174 GENERAL SIR CHARLES WAEREN, G.C.M.G., F.R.S., ON 



valleys, so that there is very little vegetation or produce, but 

 where capital and labour have been expended a great change 

 takes place. 



In the hill-country, even now, the white skeletons of the old 

 systems of terracing are visible in parts ; but the rich loamy soil is 

 washed down into the wadies, leaving the hillsides bare and deso- 

 late and glaring in their nakedness. A cultivated strip may be 

 seen at the bottom of the wady, subject to being swept away by 

 any storm of rain, forming a torrent down the bare hillsides or 

 withered away before its time by the reflection of the sun from 

 the bare rocks. Place the valley in proper hands, and note the 

 results. The earth from the bottom will be carefully carried up 

 the hillsides, and laid out in terraces supported by stone walls, on 

 which are planted young fruit-trees — those of a more delicate 

 kind being placed on the northern declivity in order that they may 

 not suffer from the sun's rays. The trees thrive rapidly ; as they 

 do in Palestine ; the rain falls, but not as before, rushing fiercely 

 down the bare rocks and forming a torrent in the valley. No ; 

 now it falls on the trees and terraces, percolates quietly into the 

 soil, and into the rocky hillside, and is thus absorbed, without 

 injuring the crops at the bottom of the valley. The rain that 

 sinks into the rocks will shortly reissue in perennial springs, so 

 refreshing in a thirsty land. The trees having now moisture at 

 their roots, spread out their leaves in rich groves over the land. 

 The sun's rays do not fall on the ground, but on the green 

 leaves and fruit, by which they are intercepted and absorbed, 

 giving no glare or reflection. The heat of the sun causes a 

 moisture to rise from the trees and soil beneath them, which, on 

 reaching the higher and cooler winds, is condensed into visible 

 vapour — clouds — constantly forming as the breeze passes over 

 the grove, so that, so to speak, each grove supplies its own 

 umbrella. The climate is thus changed. Where were hot 

 glaring sun, dry wind, dry earth, stony land, absence of 

 verdure, are now to be found fleecy clouds floating through the 

 balmy air, the heat of the sun tempered by visible and invisible 

 vapours, groves with moist soil, trickling streamlets issuing 

 from the rocks, villages springing up apace, with fair arable 

 lands below them — Palestine regenerated. This is no dream : 

 I have seen this change take place in Palestine on a small scale 

 in three years. 



Thus the fertility of the land depends in a high degree on the 

 industry and security of the people ; and the hard work they 

 have to perform cannot have failed to develop the character of 

 the people. 



