ACROSS A CONTINENT. 



rock in a weary land," ^ or that the vivid reality of that 

 description which tells of " a land of deserts and of 

 pits, a land of droughts and of the shadow of death, a 

 land that no man passed through and where no man 

 dwelt," ^ or of " the parched places in the wilderness, a 

 salt land and not inhabited," ^ is brought home to you. 



For when recalling a picture of the lands of the Near 

 East, the prevailing tint is always that produced by 

 vast unbounded stony wastes, staring stretches of 

 yellow sand, leprous patches of saline efflorescence, and 

 gaunt ranges of barren mountains. The awful aridity 

 of Arabia is only too prevalent throughout the thirsty 

 East. But it is because of this intense sterility that 

 verdure when it does appear appeals with a force unfelt 

 perhaps elsewhere. The land is, in fact, a land of con- 

 trasts which are startling, almost aggressive, in their 

 suddenness. I know of no sensation which is quite 

 equal to that caused by coming suddenly and un- 

 expectedly, after a long da}^ over a sea of sand under 

 the rays of a burning sun, upon a vision of runlets of bub- 

 bling water, terraces of bright green barley, and clumps 

 of shady trees. There is no other contrast that I know 

 of which strikes quite such divergent chords or excites 

 quite such a revulsion of feeling. It is in such moments 

 as these that you learn whence sprang the muse that 

 stirred the Persian poets to give expression to their 

 thoughts, that you understand why it is that gardens 

 in the East are not beds of flowers and ornamental 

 rockeries, but orchards of shady trees and rivulets of 

 crystal water, and that you cease to wonder why it is 

 that fountains of plashing water adorn the courts of 

 princes and the palaces of kings. But proceed a few 

 hundred yards on your way and the scene is changed ; 

 go but a step beyond the influence of the water brought 



^ Isa. xxxii. 2. 2 jgj.^ n g, 3 jej.. xvii. 6. 



