"OUT JERUSALEM WAY"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 208, 22 May 1918, Page 9

"OUT JERUSALEM WAY"

WITH THE NEW ZEALAND TROOPERS. A Wellington trooper, writing , from Ayuukara (Palestine), stales that for three weeks they had been away on a stunt "out Jerusalem way/ 1 "Our brigade," Bays the letter, "left on and travelled to n placu called Latroun, where we experienced a terrific rainstorm, and things wero very wet and miserable. Latroun is the half-way place lo Jerusalem. We stayed there tho night, and the Holy City was reached at b o'clock the next afternoon. We wero till rather disappointed in Jerusalem. Our wimp site is between the Holy City and lietlilehem. In fact, we .havo a good view of Bethlehem from tho camp, which is on a high hill between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. At the present camp there is a largo inunastery, nnd eome of the rooms in it are being used by our troops. There i« an old monk living there, who (old us that the place was JSOO years old, aml.tne spot was 'hallowed by the throe wise men of the East having passed that way. on. their way lo Uotlilclieui. , From this camp we got a good view of dm Mount of Olives, Bethlehem, and the Dead Sea. Tho country round about is very mountainous, but wo havo come upon' large Hocks of sheep and goats. ■ There are a few Turks out hero, but they arc hard lo get at owing to the nature of the country, which is very bad for mounted men to work, and very hard for transport. After being there for three days we sot out i for Jericho. .After spending half a day' cleaning the Turks up (in which we had one man killed and two wounded) wo found ourselves without rations, and we had to do without for two days, w'hile tho horses Imd no hard feed fo'r twentyfour hours, lint od arrival at Jericho our transport caught us up with plenty of 'mungarie' for man and beast. Jericho is only a very small place. It looks like a little garrison town. Not far nway is the River Jordan,, flowing into tho Dead Sea, only eight miles wide it this end and said to bo only two or three fathoms deep. Here tho Turks greeted us with shell fire, but being out of range they did no damage; also five enouiy aeroplnnes paid us a visit, but did not stop long as wo gave them plenty of machine-gun and rifle fire. After being at Jericho a couple : of days we trekked back to Jerusalem the Golden, and on tho way the 'Tommies' along the road greeted us with cheers. • Somehow or other (hey had got it into their heads that we had done great, work. On the second day after our arrival back tho authorities allowed us a look around the city, and it was very interesting. I Tisited tho Church of tho Holy Sepulchre It is a splendid old church, and we saw many beautiful and rare things there. Wo also had a- look at the marketplace, whero they have liny shops and not innoh for sale. The town is very dirty. The poorer population look starved, but the monks look well fed and healthy."