The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1859-03-16
The Land OF Ruins.

Palestine ia tho land Of ruins. It is not
that the particular ruins ore on scale
equal TO those Of Greece or Italy, still
less to those of Egypt, But there is no
country where they are SO numerous, none
in which they beur SO large proportion
TO the villages and towns still in existence.
In Judea it is hardly an exaggeration to
say, that while for miles and miles there
is no present life and habitation, except
the occasional goat.herd on the hillside,
or gathering of women at the wells, there
is yet hardly bill top Of the many in
sight, which is not covered by the vestiges
of some fortress or city Of former ages.
Sometimes they are fragments Of anciont
walls, sometimes mere foundations and
piles of stone but always enough to ind.
cate sigus Of human dwelling and civil.
cation.
These countless ruins, of whatever date
they may be, tell us at glance that wo
must not Judge the resources of the ancient
land by its present depressed and desolate
state. How often is the question asked
by eastern travellers, can these stony hills
these deserted valleys, be indeed the land
Of promise, the land flowing with milk
and honey? Could they ever have sup
ported such teeming population as the
Israelites7
The country must have been very diff.
ferent when every hill was crowned with
a Aourisning town or village, from what
ii is, since it ceased to be the seat not
only Of civilization, but in many instances
even Of the people who fertilized it.
The entire destruction Of the woods
which once covered the mountains, and
the utter neglect Of the terraces which
supported the soil on steep declivities, have
given full scope to the ruins, which have
left many tracts Of bare rock, where for.
merly were vineyards and corn6elds. The
loss Of foliage has hindered rain, and SO
has exposed the country in II greater de.
gree than formerly to the evils Of drought.
The forests Of Bethel, of Sharon. Of Hereth
the thicket wood of Ziph and the forests
which gave their namo to Kirjatbjcarim,
the city Of forests, have long since disap.
peared. Palm trees, which are now all
but unknown on the hills Of Palestine,
formerly grew With myrtles and pines on
the almost barren slopes Of Olivet and
groves of oak though never frequent, must
have been far more common than now.
The very labor which was expended on
these barren fields in former times has in.
creased their present sterility. The nat.
ural vegetation has been swept away, and
no human cultivation now occupies the
terrace which once took the place Of
forests and pastures.
II should also be borne in mind that
Palestine, in contrast with the waterless
deserts which skirt it on the south and
east, must have appeared like an oasis Of
uncommon fertility. 1t was emphatically
a good land. land OF brooks of water Of
fountains and depths that spring out Of
plains and mountoins, not as the land Of
Egypt where thou sowest the seed, and
waterest with thy foot as garden ol
herbs, but ss land of mountains and
plains, which drinketh water Of the rain o.
heaven. This mountainous character thi.
abundance of water both from natura
springs and from the clouds Of heaven
this abundance of milk from its cattle OF
thousand hills, Of honey, from its forest
and it's thymy shrubs, was absolutely pc
culiar to Palestine among the civilized
nations of the East. Feeble as lis brook
might be, though doubtless they were thei
more frequently filed than now, yet still
it was the only country where an Orienta
could have been familiar with the imag
Of the Psalmist He sendeth the spring
into the valleys. which run among tn
hills" These spf ngs, too, however short
lived, are remarkable for their copiousne.
and beauty. Not only in the East, bu
hardly in the West, can fountains c
sources of streams be seen SO clear, SO fu
grown, even at their birth, as those whic
fall into the Jordan and its lakes, throug
its whole course, from north to south