Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/153

146 bees were busy among the blossoming herbs; across plains covered with tall thistles—their harsh stems, leaves, thorns, and spiny flowers were bright with a purple bloom, like that which we see on ripe plums, and from a distance a plain overgrown with them looked like a calm, blue lake. At about two we entered a garden inclosed by a low stone wall, situated at the bottom of a well-watered valley, where the lemon-trees were laden with green  fruit, and pomegranates were plentiful. We dismounted and walked through the garden to the streamlet which traverses it, bordered with hawthorn, rose, and fruit-trees. Its banks, steep and grassy, were fragrant with mint and marjoram, and cresses grew along the edge of the water. Under a wide-spreading fig-tree, where tiny-leaved clover had made a smooth carpet, we spread our saddle-cloths in a half-circle, and took our seats. Soon a plentiful dinner was placed before us. We took it in primitive style, for we had neither forks nor spoons, and our only plates were thin Arab loaves, about a quarter of a yard in diameter and a quarter of an inch thick. Saleh made a drinking-cup for me of the large leaf of a water-plant, which he knew to be harmless. Each one of the party, as soon as he had eaten, rose and washed his hands at the stream, and then, selecting another tree for our shade, and a grassy bank for our divan, we rested, telling stories in turn, while the kawasses and servants made an end of the provisions.

In this garden I saw some remarkable double fig-trees, the trunks of which were twisted as perfectly and regularly as if they had been carved. I asked the gardener how he managed it. He said, "Allah Karîm"—"God is bountiful"— and then explained to me how tender saplings are planted side by side, and perseveringly entwined, or even plaited sometimes. He led me to one which he considered more perfect than the others. The twisted trunk was about half a yard in diameter; it rose six feet from the ground, as upright as a marble column, without any branches to break its perfect outline, and then spread out