an extent of meadow and woodland.

The commanding object, however, was the grand mountain,

"That lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm.
Though round its breast the rolling clouds be spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head."

At this place we rested for a time.

All the day afterwards we kept upon high grounds, to avoid meeting any of
the Beni Sukh'r--thus greatly increasing the length of the day's march,
and having to scramble over rocky hills without visible paths. All this
had been brought upon us by over-cleverness in bargaining with Shaikh
Yusuf, our guide. We had stipulated that, in case of meeting with
Bedaween Arabs, whatever should be demanded as _ghufur_, or toll for
crossing their ground, should be deducted from his 500 piastres. He had
informed us that the toll would be but a trifle; but after the burden of
it had been once thrown upon him, he avoided the best and direct road,
and we had hours of needless fatigue in consequence.

As a peasant himself, the Arabs allow him and his people to pass free, as
no doubt they exact enough from the village in other forms; but they
consider themselves entitled to levy tribute on European travellers. The
latter, however, are always disposed to grumble at it.

We plunged again into thick green woods,--the oaks of Bashan,--with merry
birds carolling all around. Oh, how cheering was the scene, after that
devastated land across the river, where there is so little of forest land
left in proportion to this! A friend once remarked to me, that were the
two territories in the same relative conditions at the time of Joshua
taking possession of Canaan, it would require double amount of faith in
God's promises, as they ascended from Jericho to Ai, to believe that they
had not left the promised land behind them. Now, this might be met by
several satisfactory replies; but the plainest answer for the moment is,
that the countries were not then in the same conditions relatively as
they now are.

We passed a rock-hewn sepulchre on the side of a hill, in good
condition,--just such as may be frequently seen in Palestine
proper,--then found a large herd of camels browsing; and passing through
a verdant glen, which issued upon cultivated fields, we came to the
village of _Mezer_, and soon after to _Tuleh_, where we got a view of
Tabor, Gilboa, and Hermon, {67} all at the same time. Were the day
clear, there could be no