that Abou-Goosh, the celebrated robber, who used to infest the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, has been deprived of power by command of Ibrahim Pasha. In the course of a few years, travelling in the Holy Land will be as safe and commodious as it now is on the banks of the Nile.*

This chapter would not be complete were we to omit all allusion to the Jews, the ancient inhabitants of Palestine. Their number, according to a statement lately published in Germany, amounts to between three and four millions, scattered over the face of the whole earth, but still maintaining the same laws which their ancestors received from their inspired legislator more than three thousand years ago. In Europe there are nearly two millions, enjoying different degrees of political privilege, according to the spirit of the several governments; in Asia, the estimate exceeds seven hundred thousand; in Africa, more than half a million; and in America, about ten thousand. It is supposed, however, on good grounds, that the Jewish population on both sides of Mount Taurus is considerably greater than is here given, and that their gross number does not fall much short of five millions.†

In Palestine, of late years, they have greatly increased. It is said that not fewer than ten thousand inhabit Saphet and Jerusalem; and that in their worship they still sing those pathetic hymns which their manifold tribulations have inspired; bewailing amid the ruins of their ancient capital the fallen city and the desolate tribes. In Persia one of them addressed a Christian missionary in these affecting words:-"I have travelled far; the Jews are every where princes in comparison with those in the land of Iran. Heavy is our captivity, heavy is our burden, heavy is our slavery; anxiously we wait for redemption."

*

History, says an eloquent writer, is the record of the

Hogg's Damascus, vol. i p. 150; and vol. ii. p. 23. Annual Register for the years 182, 1833.

+Weimar Geographical Ephemerides; and History of the Jews, vol. iii. p. 410.

past; it presumes not to raise the mysterious veil which the Almighty has spread over the future. The destinies of this wonderful people, as of all mankind, are in the hands of the all-wise Ruler of the universe: his decrees will certainly be accomplished; his truth, his goodness, and his wisdom, will be clearly vindicated. This, however, we may venture to assert, that true religion will advance with the dissemination of sound and useful knowledge. The more enlightened the Jew becomes, the more incredible will it appear to him that the gracious Father of the whole human race intended an exclusive faith, a creed confined to one family, to be permanent; and the more evident also will it appear to him that a religion, which embraces within the sphere of its benevolence all the kindreds and languages of the earth, is alone adapted to an improved and civilized age.”

*

We presume not to expound the signs of the times, nor to see farther than we are necessarily led by the course of events; but it is impossible not to be struck with the aspect of that grandest of all moral phenomena which is suspended upon the history and actual condition of the sons of Jacob. At this moment they are nearly as numerous as when David swayed the sceptre of the Twelve Tribes; their expectations are the same, their longings are the same; and on whatever part of the earth's surface they have their abode, their eyes and their faith are all pointed in the same direction,-to the land of their fathers, and the holy city where they worshipped. Though rejected by God and persecuted by man, they have not once, during eighteen hundred long years, ceased to repose confidence in the promises made by Jehovah to the founders of their nation; and although the heart has often been sick, and the spirit faint, they have never relinquished the hope of that bright reversion in the latter days, which is once more to establish the Lord's house on the top of the mountains, and to make Jerusalem the glory of the whole world.

CHAPTER IX.

The Natural History of Palestine.

Travellers too much neglect Natural History-Maundrell, Hasselquist, Clarke-GEOLOGY-Syrian Chain-Libanus-Calcareous Rocks-Granite-Trap-Volcanic Remains-Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions in Syria and Southern Italy-Chalk-Marine Exuvia-Precious Stones-METEOROLOGY-Climate of Palestine-Winds-Thunder-Clouds-Waterspouts-Ignis Fatuus -ZOOLOGY-Scripture Animals-The Hart-The RoebuckFallow-deer-Wild-goat-Pygarg-Wild-ox - Chamois — Unicorn- Wild-ass-Wild-goats of the Rock-Saphan, or ConeyMouse-Porcupine-Jerboa― Mole - Bat-BIRDS — Eagle— Ossifrage-Ospray-Vulture-Kite-Raven-Owl-Night-hawk

-Cuckoo-Hawk-Little Owl-Cormorant-Great Owl-Swan -Pelican-Gier Eagle-Stork-Heron-Lapwing-HoopoeAMPHIBIA AND REPTILES-Serpents known to the Hebrews -Ephe Chephir-Acshub-Pethen -Tzeboa-TzimmaonTzepho-Kippos-Shephiphon-Shachal-Saraph, the Flyingserpent-Cockatrice Eggs-The Scorpion-Sea-monsters, or Seals FRUITS AND PLANTS-Vegetable Productions of Palestine The Fig-tree-Palm-Olive-Cedars of LibanusWild-grapes-Balsam of Aaron-Thorn of Christ.

EVERY one who writes on the Holy Land has occasion to regret that travellers in general have paid so little attention to its geological structure and natural productions. Maundrell, it is true, was not entirely destitute of physical science; but the few remarks which he makes are extremely vague and unconnected, and, not being expressed in the language of system, throw very little light on the researches of the natural philosopher or the geologist. Hasselquist had more professional learning, and has accordingly contributed, more than any of his predecessors, to our acquaintance with Palestine, viewed in its relations to the animal, the

vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms. Still the reader of his Voyages and Travels in the Levant cannot fail to perceive, that some of the branches of knowledge, which are now cultivated with the greatest care, were in his day very little improved; and more especially, that they were extremely deficient in accuracy of description and distinctness of arrangement. Dr Clarke's observations are perhaps more scientific than those of the Swedish naturalist just named, and particularly in the departments of mineralogy and geology, to which he had devoted a large share of his attention. But even in his works we look in vain for a satisfactory treatise on the mountain-rocks of Syria; on the geognostic formation of that interesting part of Western Asia; or on the fossil treasures which its strata are understood to envelop. We are therefore reduced to the necessity of collecting from various authors, belonging to different countries and successive ages, the scattered notices which appear in their works, and of arranging them according to a plan most likely to suit the comprehension of the common reader.

SECTION I.-GEOLOGY.

At first view it would appear that the ridges of Palestine are all a ramification of Mount Taurus. But the proper Syrian chain begins on the south of Antioch, at the huge peak of Casius, which shoots up to the heavens its tapering summit, covered with thick forests. The same chain, under various names, follows the direction of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, at no greater distance, generally speaking, than twentyfour miles from its waters. Mount Libanus forms its most elevated point. At length it is divided into two branches, of which the one looks westward to the sea, the other, which bounds the plain of Damascus, verges in the direction of the desert and the banks of the Euphrates. Hermon, whose lofty top condenses the moisture of the atmosphere, and gives rise to the dews so much celebrated in the Sacred Writings, stands be

tween Baalbec and the capital of Syria. The latter ridge received from the Greeks the denomination of Anti-Libanus,—a name unknown among the natives, and which, being employed somewhat arbitrarily by historians and topographers, has occasioned considerable obscurity in their writings.

The hills in this district are composed of a calcareous rock, which has a whitish colour, is extremely hard, and rings in the ear when smartly struck with a hammer. The same description applies to the masses that surround Jerusalem, which on the one hand stretch to the river Jordan, and on the other extend to the plain of Acre and Jaffa. Like all limestone strata, they present a great number of caverns, to which, as places of retreat, frequent allusion is made in the books of Samuel and of the Kings. There is one near Damascus, capable of containing four thousand men ; and it must have been in a similar recess that David and his followers encountered their unhappy sovereign when pursued by him on the hills of the wild-goats.

The mountains that skirt the Valley of the Dead Sea present granite and those other rocks which, according to the system of Werner, characterize the oldest or primitive formation. Mount Sinai is a member of the same group, and exhibits mineral qualities of a similar nature, extending to a certain distance on both sides of the Arabian Gulf. It is probable that this region, at a remote epoch, was the theatre of immense volcanoes, the effects of which may still be traced along the banks of the Lower Jordan, and more especially on the lake itself. The warm baths at Tabaria show that the same cause still exists, although much restricted in its operation, an inference which is amply confirmed by the lavas, the bitumen, and pumice, which continue to be thrown ashore by the waves.

Syria and Palestine, says Mr Lyell, abound in volcanic appearances, and very extensive areas have been shaken at different periods, with great destruction of cities and loss of life. Continual mention is made in history of the ravages committed by earthquakes in Sidon, Tyre,