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of Edinburgh, Session 1879 - 80 . 
of the mountains to the sea, and the miasma in many cases arises 
from the stagnation of water in the torrent beds, which might with 
very little difficulty be drained into the sea. 
Throughout Palestine, also, there are evidences of an extensive 
and careful cultivation now entirely abandoned, and of a population 
which has been estimated at not less than ten times the number of 
the present inhabitants. The sides of the hills are carefully 
terraced, though now often only growing thorns and thistles. Ancient 
wine presses and rude stone orchard towers are encountered in 
every direction, often on the sides of hills now entirely uncultivated. 
The ancient ruined towns and villages, so thickly strewn over the 
country, number more than ten times the present total of inhabited 
villages. The population, which does not exceed three millions for 
all Syria, is entirely inadequate for the cultivation of the country, 
and the villages are thus found standing in tracts of plough land or 
orchards surrounded on every side with waste ground or thick copse. 
The riches of Palestine appear now as of old to be principally 
agricultural. The quality of the corn, wine, and oil is not inferior 
to that of even the south of Italy, and it can scarcely be doubted 
that, should any circumstances lead to the development of the 
natural wealth of the country, Syria might become an important 
source for the supply of the three products above mentioned. 
The restoration of the country to a condition of prosperity depends, 
in short, not on any change in its climate, rainfall, or vegetation, but 
on the establishment of a just government, the liberation of the 
native peasantry from unjust taxation, violence, and oppression, and 
on the establishment of a condition of security which might induce 
the Jewish and other local capitalists to invest their money in 
the cultivation and irrigation of the land, in the development 
of its trade, and in public works which are at present entirely non- 
existent. 
The examination of the ruined sites throughout the country 
formed one of the most important occupations of the survey officers. 
A note was made of every ruin which could be found, and a sketch 
or plan of every object of interest. The hopes which were naturally 
entertained of the discovery of remains belonging to the Jewish or 
Phoenician period were, however, doomed to disappointment, and the 
conclusion to which it seems necessary to submit is that the Jews 
