Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/186

150 noon we came in view of the Valley of Ajalon, renowned in Jewish history, stretching away to the northwards till lost amidst the hills; and shortly after, we halted at Bab-el-Wady (the mouth of the Valley) for the midday meal. Here the table-land of Central Palestine rises from the plain, and the glen itself, hollowed out of sheets of limestone, affords a field of great interest to the botanist. As we ascend it gradually expands in breadth; and the olive-trees, which line the brook-course, gradually spread over the sides of the glen, and ultimately rise to the hill-tops, so as to cover, as with a forest, the whole surface of the country. Hart soon found abundant occupation amongst the shrubs and plants which lined the ledges of the limestone rocks, or had obtained a footing in their fissures or on their sides. They were for the most part evergreens, approaching in character those of the south or west of Europe and the British Isles;—or, perhaps, rather those of the Jura hills and the borders of the Alps. One could recognise a large-leafed barberry, an arbutus, a dwarf oak with large acorns (Quercus pseudo-coccifera, Desp.) a Poterium spinosum, and several prickly shrubs. A pretty little cyclamen, a large daisy, and a "bachelor's button" peeped out here and there from under the bushes. To make the surroundings more homelike there were our robin redbreast and a blackbird flying about, and coming as confidingly close to us as they are wont to do in England when unmolested. On ascending to the top of the long valley, and turning a point of the road, we were able to look back through a gap in the hills, and we could see far-below us the plain of Ramleh and Lydda, and in the distance the blue waters of the Mediterranean.

Our road for many miles wound along the sides of these bare limestone hills, or overlooked the very deep ramifying valleys which penetrate far into the central table-land. The scenery was most peculiar, and differing from any I had seen elsewhere. The absence of natural forest trees in valleys, which one would suppose were peculiarly fitted for their presence, together with the scarcity of verdure, cannot but strike the eye even of the most cursory spectator; while on the other hand, where labour had been bestowed in cultivating these stony valley sides, the results were evidently most successful; as, for instance, in the vicinity of Lôba and Kastal. At length, on reaching a bend in the road on the verge of the spacious Wâdy Suleiman, we noticed a little hamlet perched on the hillside to our left, and marked by three small white domes. "That," said Bernhard Heilpern, "is Kûlcnieh, in all probability the village of