BY RAIL TO JERUSALEM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 63, 9 December 1918, Page 8

BY RAIL TO JERUSALEM

(By K.T., in the "Daily Mail.") ("The broad-gauge railway from I Cairo lo Jerusalem was opened in July, but in the tumult of the worldwar the event passed almost unnoticed. Its effect, however, will be felt long after the "war, and, in its particular way, it is almost as great an event as the opening the' Suez Canal.] "I shall be in Jerusalem—let's sec— yes—to-morrow night." I was having a lonely tea in the lounge of Shepherd's Hotel, Cairo. Opposite to me were two/young officers on leave from the front, and stray flakes from a very light conversation drifted towartis me, and passed away into the realm of the commonplace. But the last words stuck: '■'In Jerusalem—to-morrow night." I looked at niyjiwatcli; it was half-past four. Some years ago 1 had thoughts of visiting tfie Holy City, but had given up all i(lca of the" trip on account of the tiresome journey. The overland route, from Ismailia to Jorusalem, via El Arish nnd Gaza, took 'at the shortest thre& weeks, and was not only highly expensive but al;o not a little dangerous.' The alternative route was a sea trip from Port Said in a coaster to Jaffa, and thence by the Turkish railway to Jerusalem. The shortest time in which this could be; managed from Cairo was about. 36 hours. But the advancing British Army has left in its wake a well-laid double track; starting from Kantara, on the Suez Canal, it skirts the seashore to' Gaza, the l gateway \if Palestine. To tlie south of Gaza the line branches, one line running to Jerusalem, via Beersheba, and the other hugging the coast to Ludd, which is the jumping-off place for further extensions to the north. The old Turkish-metre-gauge line from Ludd to Jerusalem has been converted to the standard gauge, and it is thus possible to go right through without changing. | ' When the line is open for civilian traffic in the near''future it will be. possible ,to enter a wagon-lit at Cairo Station, any -evening at dinner time, and to have tea at the New Hotel, Jerusalem, on the following day. . As for. the scenery—well, night would prevent one .from seeing the splendid new swing .bridge' across, the .canal at Kantara, or the quiet graveyards and the tov-like blockhouses ou th». Sinai Desert. Dawn would disclose Khan Yunis and the fairv-like plantations of tho oasis. Before breakfast Gaza would be passed, with its broken white houses and trenchscarred fields. ' The morniug would be spent in a gradual approach to the hills of • Judea, which run nenrly parallel' with the train, but incline gradually towards the line. Here and there a mud-walled village, with plentifully leaved trees shading tho tiny.dwellings-the cities of the PhilisBefore luncheon one enter the orchard area, where, ns far as the eye can see, plantations'of orange trees cover the undulating country. A halt at Ludd, and then on—past Kamleh. the'quaint, old-fashioned birthplace of Saint George, to Arsuf, whfere the hills, meet' the plains. From there to Jerusalem the engine pants wheezingly up a.rugged and.rocky wadi between tire mountains. By four ofclock the' tableland would be readied, and the train would pull slowly into the little hillside station, .below the Bethlehem Road, which is the railway terminus of .Jerusalem, the most interesting city in'the world. ' But there is .a. danger. The contrast between Cairo and Jerusalem is the contrast between ■ the. fever of the west and the slumber of antiquity: The railway must not'be the cause of spoiling Jerusalem in any'way, for the railway brings Jerusalem almost within v tho circle of easily, accessible places.