llages, because the
nitre contained in the old cement of houses not only serves to quicken
the vegetation, but imparts to the article that sparkling effect which is
admired when lighted in the pipe.

Vines are also extensively cultivated, and the people take pleasure in
training them aloft upon the high trees, as oak, terebinth, poplar, etc.,
and allowing them to droop down in the graceful festoons of nature, which
also gives an agreeable variety of green colour among the timber trees.

We were entering the gay woodland and reaching the top of a hill, when
the sun rose at our left hand, and the glory of that moment surpassed all
common power of description. Crowds of linnets and finches burst
suddenly into song; the crested larks "that tira-lira chant," {265} rose
into the merry blue sky, with the sunlight gleaming on their plump and
speckled breasts; the wood-pigeons, too, were not silent; but all, in
harmonious concert, did their best to praise the blessed Creator, who
delights in the happiness of His creatures.

Forwards we marched with light spirits, through dense woods, varied by
the occasional clearings, which are called "the rides" in old English
forests, and sometimes we drew near to snug villages, or got glimpses of
such, by the names of _Teereh_, _Hhaneen_, and _'Ain Nebel_; the latter
at two hours from Tibneen; the people there are Christian, and they
cultivate silk and tobacco. In some places we observed ancient
sarcophagi, hewn into solid rock without being entirely detached, they
had therefore been left unfinished, though partly ornamented.

On a ground rising opposite to us I saw the screw of a large press,
standing out of the field; this I was told is used for extracting resin
from the red berries of terebinth trees for domestic lamp-lighting--a
circumstance which of itself bespeaks the prevalence of woodland round
about, and is a variation from the practice of that unhappy thin
population on the plain of Esdraelon, who are obliged to use castor-oil
for the same purpose, because the _palma Christi_ plants which produce
the oil are of less value to Bedaween marauders than olive-trees would
be, and damage done to them is of less importance than it would be among
the latter.

Arrived at _Rumaish_, the Shaikh rode up to his village while we awaited
him under the branches of an old oak overshadowing the road. Rumaish is
a neat little place, but, like almost every village throughout Palestine,
oppresse