In Bible lands Author:Richard Newton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. FROM POUT SAID TO JAFFA—LANDING — ARRANGEMENTS FOR OUR JOURNEY—HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF JAFFA—HOUSE OF SIMON THE TANNER — THE FIRST DAY'S ... more »JOURNEY — ENCAMPMENT AT EAMLEH. |E embarked on board a French steamer at Port Said on the evening of Tuesday, March 8th, 1870. This port is the entrance, on the Mediterranean side, to the great canal of Suez, one of the greatest triumphs of modern engineering. It connects together the waters of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and thus makes an island of what has hitherto been known in geography as the continent of Africa. It is destined, undoubtedly, to revolutionize the commerce of the Eastern world, by avoiding the necessity of the long voyage round the Cape of Good Hope, and making the Isthmus of Suez the great highway for the trade of Europe with the Orient. The night of our embarking was calm and still. " The great sea westward " was as smooth and placid as a garden pond; and on awaking at five o'clock the next morning, we found our steamer approaching the land in full view of Jaffa, the port of entrance for Jerusalem. The sun was rising beautifully as we came to anchor, shedding a flood of golden glory over the distant hills of Judea. We found no difficulty in landing. By the time wo were at anchor a whole fleet of boats had come out from 42 AN AMERICAN COLONY. the shore, and their noisy occupants, dark-hued, half-naked Arabs, were clamouring as boisterously for a job as the importunate hackmen do on a steam-boat landing in New- York or Philadelphia. We soon had a boat engaged, and were conveyed, with our baggage, to the shore. Immediately on landing, we proceeded to the American Hotel. This is about half a mile outside the walls of the town, on the north. It is in the midst of a settlement made by ...« less