MY HOME IX PALESTINE. 137 



to his success. The river falls into a large lagoon, 

 which is separated from the sea by a low beach, over 

 which the waves break in a storm. These lagoons 

 extend more or less to Csesarea ; but this would be 

 beyond the limits of a day's excursion from Haifa. 

 There is, however, a spot in the neighbourhood which 

 has recently become interesting, not from its ancient 

 remains though these exist so much as from the 

 experiment attempted by the Central Committee of 

 Eoumania, who have chosen it as the site for a 

 Jewish agricultural colony. It is distant about three 

 miles from the sea, and is about four hundred feet 

 above it, on one of the lower spurs of the Carmel 

 range. As the settlers are only just getting into the 

 Arab huts as their first year's lodgings, and as they 

 have not yet begun to cultivate, it is too early to 

 judge of the probable chances of success. Indeed 

 the obstacles thrown in the way by the Government 

 threaten to make it almost impossible for them, un- 

 less assisted by foreign influence, even to establish 

 themselves permanently on the land of which they 

 are not permitted to become owners, but where, at 

 present, it is proposed to place them as labourers of 

 a foreign proprietor. From the top of the highest 

 hill of this property, which I visited, a magnificent 

 view is obtained southward over the plain of Sharon 

 as far as Csesarea, and eastward over the high wooded 

 and undulating slopes, characterised by Captain Con- 

 der, who has done so much excellent work in the 



