The People of Palestine: An enlarged edition of "The Peasantry of Palestine, Life, Manners and Customs of the Village"Grant, Elihu
General
The People of Palestine: An enlarged edition of "The Peasantry of Palestine, Life, Manners and Customs of the Village"
Grant, Elihu
Palestine -- Social life and customs; Palestinian Arabs -- Social life and customs; Peasants -- Palestine
After passing a few more houses one is well out of town on the road
which leads between vineyards towards Baytûnyeh, ‛Ayn ‛Arîk and Ramleh.
Most of the vineyards are to the southwest and south of the village. The
Khulleh, or valley, at the southwest has the best stretch of vineyard
land. Most of the fig-orchards are to the west of the village and most
of the olives are on the northwest. Lately some fine vineyards have been
made to the northwest near ‛Ayn Miṣbâḥ, and there are some to the
northeast around the ‛Audy property and east of the Latin (Franciscan)
monastery.
From the watershed Râm Allâh slopes away in a westerly direction,
draining towards the Mediterranean. North of the village is a deep
valley that heads on the east at the watershed and falls away on the
west toward Kefrîyeh. The country falls gradually towards ‛Ayn ‛Arîk to
the northwest and to the Balû‛a or sunken meadow, where a winter pond
stands near Baytûnyeh to the southwest. To the south, southeast and
south-southwest the land rises into hills towards ‛Aṭâra and Khurbet
Suwaykeh.
[Illustration: LITTLE GIRLS OF THE VILLAGE]
Our first visual impressions of Râm Allâh were received on an afternoon
early in April, 1901, before the completion of the carriage road, as we
approached it by the old bridle-path already mentioned. By this path Râm
Allâh is hidden from sight until one rises to the summit just to the
south of the village, where many of the villagers have vineyards
planted. Between this hill and the village lies a soft depression which,
beginning at the watershed to the east of the village, dips away to the
southwest towards the little village of Râfât and beyond, disclosing a
beautiful view of ancient Gibeon (el-Jîb) and Mizpeh of Samuel (Neby
Samwîl). There the village of Râm Allâh rested partly in the edge of the
valley, but mostly spread along the opposite ridge. The gentler rays of
the afternoon sun brought out the creamy tints of the stone houses
standing in their cubical solidity. Here and there rose a taller
building; at the left was the red-tiled roof of the Greek Orthodox
Church. But by far the choicest bit of the panorama was the house and
grounds of the Friends’ Mission property. The house had one of the rare,
tiled roofs evidencing Western influence among the flat and domed
structures of the truly Oriental style. The well-constructed stone
building was the home of the Girls’ Training Home, a boarding-school for
young Syrian women, supported by the New England Yearly Meeting of
Friends, and named after two of their honored members, “The Eli and
Sybil Jones Mission.” I had seen pictures of the place and so knew it at
once, though there was now added the charm of colors. The building sat
in sweet Quakerly composure among numerous trees and vines. Tall,
pointed cypresses, pines and various fruit trees abounded, which once so
delighted the gaze of a little girl in the village that she boldly
declared that she knew where heaven was. She thought she had seen it
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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