There are roads which are marvels of highway achievement with their firm, "wide surface, magnificent bridges, tree-lined boulevards and tram islands and their convincing assurance of directness and security, These are the highway engineer's ideal. There are other roads which also are a tantalizingly in the darkness. It was midnight when the train Heamed Into the station and the passengers disembarked to board the ely motor bus which was sup-Ferusalem. It was fortunate. that posed to i peopl there should bean overflow for the railway company obligingly hires motor cars for those who miss the bus, and travel along the Jao Road at midnight is much more. con-Venient ina cor than a bus but it tribute to the modern engineer and his science of carving sure communications out of the wilderness but which live in the imagination, prey on its resources of graphic illustration and will never be forgotten. In the latter category is the Jaffa" Road to Jerusalem, engineering feat of considerable magnitude, a succession of continual thrills and as interesting adventure as any to be encountered anywhere in the world by a person already hardened by travel on some of the roads in China, Jaffa, as every schoolboy knows, was as sociated with oranges long before Southern California ever swamped the market with its delicious fruits, its road which enters the Holy City at Jaffa Gate after winding, climbing, twisting and doddering, across Palestine from the coust to Jerusalem ought to be equally famous for it represents an. experience of nonchalant interest the regular traveller but to the tourist with his faculties attuned to all the new pictures and sensations presented nan ancient land with memory. new ideas it will be a lifelong From Haifa, the rapidly developing Palestine' port, to Jerusalem travellers generally use both train and rond for road transportation is one feature of the Holy Land Which Is outstripping most phases Of development. "Midway between the two cities is Lydda which finds unusual interest in English history insofar as it is connected with the St. George, the patron saint of England, whose bones are supposed to be buried there. Lydda makes convenient junction for travellers find the continuation of the railway Journey to Jerusalem boring and monotonous for the railway track reforms evolutions which would make one of Bertram Mills tumblers feel giddy. It is there, on proceeding from Haifa, that the Jaffa Road is encountered and a motor bus service which charges more one way than the other completes the journey and carries one to that most amazing of all cities, Jerusalem. Four shillings is the rice of a bus ride all the way from Haifa to Jerusalem, and one progressive transport " company will take the traveller clear through to Baghdad in refrigerated buses with sleeping accommodation and all the conveniences of a modern hotel even in the arid desert, The Baghdad trip is attractive, but a Uttie experience in Haifa" motor busses is likely to explain why it, 1s better to travel by. train a8 far as possible and use the motor bus only sparingly. The brief trip to Khayat Beach, beyond Mount Carmel Range, which is Haifa's pleasure resort, is no indic tion of what a longer trip might be, The Arab, in his owing head-vell bound with his agaal, the bluck twisted cords, and his long robes is a picturesque character focussed against the celluloid back-Ground of Hollywood or the admiration of Lawrence but five hours in his company in a rocking bus along a dusty road is likely to explode the romance, has added thrills for the chauffeurs fea Isto get to the city as quickly as possible and there the fun begins.
Byon at night the slart is clouded Ju dust and one has the impression of travelling through a continual ust storm made all the worse by the man in'tront smoking a cigar whose ingredients claim litle eon Reetion with Havana, The Journey Seems to be a succession of blacks and whites—iMlumined villages and then plunges into. impenetrable loom while the chauffeur, with Amazing carelessness, holds 2 cigarette in one hand and caresses the wheel" with the other. The moon slowly crept ott from dark bank of clouds and revealed the eerie character of the country, The read seemed to do nothing but wind, climb and. fall" between gnarled volcanic masses and fear~ some passes and skirt clits ime mediately the lowlands of Lydda had been teft_ behind. With beil= liant headlights, the ear sped slong and in front and behind headlights cars on the road appeared at almost impossible angles. Out of the gloom on the right-hand side of the oad. appeared. vast, unwieldy shapes like some gly beast leaping {rom their lair. They were camels which the ehaulfeus, travelling at speed which would make Afr. elisha grow joy. with anxiety, successfully dodged. "The Aulomobile Association of Palestine operates efficiently and has trans: {erred to that country many of the trail devices of England but there is no by-law which compels camels carey fall lights. Otherwise, it the skill of the chauffeur which \wins for although a camel may look thin laterally he takes 1p a Tot of the road when Iaden with the bales which Arabs. generally' pile his back "This is called the Seven Sisters murmurs a voice from the front. Seven Sisters! It is more like a scenic railway. There are seven distinct and treacherous turns with 8 deep dif on one side and a valley yawning menacingly below. but they mean nothing to the choutTour Hee just ticks the axh off the end of his cigarette, juggles with the fears and the ear makes turns and Speeds which send" the heart into the mouth. "One momentarily closes one's eyes and prays. The moon discloses the chasm below and the lights of other ears behind, Appearing disconcertingly from all points of the compass, outline the frazy course the road follows. The chauffeur places another (we fingers fu the wheel and even occasionally Uses his eigarelte-bearing hand but the curves are negotiated successfully. There is" really nothing dangerous about it.""He has made the trip so often he could do it blind= folded. One man did say" that during the war a tractor fell off And looped the loop at that point but, strange 10 say, the diver did not suffer a scratch, the steel cover protecting him from injury as the (actor crashed down the side of the valley. And then, as the moon the bank clouds, beautiful, Lydda, by day, strikes the Eng-Uish visitor as something lifted bodily from the London, South Enstern and Chatham Railway oF some other line productive of jibes. There is the inevitable buffet, the inevitable railway sandwich, the inevitable "Passengers must " cross the line by the bridge" and one expects at any moment to hear th husky-throated "porter sing "'Change for Hopskotch, Wippleham, Gigeleswick and Auchtermmuchty. Hopskotch in front. Auchtermucty behind." At night, it is a place of oppressive horrors for Palestine, except for the larger towns. still struggles in biblical gloom with the faint gleam of wick lamps illckering fon a night full of enchantment and fan atmosphere electrified by some strange magic of bygone events and mystic happenings of centuries go, there appeared Jerusalem the Golden, with its lights tracing a fantastic pattern in the darkness.
The return journey on a bright, sunny morning, with white clouds chasing each other across the sky and sunshine bathing the deep valleys which Joshuah loved when he led the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, revealed the amazing nature of this road. Starting from the suburbs of Jerusalem, where pleasant homes are springing up by the thousand in contrast to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.