A PADRE’S PILGRIMAGE

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19911, 13 June 1936, Page 9

A PADRE’S PILGRIMAGE

EGYPT—PALESTINE. TOURING UNDER ARMED ESCORT. THRILLING & AMUSING EPISODES. .-_._— The following letter has been re—ceived by a Hamilton resident from the Hex" H. G. Gilbert, of St. Andrew‘s Church. who with Mrs Gilbert is on a tour of the East and Great Britain. The letter is dated Jerusalem. April 301—— “\Ve are Just at the end if our stay in the Mecca of our Journeyings. “'6 leave Jerusalem for Port Said to—morrnw after a stay full or thrills and also filled with the very deepest interest. “I will not attempt to give you an account or happenings ‘en voyage‘. for that would require not a letter but a book.“ but shall content my—self with giving Just the briefest idea of our Journeys since we landed in Esym. “\Ve set out straight away, after the formalities and inevitable delays of landing were safely behind us. for Cairo. The first part of the journey. back along the Suez Canal to lsmaiiin from Port Said, and then into the sand country, was in real Egyptian heat and also in a real Enrtian crowd, but as we entered the old Land of aoahon palm trees increased, water ways he—came a feature of the landscape and the air cooled down to what we think is a pleasant summer heat in llam—iiton. It was great to be travelling by the ancient caravan route—for the railway in the main follows that and to think that through that country. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and another Joseph with Mary and the young child had passed.

“What a. mixture of Ancient and Modern was visible from the carriage windows, where (as it does for miles) the old road followed alongside of the railway. Men on motor hikes would rush along. where crowds of Arabs were watering" the road by hand with queer little buckets from canals or \vaterholes where patient. little buliocks were tramping round ’and round untended, drawing watrr. illeavily—loaded lorries. honked loudly ‘posl. heavily. loaded donkeys. in one lplace I saw a string of loaded camels, ;\vlth their queer superelllous—looktng.r lheods held high in the air. passing lslowly. with what almost appeared to the. a look 0! mingled curiosity and loontempt where a perspirlng driver ‘was toling with the punctured tyre of . a 1936 Ford \‘B. There was a thrill in the approach to Cairo to see in the lhazy distance against the reddening sunset, the Ancient Pyramids. ‘ “We visited these next morning, ‘hut I must not trust myself to giving ‘impressions of that visit. We wnliicd slowly around in a blistering heat. trying to see all that. we could oudj storing our minds and hearts wilhl many things. \Ve went in the early forenoon when all was quiet. and had a dragomon of our own choosing all to ourselves. We thoroughly enjoyed it. I took photoa of Sphinx and the Great Pyramid—they did not seem to mind.

” The guide—our dragoman—talked much and fairly \Vlsely about the Pyramids and monuments as well as of the early history of Anclent Egypt, but at certain points his knowledge seemed to fall or we go! at cross purposes, (or some reason. VVhlle speakIn; of ancient visltors to that part of Egypt, I asked him 1! he had ever heard of Abraham coming to the land of Egypt. llls reply gave me the litters: ‘No, I never hear of a fellow that name round here. I don't think he ever been a dragoman here, else I know hlm.—No 1'

“That. makes a good partner for one I struck here the other day from Rev. —-. Rose—a padre at St. Andrews Church (Jerusalem). lie was visit—ing Abraham's well. in the south, where now there is a small motor to raise the water. ”This: said the guide, ‘is Abraham‘s well’—‘All Ahm—ham's,‘ the padre slyly asked: ‘And was tho little motor set here by Abra—ham alsu?‘ After a moment of con—fusion. in characteristic fashion, the guide slowly and with uncertainty replied: 'l doan theenlLso. sir; um. I theenk Abraham was dead some time before that, I theenli.‘

“ \Vhile in Cairo we visited the \\'ar Cemetery. the ancient underground Coptic Church built over the reputed site where Joseph and Mary lived with the child Jesus. It is In old Cairo, in the centre of the old Jewish quarter. intensely interesting for many reasons. Greatest or all is the Cairo Museum, which features the almost inconceivable riches from the Tomb of Tutankhamen.

It baffles description. "Then we left Cairo, and one morna train that had left the Suez Canal and sped off into the desert with us about midnight drew Into a station, where I read 4 Gaza.* Shades of Samson and the Philistines! What memories cluster around that place ! But we passed onward and later the name • we saw on the station was 4 Jerusalem.’ We had arrived at last. But it was still a city true to type. “We found it in the grip of one of its sudden upheavals. Strikes were in the air, which was tense. Then came the murder of the German and others at Tel Aviv. Then riots, and locks-out, and proclamations. it i would make a long story. “We went 4 down to Jericho.’ Saw the Dead Sea; examined where arch- j aeologists are at work on the old over- j thrown wall; were in danger of a hold-up coming home; visited Gcth- j semane; saw bazaars closed by order; i were hurried out of a Jew’s shop ! when lie dreaded a riot coming on; went north In a train where every carriage was guarded by troops with ! cities and bayonets; stayed in Nazareth, where troops kept the peace—- | sometimes with difllculty: crossed to I Tiberius over roads where later cars I were stoned; visited Gapernium and Narrowly Escaped Stones from a party of young Mohammedans; i were stopped by police from returning to Nazareth, so rose at 3 a.m. and were -spirited out of Tiberius by a man specially hired for the occasion; I reached Jerusalem again and took up quarters outside of Damascus Gate, where last night there was a riot and the troops had to do some shooting. "To-day ran the gauntlet to Bethlcham in a * garry ’ ami missed more trouble but had a most Interesting and I enjoyable time. Special constables have

been enrolled to-day, and we are leav mg Lo—morrow."

AT NAZARETH. AN ABSOHBING VISIT. HISTORIC SPOTS. \\'e are indebted to Dr. W. D. Bathgate oi‘ the Edinburgh Medical Mission Hospital for the following li‘l—teresting account of Rev. 11. G. and Mrs Gilbert's visit to Nazareth llr. Bathgu'te is a New Zealandei‘. a native of Uutram, Dingo: Rev. H. G. and Mrs Gilbert arrived safely in .\‘azarcth. At- t~he time of their arrival there was much tension‘be—tween Jew and Arab. as the dimculty of making two national homes in the same small la'nd continues to be 3fraught with difficulty. However, when .\ll‘ Gilbert with Mrs Gilbert walked up to the hill behind the town on the eve of their arrival in Nazareth all was very peaceful. From the town' of 9000 people, in the hollow below, arose the voices of children at. play. ”in Nazareth there are only one third 01‘ the people .\loslem so this is Really a Ohrlstlan Town. ~ .\lany institutions, belonging to vari—ous religious bodies, carry on a far—‘reaching work mostly among the young. t Mr Gilbert was very interested in ‘the extent or the View from the hilltop and the history connected with it. First he saw Magiddo, where King Josiah was slain, the same spot in the late war saw the troops of Allenby pass in the early morn from the Plain “of Sharon to the Plain of Armageddon. ’Then near—by was ’l‘annack famous or infamous for the old Canaanitish rites of burying newly-born living male children beneath the gateway or the city. Then came into view IBirkeen. the place where the 10 lepers lived. lone being the grateful-hearted one iniO came back to thank Christ for the healing. Jezrcel, the home or Ahab the King with the wicked Queen ‘Jezebcl, is in the centre of the plain not far from Mount Gilhoa where Saul and Jonathan were slain Nearer Nazareth but on the same plain is a ‘hill called Little llermon on which the towns of Sam. Shunein and Endor are isituaied. Shunem is not quite visible.‘ ‘ “Cana where the water was turned into wine was pointed out, also Gathihet‘nr. associated with the Prophet ‘Jonah. ‘ "0n descending the hill into the itown we were asked into a house where a babe had been born a few days previously it was a delight to .\ll‘s Gilbert to Nurse thla child. . . and also to make friends with the very [bonny Nazarene mother being remind—ed of the Virgin Mary of days long ago. } “Then tea was served having nuts‘ floating on top. This is the refreshment always served in Nazareth homes ‘ twhen a child is born. All guests re—|ceive this that it is flavoured with cinnamon sometimes. i

“Further down the street; we passed the baker‘s. The oven was alight, the firing being done by Very light. branches thrown In to one side of the oven the bread being baked on the clean stones on the other stile. The folk here bring their dough already made up, the linker mei'cly lines the firing. It means that the baker's shun finds it—sell‘ the centre 01‘ groups or village. toll; waiting: “lf‘il' tum to have their hroml hakml. There is an Arab pmyei'h \Vhivh says “All roads lead to tho. mill." it might be equally truthful to say all the Nazareth streets lead Lu thr' llfll((‘l".\“ .\tr amt Mll4 (illhoi't \Vf‘l'O uttered the i'nulnl nmyiy—l'milmd lnnyr‘s and \\'Cl‘(‘ polilv in :H‘l'l‘l‘iillj.“ mm: and eating “l in t‘runt ul‘ lhu :lunnrs. ’l'hcsw I‘Ul»l.vi brown lnayr‘s might pmsihly lm lhn sumo as lhnsu lhv little lmy ntt'm'ml in) .lvsus at tho [him at tho t‘r‘mling ol‘ the Cyttlt. The Village g’l‘w‘r‘i's van”! in for a visit. 'l‘hl‘i‘c :n'v many \l‘l')’ Good and Up-to-date Shops in Natal-viii [hush days. This shop had l-hm‘nlntt-s at all kinds, liinlz spl-t'ialit—-it's, jams or many kimls and from as many t'nunll'ix‘s flush-Allin" hulln-l'. hisl'uiis. [-ln'i‘ittm‘. Halnn-ai, No, Mr. Tim liltinlnn'g'h .\lwlit-nl Mission “05— llilnl shunts Mn lhv \wsl sillv nt‘ lhl‘ lu\\’n him: )11' unit \lz's liilin'l'l, \\‘i'l‘(,‘ {\vi-ivmnml. Ruining l'i'uin Hulram. .\i.‘\\' :Zt‘alantl I fully Il[)[!t'l'l't-lit'(l haying 3lhcsc guests t‘rum liamillnn." t