A BOOK OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1978, 7 February 1914, Page 9

A BOOK OF THE DAY.

MR. HICHENS IN THE HOLY LAND. .'■ ..-'No modern writer has been more suc"■■cessful in reproducing % print the very spirit and savour.of Arab and Egyptian life; than has> the'author of "Tho Garden'of Allah,", and the cheaper edition, now published (Hodder and Stoughton, per S.-and W. Miackay) of Mr. Hich- ' ensY book on' "The Holy Land," originally issued in a rather expensive /' form, should be cordially welcomed. Mr. Hichens traversed tho Holy Land frequently went off tho;beaten tourist tracks His book is a' serjes of fascinating pen-steries of the scenery, and the men and women of Palestine/• He:'does not trouble his .readers with, more or less'learned dis-' quisitions upon much-debated arohaelogioal points, nor-does he bore us with lpngthy excursions into equally debatable theological theories. ' But-his pic- \ tures of Palestine; its. ancient cities, its'tiny villages is descriptions of the : many curious • and interesting ; -' races ■which made up its'-present-day popula- ; tion, are often very charming.. He. is n,ev,er-"gushful," as. so many Eastern travellers have.been-7do you remember h.ow.Mark- Train poked fun,at them in ..his- "Innocents' Abroad" ?—and, thank goodness, ho never parades his_eruditjon.', But .some of; his word pictures are'quite'.delightful.'. ' : > ■'.'■■ The Garden City of Damascus. The, chapter entitled "The Spell of Damascus'; is 'enough -\U> make one long to bo able.-to 1 , 1 go-off ,to with, and '"book"; : a tour^through!the Holy Land.;; Tho:i(iarra of "the famous gardens of ; ~is perhaps due_to some ;"tbv',tne'..fact! ihat the city,;is so near to the desert, "so near to it'',that it is ;like .a town set , in a ..lovely: oasis, a paradise of;shade. an,d waters,; or roses and singing,birds, /through which there'sometimes-filters a• breath_ from the burning-wastes,:like a' Bedpuin passing crowd'of chattefingi'townsfplk."'. In the, gardens of with; their'wealth; of roses and jasmine; there,''is'a .great ever- . fascinating charm,. , -, ' ;"Why ; . is it-so .fascinating ? Why will'itoe for,ever a delicious mera- ■ ory in my'mind? I-can scarcely tell. :'Two young Arab boys lean oh the edge ot : the basin dreamily listonhig'to.the fountain,' and cast- , , .ing/spfays/cf; jasmine upon tho sur-/ : face ,'of • the water: ' The guardian ■draws slowly at his narghile,'as he squats.; on -the ''sofa with-his legs tucked under him.'- A blue pigeon under the white arch. ' The noise of the, city, in the.heart of ; -which'we-are) does not'penetrate to, ', this'place.-,\Vehear:only tho fountain. ; .;;Who 'dwells';in those, shut- : tered houses,, behind /the fretwork ■• :of wood, behind-the; climbing flovi-,' •. ers? I's.h'all'neyer-khpw.; No,voice', .• drops down frbm<t]iem, no 'eyes • peep out. -We.are in a hermitage,'• deep surely!iii old'Damascus,where. ; • the feet :of,-'Abrahamhave : trodi"' ■ " At :X^i : ' r : Most' tourists/enter 'Palestiiio-by way of Jaffa, :gbl:by train '.to7J'erusiilcm,',then camp, f ronfi JerukaJemitOiDatpascus', ,'aii'd . leave Hichens entered"at Beirut, and rode fr'oni: Damascus to Jerusalem.. Ho de- , scribes those'interesting people,' the Druses; the mea in gay garments of blue end red, and "with'painted eyes"; the women, "many, of them beautiful, tall, slender, with, aristocratic features, full of rape.",, He also came across a.colony of German, and Polish Jews. The scenery around Galilee has bean described by one writer as "destitute of .grandeur) beauty-,- and variety." Not so did it ap- ■ pear to Mr. Hichens. , : l; ; •'".. .How untrue! . Everywhere there is'beauty: in the oval, sea, with/its deep-green, dreaming waters; in tho dreaming, flowery shores,'wTiere the pink blossoms, of the oleanders lean towards: Jordan's entering wave j in the long green lawns, with wine- , coloured- patches that slope gently away behind'tho three snowy cupo-:' las and the cypress trees that mark the probable site of Capernaum; in the steep slopes of Gadara,' gashed with livid "yellow and white; in the low line of shore, .like a lino' ofpaint in a tender picture, where orico dwelt a w;oman who was forgiven, Mary, Magdalene; in the flat-topped-rMountain of Beatitudes, set hack between two nearer hills, where green shades into brown. Galileo is all beauty, exquisite beauty. It looki hallowed. And is it, not for ever hallowed? ■ ; All that I had dreamed of it was to me., and. how much, more i . The Russian Pilgrims. '' ■ . Mr'. Hichens,' like all recent visiters to Jerusalem, was-greatly'touched by the pathetic devotion of the Russian • pilgrims,- who' make their- way on foot, along hundreds of leagues of windswept, steppe'or, sun-soorched desert to 1 'visit the-' Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. 'At tho "Inn of the Good Samaritan," on..his. .way. from 'Jericho to Bethlehem, the. author came-across ■ company of these' pilgrimb, who were jesting,there. ■'■'. ' - ,- '~ •■";/. ::,' \ '■',■;; It was eight o'clock in the morn- • ing, -and tho near, bills were full.-"0f ... delicate shades.of .pink'and. yellow. Far away tho lofty mountains of'.Mpab loomed through a Wonder of . haze. ...'All around the 'pilgrims, were -Most of them were old.. One man; immensely tall and . gaunt, with: ;bushy eyebrows, high ', cheek-Dones, small grey 'eyes, and a/flattened nose with wide nostrils, had an extraordinary resemblance to tho\portraits of Tolstoi. His beard flowed far-over his chest, on which,lay five medals.' ' Ho worea 1 high fur: hat, top-boots, aiid <a long soldier's coat drawn in at the back. ... Near him were threo elderly women, broad, heavily built, and loaded with bundles,'and an old man,'whoso faco was muffled up in . shs.ggy hair. The members of this ' group-did not. spoak. ' They sat together,, gazing quietly at this place—one of- the-places of their' holy dreams'in their own land.-. .-,. Somo crossed thomEfllvcs repeatedly. 'A few prayed. There was not much talking. ' ■ Many seemed to be ■ sunk in wide-eyed .dreams. . _ Many were :vcry, grave, but in their' gra-', ■v|ty-there'was no bitterness, only a,sort of. gentle and deep seriousness that was' full of humanity. Now and then, a few voices sang sweetly together. And presently the repose, over, tho black bread, eaten, the bundles were girded on again, the big staffs were taken in hand, and-onward thev slowly went once more, their- minds full of tho thoupht of Jordan, their oyes set' toward-the' mountains of _ Moab. Wherever I saw tho Russian oilgrims I thought of that day wheii Jesus took a little child and set him in the midst. Mr. Hichens gives an interesting de-eriptioh-of scenes at the Cliurch of .tho •loly Sepjilchre, where ho witnessed tho famous Easter ceremonies, but-1 must withstand-':temptat-ioii to make further , extracts, and;, close an/all too brief notico.. of this fascinating book of warmlr commendinc it to rnv readers.