IN SOUTHERN PALESTINE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3194, 19 September 1917, Page 6

IN SOUTHERN PALESTINE

HISTORIC BATTLEFIELD *• (By C. J. B. Marsham.) The 6oldier with au inquiring turn of mind lias certain advantages which are not shared by the peace-time tourist. Kuch considerations as beauty of scenery, proximity to a casino and tlio like have no weight in his choice of residence.. Bo has indeed 110 choice in the matter. His entire tour, nay evon tho country ho is to visit and the time lie will spend there, is decided by persons other and greater than himself. Tho consequence of this is _ that- ho frequently spends long periods in places which no one but a lunatic would visit for pleasure, and since no place is without an interest of its own fee things which the ordinary tourist or oven naturalist is apt to miss. On the other hand, he seldom has sufficient knowlodge to be able to name or even accurately describe the tilings which he sees, so that his observations cannot aspire to much scientific value. It is hoped, however, that a short account of one of tho out-of-the-tv ay battle-areas of the British Army may be of some general interest. No attempt will be made to describe the fighting which has taken plftce here. The writer has only seen a little of it, and, apart from that, Heaven knows wo hear enough of fighting -nowa-dajs. Some day tho history of tho campaign will be written, and it will be told how the Turks have been driven back step by step, the stations on the wonderful new railway, "Romani, Katia, El AjisU, and Rafa, marking the successive stages of their retirement* And when that history , ia written, prominence will no doubt t>e given to thb work of tho it.lii., which alone has made the advnnce possible. Brave deeds there have been m this country, and mucli cheerful endurance of discomfort, and of things worsa than discomfort. One bears instances of this everj day. _ Only this morning an officer irpm hospital told me of a lad, his leg sh'etterod by a shell, who, whenever he had a partial relief from pain, chaffed his fallow-sufferers so unmercifully that he became a positive nuisance. He was in tho habit of referring to his next-door neighbour, who bad 48 pieces of shell distributed about his person, as "Old Shraipnel." Not very appropriate it is true, or particularly witty but think .of the lad's cheery pluck! The country in whioh we are nowoperating i? on the fringe of the desert which divides Egypt from." does not, as far as our observation goes, flow\with either milk or honey; if It would only flow with water, we would M lt"be 6 e y n £ from time Assyria took place here, when Bocchons, Kins of Egypt, sent an army to help King of Gaza, against Sargon. And later the Pharaoh Hophra, coming to the assistance of Zedekiah. a-? l ™ 3 } tho Babylonians, captured Gaza, and enjoyed a short-lived success. Other battfes have been fought h before and since. Modern Gaza is saw not to be on the same site as the e " city, with whose gates Samson made_so free. It looks a pleasant enough town, but X doubt if it is a very healthy spot in which to live at the P res ™* 6 ;. ai l. The country around our piesent lail held is of rollings downs nrt unlike some parts of England. Muc i barlev is grown here, barley with little I straw! but with the sunshine in it, such as the brewer likes for his bitter beer. Some day a golf course may bo made 'here, and it will bo a good one, and the championship of the Near East may bo fought for on it. Inland, the country is latter, and beyond the Turkish lines is a rango of hills stretching away to Beersheba in tlio East. The wadis, or dry water courses, aro the most distinctive feature-a great sight they must bp aftor a heavy storm. The soil, being a sandy loam, with the sand in most places predominating, affords little resistance to the torrent, wliioh cuts its way thiough to a great depth, leaving a river-bed. ivitb steep banks, a serious obstacle to man or horse, but excellent cover from shell and shrapnel. The most important of them is the Wadi Ghuzze, which varies in width from about 30 yards to fully half a mile. In the wider pr-rts it is broken up by grass-covered hillocks, and its bed consists mostly of aeep Nearly every race of the British Empire is represented on the beach at bathing-time —men from almost every county in England, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Welshmen, Australians, New Zoalanders, Indians, and Egyptians of all types. The scene is an unforgettable one, ana it is a great pity that there is no artist to paint it. The Australians and New Zealanders are thoroughly, at home in this kind of life. Their uniform consists of a slouch-hat, a quarter ot a shirt, and some sort of boots a.nd breeches. They are great fighters, with a high sense of personal honour, r.nd the most cheerfully helpful fellows to meet in any sort of difficulty. There are two curious isolated plateaus which at once arrest attention. They are something more than hillocks, yot can hardly be dignified by the .-uime of ■hills. Their names are Tel el Jemmie and Tel el Fara, and tlioy are able landmarks in a country m which it is wonderfully easy to lose'ones way. They haye been used at various times as places of burial, and bones and coins have been found m them. Wherever there is water, as there isnoar the sea, fig trees and olives ap-1 pear to flourish. In some .places, as at Khan Yunus the gardens are divided by enormous cactus hedges, obstacle which looks strong enough to keep out an elephant. In tlie main, however, it is a dry and treeless laud, and only in the evening lxaur_could it be described as beautiful, the light of the setting sun lending, a softaess and variety to its colouring which at other t! AlUioiighlip close to Egypt and enjoying a climate so similar, Palestine appears to differ widely f J ora . lt ™ f'?™' respects. The flowers, for instance, are quite distinct, and (I do not recollect seeing one, except it be the scarlet poppy, which is common to both countries. I expect early spring is the b«t time for them! a-nd that we arrived there rather late. B ® sla f ) nonnv there is a red and ye low one, a ith HE* aeeJ-pod like that of English yellow sea-poppy- There "VjJjt kinds of convolvulus, a ? mall white one mid a larger one with pink flowers. All these plants grow in the cultivated land. In tho uncultivated down land there is a beautiful dianthus villi 3?i'ik flower and oe.uu.iiui " low-growing mauvo plant which looks like a heath, but isn't. I Tt has a very strong scent, a quality which it shares with the dead camels, „i!;m, „m also not uncommon. There tan Son pretly plant with clusters racemes, I think the botanists call them) of small while flowers. Several .kinds nf thistle with peculiarly sharp spikes CTOW here: one with a yellow flower and one with a mauve I remember especially. T have snt on them all, aiul there is no>, much to choose between them. Of birds W » considerable number: u.lturcs •fronuout the wadis, and I have Been iho iceETier wheeling round each other and systematically searching the ground Crested larks are as common here as in Egypt, but saw 110 water wagtails, the other common Egyidian bird. Hiere were a great number ot qua; in tlio cornfields in early April,. ? 00 " l,.ft Swallows wore, fairly plentiful as aW were bee-eaters. T once saw fivo sandgrouse together; they let me ,ct within about fifty M«rds and then flew away a short distance aiul titled a ? i»»• ■V liair of flycatchers had built tlieir nest close to our Brigade Headquarters, and brought up their yrtung ones legardlcss of shell" and shrapnel. The cock is a dapper little bird, dressed in black and white, an'l looks as if he were wearing the curious garmenfa wine J ™ to cal* "evening clothes.' The lien is soberlv clad in brown. If flvcatchin„ was their professten, I fear they had not been a complete success for flies were our greatest infliction. Drnst,o . si \" l t measures have now done a great, leal to diminish tho evil. could save us from tho other di?eoinfort —the sand which blew continually into eves, nose, mouth, and lood. The climato on tho whole is delightful, at least in the spring and summer, tho heat being tempered by a sea-breeze which springs up punctually at MO every mornlug. so that the early hours aro usually

the hottest. When the wind Mow? from the desert, as it does occasionally during the Khamseen or fifty days of spring, life is a burden to man and beast. The wind is high, intensely hot and absolutely dry, and brings with it quantities of sand.

There are largo numbers of sea-shells in the soil, nearly all of them of one type, a bivalve of about 1} inches in. diamoter. They must be, of course, of groat antiquity, yet the eamo shell is to be seen on the beach to-day.

There are snakes in this part of the country also, but I have not heard of any case of snake bite.... On the other hand, a good many men have been bitten, by scorpions, which, though not so serious,' is 110 joke, especially if the assailant is one of the largo black variety; Tarantulas also are fairly common, but tliev run away whenever possible, and only bite if driven into a. corner. There are also ants in great variety and abundance. Lizards, too, are very numerous, and I noticcd four or five different speoies. They are, of course,. perfectly harmless, though the Arabs say there is one sort which has a poisonous bite. Take it altogether, it is by no means a bad country for campaigning. One need never bo cold, and can nover be wet, and the nights are so warm that if you do lose your way, it is no hardship to lie down and sleep where you are. The nights indeed ntc wonderful, especially wlien there is no moon to dim the stars which shine with a living brilliance not seen in our ho»',°s of cloud and mist.