time that it
should cease.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The point chosen is imaginary. The view described combines
those obtainable from two or three points in this neighbourhood.]

CHAPTER V

GAZA

Gaza! What pictures this name conjures up in our imagination. From
childhood the city has been familiar to us for its dramatic associations
with Samson. It was here that he removed the city gates and carried them
to the summit of Ali Muntar, "to the top of an hill that is before
Hebron," and it was here that he took hold of the two middle pillars,
and, bowing himself with all his might, destroyed the temple of Dagon
with the thousands of Philistines that were his tormentors. The whole
history of Gaza is steeped in blood. It is the outpost of Africa, the
gate of Asia. Throughout the ages its strategic importance has been
immense. Scarcely an invading army has passed here without fighting a
battle. It figured in the wars of the Eastern invaders, was totally
destroyed by Alexander the Great, was the scene of one of Napoleon's
battles, and, during our campaign, saw six months of trench warfare and
no less than three distinct and sanguinary engagements. In the course of
its history, Gaza is said to have been taken and destroyed in war
between forty and fifty times. No city in the world has been destroyed
more often. Happy, indeed is the city that has no history!

Prior to this war, Gaza was a town of some 40,000 inhabitants, mostly
Moslems, to whom the city is sacred. It owed its importance in modern
times to being the junction of the caravan routes from Egypt to Syria
and from Arabia to the Mediterranean. The town itself stands back some
couple of miles from the sea, from which it is separated by sand dunes.
It is surrounded by gardens and plantations; most of these are bordered
by thick cactus hedges, which played a prominent part in the days of
trench warfare. The surrounding country is by no means level, but
consists of rolling arable land with low ridges and some hills. The most
prominent feature is the hill, Ali Muntar, a commanding height
south-east of the town. When we first approached it, the hill was clad
with trees and surrounded by a tomb; but six months' persistent
bombardment soon removed the trees and tomb and altered the conformation
of the hill. There are other ridges lying about the town, which were
afterwards incorporated in the defensive schemes of the Turks and of
ourselves. The geographical fea