198 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



stand why the Levitical law so denounces those who 

 remove their neighbour's landmark. The fields here, 

 as generally in the East, are separated by neither hedges, 

 ditches, nor stone walls. A low, narrow raised line of 

 earth alone indicates their limits, and where the fields 

 of two different proprietors adjoin, small conical-shaped 

 mounds of earth at either end of the line show that 

 the line forms also the boundary of the two properties. 



These earthen mounds can be easily removed and 

 re-erected, and they often are. One of the proprietors 

 comes to inspect his fields some morning ; he discovers 

 that the field on the border has diminished in area, the 

 position of the boundary pillars has been altered, and 

 a strip, perhaps a large one, of this field now appears to 

 belong to his neighbour. 



This removal of boundary pillars is a most fertile 

 source of litigation, and the cases, owing to the unrelia- 

 bility of the evidence on either side, are some of the 

 most difficult to justly determine. 



