The Maccabaean

1. there is any regret still lingering in my memory in connection with my travels through the land of Israel, it is my inability to see the Jewish village of El Kastine, or, as it is more commonly called by its Hebrew name, "Beer Tobiah."

I have used the word "village" reserv- edly, for Beer Tobiah is said to be the only settlement that has the appearance of an agricultural village, and that was the very reason I was eager to see it. The buildings are reported to be typical farm houses consisting of log or frame structures. The settlers are real peasants; and the general environments of El Kastine are rural in the strict sense of the word, in contradistinction to the other colonies that are built on a city plan.

Beer Tobiah is situated on the main road to Gazza, eight miles from Katra, west of Artuff, and is further south than any other of the Judean colonies. The road is bad and transportation is slow. If we had gone there, we would have been obliged to stay there for the night. To this Ibrahim objected. He, holding a time-piece in his hand, pleaded with us to cut out that village, if we wished to make Jerusalem for the Sabbath. . According to Ibrahim it was late in the afternoon. His pocket watch in- ‚dicated that it was ıo P. M., equivalent to 4 P. M. European tirne.,

The Palestinian peasant follows the same method of calculating the time as the ancient Hebrews. He reckons the time with reference to sunset, which he calls 12 o'clock, and if the sun sets at 6 o'clock European time, 7 o'clock in the evening would be 1 P. M. according to Arab time. The two methods of time keeping are known as Arabic or Franji.

We were, therefore, compelled to follow the reasoning of Ibrahim and hurry towards the Holy City by way of Ekron, and towards the end of one hour's ride from Katra on a hilly road which was a loose mass of angular stones from two to six inches in diameter, we descended the last slope and came suddenly upon a most picturesque and delightful spot. The coun-

try all around bore a prosperous appearance. Ripe or newly-reaped grain fields shimmering in the hot summer sun here and there relieved by green areas of durah and millet or concealed under a dark cover of olive groves, bespoke the fertility of the old Philistine soil.

ie Fe sende The red roofs of Ekron, or as it is sometimes called, “Mazkereth Bathiah”— after the mother of the benevolent founder —were seen peeping through the foliage of a mass of trees. We soon came to the historic village Ekron (Akier). We left Ibrahim to feed his kheil (horses), and in charge of a school teacher on whose card was engraved Samuel Ben Sabbath, we were escorted to see the colonv.

The main street presented a bustling and rather novel look. Belated husbandmen were carrying their sheave-laden carts to the threshing floor. Donkeys walking on the public highways annoyed by boys and dogs, the last apparently having a natural affinity for donkeys' tails; goats, locking horns surrounded by enthusiastic partisans of the two combatants; a camel kneeling majestically in the centre of the street, disturbed by marauding hens which lodged on his back picking grains from a large sack; hornless cows and heavy-tailed sheep crowding the doorways undisturbed; and numerous domestic fowls flying from roof to roof and following us as we walked down the street, presumably knowing that we were strangers.

Indeed, even as the ancient God of Ekron, "Baal Zebeb" (the God of Flies), ( I Sam. 1:16), had graced us with his attention, for he sent regiments of peculiar looking flies as our bodyguards. While observing these novel sights, suddenly people from every direction filled the public thoroughfare; men, women and children were rushing towards the threshing floor followed or preceded by dogs, donkeys, goats, and a menagerie of other living creatures. Our learned guide inquiring as to the cause of the excitement, was informed that a serious mishap had just occurred on the threshing floor. An Arab boy was kill-