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. . nui wUUUU'H'J.JEUl SALEM, IM! EST1.\E, ANDSYRIA.IIY DR. J. V. C\ SMITH.ing, or so difficult to manage n* *° be wholly neglected, i* not a compensation for the everlasting mountains of unyielding rocks, whose bare tops point up to the heavens.and defy the puny efforts of man to pulverize them into productive soil.Most of the plains were exceedingly wet at the time of my visitation, so that it was rery difficult to move over them on account of miring the horses. Such was the condition of the great plain of Esdmelnn, in the neighborhood of Mount Tsbor, A vast plain at the north of the Dead Sea, the centre of which was the site of Jericho, was not quite so adhesive. However, as soon as the winter rains are over, it becomes intolerably hot there, so that none hut Bedouins can endure the glare of the suit's rays from bald mountain tides, and they hurry out of the reach of the pestiferous influences of the valley of Jericho early in theseason.Agriculture in Palestine is badly conducted, and it will never Ire any better in the hands of the present occupants. Barley, j wheat, oats, peas and pulse are the principal crops. The seed is strown over theII£JiIlItvlt;atfIItc.1lt;c*1ItIy.tcilt;Having very recently visaed every section of‘ thu I lolv Lund which is regarded worthy of examination by pilgrims or travellers in general, the reMilt of my e xamination is placed at your disposal. It would be quite impossible llt; present a detailed uc-couia of nil that h is been seen or experienced, while exploring a legion abounding in objects of intense interest to those who are desirous of under si mding the geography «»f a country in winch Christianity had us tuigin, and where our K »rd and Saviourfirst appeared on the e.u m—completed Ins divine ini•11u and *ufl'» red a painful death.lu the first place Palestine, although usually described us a land flowing with milk and honey, I am quire disposed to regard as a poetical figure, it it present aspect is any criterion of it- former condition uuder the palmy reign of David and Solomon.it is ihe roughest, rockiest, and er the hardest country f«»r cultivation, as a whole, that I li ive ever seen in Europe, A-fcia, Africa, or America. Even the tumultuously Mroiwi about mountains of Switzerland, sleep and rugged as they are, to me, present more hope for the former than the central portion* of Palestine. The valleys are exceedingly beautiful, fruitful and easy lor tillage; bui iheir whole extent, compared with that winch is cither good for Doth-ground and ploughed in. The plough is nothing but a few natural crooks of limbs clumsily keyed together, defended by a flat piece of iron for a coulter. Some have not n particle of iron about tin in. Cows, steers, and calvir* not more than a year old, drag about this contrivance, and of course the soil is hardly disturbed. Nothing is planted in our manner of planting, except melon. There is no hoing and nothing to do till harvest, when the first process is over. The breed of cattle is miserable, being small, sinewey and very much deteriorated.Even their horns are sickly looking stumps, pitching all ways and seldom five inches long, 1 have often seen a farmer carrying a plough on his shoulder, and he might just us easily have carried six at the same time, which shows what feeble things they are for breaking up a hard, stony surfice. All the fields are strewn with fragments of broken limestone, and often to such an extent that it seems qu.te impossible tuget the seed into (he ground. |9|In some parts of Palestine the mountains are terracfed from the base to their summits by thousands of sections of wall, running in all directions so as to hold up narrow strips of earth, either for grain or trees, or both, which surpass by a thousand told,both hi labor and ingenuity, the terraced vineyards on the Kliim*, or on the lake of tie-* 9neva, which i used to suppose the mut superior efforts at land economy in the world. The city of Bethlehem, the birth-place of I the Saviour, is remarkable for us extensive system of terracing, as well as the neighboring lulls in all directions. Only there, and ui some few other places at the north of Jerusalem, oil the way to Damascus, arethere ativ fences or land divisions. Where0there are fences, they are of sUme, commonly enormously thick and high, and were designed quite as much for a general deposit of the stone cleared from the fields, asfor the purpose of division of lots.There are no hedges, vet a variety of lt;shrubs everywhere abound, which might be i set for fences, tint would defv the entrance t4of a rhiuocero**, with tlit *r sh op set of v puckers. It is a pecn'iumy • t tiic trees ( ana wild shrubbery of Syria, even d*wu to M-MO* • ! 1 he Mhalb $ el.I s.-, th.;t they are guarded by uu lufiuili de of thorns. The thiailes ate the worst kind in the records of t botany, on account lt;t being covered from Ib lt;i to root by such frightluJy sharp needles ; a ic liter.By impossible to handle them with buckskin glove*. V\ hcrever there is a strip of soil on the li ll« »*r mountains, between the seam* and dislocations, of ttie rocks, blithe* glow thriftily, hut forest trees are no where to he found; certainly i.oi hi my travels, except between the mound u|the old lt;tiv of Dan — now called Tell Er*Cady, the ildi of the Judge, where Jeroboam ti up the worship of Idols, to Cssa-rea Philippi, where there are some old oaks so gnarled and distorted in every limb, that it makes a passer-by ache to look at them.Tree*, however, of every kind, native • and exotics, would flourish wherever plant- lt;«*d. Olive* are numerous, but they are* not universally diffused; they sometimes cover a mile or two in the vicinity of towns or village., el hi row-, Eke orchards in New England. They are * vet ediugly profitable, and might cover the entire length andbreadth of Palestine. They live to morethan a thousand years, hooking a* Vigorously in extreme old age, and yielding as profitably, as a sapling of a year's growth. In the (i«»rdtu of lielhsciuauo there are seven of those trees, which are universally believed by the people to have been standing at the commencement of the Christian Era. They are large to be sure, vet on tlie highest elevation in the holy land, the mountain :of Saphat—where the European Jew* g • to die, and where they declare the trumpet will he sounded to the dispersed childre n of ' Israel on the coming of Messiah—the olive* are exceedingly developed and thrifiy, | which prove* with what success every neglected rod might be dressi d in beautiful foliage, while the. oil, the fruit and the wood, would become an incalculable * urce ol wealth. When the whales are extinct, olive oil, both f r light and culinary purposes, would, and will become an it.valuablesubstitute, at less than twenty-five cents a gallon, even m America. Where there are five acre* now covered with fruit trees,there might be five thousand.— Transcript.i*)!;iiANECCENTKIC GENTLEMAN.'Phe English papers give tome amusing reminiscences of Lord Egcrtim, a British nob!email, famous fur Ins eccentricities,who dwell a l.cmg tunc in P n.s.Lord Egerlon had a perfect mania for dog*. He had an immense number of them, and drove them out to lake an airing every d iv,iu two magnificent coaches drawn by four horse* each.He was a kern sportsman, and though a victim to gout and rheumatism, used to pursue his favorite amusement on a small scale even though his legs refused to carry him. He was wont to go through Ins garden in a chair on wheel*, drawn by two servants.— A pig representing a wild boar was turned loose into the shrubbery, and the old fellow would bring him down with a double barrelled gun.A considerable portion of In* income was derived from a family legacy bequeathed li. him on the express condition that fie wouh.prove a residence tu LiinLud. Like a
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Montpelier Vermont Watchman and State Journal
Montpelier, Vermont, US
Thu, May 29, 1851
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GB 11 Jun 2021
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