358 SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 



the plaid of the Highlanders of Scotland, are garments of the same 

 kind. The hahits of the Bedouin natives have probably undergone 

 as little change as their costume. ' Abraham,' remarks Dr. Rich- 

 ardson, ' was a Bedouin ; and I never saw a fine venerable-looking 

 sheikh busied among his flocks and herds, that it did not remind me 

 of the holy patriarch himself.' 



NATURAL HISTORY, CLIMATE, &c. The geographical aspect of 

 Palestine is not less diversified than the appearance of its motley 

 population. Its prevailing character but imperfectly corresponds 

 to its ancient fertility ; but this is chiefly owing to the miserable 

 state of vassalage in which its inhabitants are held, together with 

 the devastating effects of perpetual wars, and probably some phys- 

 ical changes. Those writers, ancient and modern, who have 

 represented it as barren, must be understood, however, as referring 

 only to the mountainous districts round Jerusalem. Abulfeda 

 describes Palestine as the most fertile part of Syria, and the 

 neighborhood of Jerusalem as one of the most fruitful parts of 

 Palestine. An Oriental's ideas of fertility differ sufficiently from 

 ours, to explain in part this assertion ; for to him, plantations of 

 figs, vines, and olives, with which the limestone rocks of Judea 

 were once covered, would suggest the same associations of plenty 

 and opulence that are called up in the mind of an Englishman by 

 rich tracts of corn-land. The land of Canaan is characterized as 

 flowing with milk and honey, and it still answers to this descrip- 

 tion; for it contains extensive pasture-lands of the richest quality, 

 and the rocky country is covered with aromatic plants, yielding to 

 the wild bees, who hive in the hollow of the rocks, such abun- 

 dance of honey, as to supply the poorer classes with an article of 

 food. Wild honey and locusts were the usual diet of the forerun- 

 ner of our Lord, during his seclusion in the desert country of 

 Judea ; from which we may conclude that it was the ordinary fare 

 of the common people. The latter are expressly mentioned by 

 Moses as lawful and wholesome food ; and Pliny states that they 

 made a considerable part of the food of the Parthians and Ethio- 

 pians. They are still ealen in many parts of the East: when 

 sprinkled with salt and fried, they are said to taste much like the 

 river cray-fish. Honey from the rocks is repeatedly referred to in 

 the Scriptures, as a delicious food, and an emblem of plenty. 

 Dates are another important article of consumption, and the neigh- 

 borhood of Judea was famous for its numerous palrn-trees, which 

 are found springing up from chance-sown kernels in the midst of 

 the most arid districts. When to these wild productions we add 

 the oil extracted from the olive, so essential an article to an 

 Oriental, we shall be at no loss to account for the. ancient fertility 

 of the most barren districts of Judea, or for the adequacy of the 

 oil to the support of so numerous a population, notwithstanding 

 the comparatively small proportion of arable land. There is no 

 reason to doubt, however, that corn and rice would be imported by 

 the Tyrian merchants, which the Israelites would have uo difficul- 



