34 FLOWERS OF THE HOLY LAND. 



covered with a vegetation of exceeding verdure and fruitful- 

 ness, if we may rely upon the histories written of the land by 

 residents about the times of our Saviour. Cultivated gardens 

 of flowers and fruits and foliage upon the hills, rising like islets 

 of beautiful light from the verdure of the forests and fields 

 below, caught the first beams of the sun in the morning, and 

 reflected his clear rays from millions of points wet with the 

 heavy dews of the Orient, which on evaporating diffused fra 

 grance from a thousand garden-mantled hilltops. Such were 

 the visions which the Holy Land afforded before the Captivity. 

 All history, and the intimations of prophecy, and the ruins 

 and remains, teach us to regard this as anciently a land of 

 unusual beauty, which nothing now but imagination can truth 

 fully represent. The terraces, which were made from the rocks 

 of the country and required frequent repairs, commenced to fall 

 into ruins soon after the Captivity ; and after the ruin of the 

 terraces the violent rains soon washed down into the valleys the 

 rich soils which had so long been kept upon the hill-sides; and 

 now those are the most barren spots which once were the richest. 

 But the saddest thought of all is that the absence of the forests 

 and of the wide-spread verdure of gardens and plains may 

 prevent the return of the heavy dews of ancient times, and of the 

 rains which existed when the vegetation of former days invited 

 those seasonable showers which are now withheld from the whole 

 country. These three causes namely, geological changes, 

 want of proper culture, and consequent alteration of climate 

 have greatly modified the fruits and flowers, the plants and 

 trees, of the Holy Land ; and whilst we gather the beautiful 



