of men and animals ; hence the labor expended on wells, and the obstinacy with which rival tribes disputed their possession ((ien. xxi, 25, 30 ; xxvi, 15, etc.). Vineyards and olive-groves disappear a few miles south of Jerusa- lem ; the larger oak-trees, which are seen here and there farther north, give place to bushes and low shrubs; cultivated fields, too, and all signs of settled habitation, give place to rude enclosures for sheep, and black tents and roving Arabs. All picturesque beauty, all natural richness of scenery, is gone. The green pastures and the bright flowers of early spring are the only redeem- ing features (Bonar, Land of Promise, p. 29, 46 ; Marti- neau, p. 431 ; Stanle}', p. 100). Mr. Drew has deline- ated the features of the southern declivities with great fidelity :
"lu no part of the prospect was there any loveliness, or any features of greatness and sublimity. Every aspect of the country that might be called beautiful is seen in the narrow section of the mountain district imraediatelj" on the south of Hebron. No hikes or rivers, or masses of foliage, or deep ravines, or any lofty towering heights, are within the range of sight to one in the centre of the territory. . . . For a few weeks late in spring-time a smiling aspect is thrown over the broad downs, when the ground is reddened with the anemone, in contrast with the soft white of the daisy, and the deep yellow of the tu- lip and marigold. But this flush of beauty soou passes, and the permanent aspect of the country is — not wild in- deed, or hideous, or frightfully desolate, but, as we may say, austerely plain — a tame, unpleasant aspect, not caus- ing absolute discomfort while one is in it, but left without any lingering reminiscence of anything lovely or awful or sublime. As for the soil, the thin and scanty verdure, barely covering the limestone which spreads almost ev- erywhere beneath the desert surface, snfHciently explains its nature. Here and there patches of deeper earth and richer swards, with clumps of trees, vary these pastures of the wilderness ; ns again they are broken by wide areas, thickly covered with shrubs of considerable height and size" {Scripture Lands, p. 5-7).
It is obvious that in the ancient days of the nation, when Judah and Benjamin possessed the teeming pop- ulation indicated in the Bible, the condition and aspect of the country must have been very different. Of this there are not wanting sure evidences. There is no country in which the ruined towns bear so large a pro- portion to those still existing. Hardly a hill-top of the many within sight that is not.covered with vestiges of some fortress or city. That this numerous population knew how most effectually to cultivate their rocky ter- ritory is shown by the remains of their ancient terraces, which constantly meet the eye, the only mode of hus- banding so scanty a coating of soil, and preventing its being washed by the torrents into the valleys. These frequent remains enable the traveller to form an idea of the appearance of the landscape when thus terraced. But, besides this, forests appear to have stood in many parts of Judrea until the repeated invasions and sieges caused their fall, and the wretched government of the Turks prevented their reinstatement; and all this veg- etation must have reacted on the moisture of the cli- mate, and, by preserving the water in many a ravine and natural reservoir where now it is rapidly dried by the fierce sini of the early summer, must have mate- rially influenced the look and the resources of the country.
The following elevations are taken (with some cor- rections from later sources) from Van de Velde, who has collected them from the best authorities, and arranged them, with valuable notes, in his Memoir of Map. In order to comiect the Palestine ridge with Lebanon, of which it is the natural continuation, and with the desert of Tih into which it falls, the heights of a few points beyond the boundaries of Palestine on the north and south are given:
Tom Niha, the culminating point of southern Leba- '* ' non, tifteen miles north of the Litany C500
Kefr Huueh, a pass over the ridge four miles farther south 42n0
Kula'at esh-Shukif (Belfort), overhanging the Litany 2205
In Palestine. Kedesh-Naphtali, twelve miles south of the LitAny (Kedesli is in an uplatid plain surrounded by peaks
PALESTINE
563
PALESTINE
and ridges several hundred feet higher than the
town) 1354
Jebel Jerniuk, the highest point in Western Pales- tine (about) 4000
Safed 2775
Jebel Kaukab, near Cana of Galilee 1730
Turan,()u the plain of Sefurieh 872
Kurn llattiu, the traditional scene of "the Sermon
on the Mount" 1096
Mount Tabor 1865
Nazareth, situated in a valley 1237
Plain of Esdraelon, nearly due south of Nazareth. . . 382
Jebel ed-Duhy (Little Herraou) 1839
Mount Gilboa, highest point 2200
Mount Carmel, liighest point ISOO
Jebel Ilaskiu, the highest point between Gilboa and
Ebal 2f;00
Upland plain of Sanur 1330
Mount Ebal 2700
Mount Gerizim 2650
Plain of Mukhna, at the base of Gerizim 1595
Top of the ridge south of the plain of Mukhna 20,'57
The ridge of Sinjil, near Shiloh 3108
Bethel .' 2401
Neby Samwil. (This appears to be too low.) 2G49