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First published in
1862
This edition published in 1989 by Kegan Paul International
Limited, London
This is a first hand account of a surprisingly fascinated
domestic life in Palestine in the mid-nineteenth century as
narrated sincerely by the author, Miss Mary Eliza Rogers, the
sister of Edward Thomas Rogers, the British vice Consul in
Palestine and later H.B.M.’S Consul at Damascus to whom she
dedicated this book “in remembrance of the happy years” she
“spent with him in Palestine.”
As the writer mingled freely with the people of Palestine,
entering their homes, eating and sleeping with members of
their families, she wrote this explanatory note for the
readers of her book saying… “To avoid complications, I speak
of the people of Palestine generally as Arabs; for though they
are a mixed race, they all call themselves ‘Arabs’ or ‘sons of
the Arabs,’ and Arabic is their mother-tongue…”
Reading the book is an opportunity for the interested reader
to tour with Miss Rogers 19th century Yafa, Haifa, Shefa
‘Omer, Jerusalem and its Bazaars and Shopkeepers, as well as
Talibeyeh, where the English consul encamps in the summer
time, the castle-like houses of Abu Ghaush, Acre, Nablus,
Bethlehem, Nazareth, i.e. Nasirah, the River Kishon, Ramleh,
Arrabeh, Senour and dozens of Palestinian towns and villages.
In Haifa, Miss Rogers were to meet the new Governor, Saleh Bek
Abd-ul-Hady and other dignitaries. Later she became a friend
of him and members of his family, whom she slept and dined in
their mansion near Nablus.
Scores of Palestinian were to receive the Miss Rogers, English
vice-consul’s sister in their homes.
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