Show tho the survey of palestine the survey of palestine ha has i thrown light on another most important question concerning ancient pales palestine tine n namely amely the relations of the present climate of the country to that of old testament times thia this question lias has been fully worked out in papers which will be found in in the memoirs of the curvey and the conclusions readied reached may be briefly palestine is a small country but it presents great varieties of soil climate and water supply in various districts we have the tropical valley and the arctic region of the upper hermon and lebanon wo we have rich volcanic corn plains in bashan and around jezreel and sande sao tonea stones cov aa nd M 1 n n nil I 1 hard lime stones over which i leoper perennial e n streams flow between fine woods of f oak and in ye yet t more in gilead we have flat maritime plains sandy and marshy hot and malario ue bounded by ever rolling dunes but well watered sluggish streams from the clear springs at the mountain foot these plains run from camel carmel to gaza ever widening and supporting rich harvests harvest I 1 we e have hav c the low chalk hills hill with their luxuriant olive yards and wells of living water all along the eastern side of the maritime plains above rise mountain to feet high and on the north attaining to feet these anre 9 generally ene rally rugge rugged and bare but carefully terr terraced acet and liar partly aly cultivated the vine flourishes louri on these higher ra ranges ilges where the frost and mist aid the strong reflection of heat beat from froin the rock to ripen the 1 grapes rapes but besides these ric richer I 1 ier district swe have the old deserts un changed from the days of Ab abraham and of david the flat marly plateau of beersheba where the no mads feed their flocks and herds as isaac did before them the desolate peaks and gorges of the Jc Jes shimon binion where the dun partridge and the brown ibex roam as its they did when david hid in cheso fast fastnesses nesses from S saul atil among the rocks of the wild goats goal s exploration does not tend to coun countenance ce the old ideas about a great change in climate it isa is a matter for the naturalist and the geol geo logUt ogla to decide and we know certainly that brooks of water C could uld never have flowed on an face of the porous chalk of some of ailiese regions any mure more tha tanu II 11 they ey can now ilow we know also that the tile land and ia ij still us its fertile as of old still veil weil witteria wit tereA 1 in certain district distri ag still wilh with a L rainfall and that when a juat and stable ment exists ad as in lebanon the country still flows with oil cil and anti wine but what wo do learn from a study tudy of the tile land and of hi tory is is the deso desolation lathin wrought 1 h hy y human mcana means in palestine W we e find every ii where hie tile ct copse apse covering the tile wine win e press the thistles es growing among the 0 old ad field inclosure 4 s the he ter races in ruins the old il vineyards Inc yards de it the olive yards exterminated and mally many of the tile ancient woodi entire entirely cut ct down tile fure ests which exist existed d in the timea times of titus itus and of the crusaders arc are often entirely del destroyed royed and fine oak woods are represented by abeles of and roots the great rent antonine cities b jorjan jordan stand in a wilderness full of ruined vik larfis lages over which the arab wanders with his herds of camels in brief we see that poverty and de crease of population the tile decay of roads and aqueducts u acts the ruin of the old cisterns the destruction of the woods terraces a mid nd vineyards are the causes of the present desolation this hag often been pointed out and nd experience proves that given gi ven a just and strong government in the country palestine might b become acome like southern italy a garden of the world |