434 
THE  FLORA  OF  PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA. 
ly.  The  fourth  of  these  regions  is  from  the  height  of  4000 
feet  on  Lebanon  and  Hermon,  to  their  snow  clad  summits. 
Here  the  scanty  remains  of  their  once  extensive  forests  of  cedar 
and  oak,  and  pine,  end  at  an  elevation  of  6000  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  for  the  remaining  4000  feet  of  naked  rock  we  have 
left  such  treelets  as  the  Cotoneaster,  and  Prunus  prostratus, 
and  Daphne  olceoides,  while  the  herbaceous  flora  is  represented 
in  the  lower  regions  by  Astragalus  lanatus,  Alyssum  montanum 
and  Ranunculus  demissus  and  Viola  ehraeteolata,  and  higher  up 
by  hemispherical  bogs  of  a  species  of  Astragalus,  Onohrychys 
tragacanthus  and  Aeantholimon  Lihanoticum,  while  on  the  ex- 
treme summit  of  Lebanon  we  find  Ucia  canescens,  and  of  Her- 
mon,  Pyrethrum  densum. 
A  fifth  region  might  be  enumerated,  viz.,  the  plain  about 
Jericho,  in  which,  owing  to  the  depth  of  its  surface  below  the 
sea,  about  1300  feet,  and  the  reflected  glare  of  the  sun  from  the 
mountains  and  surface  of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  heat  mounts  to 
equatorial  degrees,  and  a  flora  is  found  resembling  that  of  Lower 
India.  More  than  twenty  species  are  found  here  and  around 
Engedi,  which  are  not  found  again  until  we  cross  the  Himalayas, 
Thus  it  will  be  seen,  that  while  on  the  summit  of  Lebanon 
there  is  a  plant,  Oxygia  reniformis,  belonging  to  the  Arctic  flora, 
in  the  valley  of  the  Dead  Sea  we  have  representatives  of  the 
vegetation  of  the  torrid  zone,  and  this  in  the  midst  of  a  region 
with  a  temperate  climate,  by  a  special  arrangement,  seemingly 
designed  to  extend  the  range  of  human  thought  and  observation 
within  limits  almost  microcosmical.  For  while  on  any  high 
mountain  in  the  tropics  we  may  have  the  near  conjunction  of 
these  diverse  forms  of  vegetable  life  thus  answering  the  ends  of 
variety  and  comparison,  yet  the  general  surface  of  the  country 
in  such  cases  would  be  torrid,  and  hence  ill-adapted  to  the  de- 
velopment of  a  hardy,  independent  race,  such  as  inhabited  the 
mountains  of  Palestine  and  Syria.  In  the  Holy  Land,  however, 
the  end  is  gained  by  sinking  a  small  section  down  to  a  tropical 
level,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  country  more  favorably  situated 
for  the  support  of  vigorous  life,  and  the  development  of  indi- 
viduality of  national  character. 
A  single  observation  more  is  in  place  here.    It  is  that  in 
