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Palestine – Jeppen to Jerusalem
The holy land! What profound and thrilling associations do these words
awaken! The tender memories of childhood rustle like the moving of angel
wings – the hallowed lessons received from parental lips and earliest
teachers loved and revered, but now at rest, are revived – with
many a wondrous story of Patriarch, prophet and the blessed Land of Life
and Glory. And now as the land of Egypt recedes while the steamer sails
out of the harbor of Alexandria, I am pleasantly and strangely impressed
with the nearness of that wonderful territory around which so many interests
cluster, and where I have so often been in thought, imagination and sacred
revery. O Land of Promise! I have heard of the with the hearing of the
ear, but now, by the favor of Providence, mine eyes shall soon see the,
and long visions shall be realized.
On the second morning, March 15th, our steamer anchored off the ancient
city of Jeppen – now commonly called Jaffa – and the Coast
of Palestine was in view.
About sunrise we were ready to debark; and I was now for the first time
to plant my feet on the soil of the Holy Land. The little boats that took
us ashore glided along between the rocks to greet the city coming down
to the water’s edge. Situated compactly on a conical or rounded
hill, it has a fine appearance, as you see almost the whole city at a
glance, as you approach it from the west or north west. Its grayish brown
stone or plastered buildings rise picturesquely one alone another, till
an old castle like edifice sits like a crown at the top.
But distance lends enchantment to the view. Enter, and you find it like
other Oriental towns. The houses are huddled together in strange confusion,
as if the builders cared nothing for coolness or convenience. The streets
are narrow, crooked, and filthy; and as we wound up a frontline alley
to our hotel, we passed a multitude of horses, camels and donkeys, waiting
to carry away pilgrims or goods. Indications of considerable thrift and
business and not wanting. Persons are moving about, hearing burdens on
their heads; and I noticed that the people are of a lighter
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