Algernon Blackwood

“ Indeed, the faith and ignorance of a Russian pilgrim seem necessary if one would retain unspoilt the childhood’s glamour of many scenes of scriptural association. In spite of drawbacks, however, the ever-increasing facilities of travel draw thousands and thousands to Palestine, many of whom return with faith stimulated and imagination strangely vivified. ”

“ All the Arab tribes, from Suez to Sinai, are under the control of the Sinai convent, each tribe in turn supplying travellers with camels. The dragoman, in this instance, was typical of his race, and the actual start was attended with as many difficulties and delays as those the Israelites themselves experienced. For Mr. Sutton made the mistake of believing that when Iesa said a thing was done, it had been done!
From the journey itself one gets a vivid impression of a desolate and howling wilderness, “howling” with wind, not savage animals ”

“ For the danger of disillusion is confined more or lest to the cities, whose vulgar modernisation so utterly destroys any glamour of the past. The country, the atmosphere, the climate remain unchanged. To follow the route of the Israelitish Exodus, for instance, challenges comparison less crudely. To visit the scenes of the Forty Years’ Wandering in the Wilderness, as Mr. Sutton did⁠—My Camel Ride from Suez to Mount Sinai (Century Press) apparently holds less risk of disillusionment. For the Desert does not change ”