part of the Jews to return to the soil of their fathers with the scorn which it had met with in Western Europe, the most stringent orders were issued by the Porte, that no Jewish emigrants should be allowed to land in Palestine, that no sales of land were to be made to them, and no colonisation by them under any circumstances was to be permitted. It was not to be expected, in the face of this attitude of opposition on the part of the Turkish Government, that any scheme of colonisation by Jews in Palestine could come to much; but the whole episode has not been without its value in removing prejudice, correcting misapprehension, and familiarising the mind of the public with a subject the importance of which they will, sooner or later, be compelled to recognise, as the Eastern question develops, and Syria and Palestine are forced into the prominent position which they are destined to occupy in it.

It was with the view of seeing whether "any good thing could come out of Galilee," of informing myself in regard to the present condition of Jewish agriculture in this part of the country, and the material resources of the Acre district, that I made a trip into the mountains last May; and as the object I had in view led me out of the beaten track of ordinary travel and investigation, it may not be without interest to your readers. Indeed the tourist in Palestine loses more than he has any idea of in following beaten routes; as the easiest and straightest, which are generally the least interesting, are preferred by the dragomans under whose charge he travels. There are, for instance, four ways of going from Haifa to Nazareth, three of which pass

through beautiful scenery and are full of varied interest, while the fourth is decidedly the most monotonous.

It is nevertheless the one invariably taken by travellers, though by either of the others the journey may be accomplished easily in the day.

A two hours' ride along the backbone of Mount Carmel, from which valleys sink on either hand, brings us to Esfia, a village about 1800 feet above the sea, and principally inhabited by Druses, though there is a Christian population large enough to have a church of their own. I found, on conversing with the sheikhs who represented the different religions, that a good deal of bad blood existed between them; and a few days after my visit, a party of Druses made away with the bell of the Christian church. On the application of the Catholic bishop, the delinquents were seized and put in prison. Their release, however, was speedily effected by the judicious use of backsheesh. Their re-arrest has again been applied for, and the question is one which excites a good deal of local interest, and is still unsettled. Should Haifa ever develop into a seaport of importance, which appears to be its manifest destiny, now that the firman has been granted and the first part of the survey of the railway from here to Damascus has already been undertaken, Esfia is bound to become the summer resort of the wealthiest of its inhabitants. Its elevation of 1800 feet above the sea-level, its exposure to the winds of all quarters, the charm of the surrounding scenery, and its proximity to Haifa, from which place it can be reached on horseback in two hours and a half, all point to it as likely to be the future sanatorium of the place. There is a fine flowing

spring, a magnificent grove of olivetrees, and a considerable extent of fertile arable land in the immediate proximity of the village-besides which, the inhabitants own a fine tract of land in the Plain of Esdraelon at the base of the mountain. About two miles distant, also most picturesquely and advantageously situated, so far as climate and fertile land is concerned, is the purely Druse village of Dalyeh, where the houses are better and the inhabitants are richer than at Esfia; indeed I looked in vain at this latter place for a native habitation that could by any possibility be turned into a summer residence for a civilised being.

After leaving Esfia, we ride for another hour through the most thickly wooded and beautiful part of the mountain, before we reach Muhkraka, or "the place of burning." This has recently become a Carmelite holy place, and the Order have purchased the land and erected a small chapel here, and are still building; but it has been from all time invested with the odour of sanctity, as the traditional scene of Elijah's triumph over the prophets of Baal. Whatever sacred merit it may possess, its picturesque attractions are of the very highest order. The point on which the sacrifice is alleged to have taken place is marked by the ruins of a quadrangular building of large hewn stones, and forms the eastern termination of the ridge of Carmel. The range here sinks abruptly on the left into the Plain of Esdraelon, in front into the Wady Milh, which separates it from the commencement of the lower range of the mountains of Samaria, and through which ran the ancient Roman road to Cæsarea. On the left the mountain slopes gradually into the Plain of Sharon.

The panoramic view thus afforded is quite unique for extent, and well worth an expedition made for its sake alone. It is evident that, before the days of Elijah, the spot was dedicated to religious purposes, for we read that he repaired "the altar of Jehovah which was broken down;" and before that altar was erected, it is probable that the earliest inhabitants of the country celebrated their worship here.

Tacitus says,— "Between Syria and Judæa stands a mountain known by the name of Mount Carmel, on the top of which a God is worshipped under no other title than that of the place, and, according to the ancient usage, without a temple or even a statue. An altar is erected in the open air, and there adoration is made to the presiding deity. On this spot Vespasian offered a sacrifice, and consulted 'Oraculum Carmeli Dei.""

"

There is no other plateau on the top of Carmel which corresponds to this description, and it is much to be regretted that on "the spot' where, "according to ancient usage, there was neither temple nor statue, the Carmelites should, within the last year or two, have erected two glaring stone buildings, which give it an air of "Brummagem" sanctity, quite out of harmony with the solemn interest of the surroundings. There is nothing to indicate that the ruins which still exist here were the walls of a temple, but rather that they formed portion of some solid construction, such as a shrine or altar. On this mountain, sacred from time immemorial, Pythagoras is said to have spent some time in contemplation; and it is reasonable to suppose that he chose this lofty and picturesque spot in the interior, rather than the bleak and lower promontory on which the present monastery

of Carmel is situated. We look down from it upon the scenes of one of the most celebrated battles in Biblical history at our feet lies Harosheth, the modern Harathyeh; it was at this point that Sisera "gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river Kishon ;" and it was from Tabor, which faces us, that Barak descended with ten thousand men and defeated him. It was from this point, too, that Elisha discerned the Shunammite widow "afar off" urging her ass over the plain at his feet, and descended from the mountain to meet her; and it was doubtless down the path that we were now about to take, that Elijah hurried the eight hundred and fifty "prophets of the groves or of Baal, who were slaughtered at his command on the peculiar round elevation rising out of the plain beneath us, on the banks of the Kishon, and called to this day the Tell-el-Kasis, or Hill of the Priests. The descent is very precipitous; but where standing-ground is found there are more trees than usual, and a wealth of gorgeous flowers-a perfect blaze of hollyhocks, red and purple anemones, iris, various kinds of convolvuli, and many other plants whose names were unknown to me. We had seen our way so clearly from the lofty point of view we had just left, that we needed no guide across the plain to the Nazareth road, here cultivated and used as pasture by some Bedouins, whose black tents, once so plentiful in this fertile country, are now rapidly disappearing before the march of civilisation, and the purchase of the plain by wealthy capitalists of Beyrout. How much the aspect

of this plain has changed during the last twenty years, may best be gathered by comparing its present condition with the account which Dr P. Thomson furnishes in his admirable work, 'The Land and the Book,' which is most useful as an accurate description of what Palestine was twenty years ago, and as a work of archæological and Biblical reference, but which is apt to mislead, if taken as an authority in regard to the present agricultural condition of the country.

For instance, of the plain we were now traversing, he says:—

"The whole of Esdraelon will soon be abandoned to the Bedouins. Their system of desolation is worked out after this fashion: they pitch their tents in the vicinity of a village, and in such numbers as to bid defiance to the inhabitants. Of course their camels and flocks roam over the unfenced plain, and devour a large part of the grain while growing; and when it is ripe they either steal it, or compel the farmers to present them with a heavy percentage as the price of their protection. From the village itself chickens, eggs, sheep, cows, and even horses disappear, and can never be recovered. Many of the inhabitants soon move off to escape from these annoyances, and the village being thereby weakened, the Arabs provoke a quarrel, some one is wounded or killed, and then the place is sacked or burned. The end aimed at is now reached, and the land belongs henceforth to the lawless Ishmaelite. In ten years more there will not be an inhabited village in Esdraelon unless this wretched work is checked; and even now it is unsafe to traverse this

noble plain in any direction, and everyrepel force by force. But a small porbody goes armed, and prepared to tion of the plain is under cultivation, but the Arabs delight in it in winter, and it is even now dotted over with their black tabernacles. Overgrown as it is with thistles and long grass, it is the favourite haunt of the gazelle," &c.

At the present day there is

scarcely an acre of this plain that is not under cultivation during alternate years. The thistles and long grass, gazelles, and the black tabernacles of the Arabs, are all by degrees disappearing. The latter are confined to lands for which they pay the proprietors, who are rich bankers at Beyrout, rent in hard cash; and failing to do so, they are summarily evicted. The inhabitants of the villages which are dotted over the plain dwell in peace and security; and the traveller may ride over it unarmed with perfect safety. In fact, so far from the Plain of Esdraelon being the scene of desolation which it was when Dr Thomson saw it, or his lugubrious prophecy of the appearance it was to present ten years later having been fulfilled, the twenty years which have elapsed since then have served to transform it into a scene of the most luxuriant fertility. Tall grain crops wave over a great part of its extent; and at this time of year it looks like a sea of richest green. One of the proprietors for it is nearly all now in the hands of one family-told me the other day that the cost of the transport of the produce of this property to the sea last year amounted to £10,000. We can scarcely wonder that any scheme of developing the agricultural resources of the Holy Land, whether by Jewish colonisation or other wise, should be received with scepticism by opponents who derive their information from such records as the one I have just quoted. The same is true in a considerable degree of the Plain of Sharon, which is rapidly being brought into cultivation by native capitalists, who, by lending money to the villagers, gradually become their proprietors, and continue to culti

vate the land on shares, the capital being furnished by the new proprietors, who are wealthy and influential enough to protect themselves against rapacious pashas, unjust cadis, and extortionate taxgatherers, by the simple process of becoming their own tax-gatherers, and paying an amount of backsheesh which leaves them an enormous profit, the sufferers being the government treasury - chest and the unhappy fellahin. Still, as a rule, the fellah prefers to become the property of a capitalist who, while he ill-treats him, protects him, to being left to defend himself against official tyranny and corruption; and there is no question that the country is being benefited by large fertile tracts thus being reclaimed from thistles, gazelles, and black tabernacles, and made to yield of its abundance. I know of one or two magnificent plains where this operation is still waiting to be performed, to the great advantage of the capitalist who undertakes it. Meantime, among the large proprietors of this part of Palestine is no less a personage than the Sultan himself. His property extends from the eastern margin of the Plain of Esdraelon to the Jordan; and the firman has already been granted, and the line surveyed, for the railway which is to connect the Bay of Acre with the great graingrowing province of the Hauran, and which will therefore traverse the plain throughout its whole length. Passing out of the Plain of Esdraelon at its eastern extremity, into that of Jezreel, the line will then follow the valley of the Jalud by a gentle decline to Bethshean, and tap one of the finest districts in the country, which still awaits private capital and enterprise for its development.

From the site of the ancient city of Scythopolis a magnificent valley spreads out as far as the eye can reach. The whole of this valley, and the rich plains beyond, can be watered by the fountains that send their copious streams across the site of Bethshean.

"In fact," says Dr Thomson-and his description in this instance applies to the present day-"few spots on earth, and none in this country, possess greater agricultural and manufacturing advantages than this Ghor, and yet it is utterly desolate. Whenever a good government shall restore order and security to this region, Beisan (or Bethshean) will rise rapidly to an important city. Its water privileges and other advantages will not only make it a delightful residence, but render it a great manufacturing centre. All kinds of machinery might be driven with the least possible expense by its abounding brooks; and then this lovely valley of Jezreel above it, irrigated by the Jalud, and the Ghor Beisan below, irrigated in every part by many fertilising streams, are capable of sustaining a little nation in and of themselves. Besides, Beisan is the natural highway from Bashan in the east to the seaboard at Haifa and Acre, and also to Southern Palestine and Egypt. The Ghor once teemed with inhabitants, as is evident from ruined sites, and from Tells too old for ruins, which are scattered over the plain."

I met the surveying party on their return from their labours in this district, and they not only confirm this account, but were warm in their praises of the hospitality and kindness they received at the hands of the sedentary Arabs who inhabit this plain, and amongst whom they camped without molestation. Indeed the Bedouins seemed much pleased at the prospect of being brought into communication with the outer world by a railway, and were ready to offer every assistance in their

power to the surveyors. It is probable that many classes of the population will benefit immediately by being employed on the line as labourers. Meantime there can be no question of the profitable character of the undertaking. The carriage of the present export of grain from the Hauran alone will yield a fair dividend of itself; and

this does not include the Damascus trade, which now goes to Beyrout, but which would inevitably come by this route, or all the traffic of the country through which the line will pass between the Jordan and the sea. It will, moreover, be an extremely cheap line to construct: the only part which offers any difficulty to the engineer is the rise from the valley of the Jordan to the plateau of Jaulan, which, it is calculated, will involve an ascent of nearly 3000 feet in about fifteen miles. Thence across the plateau to Damascus there is no difficulty. Here the country has been of late years much depopulated by Arab raids, which have ceased to extend beyond the Jordan; and not the least of the benefits which will be conferred by the railway will be the repeopling of this rich pastoral region, and the suppression of the roving Arabs. When once this is accomplished, it will open a field for colonisation which cannot fail, sooner or later, to attract capital; whether it will be Christian or Jewish, time only can show. As it is, the best parts of the country seem rapidly to be falling into the hands of Syrian Christians, to whose efforts, it must be admitted, its development, such as it is, is mainly due.

Fording the Kishon at a spot where it is little more than ankledeep, and passing one or two villages surrounded by corn-fields, we strike ere long the waggon-road