boulder-strewn ground, intersected by apparently unbounded areas of flat,
dust-covered wastes:--

"Dust in heaps and dust in piles, dust in shifting ridges;
Dust and dust for miles and miles, and what 'aint dust is midges".

So quoth the cynic; and the peculiar part about it is that, wherever are
large stretches of dusty ground, so also _there is the wind!_ and nothing
need be said of the result of a combat between these two forces.

[Illustration]

All thoughts of the country left behind, however, were immediately banished
from the mind at the sight of that which lay before us, and anticipation
ran high in the belief that these were the wonderful orange-groves which,
one had heard, were supposed to be situated in this part of Palestine.
Expectations were realised, and on nearing Deiran, orchard upon orchard
were passed with trees bending under the weight of hundreds of large and
delicious Jaffa oranges! Everyone purchased as many as it was possible to
carry, and those who had no available cash, managed to satisfy their wants
by means of barter--incidentally, be it whispered, many an odd tin of
"bully" found its way into the local inhabitants' larders.

Practically the whole of this part of Palestine, reaching from Deiran to
several miles north of Jaffa, is split up into a number of Jewish Colonies,
settlers under the Zionist movement, and they form the nucleus of the
renascent Jewish nation. Deiran was found to be a well-laid-out village
composed of substantially-built houses of white stone, with red-tiled
roofs, "up-to-date" furniture, and with nice white lace curtains at the
windows. One could almost delude himself into the belief that he was home