The companies of tourists, if they are to be distinguished from the pilgrim parties, are generally made up of Americans, English and Germans, the first mentioned being the more numerous. Tourists go in parties under the care of a director and his corps of assistants, or sometimes singly or in very small parties with a native guide. Sometimes the travelers depend on the shelter of hotels, monasteries and native houses by the way; sometimes they take a complete outfit for a tenting party. Horses are provided for the travelers, and mules for carrying baggage and equipment. Supplies are usually purchased at such starting-points as Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Haifa. The peasants along the route are on the alert to sell services or beg favors.
For any extensive travel through the country an official certificate is required. Foreigners and natives must have these official papers, called _teskerehs_, which describe the bearer’s person, residence and destination. They must be produced, when required, and at the destination must be stamped as a sort of permit for the return journey. Without this authorization delays are apt to occur and fines may be imposed before the defect can be remedied.
The Turkish coinage alone is sure of general acceptability in the back districts.
The different posts register parcels and sell money-orders at very reasonable rates. For sending small sums to and from the country the money-orders on the Austrian, French or German post-offices have proved the safest and cheapest way. There are forwarders whose business it is to assist in the passage of goods through the ports, and to see to customs, freights and insurance on the same. Mr. K. U. L. Breisch and the Messrs. Singer, of Jaffa and Jerusalem, do a great deal of this business for Europeans and Americans. Baggage should always be in trunks; never, if it is avoidable, cased up in boxes, as it is then very difficult to explain to the officials the difference between personal effects and merchandise. Most of the leading tourist agents, forwarders and dragomans have an understanding by which trunks are passed through the customs without opening, on payment of a small fee, especially if a considerable number of people are traveling together.