The first steel bridge across the River Jordan was named in honour of General Allenby. Under the British régime motor launches ply along this most sacred stream in the world
Jerusalem now has a speed law, and its road signs are printed in the three official languages—English, Hebrew, and Arabic—and French besides
“He who plants an olive tree lays up riches for his children’s children.” This saying expresses a current belief throughout the Levant. Olives are the money crop of a great part of Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor. Many of the trees are hundreds of years old, and some of them were planted before Columbus discovered America. I am told of an orchard near Tripoli, in Syria, which the deeds show was established about five hundred years ago, and the trees of which are still bearing. All the way from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee I saw olive trees that looked old enough to have been planted by Jacob. Some of gigantic size were hollow and had been filled with stones to aid in their support.
Many of the colonists of the Holy Land have set out new orchards, and the Americans who live at Haifa have trees bearing fruit every year. I am told that the crop is very profitable, and that under reduced taxation many more trees will be planted. The fruit is raised for the oil. A ton of olives yields about seventy gallons of oil. Asia Minor already leads the world in its production of olive oil, producing about two or three hundred thousand more barrels per annum than either Spain or Italy.
Another important crop of the region about Smyrna is the fig, which grows better here than in almost any other part of the globe. More than three hundred thousand camel-loads are raised in some years, and they are shipped all over the world. The trees begin to bear in their sixth year, and are at their best ten years after planting. The figs ripen about the first of August, and when fully matured fall to the ground. They are dried in the sun, then packed in bags for the market.
A great many of these figs go to America, where you will find them in all the fruit and grocery stores. Our part of the crop is carefully packed, there being several American firms here which do nothing else. The figs are first sorted according to the thickness of the skin and size of the fruit. The poorest are thrown away or used for distilling purposes, and the best are put up for export in boxes and jars. The price here varies from two to eight cents a pound, the very finest of the figs bringing the latter figure.
A great deal of the packing is done in the city of Smyrna to which the fruit is brought in from all parts of the country. Some of it comes on the railways, on cars especially built for the traffic, and some is carried on camels. As it is important that the fruit be not bruised, that carried in the cars is laid upon shelves built one above the other, so that there is no danger of the figs being crushed or bruised.