18 Observations on Jerusalem. 
for two or three days at a time, and faliing especially during 
the nights. ‘Then the wind chops round to the north or east, 
and several days of fine weather succeed. During the months 
of November and December the rains continue to fall heavily ; 
afterwards they return only at longer intervals, and are less 
heavy; but at no period during the winter do they entirely cease 
to occur. Snow often falls in Jerusalem in January and Feb- 
ruary to the depth of a foot or more, but does not usually lie 
long.* The ground never freezes ; but Mr Whiting had seen 
the pool, at the back of his house (Hezekiah’s), covered with 
thin ice for one or two days. 
Rain continues to fall more or less through the month of 
March, but is rare after that period. During the present sea- 
son there had been little or nene in March; and, indeed, the 
whole quantity of rain had been less than usual. Nor are 
there at the present day any particular periods of rain, or suc- 
cession of showers, which might be regarded as distinct rainy 
seasons. The whole period from October to March now con- 
stitutes only one continued season of rain, without any regu- 
larly intervening term of prolonged fair weather. Unless, 
therefore, there has been some change in the climate since the 
times of the New Testament, the early and the latter rains, 
for which the husbandman waited with longing, seem rather 
to have implied the first showers of autumn, which revived the 
parched and thirsty earth, and prepared it for the seed; and 
the later showers of spring, which continued to refresh and for- 
ward both the ripening and the vernal products of the field.t 
During the whole winter the roads, or rather tracks, in 
Palestine, are muddy, deep, and slippery, so that the traveller 
at this season is subjected to the utmost discomfort and incon- 
venience. When the rains cease, the mud soon disappears, and 
the roads become hard, though never smooth. Whoever there- 
fore wishes to profit most by a journey in Palestine, will take 
care not to arrive at Jerusalem earlier than the latter part 
of March. During the months of April and May the sky is 
* So Shaw in 1722. Brown, near the close of the century, found here 
very deep snow for several days.—Comp. Scholz., p. 138. The information 
in the text is derived from our resident friends. 
* James y- 75 Proy. xyi. 15- 
