| Show IN THE HOLY LAND haifa feb 21 1898 we have now safely arrived in the land of israel we have had a most pleasant trip the weather has been cold all along the line according to the different climes we have passed through still the voyages have been very nice the seas have been seemingly prepared to order our ship wass land beat her own record in years over the atlantic and landed us a day ahead of time in liverpool the mediterranean had all her storming ing over when we got there that we might have a pleasant voya voye as we axe are otherwise poor sal sailors lors we arrived tn in jaffa thursday peb feb and being in charge of thomas cook ad saas agent we passed the customs without any trouble and our brother hagob Gage gaslan Qa Adan the Armen armenian laa who is fe with h us also alao slipped through without detention and received his pass 0 ac K from jaffa we went by land two days jour journey to haira haifa where we were kindly received b W the saints while lou to lo haifa we put up one night at IM bl kwedera Kh edera a jewish colony this is a new move having been established since your correspondent was here before this move is quite unlike the former jewish colonization schemes inaugurated by the rich jews who have supported the settlers the jews of el kwedera are independent and they hail mostly from russia they felt that as they were driven from pillar to post by the various nations and that as they w were ere now being persecuted by the russian government it would be very op opportune for or them to go to the land of promise and make an attempt to redeem the barren wastes they did so about eight years ago and it resulted in the founding of ZI el kvedera Kh edera eders there are now avii over twenty jewish colonies in the land of palestine these russian jews formed a committee and at once set about tor for business they found one mr belim khoury at beyrodt Bey rout syria who had a lot of land for sale and bought of him about acres for or at the rate of 18 19 per acre thib seemed stiff of course but they obtained a nice large piece of land the village was remodeled and a fine location was found on a hill from which the mediterranean can easily be seen it to is a little south of cesarea the former home of the pious cornelius probably within four miles of that ancient city their village is built to a hollow square opening out to the north and has now about twenty five houses they have splendid soil around the settlement and a well near supplies the water they have planted many grape vines which bear well they find a market for their grapes at at baron hirsche wine press pigs figs they grow for home consumption they tell us they are not profitable for them to market oranges and lemons can be grown in abundance but these two kinds of fruits require special attention and water they axe are therefore not too plentiful to produce these fruits they have to build reservoirs and provide wells and hoisting works in order to have water the reader will remember that palestine is a poorly watered country outside of the jordan valley and a couple of other places water is however raised in sufficient quantities in the most primitive forms either by buckets or by an ox and a wheel so that after all the fruit is not so expensive almonds olives and pomegranates po ates and the like can be grown without artificial watering the rains being sufficient many shade trees are alre plan taid to make the country more healthy prominent among which are the cy ay press and the eucalyptus wheat barley peas horse beans and mandrake as aa well as some other products are grown for home use and exportation vegetables of all kinds do exceedingly wit well the people looked to us to be a r nice specimen of the jewish they appeared clean and interested in their undertaking and all ta together gether we were very favorably impressed diw their appearance avid add also with their pluck and determination they v lire kind to us ua and entertained us ly and a very affable a and leafa learned roan man dr selim im gookins So akina kindly kindla gum gre us all the information we desired OW berning the whole scheme now it is not all sunshine in building up a new country and so in a halt half civilized land right bight looie te f midst of a village of m camped they worked for the allm and at night the men were W wat tell chaa being held responsible for an lost this might seem good end enough but those black neighbors did not look very inviting the jews however hoe ver sald said that they were perfectly safe and that no one molested them they had however a tar far worse enemy to contend with than the Bedo bedoyas Was this enemy manages to daiv drive out of their village to some other more congenial place for two months h year this enemy concealed Its eUtin two large swamps for ten to ift the year and in august and september the enemy swarmed out in myriads of fever germs forcing the settlers sett ten 0 o flee to save their lives to remove this enemy they have had to drain at great cost and have SOW succeeded in draining one swamp pt the one to the west has not yet baim removed this will cost upwards otea iw to drain properly the colony is mot able to do this at present but they ow hect to accomplish it in course of then says dr that colony will grow rapidly in two or thre years after this swamp to in removed VW rm will not be able to recognize of the past as we have every facility to make a handsome and PON an berous settlement here the houses are built largely of rock and covered with red tile tale which W fete imported from europe their houses owe are thus easily distinguished from W me arabian villages which are dirt cozettea and often very horrid looking go of CC the arabian villages are mere mud heaps and often one has to look a see aft ond and time to see aft what they really oare some have as much grass on roots roofs as on their fields near by so BO abt mat in looking at them at first they ft 1 pear like a green mound with brit or eaves caves cut through a hill but at all they are really houses hous es with an W narrow streets running between betwee ft th the cattle in this region are of al att tle tie different cast to those of humr places they are very small and bt ft black bald faced tendency they tre are valued at about 15 per head sheep abd goats are worth about 92 2 per head 6 z cording to kind and size hortes here are small and very inferior they are said to be capable of gregat evi endurance durance they are worth about f per head for an average horse hori 1 arabian steeds of which we read not in sight eight of the average man t le e they are vry very few and far between the colonists have the fact that they can ban live and eath ao 40 well dr lkins says that most moot of those coming from russia are aradi trading and not farming jews who have learned to farm since their arrival in palestine they are progressing very well the bows sows have also an agricultural college in jaffa these people are doing with money that which might be done differently if under the management of the direct voice of jehovah through his servants abo have accomplished wonders in their poverty because god was in it and because they lent their faithful services to his cause not doub doubting tAng his ability to bring out the results just right if these wonders have been done in zion alon what abat is there to hinder the same means the in bringing out the great work and a wonder in this the land of israel for the abod of his saints speaking of converted jews dr sos kine says god forbid there should be baptized jews they are traitors to our cause they are jews still though baptized tor for their baptism is f for 0 r worldly gain it cannot be otherwise andreallo and ad really one must be very suspicious auspicious of those already converted brother lund is well and joins me in sending kind regards to our many friends in zion may we ever be remembered in their prayers respectfully P F HINTZE |
