Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1859-03-05
me land of Ruins.

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The Land of Ruins. - I"t "" ""
Above all other countries ir. the world
Palestine is the land OF ruins. 1t is not that
the particular ruins are on scale equal to
those of'Creecc Oh, Italy, still less to those
of Egypt. But there is no country where
they are SO numerous, none III which they
bear so large proportion to the villages
and towns still in existence. I'm Jgdea it
is hardly an eXaggeration to say, that while
for miles and miles there is no present life
and lrubitation, except the occasional goat
herd on the. hill side, on gathering of wo-
men at the wells, there is yet hardly. Il hill
top of the mahy,in sight, which is not COW
cred by the yestigos of some fortress or
city of former ages. Sometimes they are
Fragments OF NaGient-walls sometimes mere
foundations and piles of stone, but always
enough to indicate signs of human dwell
;ings and civilization.
These countless ruins, of whatever date
they may be, tell us at a glance that we
must not judge tho resources Of the ancient
land by its present depressed and dcsolato
state. How often is the question asked by
eastern travellts, can these stony hills,
these deserted valleys, be indeed the land
of promise, the land flowing with milk and
honey? Gould tbcyhevcr have supported
such.a teeming population,as the Israel
The country must have been very differ
tnt when every hill was crowned with a
Aourishiug town,or village, from whatit is,
since it ceased to be the seat not only of
civilization, but in many instances oven of
thepcople who fertlized it ~
The entire destruction ofathe woods
which once covered the mountains, and the
utter. neglect of the terraces which sup
ported tho soil OH steep deolivitics, have
given full scope to the ruins, which have
left many tracts of bare rock, where form
crly were vineyards and corniclds.. The
loss of foliage has hildcred rain, and 50
has exposed the coYBsRy to a greater de-
gree than formerly to the evils of drought.
The forests of Bethel, of, of,Sharon, of He
rcta; the thickct wood of Hiph aud the for
csts which gave their name to kitiatl6car-
i'm, tho city of forests, have long sincc dis
appeared. Palm trees, which are now all
but unknown on the hills of Palestine, for
nlerly grew with myrtes and pines on the
almost barren slopes of Olivct, and groves
of oak though never frequent, must have
been far moro common than now. Z The
very labor which was expended on these
barren fields in former times has increased
their present sterility. The natural vegct-
alton has been swept away, and no human
cultivation now occupies the terrace. which
once took the place of forests. and pastures.
1t should also be borne in mind that
Palestine, IN contrast with the waterlcss
deserts which skirt in on the south and
cast, must have appeared like an oasis OF
uncommon fertility. 1t was emphaticaly
a good land, a land of brooks of water, Of
fountains and depths that spring out of
plains and mountains, not as the land of
Egypt where thou sowQst the seed, and wa
tcrest with thy footas garden of herbs,
but as aland fmountainsundp plains, (which
drihkcth water OF the rain of heaven. Il
This mountainous character, this abundance
of watey both from natural springs and
from the clouds of heaven, this abundance
of milk from its cattle on thousand hills,
of honey, from it's forests and its thyny
shrubs, was absolutely peculiar to PaldsJ
tine an )ng tlleacivilized nations Of the
east. eeble as it's brooks might be, though
douk..less they we're then more frequently
filed than now, yet still it'was 'the-only
country where an Oriental could have been
familiar with the image Of the sPsatmist':
T" le, ,sendeth the springs into the valleys,
which run among the hills, These springs
too, however short-lived, are remarkable
for their eopio,isness andbeauty. Not on
" in the East, but;hardly in the West, can
any fountains or sources Of streams be seer
so clear, so fnll grown, even at their birth,
as those which fall into the Jordan and ~
lakes, through its whole course, from nor.n
to south. ga VlffSistf-fA s. Is
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