s this, which
really only records a meteorological curiosity: 'From the top of one
mountain one can see the ball of the sun at the fourth watch of the
night, and if one turns round at the time when the first rays light
up the darkness, one has night on one side and day on the other.'

Tyre is described again as 'conspicuous for the fertility of its soil
and the charm of its position.' Its great waterworks are especially
admired, since by their means 'not only the gardens and most fruitful
orchards flourish, but the cane from which sugar is made, which is so
useful to man for health and other purposes, and is sent by merchants
to the most distant parts of the world.' Other reporters were charmed
by the fertility and wealth of the East. 'On those who came from the
poorer and colder western countries, the rich resources of the sunny
land in comparison with the poverty of home made an impression of
overflowing plenty, and at times almost of inexhaustibleness. The
descriptions of certain districts, extolled for their special
richness, sound almost enthusiastic.[1]

Burkhard von Monte Sion was enthusiastic about Lebanon's wealth of
meadows and gardens, and the plain round Tripolis, and considered the
Plain of Esdraelon the most desirable place in the world; but, on
exact and unprejudiced examination, there is nothing in his words
beyond homely admiration and matter-of-fact discussion of its great
practical utility.

He says of La Boneia, 'That plain has many homesteads, and beautiful
groves of olive and fig and other trees of various kinds, and much
timber. Moreover, it abounds in no common measure in rivers and
pasture land'; closes a geographical account of Lebanon thus, 'There
are in Libanus and Antilibanus themselves fertile and well-tilled
valleys, rich in pasture land, vineyards, gardens, plantations--in a
word, in all the good things of the world'; and says of the Plain of
Galilee, 'I never saw a lovelier country, if our sins and wrong-doing
did not prevent Christians from living there.'

He had some feeling too for a distant view. He wrote of Samaria: 'The
site was very beautiful; the view stretched right to the Sea of Joppa
and to Antipatris and Caesarea of Palestine, and over the whole
mountain of Ephraim down to Ramathaym and Sophim and to Carmel near
Accon by the sea. And it is rich in fountains and gardens and olive
groves, and all the good things this world desires.' But it would be
going too far to conclud