My HOME IX PALESTINE. 141 



to be an ordinary American skunk, an animal with 

 which I have unfortunately had reason to be too well 

 acquainted for it to be easy for me to be mistaken in 

 its identity. But if naturalists, who are wiser than I 

 am, deny the possibility of the existence of these 

 animals in Asia, then they have, at all events, far 

 nearer relations in the Old World than I imagined. 

 Had he been alive, and favoured me with a whiff, all 

 doubts would have been at an end. The testimony 

 of the natives was that they had never smelt such a 

 smell before. 



From Summarin, we may, if we like, cross the hills, 

 drop into the plain of Esdraelon, and still reach Haifa 

 the same night ; but the excursion is rather too long 

 to be made comfortably in one day, as there are many 

 interesting spots to be visited. I have dwelt upon it 

 at some length, merely as a specimen of what is done 

 in the neighbourhood of Carmel. As for the mountain 

 itself, it is a ten-mile ride along the backbone of the 

 range from one end to the other, at an altitude varying 

 from 1200 to 1800 feet above the sea, intersected by 

 numerous gorges and ravines, all which require explor- 

 ing, and in regard to which I hope, at some future 

 time, to have something to say. Besides which, there 

 is a romantic mountainous country away to the north- 

 east, where, in spite of the exhaustive survey of the 

 Palestine Exploration Fund, a good deal of interesting 

 work remains to be done ; and for this no better 

 central position could be found than Haifa. 



