ry moat, both wide and deep, is spanned by wooden bridges, after
crossing which one has the choice of a dozen highways, all scantily
shaded with rows of ragged mulberry-trees, glaring white in the sun and
deep in impalpable dry dust. But the sea-breeze blows freshening across
the parched land; shadows of light clouds cool the arid mountains in the
distance; the olives roll into silvery undulations; a palm in full,
rejoicing plumage rustles over your head; and the huge spatulate leaves
of a banana in the nearest garden twist and split into fringes. There is
no languor in the air, no sleep in the deluge of sunshine; the landscape
is active with signs of work and travel. Wheat, wine, olives, almonds,
and oranges are produced, not only side by side, but from the same
fields, and the painfully thorough system of cultivation leaves not a
rood of the soil unused.

I had chosen, at random, a road which led me west toward the nearest
mountains, and in the course of an hour I found myself at the entrance
of a valley. Solitary farm-houses, each as massive as the tower of a
fortress and of the color of sunburnt gold, studded the heights,
overlooking the long slopes of almond-orchards. I looked about for
water, in order to make a sketch of the scene; but the bed of the brook
was as dry as the highway. The nearest house toward the plain had a
splendid sentinel palm beside its door,--a dream of Egypt, which
beckoned and drew me towards it with a glamour I could not resist. Over
the wall of the garden the orange-trees lifted their mounds of
impenetrable foliage; and the blossoms of the pomegranates, sprinkled
against such a background, were like coals of fire. The fig-bearing
cactus grew about the house in clumps twenty feet high, covered with
pale-yellow flowers. The building was large and roomy, with a
court-yard, around which ran a shaded gallery. The farmer who was
issuing therefrom as I approached wore the shawl and Turkish trousers
of the old generation, while his two sons, reaping in the adjoining
wheat-fields, were hideous in the modern _gigots_. Although I was
manifestly an intruder, the old man greeted me respectfully, and passed
on to his work. Three boys tended a drove of black hogs in the stubble,
and some women were so industriously weeding and hoeing in the field
beyond, that they scarcely stopped to cast a glance upon the stranger.
There was a grateful air of peace, order, and contentment about the
place; no one seemed