70 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



and cold ; each tree generally gives a good crop every second year. Hail 

 sometimes damages the fruit much. 



' Sesame (Sesamum indicum) is grown on the plains ; its oil is used 

 for cooking purposes [and I suppose for adulterating the olive oil]. The 

 pulp is given to animals. It is a summer crop, like the dhourra [Sorghum], 

 after wheat and barley.' 



Cupressus sempervirens, Linn., var. pyramidalis, the funereal cypress, 

 attains a great size in the esplanade between the mosques of Omar and 

 El Aksa, but far finer trees were seen later at Smyrna. The ' Prince of 

 Wales tree,' Pinus halepensis, Mill., pointed out by this name as the tree 

 the Prince camped under, is the finest tree near Jerusalem. It is about 

 50 feet high, and well furnished. Smaller ones occur at the Armenian 

 convent. 



An interesting plant of Jerusalem is the red-berried mistletoe, Viscum 

 cruciatum, Linn., parasitic on olive-trees, and known elsewhere only in 

 southern Spain Mr. Armstrong, who was always willing (when his duties 

 permitted) to give me a helping hand, brought me specimens from the 

 Valley of Jehoshaphat. 



During the snow at Jerusalem a gazelle was shot within a mile or two 

 of the city. This was, I believe, a very unusual occurrence. I saw the 

 animal immediately after its death. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



JERICHO AND NORTHERN GHOR. 



On January 14 we went down to the Jordan Valley. Immediately 

 after leaving Mount Olivet I found abundance of Androcymbium 

 palcestinum. Baker. (Erythrostictus, Boiss.), first seen in the 'Arabah 

 above the Gh6r. It is a stemless white-flowered plant, small but leafy, 

 and with rather large flowers of no particular beauty. It belongs to the 

 Colchicaceae. I mention it specially because Mons. Barbey states 

 that Roth found this plant close to Jerusalem, but that after careful 

 search he (Barbey) was unable to rediscover it. I am thus able to con- 



