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| Her Passionate Love For Madaba You can spend Hours-Weeks-Months Sorting thru 1000s of rare photos and documents Enter link below and have fun |
Gertrude Bell Her love to Madaba Tribes and the Arabs! I'm not a good researcher or history writer, but when you read articles about your family and heritage before your father was born documented with rare photos and exact names written by the minute of the day, reading become more interesting to know much more and what ahead! I was able to trace Ms. Gertrude foot steps while she was travelling in the deep desert including; Madaba, Karak, Amman, Zerka, Wadi Sir, Petra, Jerusalem and many Cities and Villeges in between and in her own words and experience by the minute of the day. Ms. Gertrude had passion for the tribe and their heritage and she loved Arabs in particular while she was exploring the world. I think she's originally from a German decendent, but she was born in USA. What bother me reading from her daily diary is, I did ask family members and repeatedly to do the same and to document your life history by the day, and Elias Marar lately asked family members to write about themselves from the day they were born, I may not be the smartest in the family, but it bother me to know that a young female in her 20s had travelled the world as total stranger and she can write a daily diary of her trip and making a history without knowing including the history of our family by the day! Please read the introduction as represented to us: Introduction: Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) was born in Washington, in what was then Co. Durham (Durham Colony), but, when she was very young, she moved with her family to Redcar. She was educated first of all at home, and then at school in London; finally, in a time when it was not at all usual for a woman to have a university education, she went to Oxford to read history, and, at the age of twenty and after only two years study, she left with a first-class degree. In the years immediately following, she spent time on the social round in London and Yorkshire, she travelled extensively in Europe, and visited Persia (Iran). Her travels continued with two round the world trips, in 1897-1898 and in 1902-1903. At about this time too, in the seasons1899-1904, her climbing exploits in the Alps earned her renown as a mountaineer. But from the turn of the century onwards, her life was governed by a love of the Arab peoples, inspired, it seems, by a visit to friends in Jerusalem in 1899-1900. She learned their language, investigated their archaeological sites, and travelled deep into the desert, ((((from Madaba to Egypt and in between ))))accompanied only by male guides. Her knowledge of the country and its tribes thereby gained made her a prime target for recruitment by British Intelligence during the First World War, later, as a Political Officer, and then as Oriental Secretary to the High Commissioner in Baghdad, she became a king-maker in the new state of Iraq, which she had helped to create. Her first love, however, was always for archaeology, and, as Honorary Director of Antiquities in Iraq, she established in Baghdad the Iraq Museum. The PapersThe Gertrude Bell papers consist of about 1,600 detailed and lively letters to her parents, of her 16 diaries, which she kept while she was travelling, and of c.40 packets of miscellaneous items. There are also about 7000 photographs, taken by her c.1900-1918. Those of Middle Eastern archaeological sites are of great value because they record structures which have since been eroded or, in some cases, have disappeared altogether, while those of the desert tribes are of considerable anthropological and ethnographical interest. The letters and diaries, but not the miscellaneous material, were transcribed in automated form between 1982 and 1988, and a catalogue of the photographs was published in 1982, with a second edition in 1985. If you wish to help with coping the pictures or to read the dairy and the letters day by day from the link provided to you please send me email for each day by day as illustrated below (mini story by the day), here is the ENTER THE LINK-Link HERE have fun! The best methods to trace her foot steps for example 4/1/1914 she was writing about Jersusalem then Amman then went to Madaba then to Karak then to Syria then to lebanon then to Egypt then to England....this beautiful lady visited Madaba more than once in the 1898-1900 and 1914 and in between there's too many letters she wrote and many notes by the day in her diary including people she met she named them (Salim-Ghalib-Hana...and 100s more) it could be one of your relatives she maybe talking about! , and I will be sure to make full article for her visits to Madaba 1889-1919) On behalf of Al' Uzaizat Tribe we want to thank the University of NewCastle, UK for the valuable library and information. |
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Diary: Thurs 5. [5 April 1900] I got up at 5 and bathed in the river. It was cloudy and looked like rain, but as a matter of fact it didn't. We were off at a quarter to 7 and got to the Waleh soon after 10. The flowers were delightful - hollyhock, blank iris, ranunculus, acanthus, a yellow thing with a small pea like flower, clumps of a white aromatic thing, purple gladiolus, etc. The Waleh itself was a forest of yellow fennel. The mules joined us, and we started off together. I got to Madeba [Madaba] soon after 2.30, cloudy and a little rain. Determined to camp on the W of the town under the columns - the place is called the Mashnaka (NOOSE-Hanging people) I afterwards found it was the Latin graveyard. While I waited for my tents, I walked up to the Latin monastery and went in to avoid the rain. I found a party of aimiable [sic] gentlemen sitting around with whom I talked and told them about the fate of the prisoner. One of them, a Christian, was much grieved and burst into protestations against the Circassians, soldiers and governors alike. Then came in a man called Girius, opened the guest chamber for me and gave me coffee. He was most kind, offered me salad which I glady accepted. By this time my tents were up so I went back and found the Arus (bride) and her mother whom I invited into my tent. They were followed by 3 intelligent men who sat with me, and questioned me about Europe, America, Australia and the ..... of the war. They were chiefly anxious to know whether there were any Mohammadans (2-prophets) in our parts and how fast the trains went. It rained a great deal in the night and the mosquitoes were awful. They come from all the stagnant old bi'rs (Horse-Manure). My men kept watch till dawn fearing thieving Circassians (Turks) who abound. Letter: Thurs 5. [5 April 1900] I am again writing to you from Madeba [Madaba], where we arrived at 3 this afternoon after a prosperous 7 hours' ride. We left the Mojib [Mujib (Arnon)] early, under cloud, fortunately, which made the long pull up not unpleasant. These deep valleys are the great difficulty of the journey in this country; in fact, in Summer, the Mojib is a peril because of the tremendous reflected heat and the stinging flies. It was delightful to get back into a flower country, for, except the pink cistus, nothing grows on the hills south of the Mojib. The acanthus was in splendid flower, there were many sorts of beautiful thistles, including the blue prickly thing they call hem-hem, the white broom, the purple gladiolus etc. But the gem of the day's flora was a magnificent iris, from black, through every shade of wine colour, to brown, much darker than the one I found before, and scentless. It was flowering in extraordinary profusion; I wish I could send you the bunch I have now in my tent, but I did the next best thing - I grubbed up and carried off a quantity of bulbs. It was spitting with rain when I got to Madeba - it is fated that I shall never arrive in Madeba without some rain. I camped not in my former place, but to the west of the town, and while I waited for my mules which were some way behind, I walked up to the Latin monastery and was received with open arms by a charming gentleman called Jirius (I had seen him before) who gave me coffee and salad, (not together! the salad was a welcome addition to my dinner) and entertained me with conversation most agreeably the while. My camp was all ready when I came back and I held a reception for near 2 hours. First came Hanna's fianc‚e and her mother, nice people, and then a lot of men dropped in one after another and sat on my campstools and my bed. Some of them were very well informed and asked me most intelligent questions about Europe, America and Australia which I answered to the best of my ability. I was put to it when I was called upon to explain the reasons of the Boer war, but with a great deal of good will on their part, I got through more or less. It rained a good deal on and off, but it has stopped, I hope for good. It's been very warm all day in spite of the absence of sun. Diary Fri 6. [6 April 1900] I woke at 3, and looked out to see rain so I went to sleep again till 5 when Hanna woke me and we were off at 6.45. Tarif went straight to Salt - I had given him a medjideh a day and his corn and a 10 pc tip - the muleteers followed slowly (they sleep at the bridge tonight) and Hanna and I rode on to Jericho. It was pretty coming down the Hemra, but all the Ghor had faded. There was no sun but it was hot and the flies awful. We didn't stop at the Hesban [Hisban] stream which looked horrid dirty (I saw a perfect dolmen above it) but went on to where the road crosses the [space left blank] which we reached at 11.30. The oleanders were lovely. We left at 12 got to the bridge at 1.30 and to the inn at 2.30. Jericho doesn't look nice, it is all burnt up and horrid, but the pomegranates are lovely. My horse has a sore back, may its house be destroyed! I had tea and a wash, walked out and was invited into an Arab hut to eat bread and leben, then I went on and gathered thistle seeds. Krämer left 3 days ago and there is no one I know. Letter Fri. 6 [6 April 1900] (Jericho again.) Madeba [Madaba], in proportion to its size, must have the largest number of mosquitoes and fleas of any inhabited spot on the globe. Chiefly owing to the mosquitoes, my night was rather a restless one. It also rained a great deal and rain makes an unconscionable noise on a tent, besides the fact that I was troubled to think of my poor people outside. There was still a little rain when I got up at 5, but the clouds lifted and we had no more. I broke up my camp here, sending Tarif home, leaving the muleteers to come on rather more slowly, and riding myself into Jericho with Hanna. We came down the same road that we had come up - but - the Ghor [El Ghor] had withered. In one little fortnight, the sun had eaten up everything but the tall dry daisy stalks. It was almost impossible to believe that it had been so lovely so short a time ago. There were a few hollyhocks still blooming and by the streams oleanders, but that was all. There was fortunately little sun, still it was pretty hot, and the flies! For the number and variety of them not even La Grave had prepared me. My horse was maddened. We got to the bridge at 2 - I always feel when I cross it that I am leaving the real East behind - and here at 3. Jericho doesn't look at all nice, all burnt up and withered. The only beautiful things are the pomegranate trees in full flower. After I had washed and had some tea, I went out and gathered the seeds of a lovely thistle, which I mean to bring home. I was also invited by an Arab into his mud and thorn dwelling and eat leben and bread with him while he questioned me about the journey. The hotel is full of German waiters from Cairo - I prefer the company of the Arab. These are some of the photos she took while she was visiting Madaba on March 1900 go up to the link there's 7000 rare photos for Jordan and the whole Middle East |
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