author of two interesting volumes on tent-work in that country
; say so, since six thousand square miles, from Dan and he may well and the heavy,white head-veil,without face-covering, of Jerusalem, to Beersheba and from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, to the more gay and elaborate costumes of Samaria and Galilee, and have been accurately surveyed and mapped out ; and the twenty- will six sheets of which the plan wi be composed will show every town, village, ruin, road, watercourse, building, tomb, and cave ; every cistern, well, spring, and rock-cut wine-press ; will mark sh curious horse- oe-shaped bonnet, on the front of which are sewn the every hill, and the extent of ground under cultivation, diatin- coins composing their dowry, and covered by a handkerchief, guishing between the different kinds of fruit-trees and the oak which is bound round the head ; to this is attached the woods and wild growths ; giving also the levels of the Sea of face-veil, which in this part of the country is crimson, and Galilee and the Dead Sea, and the heights of the various principal covers the mouth, chin, and breast
features of the land. This map, the outcome of the Palestine The author is careful to correct the impression which has some- Exploration Fund, is to be accompanied by a detailed memoir ; how taken root that Palestine is a barren and desolate country, very but as it is not expected that such a work will be read by any different from what it must have been in the days when the spies large section of the British public, the Committee very wisely brought back the report that it was a goodly land, flowing with milk determined to bring out, in the first instance, Mr. Conder's own and honey, a land, too, of corn, and wine, and oil. A change, indeed, account of what he saw and what he effected, during the four has occurred in the Holy Land, but it is a change which, as Mr. years in which he was employed under their orders upon Conder justly contends, is due to neglect and bad government, and the trigonometrical survey, and thus we have become not to any alteration in the character of the seasons, while the possessed of one of the most complete as well as most soil itself is exceedingly fertile. The reader will find in his twelfth accurate descriptions of Palestine which it is possible to chapter most interesting evidence of what he asserts, namely, that have. The subject is one of which we can never tire, increased population and industry, the restoration of ancient tanks since it leads us to the scene not only of the moat stupendous and reservoirs, the reparation of the great drainage works of the of all dramas, but of a series of events with which every child Romans, the preservation of the forests, and the planting of tim- amongst us is familiar. As we tread the paths of Palestine, we ber are all that is needed to make Palestine again blossom as the are in the land of the Bible, and at every turn seem to see enacted rose. But this must be done by native and not foreign labour, before us the life of which we read in its pages. The author says since at present the climate is deadly to Europeans ; moreover, " the main object of the Survey of Palestine may be said to have
the peasantry are capable, if well directed, of performing excellent been to collect materials in illustration of the Bible," and in this work, as has been proved by those employed in mining operations spirit, while he is careful to give us in minute detail the topo- under Captain Warner. But the very first requisite, that without graphical investigations and identification of sites which were the which it is impossible for any improvements to be undertaken, is not change with every primary work upon which he was engaged, he is no less particular good government, a government which will to gather up every characteristic incident, and to draw attention to Grand Vizier, a government)which should pay its officials sufficiently every peculiar custom, which may serve to show how little altered to enable them to live without oppressing the people, a government is the Palestine of to-day from the land where Abraham dwelt. which shall enact righteous laws, assess just taxes, and put down The portion of Mr. Conder's work which will undoubtedly prove once and for ever the grinding oppression under which at present the more interesting to the general reader is that in which he the poor peasants, whose self-control is, says the writer, a re- dwells upon the different races which now inhabit the country ; proof to their rulers, have no inducement to industry, and no and as his facilities for studying them were exceptional, since for heart to apply themselves to bettering their own condition, since, as four years he lived almost exclusively in the villages and amongst they say, the Governor "eats." "There is only one man," says Mr the peasantry, he has been enabled to make a nearer approach to- Conder, " Midhat Pasha, against whom one has never heard this wards gaining their confidence than has fallen to the lot of most of accusation made." Following up his account of the settled those—with the exception of Lane and Klunzinger—who have
written about the manners of Eastern people. Beginning with the Bedawin, the author afterwards touches upon the Jews, Russians, Fellahin, or " modern Canaanites," the author takes us to one of and Germans, giving some accounts of the various attempts at their villages, of from twenty to a hundred cabins, built of atone or colonisation at Khaifa and elsewhere, by which it would appear mud, as the case may be, with its larger house for the sheikh, its that none of them have been or are likely to prove eminently mukam or saint's tomb hard by, and its olive groves or its orchards successful. The agricultural establishment of the Bergheims at of pomegranates or figs, and shows us the men employed in agri- Abou Shusheh is the undertaking of most promise ; but even culture, the boys tending the flocks, the women cooking or fetch- there the same drawbacks are experienced, in the difficulties ing water, each of whom if addressed will answer you in Scriptural thrown in the way by venal and corrupt officials. We have phrase, calling you " my father " or " my brother," and saluting scarcely alluded to the great work carried out by the author and you with the words, "Peace be unto thee." " The visitor will," his companions in the discovery or identification of ancient sites, says the writer, " be struck above all with the power exercised by and if we think his claim for the Survey rather exaggerated,— the sheikh, or by the elders, and with the respect for age and "that the new discoveries are almost as numerous as all those of for etiquette, leaving the impression of a patriarchal form of former travellers put together," it must still be allowed that a society, which really exists among the villagers." He remarks hundred and seventy-two identifications are no mean feat to have that the distinctive physiognomy of each village is exceedingly accomplished. A list of all the places discovered or identified is given striking, the people of one place being ugly and of another good- in the index. Whether Mr. Conder is right in some of his personal looking, the inhabitants of each being, probably on account of conjectures—such as that with regard to the site which be wishes intermarriage, very like each other. Their food is extremely to appropriate for Calvary—is another question. The idea is, at simple ; they rarely touch meat, but live upon unleavened bread all events, not a new one, as the present writer was shown the dipped in oil—reminding one of the poor widow of Sarepta—or same spot as the true Calvary some twenty-five years ago. If rice, olives, dibs (grape-treacle), semn (clarified butter), and Calvary were indeed the place of public execution, and if the eggs, with gourds, melons, marrows, and cucumbers, or in times stoning of Stephen occurred there, the tradition which points to of scarcity, the kobbeizah or mallow, cooked in some milk or oil. El Heidimiyeh as the scene of the saint's martyrdom, and that To this frugal diet is due, Mr. Conder considers, the whiteness corroborative Jewish one which designates it " the place of of their teeth, the strength of their constitutions, and the rapidity I stoning," joined to the fact that it is a rounded knoll containing a cave, outside the city walls, and near to the great Jewish ceme- * Tent-Work tn Palestine. By Claude Regnier Conder, E.E.2 vole. London:
with which their wounds heal. The dress of the fellah of Palestine varies not merely as he is Christian or Moslem, but also in the differents parts of the country ; with the men, however, the principal difference consists in the colour of the turban, the long, full shirt, and the abba or cloak being common to all, a kumbaz or striped-cotton gown, and a jubbeb, or short cloth jacket, being worn in addition by the richer peasant. To this day when on a journey he "girds up his loins," bringing the hem of the shirt between his legs, and fastening it to the leathern girdle PALESTINE AND ITS PEOPLE .* with which, like St. John the Baptist, he confines his garments.
" PALESTINE has now been brought home to England," says the More variety is naturally seen in the dress of the women, from the sweeping blue robe, black head shawl, and face-veil of Philistia, and he may well and the heavy,white head-veil,without face-covering, of Jerusalem, to Beersheba and from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, to the more gay and elaborate costumes of Samaria and Galilee, and t he picturesque but singular habiliments affected in Bethlehem.
Upon the Samaritan women may still be seen the " round tires like the moon," an adornment composed of a cu
horse-
every cistern, well, spring, and rock-cut wine-press ; will mark sh curious horse- oe-shaped bonnet, on the front of which are sewn the every hill, and the extent of ground under cultivation, diatin- coins composing their dowry, and covered by a handkerchief, guishing between the different kinds of fruit-trees and the oak which is bound round the head ; to this is attached the woods and wild growths ; giving also the levels of the Sea of face-veil, which in this part of the country is crimson, and Galilee and the Dead Sea, and the heights of the various principal covers the mouth, chin, and breast
features of the land. This map, the outcome of the Palestine The author is careful to correct the impression which has some- Exploration Fund, is to be accompanied by a detailed memoir ; how taken root that Palestine is a barren and desolate country, very but as it is not expected that such a work will be read by any different from what it must have been in the days when the spies large section of the British public, the Committee very wisely brought back the report that it was a goodly land, flowing with milk determined to bring out, in the first instance, Mr. Conder's own and honey, a land, too, of corn, and wine, and oil. A change, indeed, account of what he saw and what he effected, during the four has occurred in the Holy Land, but it is a change which, as Mr. years in which he was employed under their orders upon Conder justly contends, is due to neglect and bad government, and the trigonometrical survey, and thus we have become not to any alteration in the character of the seasons, while the possessed of one of the most complete as well as most soil itself is exceedingly fertile. The reader will find in his twelfth accurate descriptions of Palestine which it is possible to chapter most interesting evidence of what he asserts, namely, that have. The subject is one of which we can never tire, increased population and industry, the restoration of ancient tanks since it leads us to the scene not only of the moat stupendous and reservoirs, the reparation of the great drainage works of the of all dramas, but of a series of events with which every child Romans, the preservation of the forests, and the planting of tim- amongst us is familiar. As we tread the paths of Palestine, we ber are all that is needed to make Palestine again blossom as the are in the land of the Bible, and at every turn seem to see enacted rose. But this must be done by native and not foreign labour, before us the life of which we read in its pages. The author says since at present the climate is deadly to Europeans ; moreover, " the main object of the Survey of Palestine may be said to have
the peasantry are capable, if well directed, of performing excellent been to collect materials in illustration of the Bible," and in this work, as has been proved by those employed in mining operations spirit, while he is careful to give us in minute detail the topo- under Captain Warner. But the very first requisite, that without graphical investigations and identification of sites which were the which it is impossible for any improvements to be undertaken, is not change with every primary work upon which he was engaged, he is no less particular good government, a government which will to gather up every characteristic incident, and to draw attention to Grand Vizier, a government)which should pay its officials sufficiently every peculiar custom, which may serve to show how little altered to enable them to live without oppressing the people, a government is the Palestine of to-day from the land where Abraham dwelt. which shall enact righteous laws, assess just taxes, and put down The portion of Mr. Conder's work which will undoubtedly prove once and for ever the grinding oppression under which at present the more interesting to the general reader is that in which he the poor peasants, whose self-control is, says the writer, a re- dwells upon the different races which now inhabit the country ; proof to their rulers, have no inducement to industry, and no and as his facilities for studying them were exceptional, since for heart to apply themselves to bettering their own condition, since, as four years he lived almost exclusively in the villages and amongst they say, the Governor "eats." "There is only one man," says Mr the peasantry, he has been enabled to make a nearer approach to- Conder, " Midhat Pasha, against whom one has never heard this wards gaining their confidence than has fallen to the lot of most of accusation made." Following up his account of the settled those—with the exception of Lane and Klunzinger—who have population of Palestine with an interesting chapter on the B
written about the manners of Eastern people. Beginning with the Bedawin, the author afterwards touches upon the Jews, Russians, Fellahin, or " modern Canaanites," the author takes us to one of and Germans, giving some accounts of the various attempts at their villages, of from twenty to a hundred cabins, built of atone or colonisation at Khaifa and elsewhere, by which it would appear mud, as the case may be, with its larger house for the sheikh, its that none of them have been or are likely to prove eminently mukam or saint's tomb hard by, and its olive groves or its orchards successful. The agricultural establishment of the Bergheims at of pomegranates or figs, and shows us the men employed in agri- Abou Shusheh is the undertaking of most promise ; but even culture, the boys tending the flocks, the women cooking or fetch- there the same drawbacks are experienced, in the difficulties ing water, each of whom if addressed will answer you in Scriptural thrown in the way by venal and corrupt officials. We have phrase, calling you " my father " or " my brother," and saluting scarcely alluded to the great work carried out by the author and you with the words, "Peace be unto thee." " The visitor will," his companions in the discovery or identification of ancient sites, says the writer, " be struck above all with the power exercised by and if we think his claim for the Survey rather exaggerated,— the sheikh, or by the elders, and with the respect for age and "that the new discoveries are almost as numerous as all those of for etiquette, leaving the impression of a patriarchal form of former travellers put together," it must still be allowed that a society, which really exists among the villagers." He remarks hundred and seventy-two identifications are no mean feat to have that the distinctive physiognomy of each village is exceedingly accomplished. A list of all the places discovered or identified is given striking, the people of one place being ugly and of another good- in the index. Whether Mr. Conder is right in some of his personal looking, the inhabitants of each being, probably on account of conjectures—such as that with regard to the site which be wishes intermarriage, very like each other. Their food is extremely to appropriate for Calvary—is another question. The idea is, at simple ; they rarely touch meat, but live upon unleavened bread all events, not a new one, as the present writer was shown the dipped in oil—reminding one of the poor widow of Sarepta—or same spot as the true Calvary some twenty-five years ago. If rice, olives, dibs (grape-treacle), semn (clarified butter), and Calvary were indeed the place of public execution, and if the eggs, with gourds, melons, marrows, and cucumbers, or in times stoning of Stephen occurred there, the tradition which points to of scarcity, the kobbeizah or mallow, cooked in some milk or oil. El Heidimiyeh as the scene of the saint's martyrdom, and that To this frugal diet is due, Mr. Conder considers, the whiteness corroborative Jewish one which designates it " the place of of their teeth, the strength of their constitutions, and the rapidity I stoning," joined to the fact that it is a rounded knoll containing a cave, outside the city walls, and near to the great Jewish ceme- * Tent-Work tn Palestine. By Claude Regnier Conder, E.E.2 vole. London:
B. Bentley and Son.tery of ancient times, would certainly give colour to the sup- position that the hill near the Damascus Gate, which has been apparently rent from Bezetha by some convulsion of nature, might be the much-disputed sacred spot. At the same time, it is impossible to avoid seeing how, after the fashion of most persons who have a theory to support, and no doubt in perfect uncon- sciousness, the author at one time rejects, and at another strengthens himself by an appeal to, those early ecclesiastical traditions which, in the present instance, whether rightly or wrongly, are entirely at variance with his view of the question.
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