Page 1 Advertisements Column 4

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7815, 7 June 1909, Page 1

STORIES FROM THE LANtt.OF ABRAHAM. _ «i —. Mr David Fraser (says the London Evening News). has just published, through Messrs Blackwood, under the title '•The Short Cut to India/ a most interesting book describing his attempt to traverse the route'of the railway from the Bosphorus to the Persian Gulf. Half-way on his journey he was severely-wounded by an Arab robber, silvered horrible agony at the- hands of the, amateur surgeons of the desert, but managed, by the aid of the river Tigris to see. enough to give us some vivid pen-pictures of this little-known country. ' Describing his impressions of Tarsus, he writes :— . "Out of the window I noted a tattered beggar buying expensive- hothcfuso.' grapes for a farthing a pound, saw the shopman cheat the beggar-in the weightJ and saw .a small boy rob the shopman while he was busy with the .cheating. When I discovered that the'boy was ,the grandson of the beggar, I marvelled at the justice of heaven," ■ ABRAHAM'S TOMB. ; Mr Fraser. passed through a great part of the country where Abraham lived, • and where he died. Here is. a glimpse'of the tomb of the patriarch*: — i ; "At one end of a low building is a dark chamber, whereof the grealter part is railed off to enclose the actual tomb, a massive slab of stone with upright,stones at head and foot. The stones are covered by a green clo.tti, ■there is a little Arabic writing on the wall, and no ornamentation of 4ny kind. The walls and low dome were Once whitewashed, but now are cohered with dust and cobwebs. ... . . The only light .comes through a door Iso small that one; must stoop to enter. ,In .such humble quarters .rests, the father,'of Israel. . , . A simple and lovely corner of the desert is Ain-el-Arus, .and here Abraham sleeps the long sleep undisturbed by the noise of the' world." The Kurds are all-powerful m this part of Asia Minor. They count no man's life sacred unless he be a Kurd. One, morning he arrived at a,> spot ; on the countryside where he found , a small crowd gathered about a prostrate figure.. SHOT FOR FRIGHTENING BIRDS. ,. ■ "I went ..up to see what interested them, and was told it was the body of a man, picked out of the river a few' minutes before we arrived . . ■. Earlier | m the morning the man had walked;up the river to another encampment, and on the way had passed a field belonging to Kurds. Seeing a lot of birds feeding m the corn he had made a noise to frighten them away, and had then been rudely asked'by the owners of the field why he did so. He explained, and was shot on the' spot, apparently out of pure wantonness, and his body thrown into the river, LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY.; When John the Baptist was m the wilderness his food was, we are told, locusts and wild honey. It has always puzzled most of us how he managed, to eat these creatures, which resemble prawns, and whose bite is something to be remembered. Mr Fraser. throws some, light on the subject: ; "Curiously enough, the arrival iof the locust, which spells disaster m settled regions ; is welcomed by nomads m the desert with much joy. Great numbers of the visitors are roasted and powdered, the flour resulting thete-i from being regarded as a fine food by the Arabs, one part equally nourishing to two of barley flour."

A young man out west had a cold on his chest, But Woods' Peppermint Cure he derided t And he let that cold rip till life gave him the slip, . For bronchitis and death coincided. The moral is clear, if you wish to stay here, • Don't neglect your breath-box when it's wheezy; And be warned while you've strength, _^ .keep a cold at arm's length, Woods' Peppermint Cure does ,it easyl

D<VUiETY' AND CO.. LTD.. VERY CHEAP SHEEP COUNTRY. "ryiTHIN 80 miles of Dunediri and 13 miles of a Railway Station, and 3 miles of a School. 54-54- ACRES > of whic}i 550 acres have been cultivated, balance m natural state. The land consists of nicely-sheltered tussock ridges —none of it high, and a considerable area could be cultivated. The Buildings arS substantial and commodious, and -well sheltered by plantations. PRICE : 32s 6d per acre, or as a going concern. For domestic reasons flife place must be sold promptly, and is m consequence offered at a low figure. Full -particuiars on application to DALGETY AND CO., LTD., Canterbury and Qtago. . •••■■' V*.. :■-. if