that prosperous-looking village with its palm-tree,
mounted a rocky path, and went along a valley "covered over with corn,"
(Ps. cxv. 13;) here the very paths were concealed by the exuberant grain,
so that we had to trample for ourselves a way through it.

Emerging on the great plain, we had to wade monotonously through an ocean
of wheat. How I longed to have with me some of the blasphemers of the
Holy Land, who tell us that it is now a blighted and cursed land, and who
quote Scripture amiss to show that this is a fulfilment of prophecy.
{155}

In many places, however, we saw how the rich produce had been trampled
down and rolled upon by camels, or by Bashi-bozuk soldiers on their
travels, after their horses were gorged to the full with gratuitous
feeding. We met a black slave of 'Othman el Lehham of Bait 'Atab, a fine
fellow, well mounted and armed, and he told us that a large part of this
wheat was his master's property. He had been travelling from village to
village upon business. His noble bearing, and his being thus
confidentially employed, reminded me of the Arabic proverb, that "Even a
Shaikh's slave is a Shaikh."

In one place I remarked some hundred yards square of fine oats. This was
surprising, as I knew that oats are not cultivated in Palestine. The
people assured me that they were of wild growth, but they were of
excellent quality; and as the name (Khafeer) seemed to be well known, it
seems difficult to understand that oats have not been at some time
cultivated in that part of the country. With respect to its Arabic name,
it is worth notice how near it is to the German name (Hafer) for oats.
Wetzstein has since found wild oats growing on the N.E. of the Hauran.

Arrived at _'Ain Shems_, the Beth Shemesh of the Bible, (I Sam. vi. 9,
_passim_,) where, instead of the large population of ancient times, we
found nothing but a weli and some fragments of peasant houses.

Due north from us as we rested, lay on the summit of a hill, _Sora'a_,
which is Zorah, the birthplace of Samson, where the angel appeared to
Manoah and his wife. The people told us of _Amooriah_ to the left, but
we could not quite see it, and the same with respect to _Tibneh_, or
_Dibneh_, the Timnath of Samson's history.

All the plain and the low hills formed one waving sheet of corn, without
divisions or trees; and often, as we had no tracks for guidance, we had
to take sight of some object on the horizon, and work straight forwar