| Show RAMBLES IN PALESTINE As soon as we had successfully descended the roy and winding path which leads from the top 0 of f mount tabor gewere we were agreeably surprised to find a comparatively ively good road we were able to ride at the trot almost all the way to this was a nov elty on our trip so far but we greatly needed a better road than we had had hitherto for we intended to make drennin our night and this city was a good distance off we could not hope to reach it before dark our road this afternoon led over the well known plain Jez jezreel roel or this plain is also known as the plain of Me megideo giddo and is probably the armageddon of rev xvi 16 where the great battle before the coming of christ to is to be fought since already in the early pages of the history of the people of god this plain was the great battlefield of palestine here barak the general of deborah with ten thousand men of napthali and zebulon met and slew captain sisera aal his army judges 4 6 24 here david took his awful revenge upon the amal elites after they had plundered and burned samuel 1 30 here also saul baul the first king of israel israel met his sad death forsaken by god and fleeing from the philistines samuel 1 31 here Ben hadad lost an army of more than one hundred thousand men kings 1 2022 20 22 30 thus thua learning by experience that god is the god od riot not only of the hills as Ben hadad thought but also of the plain here died of judah wo wounded and fleeing for jelin jehu 2 ki kings ings ix 27 and on this plain lai king 10 joanah S 1 W received his death wound when fighting with pharaoh necho 2 chronicles 22 in the time of the this plain again became the scene of of deadly combats and in later times april 1779 napoleon Buona parte arks pitied a notorious victory over the durkson on this very ground so often ba blood the whole length of this velley valley is about twenty four miles with a breadth of from nine to fifteen on the north it is bounded by the galli lean mountains on the east by gil boa and the little hermon on the south by the mountains mou mains of ephraim and on the west by mount jarmel carmel it is a beautiful piece of land with fertile soil which if worked prop erly would yield abundantly our savior in one of his parables speaks as will be remembered of a hundredfold harvest and after having seen the land I 1 do not think the expression is an exaggeration or a me refigure mere figure of speech it Is a wonder that the soil can yield anything at all os ns the natives here work it their plows are as a rule very primitive leaving the round in the same condition as to depth depth and regularity of the furrows as would half a dozen swine when left to themselves to work upon it for a day or two with their awkward tools often only a piece of wood roughly sharpened and with oxen or donkeys looking like skin bags with a heap of bones inside they cannot of coursed course work their land properly and yet they age to live and to pay the very heavy taxes which a g greedy y government in ID various ways levies upon them this proves that the soil boll has a richness which only waits for capital and enterprise to be developed ve loped the germans heem am to have understood this and they have profited by their knowledge for uner der protection of their own government they have founded several flourishing colonies and seem in spite of many adverse circumstances to thrive and progress just as good land is still to be bou bought tat at very reasonable figures if I 1 am rightly informed there is no doubt that in the not far distant future great colonies will grow up everywhere in this land twice blessed by god with these and similar thoughts my heart was filled as I 1 crossed the beautiful plain of jezreel on my way to drennin the sun had already set before we reached this town and sudden lyas is always the case in the orient where twilight is unknown the night broke upon us wrapping us softly in her dark star embroidered veil the jackals jackala in the hills and the dogs in the streets made a fearful noise yelling 3 howl ing and shrieking keeping up a concert which in the stillness of the evening was perfectly demoniacal we reached the town however without any particular adventure and after some trouble found a lodging lodai ng in a private house I 1 therefore take the pleasure of introducing the reader into this house to t take part in our entertainment we enter a room in size some ten feet each way and seven high with rough walls whitewashed long ago no vestige of furniture except a wretched little smoking lamp and a straw mat we spread our blankets on the mat pull our shoes off and seat ourselves on the thus covered floor our legs crossed under us a la turk or a la tailor I 1 may parenthetically that it Js is an important part of the etiquette here to pull off the shoes seated a as comfortably as possible we prepare our supper consisting of bread oranges angea or and cheeps milk the oranges we have carried with us from biberias Tib erias the bread and milk are supplied by our native friends while eating we are surrounded by all the male inhabitants of the house the females standing outside and occasionally occasion aUy stealing a glance through the cracks of the door once one of the beauties outside knocked and wished to see one of the boys inside but he flatly refused to comply with the request to come outside we asked him if he could not tell the lady to come in oh no said he I 1 that would not do she is my sweetheart and no stranger can see her before we are marri married eV supper being over I 1 thought I 1 would amuse our dark skinned native friends with some european music the fact is I 1 have carried a flute with me from utah and I 1 resolved on this thia occasion to see what effect its silver tones would have upon these rough children of nature with marked interest they watched the process of taking it out of its case and fixing the vari ous parts together and when I 1 sounded a few notes they were delighted among other melodies I 1 fayed the Marsel laise 11 but they pronoun pronounced t that at as I 1 too 0 fast as I 1 a altogether it appeared that their ears could not follow consequently they did not appreciate or enjoy a i succession ue of notes following each other in in our common four fourths time I 1 therefore played slowly I 1 gave I 1 them the melody to Weri thank thee 0 god tor for a prophet in a grave andante and this was appreciated coated than ilhan tasla basla fran rewarded my efforts now my grateful audience insisted en trying their skill on the strange instrument I 1 let them have their own way and in a moment the flute wandered from mouth to mouth from hand to hand all trying it and all failing to produce a sound never before was a flute subjected to such earnest experiment peri ment my musical audience tried every hole of it they blew with all their might in one end no that was no good the they blew in the other nol no they tru tried the mouth hole and all the other holes but no the flute was silent and remained so after everybody had tried and given up and tried again amid much laughter laught erand and merriment it was returned to ma me with a request to play more they could not make it out when I 1 had given a few more pieces some of the boys got an idea they went out and returned shortly afterward with their instruments consisting of a tambourine shaped tin plate and a kind of drum this latter was a clay pot over which a calf skin had been stretched they wanted to accompany my music and so they did keeping pretty booi gooi good time when I 1 played slowly but I 1 was not going to give all the music myself I 1 was anxious to get an idea of the musical talent of my arab friends so I 1 asked them to sing to their own accompaniment this they willingly did and I 1 soon learned one of their singular melodies but it was time to close our entertainment tain ment and we did so with a grand finale the like of which was never neter heard before brother hintze operated on the tin plate one arab beat the before described drum another arab pounded the cupboard another clapped his hands together and another accompanied us with a stick striking the floor the music thus produced could not bee be compared om pared to that given by mr felds silver band when in its most flourishing condition but we had succeeded in entertaining our arab friends and host and left a good impression upon them indeed I 1 feel satisfied that they had an enjoyable evening A hearty handshake all round finished the evenings fantasia our friends departed and we rolled ourselves u up I 1 in n our blankets with our trunks for for pillows determined to have all the sleep with the permission of the thousands of fleas which shared our apartment that we could obtain my only regret was that our limited knowledge ot the oriental tongue did not allow us to con verse intelligently with the friendly frie natives upon points of religion BU bui 0 a time for that may yet come if w goes well farewell for the present J M 8 I 1 HAIFA Pals etine S syria march 15 1889 |
