436 IRRIGATION IN PALESTINE. 



no doubt, covered witli forests. These were partially removed 

 before the Jewish conquest.* When the soil began to suffer 

 from drought, reservoirs to retain the waters of winter were hewn 

 in the rock near the tops of the hills, and the decHvities were 

 terraced. So long as the cisterns were in good order, and the 

 terraces kept up, the fertility of Palestine was unsurpassed, but 

 when misgovernment and foreign and intestine war occasioned the 

 neglect or destruction of these works — traces of which still meet 

 the traveller's eye at every step, — when the reservoirs were 

 broken and the terrace walls had fallen down, there was no 

 longer water for irrigation in summer, the rains of winter soon 

 washed away most of the thin layer of earth upon the rocks, and 

 Palestine was reduced almost to the condition of a desert. 



The course of events has been the same in Idumaea. The ob- 

 serving traveller discovers everywhere about Petra, particularly if 

 he enters the city by the route of Wadi Ksheibeh,extensive traces of 

 ancient cultivation, and upon the neighboring ridges are the ruins 

 of numerous cisterns evidently constructed to furnish a supply of 

 water for irrigation, f In primitive ages, the precipitation of win- 

 ter in these hilly countries was, in great part, retained for a time 

 in the superficial soil, first by the vegetable mould of the forests, 

 and then by the artificial arrangements I have described. The 

 water imbibed by the earth was partly taken up by direct evap- 



* "Forests," "woods" and "groves," are frequently mentioned in the Old 

 Testament as existing at particular places, and they are often referred to by 

 way of illustration, as familiar objects. See, for example, Joshua xvii. 15-18- 

 "Wood" is twice spoken of as a material in the New Testament, but other 

 wise — at least according to Cruden — not one of the above words occurs in 

 that volume. In like manner, while the box, the cedar, the fir, the oak, the 

 pine, " beams" and " timber," are very frequently mentioned in the Old Tes- 

 tament, not one of these words is found in the New, except the case of the 

 " beam in the eye," in the parable in Matthew and Luke. 



This interesting fact, were other evidence wanting, would go far to prove 

 that a great change had taken place in this respect between the periods when 

 the Old T&stament and the New were respectively composed ; for the Scrip- 

 tural writers, and the speakers introduced into their narratives, are remarkable 

 for their frequent allusions to the natural objects and the social and industrial 

 habits which characterized their ages and their country. 



f One of these on Mount Hor, two stories deep, is in such good preserva- 

 tion, although probably not repaired for many centuries, that I found ten feet 

 of water in it in June, 1851. 



