THE LAND OF OLIVES
(Continued)
I left the hotel before breakfast to get a view of the town, as the train for Jerusalem was to pass the station 7:45 A.M. and I had not much time to spare. The early morning sky was clear and fair, the air was fresh, a mild wind blew with the dawn of the day and the sun was rising from behind the Mountains of Ephraim through the vaporous air. From the hedges of the cactus plants large transparent beads of dew drops were hanging sparkling like diamonds.
The wet meadows where the cross and the crescent were battling for supremacy over the Holy Land in the days of the Crusades, was dotted with red-legged storks, and the cheering salutes of song-birds were heard from the tops of swinging cypresses. But the most admirable view of Ramleh and its environs can best be obtained when looking from the tower of Ramleh. This, Mosque is said to have been built by the founders of the town and it was considered a 'model of beauti- ul masonry. Walking up the winding staircase to the top gallery, one‘ finds himself at a height of 500 ft. above the sea level and a remarkable panorama presents itself. -Towards the south the large olive plantations, at a further distance from the south toward the north as far as the Carmel stretches out the beautiful fertile plain of Judea, and to the west, the silvery band of the Mediterranean. The plain appeared that early morning like a sea and the low hills like small islands. It was the usual heavy fog that was resting on the entire plain. This fog is brought about by the moist western wind coming from the sea to be
condensed by the cold air of the night. It is due to this moist air that all vegetables do not perish from the intense heat of the day during the summer months from May to October, when there is no rain and the sun burns day after day and makes the soil as hard as a rock. This fog spreads over miles of the plain, watering the entire surface during the night, and is responsible for the fertility of the Sharon.
With the rise of the sun the mist is transformed into many white clouds that are soon separated as it passes the mountain-side and disappears with the increasing heat :— Thus said the Prophet, “For your goodness is as a morning cloud and 2s he dew it goes away.” (Has..
Ramleh, from a Jewish historical point of view, is of little signih- cance. Itis of Arabic origin as its name indicates (Ramleh in Arabic is sand) and was founded in 716 by Khalif Suleimen. With the decline of Lyda, Ramleh has grown prosperous and was at one time larger than Jerusalem. It has suffered the varying fortunes of the wars of the crusades and was twice captured by Saladin. "
For some reason Ramleh never had a Jewish community of any size. Twenty-four years ago the Jews of Jerusalem, with the assistance of the society Lmaan Zion of Russia, established there twenty-five Jewish families, but that settlement was not of long duration. These settlers were not accustomed to do manual labor, and the Russian organization would not keep them on the pay list, so most of