FLOWERS OF THE HOLY LAND. 33 



of volcanic forces existing in mysterious depths far beneath 

 the hills and mountains. The lofty ranges of Lebanon were 

 once covered with the waters of the sea; for we have seen the 

 fossil shells and fish of long-past ages, taken from near the 

 highest summits; and there are plains near the sea-coast which, 

 judging from recent shells discovered in their sands, were 

 once probably several feet beneath the sea, but are now as 

 many feet above. Other facts teach us that this subterranean 

 energy has doubtless had a gradual but powerful influence upon 

 the agricultural character of the whole land. But there are 

 suggestions derived from the location of ancient gardens. There 

 was a time when the hills of Palestine furnished the most perfect 

 picture of rural beauty that out of Eden this world ever saw. 

 The hills bear evidence of a very extensive former cultivation 

 upon terraces; and these galleries of gardens, encircling the hills 

 and mountains, must have presented a variety which could never 

 be attained upon the level fields. Most of the hill-sides were 

 once used as gardens, the larger growths of trees being permitted 

 only in the valleys or plains, or possibly, as we find in some 

 rare cases, on the very tops of the hills. The terrace-walls 

 would not have resisted the wide-spreading roots of large trees 

 nor have sustained the pressure. Hence the largest trees are 

 found, at the present day, more frequently growing at the foot 

 of hills than on their sides. What beauty must have reigned 

 throughout that land of terraced hills soon after the accession 

 of Solomon to the throne ! Viewed from any elevated spot, it 

 presented to the eye of the traveller innumerable heights 

 gracefully moulded, begirt with bands of floral beauty and 



