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terranean, we had literally gone through "the length and breadth of the land." We had seen the sites and remains of the most famous Jewish cities, and traversed those portions of country which were formerly most fruitful and populous. It was a matter of deep regret with me, that circumstances did not allow me to extend my excursions to the regions beyond the Jordan, the inheritance of the two and a half tribes—and more extensively along the shores of the Mediterranean. Still, I had seen much of the ancient Palestine, and my tour, so far as that interesting region is concerned, had now terminated. I avail myself of the occasion to introduce some general observations upon the which I have not hitherto found an appropriate place.

country, for

The soil of Palestine was the subject on which, of all others connected with the country, I found that my information was most defective. The statements which I had seen were contradictory and irreconcilable. One class of writers represent the country as barren as well as desolate, and use the fact, either as an argument against the credibility of the Bible, which ascribes to this soil the greatest fertility, or as a clear demonstration of the Divine origin of the Bible, which has so many predictions of the utter ruin that has fallen upon the country no less than upon its guilty inhabitants. To those who are unable to perceive in the prophetic books any clear proof that the soil of Palestine has been specially doomed to a miraculous sterility, it is diffi cult to believe that a region once so famed for its exuberant fruitfulness should have fallen into a degree of barrenness which returning civilization and industry might not easily remedy. The other class of writers appear chiefly concerned to remove or palliate this difficulty; and while they depict the existing evidences of the natural fertility of the soil in terms that often awaken some suspicion of exaggeration, they are ever making large allowance for the observable and widespread effects of the prophetic maledic

tion. Perhaps I describe the mistaken views of ill-informed readers rather than the sentiments of any considerable number of respectable travellers and writers who have treated of this country. I have at least expressed the impressions derived from my reading upon the subject, and which I carried with me to the Holy Land.

It is quite certain, I think, that some portions of Palestine, once fertile, are now irreclaimable. The entire destruction of the wood that formerly covered the mountains, and the utter neglect of the terraces which supported the soil upon steep declivities, have given full scope to the rains, which have left many tracts of bare rock where formerly were vineyards and cornfields. It is likely, too, that the disappearance of trees from the higher grounds, where they invited and arrested the passing clouds, may have diminished the quantity of rain, and so have exposed the whole country, in a greater degree, to the evils of drought, and doomed some particular tracts to absolute sterility. Besides these, I do not recognise any permanent and invincible causes of barrenness, or any physical obstacles in the way of restoring this fine country to its pristine fertility. These causes are not peculiar to Palestine. They exist, perhaps, to a still greater extent, in Greece and the islands of the Archipelago, and in the mountainous regions of Asia Minor. The soil of the whole country has certainly deterforated, under bad husbandry and the entire neglect of the means of improvement. But a small degree of skill and industry would generally be sufficient to reclaim it, as must be evident to every traveller who has observed the vineyards near Hebron and Bethlehem, and the gardens of Nablous. The region about Jerusalem, and east towards the Dead Sea and the Jordan, is the worst by far which I saw in Palestine. The mountain tract traversed by the road to Jericho, and adjacent to that route on the north, is sterile, ad, at least to a great extent, was always so. Still, the

rocky soil of the "hill country," which extends from beyond Hebron on the south to some distance north of Jerusalem, and formerly included in the inheritances of Judah and Benjamin, is very susceptible of being restored to profitable cultivation. The innumerable remains of terraces and cisterns, and the ruins of large towns and villages thickly scattered over this romantic region, would clearly demonstrate, even if both sacred and profane history were silent upon the subject, that it has been densely peopled and highly cultivated. By far the largest portion of this mountain tract is susceptible of being fully restored to its ancient fertility. The valleys produce wheat very well at present, and the tops of the mountains, though utterly neglected, are covered with fine pasturage.

But this is the proper region for the olive and the vine. Anciently these hills were covered with orchards of fruittrees and vineyards, and the world does not, probably, produce finer grapes, figs, and olives, than are annually gathered about Hebron and Bethlehem. One acre of the flinty surface of the Mount of Olives, carefully tended in olive-trees, would yield more through the exchanges of commerce towards human subsistence, than a much larger tract of the richest Ohio bottoms tilled in corn. Most persons know little of the variety and importance of the uses to which the fruit of the olive is applied in the Eastern nations, and in some of the southern countries of Europe. Large quantities of the berries are used by the inhabitants and exported as food; but the principal value of the olive consists in the delicious oil that is extracted from its fruit. This is used upon the table and in cookery as the substitute for both butter and lard. It is universally burned in lamps, and instead of candles, which are nearly unknown in the East. It is the principal material employed in making soap, and it is exclusively used in lubricating machinery in all the great manufacturing establishments in the world.

FOOD OF THE ORIENTALS.

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The products of the vine and fig-tree, besides entering largely into the food of the people, become also the basis of trade in a variety of forms, preserved and manufactured. To an American, whose diet is composed of bread, animal food, and vegetables, it seldom occurs to think of fruits, however delicious and abundant, as common articles of food, and the "oil and wine," the "fig-trees and pomegranates," of the promised land, are little intelligible, except as terms typical of general fruitfulness and fertility. They were to the Israelites, however, as they still are to the people of many parts of the East, what our corn and wheat fields are to us, and as the basis of commerce, what our tobacco, rice, and cotton fields are. The hill country" of Judah, now the worst part of Palestine, was precisely adapted, in soil and climate, to the growth of these important staples, and they made it, perhaps, the most wealthy and populous part of the land. In those portions of the South of France adapted to the olive and vine, the proprietors of the soil cannot afford to devote it to any other species of culture; and I often heard it said there, that if the vineyards and oliveyards yielded a fair crop only once in two or three years, it was still the most profitable species of agriculture in which they could engage. In one wealthy and populous department, not ill adapted to the growth of wheat, it is estimated that only enough grain is grown to supply the inhabitants six weeks in the year. The rest is imported from other parts of the country, where these precious fruits do not attain to such perfection. I can see no reason why the replanting of the fruit-trees and vineyards of the land of Judah might not enable it to support as large a population as it did in the days of Herod or of David.

A few hours south of Jerusalem there is an evident improvement in the soil, and the traveller begins to realize that he is in "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of the valleys and

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hills." The "Mountains of Ephraim" are at this day the best-cultivated part of Palestine, a peculiarity to which their security from the Bedouins contributes, perhaps, more than the natural advantages of the soil. Still the land is fertile. Wherever wheat was sown, in the valleys or on the loftiest terraces, it looked well, especially when the utter want of skilful tillage and the inattention to manuring which universally prevail are taken into the account. The vines, and the fig, olive, pomegranate, and other fruit trees, had universally a thrifty and even luxuriant appearance. They seemed to thrive best in the most unpromising places; and wherever a break in the rock would allow of the planting of an olive or fig tree, it appeared to attain its utmost size and perfection. I was often reminded of the doubtful Scripture phrase, "oil out of the flinty rock." I ought to say that there is no waste land in this country. Wherever there is soil, it is productive. The slight exceptions to this remark exist on the edge of the Desert and on the seashore. I mean to say there is no untillable swamp or marsh-land— no tracts too wet, or cold, or poor, to promise fair returns to the husbandman. I need not add to what has already been said of the fertility of the great plain of Esdraelon, which, under various names, and with some intervening mountain ridges, stretches from the Sea of Galilee to the neighbourhood of Acre and the Mediterranean. Almost every part of Palestine seems very capable of producing bread for its inhabitants, but this is by eminence the corn-country of the Holy Land, and, under proper tillage, would supply breadstuff for millions. Palestine, we know, exported corn in the time of Solomon, when at the height of its population, and also in the age of Herod, when, too, it was fully peopled.

I put this question to nearly every traveller whom I met with in or from the Holy Land, What is your opinion of the natural fertility of this country, and of its ability to feed a