MISSIONARY ACTIVITY 533 
But with all her zeal the agricultural missionary had only 
one convert to work under her, with his son. Their tenure 
of the land was quite patriarchal ; Hooker ' witnessed ' the 
drawing of lots between owner and tenant for the upper and 
lower half of the property. 
The conclusion drawn from all these activities is : * more 
money spent on Jerusalem in charity than any other place of 
size — no proportionate good done, especially to Jews.' 
The plain of Jericho and the Moab Hills left an impression 
of great beauty ; the Dead Sea was ' very grand ' with shores 
much bolder and promontories more rocky than he expected 
and no visible white incrustation at the end. In camp on the 
supposed site of Jericho, ' At night the village Arabs, a scoun- 
drelly set, came and performed an Arab war dance. Three 
Sheiks attitudinised with swords, and a dozen or two men 
crouched and grunted hke camels and sang before them — 
utter barbarity.' Eeascending the heights on the way back, 
he notes the ' curious effect of rising to level of plants of level 
of Mediterranean.' 
At Hebron, 
turned off road to visit Abraham's Oak, about one mile 
out of town ; a very fine tree, acorns larger than of the 
usual surrounding stunted Oaks, — probably not 300 years 
old, no dead twigs — 24 ft. girth. 
As to the reverence with which this tree was regarded he 
notes later : 
Dragoman says that he bought fallen limb of Abraham's 
Oak at Hebron for £1 from Mr. Finn [the consul], but that 
superstition so strong that any one cutting it would lose 
his first-born son that no one would cut it for a long time : 
it was load for 7 camels and cost £10 in all to transport. 
To Charles Darwin 
December 2 [?], 1860. 
I paid particular attention to your query about the 
sudden appearance of plants on ascending Lebanon and 
made a good many observations to the effect that the more 
VOL. I 2 m 
