Haifa; or, Life in modern PalestineOliphant, Laurence
History
Haifa; or, Life in modern Palestine
Oliphant, Laurence
Palestine -- Description and travel
Jauna, which was the name of the village to which I was bound, was
situated about three miles from Safed, in a gorge, from which, as we
descended it, a magnificent view was obtained over the Jordan valley,
with the Lake of Tiberias lying three thousand feet below us on the
right, and the waters of Merom, or the Lake of Huleh, on the left. The
intervening plain was a rich expanse of country, only waiting
development. The new colony had been established about eight months, the
land having been purchased from the Moslem villagers, of whom twenty
families remained, who lived on terms of perfect amity with the Jews.
These consisted of twenty-three Roumanian and four Russian families,
numbering in all one hundred and forty souls. The greater number were
hard at work on their potato-patches when I arrived, and I was pleased
to find evidences of thrift and industry. A row of sixteen neat little
houses had been built, and more were in process of erection. Altogether
this is the most hopeful attempt at a colony which I have seen in
Palestine. The colonists own about a thousand acres of excellent land,
which they were able to purchase at from three to four dollars an acre.
The Russians are establishing themselves about half a mile from the
Roumanians, as Jews of different nationalities easily get on well
together. They call the colony Rosch Pina, or “Head of the Corner,” the
word occurring in the verse, “The stone which the builders rejected, the
same is become the head of the corner.”
MEIRON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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