The newly formed gendarmerie was based at Sarafand . From Sarafand Duff was stationed in Nazareth before being moved to Haifa where he became a member of the Palestine Port Police . Their main task was intercepting smugglers of tobacco ( '' Lattakia '' ) and hashish . Duff commanded patrol boats on security duties and on one occasion went undercover in Beirut to entrap a drug smuggling ring . They also supervised the arrival of Zionist immigrants whose quarantine camp , beside the Kishon River , was harsh and many of the occupants contracted malaria . He describes Haifa in 1923 as being like the " Wild West " , " Many Englishmen lived openly with native women , some foolish enough to marry them . " In 1926 he was promoted to Inspector based at the Police HQ on Mount Scopus . He had responsibility for policing Jerusalem and Bethlehem . The most important events of the year were Christmas Eve and Easter which involved the Eastern Orthodox '' Sabt an-Nur '' , ( Day of Holy Fire ) and the an-Nabi Musa Muslim celebrations . He was in Jerusalem on 11 July 1927 when Palestine was shaken by a severe earthquake that killed 150 people in the district . He describes the sound of people screaming coming from the Old City . He was sent to Jericho to assist with rescue attempts and then to Nablus to retrieve the dead
earthquake
1927 Jericho earthquake
Douglas Valder Duff