Chapter XXXIII: Palestine and Syria Under New Rulers

Switch on your radiophone and let us listen together this evening to a talk from Jerusalem where John Bull sits in the seats of the mighty and the voice of the terrible Turk is no more heard in the land. The Holy City is quiet. The women are sitting, as of old, on the housetops under the stars, while across the valley on the Mount of Olives sparks from the wireless tower flash out to the corners of our modern world.

If we listen carefully we may hear the familiar chug-chug of an American automobile whose driver to-morrow will take a party of pilgrims over the road to Bethlehem. Or perhaps he will start on the longer trip to the ruins of old Jericho and the River Jordan, or even a tour of all the Holy Land, most of which can now be reached in a motor car.

As we listen we learn that the High Commissioner, who rules in the name of His Britannic Majesty, met to-day with his advisory council, representing the people of Palestine. From the report of their proceedings we learn what is going on in the reborn Promised Land. This council has ten members appointed by the Commissioner. Four of them are Moslems, who make up four fifths of the population of Palestine, three are Jews, identified with the Zionist movement, and three are Christians. Just as the membership of the advisory council is divided among the three groups for whom Jerusalem is a holy place and a religious centre, so, too, are the positions in the government to-day held by Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans. There are three official languages—Arabic, English, and Hebrew.

The government, we are told, is in good condition, and the country is self-supporting, paying its way out of its revenues. Nevertheless, the taxes with which the Turks used to squeeze and harness the people have been reduced and some of them have been abolished. At the same time, where the Turk and his tax-gatherers, as the Arabs say, “never gave us so much as a drink of cold water,” the new rulers are providing much-needed improvements with the public funds.

Before the British came the Arabs had a saying that the Turk would rule the Holy Land until the Nile flowed into Palestine. This ancient prophecy has been almost literally fulfilled, for when the British built the military railroad from Egypt into Palestine they laid all the way beside it a pipe-line carrying water pumped from the Nile. A great tank in the hills on the Hebron road, built by Pontius Pilate, has been restored, and now holds five million gallons of water, which is piped into Jerusalem. The streets have been cleaned, the beginnings of a sewerage system put in, and the natives have started to learn the use of a covered garbage can. Even the mosquitoes, descendants of those who bit the Crusaders, have been driven out and have gone to the other side of Jordan to smite the Bedouins. Plans for the further extension of the city beyond the walls have been prepared, and its growth will be directed accordingly.

A native police force has been recruited to keep order in the place of the troops which have been gradually reduced in number. All the holy places are still carefully protected. The British were able to keep the Mosque of Omar under Moslem guard by using soldiers from their own Indian troops made up of followers of the Prophet.

The men of a New Zealand regiment who were Masons held a meeting in the secret cavern under the Holy Rock in the Mosque said to be the place where King Solomon founded their order. There were thirty-two Masons from twenty-seven different lodges, who took part in this meeting, while an old sheik acted as doorkeeper.

The differences in religion keep bobbing up in Jerusalem, giving the British and the advisory council some ticklish questions to deal with. For example, when the military bands started to give concerts in a public square in the outer city, they played three afternoons a week—Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Grand Mufti, head of the Jerusalem Moslems, solemnly protested, saying the band played Saturday for the Jewish Sabbath and on Sunday for the Christians, but was slighting the Mohammedans, who observed Friday. So now the bands play four days a week.

Another thing the British did gratified the Christians. Under Turkish rule the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem was disfigured by a wall separating the Greek choir and chancel from the nave and basilica, which is common to Orthodox and Catholic alike. This wall they tore down, so that now the whole church is open to view.

As a result of the war, and the cruelties of the Turks, the population of Jerusalem shrank from eighty thousand to sixty thousand, while Jaffa was almost depopulated. With British control, however, the people flocked back again, and a rapid increase is expected all through the Holy Land. The country itself suffered almost as much as the people from the outrages of both the Turks and the Germans. Crops were seized to feed the soldiers, while hundreds of thousands of olive and other trees were cut down to make fuel for locomotives. The Germans blasted out the trees with dynamite, destroying the roots so that no sprouts could spring up. Whole sections of Palestine were stripped bare, and at the same time cattle and sheep were taken away and killed. In some places the people burned nearly everything they had to keep the Turks from getting their possessions.

The British are working on a vast scheme of reforestation in connection with their irrigation plans. They are encouraging a project for building a dam in the River Jordan, above Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, which will furnish power for irrigation pumps and light and energy for all Palestine. Great nurseries have been established at Gaza, where Samson threw down the temple of the Philistines. In one operation, more than one hundred thousand timber trees and ninety thousand fruit trees were set out.

The new rulers of the Holy Land hope to restore agriculture, which fell into decay under the Turks, chiefly on account of the excessive taxes on the farmers. Local meetings of natives have been held throughout the country, to find out what the farmers needed most, and to put them in touch with sources of supply. There was found to be a great shortage of farm implements and machines, such as mowers, horse rakes, and other equipment. To encourage the natives, the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to be loaned by the Anglo-Egyptian Bank of Palestine for improvements on their lands. Within three years after the war Palestine agriculture produced more than two million bushels of wheat, one million bushels of barley, one and one quarter million bushels of millet, six thousand tons of grapes, and one hundred and fifty thousand gallons of olive oil. The number of sheep and goats was estimated at more than a quarter of a million of each. Figs are grown in upper Galilee, but not so many as will be the case when shipping facilities are provided. For the second year under British control, the import trade of Palestine amounted to not quite twenty million dollars, most of which was with Great Britain and Egypt. The people import foodstuffs such as rice and sugar, and buy a great quantity of cotton goods.

Some think that Palestine may become a second Switzerland and grow rich on the visitors to the country. For many years both pilgrims and tourists have been going to the Holy Land by the thousands, but little has ever been done for either their comfort or their convenience. With the country under good management by the British, and modern conditions provided, more people will want to make the trip. Many thousands of Palestinians could undoubtedly be employed at a profit in serving the visitors and selling them goods.

Communications in Palestine have been greatly improved and extended. Besides the military railway from Egypt, General Allenby and the British built more than two hundred miles of highways, and these are being added to all the time. There are now four hundred and eighty miles of railroad track and five hundred and twenty-three miles of public highways. The cars on the line from Egypt to the Holy Land are comfortable, and sleeping and eating accommodations are provided. One may ride from Cairo to Ludd, and there connect with the Jaffa-Jerusalem line, or continue on to Haifa, whence the journey may be continued for twelve hours over the French railroad to Damascus. Every two weeks aeroplanes carry mail from Egypt and Palestine across the desert into Mesopotamia, where the British are developing the large interests they gained there as a result of the war. The Zionists have revived an old plan for a two-hundred-and-fifty-mile ship canal through Palestine as a supplement to the Suez Canal, but it does not seem likely that this scheme will be worked out with the British controlling Palestine and the Suez Canal.

The British plan to extend into Mesopotamia the railroad system already connecting Palestine and Egypt, so as to link up the countries of three rivers, the Nile, the Jordan, and the Euphrates. This will supplement the Berlin-to-Bagdad line which the Germans thought would give them control over a new eastern empire. Another project that is now much talked of is to dig a tunnel thirty-seven miles long under the hills to carry water from the streams along the coast of the Mediterranean into the Jordan. The fact that the Jordan is far below sea level makes this physically possible, even if not economically practicable. Extensive improvements are planned for Haifa, which as a port and the terminus of the railroads to Damascus and Jerusalem will be an important place in the future. The British also expect to empty into ships at Haifa the oil they plan to pipe across the desert from Mesopotamia. Haifa used to be great in ancient days, when it was the chief landing place of the Crusaders and the transfer point in the early trade between Venice and the Far East. It is now predicted that its population of twenty thousand will increase to one hundred thousand within ten years.

The French have a mandate for Syria, as the British have for Palestine, and the boundaries of both regions have been redrawn. Damascus is included in the territory under French control. Syria is nominally independent, and the natives have not been altogether satisfied with the way the French have governed their country since the Sultan’s power was overthrown.

Very little has been left of the Turkish possessions, as Armenia has been declared independent, and the Greeks given a footing in Smyrna and the surrounding district. Once these regions become adjusted to the new conditions following the war, it is believed they will enter upon a new era of prosperity and rapid development of their many rich resources.

THE END

SEEING THE WORLD WITH FRANK G. CARPENTER

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

An enormous number of books on the Holy Land have been written, some few of which have become standard works, in spite of having been written a generation ago. Among these the most familiar, perhaps, are Dean Stanley’s “Sinai and Palestine,” in many editions, and G. A. Smith’s “Historical Geography of the Holy Land,” thirteenth edition, London, 1907, and the same author’s “Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land,” London, 1915. The following brief list is a selection from the most recent publications:

BAEDEKER. “Syria and Palestine” Guidebook. London, 1912.

BELL, GERTRUDE. “Syria.” London, 1919.

BENTWICH, NORMAN. “Palestine and the Jews, Past, Present, and
Future.” London, 1919.

COPPING, ARTHUR E. “A Journalist in the Holy Land.” London,
1911.

GORDON, BEN L. “New Judea: Jewish Life in Modern Palestine.”
Philadelphia, 1919.

GRANT, ELIHU. “Peasantry of Palestine.” New York, 1907.

GREAT BRITAIN. “Handbook of Syria” (including Palestine)
Prepared by Naval Intelligence Division, British Admiralty.
London, 1921.

“Syria and Palestine,” Historical section British
Foreign Office—No. 60. London, 1921.

HICHENS, ROBERT. “The Holy Land” illus. by Jules Guérin. New
York, 1910.

HILPRECHT, H. V. “Explorations in Bible Lands during the 19th
Century.” Philadelphia, 1903.

HUNTINGTON, ELLSWORTH. “Palestine and Its Transformation.”
Boston, 1911.

HYAMSON, A. M. “Palestine: the Rebirth of an Ancient People.”
London, 1917.

JASTROW, MORRIS. “Zionism and the Future of Palestine.” New
York, 1919.

LEES, G. ROBINSON. “Village Life in Palestine.” London, 1905.

LOCK, H. O. “The Conquest of Palestine.” London, 1920.

MUDRUM, NADRA. “La Syrie de Demain.” Paris, 1916.

MAXWELL, DONALD. “A Painter in Palestine.” London, 1921.

PIRIE-GORDON, H. “Guidebook to Northern Palestine and Southern
Syria.” Jerusalem, 1920.

“Guide Book to Central Syria.” Jerusalem, 1920.

RUPPIN, A. “Syrien als Wirthschaftsgebiet” (Also in English).
Berlin, 1917.

“The Jews of To-day.” New York, 1913.

SAMNE, G. “La Syrie.” Paris, 1921.

SAMPTER, JESSIE, _Editor_. “A Guide to Zionism.” New York, 1920.

SIDEBOTHAM, H. “England and Palestine.” London, 1919.

SOKOLOW, N. “History of Zionism.” London and New York, 1919.

SZOLD, HENRIETTA. “Recent Progress in Palestine.” New York,
1920.

WILBUSHEWITZ, N. “The Industrial Development of Palestine.”
London, 1920.

INDEX

Abraham, sacrificial rock of, 64.

Agriculture, in the Land of Goshen, 6;
in Palestine, 159.

Allenby, General, the successful Crusader, 1.

Alouf, Dr. Michel, archæologist at Baalbek, 239.

American cemetery at Jerusalem purchased by trickery by Germans who
remove bodies, 44, 250.

American colonies in the Holy Land, 172.

American education in the Near East, 252.

American Medical Unit in Palestine, 202.

American store in Jerusalem, 174.

American trade, opportunities for, in Syria, 267.

Ananias, house of, at Damascus, 212.

Andromeda, the rocks of, 18.

Anglo-Israelite Colonization Society, work of, 170, 176.

Ararat, Mount, in Armenia, 274.

Armenia, the sufferings of, 271.

Armenian Patriarch at Jerusalem, 273.

Armenian women, costumes of, 276;
marriage customs, 277.

Armenians, as sharp traders, 271.

Ascension, Chapel of the, 127.

Asyut, American college at, 252.

Ayasoluk, railway station for Ephesus, 263, 266.

Baal, worship of, 235.

Baalbek, ruins of the ancient city, 232.

Babel, Tower of, at Baalbek, 234.

Bacchus, temple of, at Baalbek, 236.

Banias, at source of the Jordan, 130.

Baptisms in the Jordan, 55.

Bashan, compared with Bible times, 32.

Bazaars of Jerusalem, 111.

Beeroth, 155.

Bees and honey of Palestine, 164.

Beirut, American college at, 256;
college has largest publishing house in the Orient, 259.

Beitin, the ancient Bethel, 155.

Berlin-to-Bagdad scheme, Germany’s, 249.

Bethany, of to-day, 123.

Bethel, now called Beitin, 155.

Bethlehem, visits to, 138.

Birthplace of Christ, the, 144.

Bliss, Dr. Howard S., difficulties with the literary censorship, 255;
handles a strike of Moslem students, 257.

Boaz, Field of, 140, 141.

Bomb for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 107.

Bread bakers of Jerusalem, 115.

Brickmaking at Bubastis, 9.

Bridge of Jacob’s Daughters, 131.

British government of Palestine and Syria, 280.

British mandate over Palestine, 197.

Bubastis, city of cat worship, 9.

Caiaphas, the house of, 44.

Cain and Abel, Moslem tradition of, 246.

Calvary, the site as located by General Gordon, 46.

Camels and their use, 164.

Cana, village of, 195.

Candies of Damascus, 218.

Capernaum, excavations at, 192.

Carmelite nunnery on Mount of Olives, 126.

Cat worship, at Bubastis, 9.

Catacombs of Jerusalem, 60.

Cave dwellers in Jerusalem, 39.

Cedars of Lebanon, 240.

Cemeteries, weddings in, 83.

Censorship of reading matter by Turkish officials, 255.

Chapel of the Ascension, 127.

Chapel of the Manger, 146.

Children of the Holy Land, 182.

Christ, Tomb of, 90.

Christians barred from railroads to Mohammedan holy cities, 242.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 48, 88.

Church of the Lord’s Prayer, the, 126.

Church of the Nativity, 144.

Costumes of Damascus women, 224.

Crucifixion, relics of the, 91.

Damascus, the world’s oldest city, 204;
the heart of the Mohammedan world, 209;
massacres of Christians at, in modern times, 209, 217;
bazaars of, 214;
foreign trade, 220;
manufacture of jewellery, 221.

Damascus-Beirut railway, travels on, 246.

David, Tower of, 36.

David-Goliath battlefield, 25.

Day of Judgment, the Mohammedan belief, 46.

Dead Sea, the, 129, 131, 135.

Dervishes, fanaticism of the, 278.

Diana, temple of, at Ephesus, 263.

Divorce, in Damascus, 225.

Donkeys, their use in the Holy Land, 164.

Dorcas, the tomb of, 21.

Easter Week in Jerusalem, 48, 55, 84.

Ebal, Mount, 157.

Eddy, Dr. Mary, work of, as medical missionary, 260.

Education, American, in the Near East, 252.

Elijah, the cave of, 122.

Elisha, the fountain of, 122.

Ephesus, excavations at, 262.

Eucalyptus, introduction of the, 170.

Evil Eye, belief in the, 78.

Excavations, at Baalbek, German, 234;
at Ephesus, 262;
at Jericho, 119.

Farming in Palestine, 159.

Fat-tailed sheep, 141.

Fatima, tomb of, at Damascus, 210.

Field of Boaz, 140, 141.

Field of Peas, the, 142.

Field of the Shepherds, the, 142.

Figs, production of, in Syria, 269.

Fishermen of the Sea of Galilee, 189.

Flight into Egypt, the, 10.

Flowers of Palestine, the, 165.

Foot washing, the ceremony of, 95.

Franz Josef, costly gifts of, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 50.

French-Jewish Society, work of, 171.

Fuel, scarcity of, 33.

Gabriel’s Spring, Nazareth, 180.

Gadarenes, land of the, 188.

Galilee, Sea of, 131, 187.

Garden of Gethsemane, the, 127.

German church at Jerusalem, 43, 249, 250.

German colonies in Palestine, 248.

German excavations at Baalbek, 234.

German hospice at Jerusalem, 249.

Germany’s methods in the Near East, 249.

Gerizim, Mount, Samaritan Passover sacrifice on, 150.

Gethsemane, Garden of, 46, 127.

Gezer, excavations at, 27.

Gifts to the churches, 108.

Gihon, Pool of, 139.

Gilead, compared with Bible times, 32.

Gomorrah and Sodom, sites of, 137.

Good Samaritan Inn, the, 125.

Gordon, General, site of Calvary located by, 46;
believed Place of the Skull the scene of the Crucifixion, 154.

Goshen, in Joseph’s time and now, 4;
a land of gardens, 6.

Graveyard marriages, superstition regarding, 82.

Great Mosque, the, at Damascus, 207.

Greek Church, a great factor in the religious life of the Holy Land,
53;
strength of, 101, 109.

Hadassah Medical Organization, work of, in Palestine, 202.

Hamlin, Rev. Cyrus, organizer of Robert College, Constantinople, 254.

Hardegg, American hotel keeper at Jaffa, 19.

Hebrew art, revival of, 201.

Herzl, Dr. Theodore, founder of Zionist movement, 198.

Hezekiah, Pool of, 35, 36.

Holy Family, route of, into Egypt, 10.

Holy fire, “miracle” of the, 98.

Holy Land, returned to Christian and Jew, 1.

Holy Sepulchre, Church of the, 48, 88.

Holy Week, in Jerusalem, 48, 55, 84.

Huleh, Lake, 131.

Irrigation, in Mesopotamia, British plans for, 248;
in the Land of Goshen, 6.

Jacob’s Daughters, Bridge of, 131.

Jacob’s Well, 152.

Jaffa, the city of Jonah, 14;
one of the world’s worst harbours, 16;
lumber for Solomon’s Temple landed at, 17, 66, 241.

Jaffa-Jerusalem railroad, the, 26.

Jaffa to Jerusalem, the journey from, 32.

Jehoshaphat, Valley of, 44.

Jeremiah, Lamentations of, where written, 46;
chanting of, 76.

Jericho, excavations at, 119;
arriving at, 123.

Jerusalem, growth of the city, 37;
materials used in house construction in, 38;
the mecca of millions, 40;
the building of the walls, 45;
pilgrimage city of the world, 48;
Jews barred from, 68;
mean temperature of, 130;
increase in population under the British, 282.

Jesus’s Spring, in Nazareth, 180.

Jewellery, manufacture of, in Damascus, 221.

Jewels bestowed by pilgrims to Jerusalem, 50.

Jewish Colonies, development of, 169.

Jews, coming into their own, 68;
classes of, in Palestine, 69;
dress and customs of, 71;
superstitions of, 78.

Jonah, story of, 16.

Jonah’s city, Jaffa, 14.

Jordan River, long and crooked, 30;
the blessing of the water, 55;
baptisms in, 56;
travels along the, 129;
source of, 130.

Jordan Valley, the, 129;
mean temperature of, 130.

Judas’s betrayal of Christ, spot of, 128.

Judea, via the railway, 23.

Juneau, tuberculosis hospital at, 260.

Kaiserin Augusta, hospice on Mount of Olives in honour of, 249.

Kedron, gardens of, 44.

Kedron, Valley of, 154.

Kersting, Father, excavations in Nazareth, 180.

Lake Huleh, 131.

Lamentations of Jeremiah, where written, 46;
chanting of the, 76.

Lazarus, tomb of, 123.

Law of Moses, Samaritan parchment of the, 150.

Lebanon, cedars of, 240.

Lebanon Mountains, scantily forested, 240.

Livestock in the Land of Goshen, 6.

Lord’s Prayer, the Church of the, 125.

Lot’s wife, the pillar of salt, 137.

Louse Market, Damascus, 217.

Machinery, American, needed in Syria, 267.

Magi, Well of the, 141.

Mandeville, Sir John, first report of the cotton plant, 5.

Manger, Chapel of the, 146.

Markets of Jerusalem, the, 117.

Marriage and divorce customs of the Holy Land, 226.

Marriage at early age in Palestine, 184.

Marriage customs in Armenia, 277.

Mary and Martha, house of, at Bethany, 124.

Mary’s Well, Nazareth, 180.

Masons, meeting of, in the Mosque of Omar, 282.

Massacres of Christians in Damascus in modern times, 209, 217.

Mecca, railroad to, 242;
Moslem pilgrimages to, 209;
pilgrimages to, a means of distribution of civilized ideas, 258.

Medical missionaries in the Orient, 259.

Mesopotamia, British plans for irrigation in, 248;
agricultural possibilities of, 268.

“Miracle” of the holy fire, the, 98.

Mizpah, where Saul was anointed king, 25, 154.

Moab, compared with Bible times, 32.

Modern innovations in the Holy Land, 1.

Money changers, customs of the, 87, 111.

Montefiore colonies at Jerusalem, 171.

Moriah, Mount, 57.

Moses, where found, in the Nile bulrushes, 11.

Moses’ Tabernacle, site of, 65.

Mosque of Omar, water supply for, 34;
on site of Solomon’s Temple, 36, 48;
history of, 62;
kept under Moslem guard by the British, 282.

Mosques and praying carriages on Mecca railway, 243.

Mount Ebal, 157.

Mount Moriah, 57.

Mount Nebo, 129, 134.

Mount of Olives, 30, 125.

Mount Scopus, 154.

Naaman, the Syrian, house of, at Damascus, 212.

Nablus, one of the oldest towns of history, 157.

Nativity, Church of the, 144.

Nazareth, early home of the Saviour, 177.

Nebo, Mount, 129, 134.

Noah, tomb of, 247.

Obelisks, American tourists at the, 12.

Olive oil, made in primitive manner, 116.

Olives, production of, in Syria, 269.

Omar, Mosque of, water supply for, 34;
on site of Solomon’s Temple, 36, 48;
its history, 62;
kept under Moslem guard by the British, 282.

Ornan, the Jebusite, threshing-floor of, 59, 64.

Palestine, returned to Christian and Jew, 1;
first view of its shores, 15;
comparative size, 30;
character of the country, 31;
farming in, 159;
under the British, 280.

Palestine Exploration Fund excavations at Gezer, 27.

Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, 92.

Patriarch of Jerusalem, a talk with the, 101.

Peas, the Field of, 142.

Pilgrimages to the Holy City, 14, 40, 48, 49, 53.

Pithom, treasure city of Pharaoh, 8.

Place of the Skull, the, 46, 154.

Pontius Pilate, house of, 93.

Pool of Gihon, 139.

Pool of Hezekiah, 35, 36.

Pool of Siloam, 35, 54.

Pools of Solomon, now a poor water supply, 34.

Quarrels between the sects, 106.

Rachel, Tomb of, 142.

Railroads in the Holy Land, 242.

Rainfall, scanty proportion of, 34.

Rameses, treasure city of Pharaoh, 8.

Religions, strength of the different, 110.

Robert College, Constantinople, influence of, 253.

Roses, Valley of, 140.

Rothschild, Baron Edward, founds Jewish colonies in Palestine, 171,
174, 176.

Ruins, the world’s mighty, 233.

Russian hospice, the, 53.

Russians, chief pilgrims to the Holy Land, 53.

Saladin, tomb of, at Damascus, 211.

Samaritans, among the, 149.

Samson’s fight with the Philistines, place of, 26.

Samuel, Tomb of, 154.

St. Helena, locates place of the Crucifixion, 51.

St. Stephen, place of the stoning of, 45.

St. Paul, tracing footsteps of, 211;
place of his escape over wall of Damascus, 213.

St. Peter and his dream, 20.

Schools of Nazareth, the, 184.

Scopus, Mount, 154.

Sea of Galilee, 131, 187.

Seilum, the ancient Shiloh, 155.

Sepulchre of Christ, the, 91.

Seth, tomb of, 247.

Shechem, one of the oldest towns of history, 157.

Sheep, the fat-tailed variety, 141, 160.

Shepherds, Field of the, 142.

Shiloh, now called Seilum, 155.

Shops of Jerusalem, smallness of the, 113.

Silk production in Syria, 268.

Siloam, Pool of, 35, 44.

Simon the Tanner, house of, 20.

Skull, Place of the, 154.

Smyrna, largest city in Asia Minor, 267.

Sodom and Gomorrah, sites of, 137.

Solomon, Pools of, now a poor water supply, 34.

Solomon’s Temple, lumber for, landed at Jaffa, 17, 66, 241;
Mosque of Omar on site of, 36, 48;
site of, 45;
holiest spot on the globe, 57;
dimensions of, 67.

Souvenirs, the purchase of, 222.

Spaffordites, colony of the, in Palestine, 173.

Sphinx, legend of the Holy Family at the, 11.

Stone of Unction, the, 49, 89.

Storekeepers of Jerusalem, 111.

Street called Straight, the, at Damascus, 212;
shopping in, 214.

Suk Wadi Baroda, on Damascus-Beirut railway, 246.

Superstitions of the Jews, 78.

Syria under the British, 280.

Tabernacle of Moses, site of, 65.

Taxes and their collection in Palestine, 167.

Temples of Baalbek, 233.

Tiberias on Sea of Galilee, 193.

Tomb of Christ, the, 90;
of Dorcas, 21;
Fatima, 210;
of Lazarus, 123;
of Noah, 247;
of Rachel, 142;
of Saladin, 211;
of Samuel, 154;
of Seth, 247.

Tower of Babel, at Baalbek, 234.

Tower of David, the, 36.

Tuberculosis among the Bedouin tribes, 260.

Unction, Stone of, 49, 89.

United Presbyterian Church, educational institutions of, in Nile
Valley, 252.

Valley of Roses, 140.

Veiled women of Damascus, the, 223.

Virgin Mary, jewel-covered image of, at Jerusalem, 50.

Washing the feet, ceremony of, 95.

Watch towers of Jerusalem, the, 43.

Water supply, by scanty wells and cisterns, 34.

Weddings, in cemeteries, 82.

Well of the Magi, 141.

Wilhelm II, breach in wall of Jerusalem in honour of, 139;
places golden wreath on tomb of Saladin, 211;
his trip through the Holy Land, 233, 250.

Women, veiled, of Damascus, 223.

Women’s rights in the Holy Land, 230.

Zagazig, a famous cotton port, 4.

Zammarin, Jewish colony at, 174.

Zangwill, Israel, talk with on Zionist movement, 198.

Zion, Mount, view from, 37;
on the slope of, 43.

Zionist colonies in Palestine, 170.

Zionist movement, the, 196.

Zimpel, originator of Jaffa-Jerusalem railroad idea, 26.

Zorah, birthplace of Samson, 27.