNor is it only that Palestine IS
really a small countr5-. The traveller
constantly feels as ne moves about
that it is a small country. From the
heights a few miles north Of Jerusa-
lem he sees. looking northward. q
far1ea summit carrying snow for s
months in the year Ii is Hernon,
nearly 10000 feet high-Hermon,
whose fountains feed the rivers OF
Damascus.
sBut Herrnsn is outside the terri
tory of israel altogether, standing ia
the land Of the Syrians;; so, TOO, it Is
ef Lebanon. We are apt TO thlnk OF
that mountain mass as within the
country, because IL also IS frequently
mentioned in the Psalms and The
Prophets: but the two ranges OF Le-
banon also rise beyond the frontiers
OF Israel, lying between the Syrlans
of Damascus and the Phoenicians OF
the West.
Perhaps it is because the maps
from which children used to learn
Bible geography were on q large scale
that most Of us have failed TO real
ize how narrow were the limits
within which TOOK place al those
great doings that ill the books OF
Samuel and Kings. Just in the same
way the classical scholar who visits
Greece is surprised to find that 80
small a territory sufficed for so many
striking incidents and for the careers
Of so many famous men