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| Title | Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt, Vol. 2 |
| Creator (LCNAF) |
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| Publisher | D. Appleton and Company |
| Date | 1883 |
| Description | Index: Phoenicia and Lebanon / by the Rev. H. W. Jessup -- The Phoenician plain / by the Rev. Canon Tristram -- Acre, the key of Palestine, Mount Carmel and the river Kishon, Maritime cities and plains of Palestine / by Miss M. E. Rogers -- Lydda and Ramleh, Philistia / By Lt. Col. Warren -- The south country of Judaea / by the Rev. Canon Tristram -- The southern borderland and Dead Sea / by Professor Palmer -- Mount Hor and the cliffs of Edom, The convent of St. Catherine / by Miss M. E. Rogers -- Sinai / by the Rev. C. P. Clarke -- The land of Goshen, Cairo, Memphis, Thebes, Edfu and Philae / by S. Lane-Poole. |
| Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
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| Genre (AAT) |
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| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
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| Original Item Location | DS107 .W73 v.2 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b1703789~S11 |
| Digital Collection | Exotic Impressions: Views of Foreign Lands |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/exotic |
| Repository | Kenneth Franzheim II Rare Books Room, William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://info.lib.uh.edu/about/campus-libraries-collections/william-r-jenkins-architecture-art-library |
| Use and Reproduction | No Copyright - United States |
| Identifier | exotic_201304_015 |
| Title | Page 115 |
| Format (IMT) |
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| File Name | exotic_201304_015_133.jpg |
| Transcript | MARITIME CITIES OF PALESTINE. "5 in the month of July, and we approached the village through fields of rapidly ripening Indian corn (maize) and fruit and vegetable gardens. The sheikh and all the chief men came out to meet us with pleasant words of welcome, for we were expected and well known there. We alighted on the outskirts of the village, which is very compact and built of sun-dried bricks ; close to it there is a large enclosure, with buttressed walls, built of stone, for the protection of flocks and herds, and for storage of grain and fuel. I found my tent already pitched amid little mountains of wheat and barley, near to an extensive threshing-floor, where oxen were busy treading out the corn. Carpets and cushions were soon spread for us in the open air, and coffee and pipes were brought. The sheikh and the heads of families sat opposite to us in a half circle, while the younger men stood round or rested on the heaps of wheat near. We were not quite a mile from the shore, and were facing the sea and the setting sun. The rocky islands and the ruins of Tanturah (see page 105) could be plainly seen a little way to the south, and the tall tower of Athlit appeared far away in the north (see page ico). At the moment when the sun dropped down into the sea, the imam (or village priest) rose and stood in the middle of a large and newly swept threshing-floor which was close by ; he looked earnestly towards the south, and began chanting, in a loud and sonorous voice, the call to prayer—" God is most great. I testify that there is no deity but God. I testify that Mohammed is God's apostle. Come to prayer. Come to security. God is most great. There is no deity but God." The sheikh and the elders who had gathered round us immediately rose and assembled on the threshing-floor in a double row behind the imim, who thus looked truly like the leader of the little band ; and when he uttered the usual ejaculations of prayer and praise, and recited the appointed verses from the Koran, they echoed his words and followed all his movements with precision and solemnity, kneeling and bowing their faces to the ground, and uplifting their hands and rising to their feet with one accord. They were joined by the labourers from the fields and neighbouring threshing-floors and by our Mohammedan servants, but some of the younger men who had been talking with us hesitated at first to attend to the " call to prayer." They looked at each other, as if undecided what to do ; and then at us, as if they were ashamed or thought it impolite to leave us. We endeavoured, by keeping perfectly still and silent, to make them understand that we did not wish or expect them to neglect their devotions on our account. Suddenly they rose altogether and ranged themselves in a row at the edge of the threshing-floor, and their voices blended with the voices of their fathers as they cried, " God is most great! . . . May God hear him who praiseth Him ! " No women came forward to pray ; they stood afar off, with their little ones, watching the assembly; but I do not think that there was one man or youth of the village who did not join in this service, which lasted about a quarter of an hour, and was conducted with the greatest solemnity. Immediately afterwards supper was served. A wooden bowl, rather shallow, but about a yard in diameter, filled with steaming rice, boiled in butter, was placed on the ground at a little |