478 APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. [1848. 



Blowing Valley,* which is flanked by high hills covered with 

 an abundance of wild flowers and grass, and with white oak 

 trees of a stunted growth. In the midst of this valley, and 

 in the land of Zebulon, the party halted for the night. Early 

 in the morning of the 5th instant, the tents were struck and 

 the march resumed. Passing between Nazareth and Cana 

 of Galilee — the residence in early life, and the scene of the 

 first miracle of our Saviour — they encamped, about the mid- 

 dle of the afternoon, near Turan, a fortified Arab village, 

 imbosomed amid thrifty groves and orchards of olives. Dur- 

 ing the day, a number of sharp and abrupt ridges had been 

 passed by the cavalcade. The road was a mere mule-track, 

 and it was often necessary to deviate from it. Where the 

 hills were so steep that the descent was difficult, the camels 

 were detached from the trucks, and the latter let down with 

 ropes. 



On the 6th of April they passed through a rich undulating 

 country, dotted with uninclosed fields of horse-beans, wheat, 

 barley, and millet, and with patches of melons, pumpkins, 

 and cucumbers, alternating, now and then, with grassy 

 slopes, with dense clumps of the purple merar, and with 

 bright parterres sprinkled with the blue convolvulus and the 

 scarlet anemone, and with beautiful groves, where the white 

 blossoms of the olive, and the crimson flowers of the pome- 

 granate, peeped out from amid the light green foliage of the 

 fig and the apricot, that shaded and relieved, but could not 

 conceal, their gorgeous dyes. About the middle of the after- 

 noon, the summit of the dividing ridge was reached, and 

 glimpses were obtained of the Sea of Galilee, and the moun- 

 tains of Bashan piled up to the clouds on its further shore. 

 The prevailing formation, hitherto, had been limestone, but 

 nodules of quartz were now frequently seen, and an abund- 

 ance of trap entirely destitute of minerals. Far to the right 

 trended a long range of crateriform slopes, all indicating the 

 volcanic character of the country that lay beyond. 



* The literal meaning of Wa.dy en NafaJch, U '■' Tht Valley, or Ravine, of the 

 Winds." 



