Many a one has gazed eastward from the summit of the Mount of Olives across to the mountains of Moab and Amman whose heart, if not voice, has echoed the words: "Could we but climb where Moses stood and view the landscape o'er." So great were the difficulties in making the journey that few travellers other than missionaries' have trod the hills of Moab. The Turks were unwilling that the land should be explored and the necessity for securing an armed guard as escort wns a distinct consideration.
In the month of June in the year (1919) I made the journey, under the auspices of the Syrian Palestine Relief Fund, in order to give medical assistance to the important town Es Salt, which in the Old Testament times was known as a city of refuge under the name of Ramoth-Gilead. The town lies 50 miles east of Jerusalem and is famous for its raisins. Eight months earlier, 5,000 of the people of Es Salt were refugees, dwelling in tents at Jerusalem. They had fled there by night from the Turks who sought to destroy them for the aid they had given to British troops. Later on, when they returned to their homes, it was to find them bereft of doors. windows and furniture. Winter and the rains were upon them!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.