The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-03-22
The Survey of Palestine.

The survey of Palestine a' thrown
light on another important question
concerning ancient Palestine, namely,
the relations of the present climate of
the country to that of Old-Testament
times. This question has been fully
worked out in papers which will be
found in the memoirs of the survey,
and the conclusions reached may be
briefly summarized. Palestine is a
small country; but 1t presents great
varieties of soil, climate and water sup
ply in various districts. We have the
tropical Jordan Valley and the arctic
region of the Upper Hermon and Le-
banon. We have rich, volcanic corn
plains in Bashan and round Jezreel and
cedars, and hard limestone over which
perennial streams flow between fine
woods of oak and terebinth in Galilee,
and yet more in Gilead. We have fiat,
maritime plains, sandy and marshy. he t
and malarious, bounded by ever rolling
dunes. but well watered by sluggish
streams from the clear springs at the
mountain foot. These plains run from
Carmel to GAIA, ever widening and
supporting rich harvests. We have thd
low chalk hills, with their luxuriant
olive yards and wells of living waters
all along the eastern side of the mari
time plains. Above rise mountains 5000
to 4 1000 feet high, and on the north at
tanning to 10000 feet These are gener-
ally rugged and bare, but carefully ter
raced and partly cultivated. The vine
flourishes on these higher ranges, where
the frost and mist aid the strong re-
Election of heat from the rock to ripen
the grapes. But besides these richer
districts we have the old deserts I'M
changed from the days OF Abraham and
David; the fiat marty plateau of Beer
sheba, where the nomads feed their
flocks and herds as Isaac did before
them; the desolate peaks and gorges of
the Jeshimon, where the dun partridge
and the brown ibex roam as they did
when David hid in these fatnesses from
Saul, among "the rocks of the wild
goats" Exploration does not tend to
countenance the old ideas above grear
change in climate 1t is matter for
the naturalist and geologist to deci de
and we know certainly that brooksor
water could never have flowed on the
surface of the porous chalk of some of
these regions ny more than they can
now. We know also that the the land
is still as fertile as of old; still well
watered in certain districts; still with
sufficient rainfall and that when a just
and stable government exists (as in the
Lebanon) the country still flows with
oil and wine. But what do we learn,
from a study of the land and of history
is the desolation wrought by human
means in Palestine. We find every
where the copse covering the wine press
the thistleS growing among the old field
enclosures, the terraces in ruins, The
old vineyard deserted, the olive-yards
exterminated, and lmany of the ancient
woods entirely cut down. The forests
which existed in the times of Titus and
of the crusaders are often entirely de-
stroyed, and fine oak woods are repre-
scented by acres of Stumps and roots.
The great AntoI inc cities beyond Jor-
dan stands in wilderness full of ruined
villagers, over which the Arab wanders
with his herds of camels. In brief, we
see that poverty and decrease Of popu-
lation. the decayof roads and aqueducts,
the ruin of the old cisterns, the de-
struction of the woods, terraces, and
vineyards, are the causes of the present
desolation. This has often bee n pointed
out, and experience proves that, given
a just and strong government i'll the
ountry, Palestine mi ght become, like
outhern Italy,a gard en- of the world.
Contemporary ReCielr.