Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/25

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DOMESTIC LIFE IN PALESTINE.

the festival of their patron saint, Paul. The deck passengers were trying to make themselves comfortable for the night, and soon men, women, and children, Moslems, Christians, and Jews, wrapped up closely in carpets, cloaks, and wadded quilts, looked like gigantic chrysalises crowded together in the moonlight.

We were in the cozy little deck saloon soon after dawn on the following day; and, when the sailors came to wash the decks, I was sorry to see the motley crowd of sleepers disturbed, and pushed hither and thither, as they tried to save themselves and their baggage from saturation.

We watched the sun rise out of the sea, which was suddenly changed from gray to gold, while the lead-colored sky was crimsoned — but the land I was longing to see was not in sight.

The next morning, July 1st, I was roused by the joyful news that we were approaching the shore, and was soon on deck, looking with strange delight and emotion over the blue sea to the coast of Palestine, stretching far away north and south in low, undulating lines. The picturesque walled town of Yâfa — the ancient Joppa — was immediately before me, with its white stone-houses built down to the water's edge, and rising one above another on a rounded hill sloping to the sea.

My brother said, "Look far into the east, a little toward the south, where the sun has just risen. Those distant hills which are now almost lost in bright mist are the hills of Judea,'the hills round about Jerusalem,' and from their summits you will have the first view of the Holy City. They are separated from these low coast hills by the broad, fertile plains of Sharon and Philistia." He reminded me how the pines and cedars of Lebanon were brought "in floats by sea to Joppa," and thence carried up to Jerusalem, for the building of the Temple.

This ancient port, with its bustling quay, its large convents, tall minarets, palm-trees, and extensive gardens, is the only cheerful and animated spot on the somewhat