Desert from Egypt, were encamped near us. François was suspicious of some
of them, and therefore divided the night into three watches, which were
kept by himself and our two men. Mustapha was the last, and kept not only
himself, but myself, wide awake by his dolorous chants of love and
religion. I fell sound asleep at dawn, but was roused before sunrise by
François, who wished to start betimes, on account of the rugged road we
had to travel. The morning was mild, clear, and balmy, and we were soon
packed and in motion. Leaving the baggage to follow, we rode ahead over
the fertile fields. The wheat and poppies were glistening with dew, birds
sang among the fig-trees, a cool breeze came down from the hollows of the
hills, and my blood leaped as nimbly and joyously as a young hart on the
mountains of Bether.

Between Ramleh and the hill-country, a distance of about eight miles, is
the rolling plain of Arimathea, and this, as well as the greater part of
the plain of Sharon, is one of the richest districts in the world. The
soil is a dark-brown loam, and, without manure, produces annually superb
crops of wheat and barley. We rode for miles through a sea of wheat,
waving far and wide over the swells of land. The tobacco in the fields
about Ramleh was the most luxuriant I ever saw, and the olive and fig
attain a size and lusty strength wholly unknown in Italy. Judea cursed of
God! what a misconception, not only of God's mercy and beneficence, but of
the actual fact! Give Palestine into Christian hands, and it will again
flow with milk and honey. Except some parts of Asia Minor, no portion of
the Levant is capable of yielding such a harvest of grain, silk, wool,
fruits, oil, and wine. The great disadvantage under which the country
labors, is its frequent drouths, but were the soil more generally
cultivated, and the old orchards replanted, these would neither be so
frequent nor so severe.