PALESTINE
fertile
by
nature,
and
would
probably
repay
beyond
all
expectation
a
Judicious
expenditure
o(
capital.
The
case
of
Judsea
is
a
little
different,
for
here
there
are
extensive
tracts
wliich
are
nearly
or
quite
waterless,
and
are
more
or
less
desert
in
consequence.
The
climate
of
Palestine
is,
on
the
whole,
that
of
the
sub-tropical
zone,
though,
owing
to
the
extraordinary
variation
of
altitudes,
there
is
probably
a
greater
range
of
average
local
temperature
than
in
any
other
region
of
its
size
on
the
world's
surface.
On
the
one
hand,
the
summits
of
Hermon
and
of
certain
peaks
of
the
Lebanon
are
covered
with
snow
for
the
greater
part
of
the
year;
on
the
other
hand,
the
tremendous
depression,
in
the
bottom
of
which
lies
the
Dead
Sea,
is
practically
tropical,
both
in
cUmate
and
in
vegetation.
The
mean
local
temperature
is
said
to
range
from
about
62°
F.
in
the
upland
district
to
almost
100°
F.
in
the
region
of
Jericho.
Rainfall
is
confined
to
the
winter
months
of
the
year.
Usually
in
the
end
of
October
or
November
the
rainy
season
is
ushered
in
with
a
heavy
thunderstorm,
which
softens
the
hard-baked
surface
of
the
land.
This
part
of
the
rainy
season
is
the
'former
rain'
of
the
Bible
(as
in
Jl
2^3).
Ploughing
commences
immediately
after
the
rains
have
thus
begun.
The
following
months
have
heavy
showers,
alternating
with
days
of
beautiful
sunshine,
till
March
or
April,
when
the
'latter
rain'
falls
and
gives
the
crops
their
final
fertilization
before
the
commencement
of
the
dry
season.
During
tUs
part
of
the
year,
except
by
the
rarest
exception,
no
rain
falls:
its
place
is
supplied
by
night
dews,
which
in
some
years
are
extraordinarily
heavy.
Scantiness
of
the
rainfall,
however,
is
invariably
succeeded
by
poverty
or
even
destruction
of
the
crops,
and
the
rain
is
watched
for
as
anxiously
now
as
it
was
in
the
time
of
Ahab.
Soon
after
the
cessation
of
the
rains,
the
wild
flowers,
which
in
early
spring
decorate
Palestine
like
a
carpet,
become
rapidly
burnt
up,
and
the
country
assumes
an
appearance
of
barrenness
that
gives
no
true
idea
of
its
actual
fertility.
The
dry
summer
is
rendered
further
unpleasant
by
hot
east
winds,
blowing
from
over
the
Arabian
Desert,
which
have
a
depressing
and
enervating
effect.
The
south
wind
is
also
dry,
and
the
west
wind
damp
(cf.
1
K
18«,
Lk
12«).
The
north
wind,
which
blows
from
over
the
Lebanon
snows,
is
always
cold,
often
piercingly
so.
As
already
hinted,
the
flora
displays
an
extraordinary
range
and
richness,
owing
to
the
great
varieties
of
the
climate
at
different
points.
The
plants
of
the
S.
and
of
the
Jordan
Valley
resemble
those
found
in
Abyssinia
or
in
Nubia:
those
of
the
upper
levels
of
Lebanon
are
of
the
kinds
peculiar
to
snow-clad
regions.
Wheat,
barley,
millet,
maize,
peas,
beans,
lentils,
olives,
figs,
mulberries,
vines,
and
other
fruit;
cotton,
nuts
of
various
species;
the
ordinary
vegetables,
and
some
(such
as
solanum
or
'egg-plant')
that
do
not,
as
a
rule,
find
their
way
to
western
markets;
sesame,
and
tobacco
—
which
is
grown
in
some
districts
—
are
the
most
characteristic
crops
produced
by
the
country.
The
prickly
pear
and
the
orange,
though
of
compara^
lively
recent
introduction,
are
now
among
its
staple
products.
The
fauna
includes
(among
wild
animals)
the
bat,
hysena,
wolf,
jackal,
wild
cat,
ibex,
gazelle,
wild
boar,
hare,
and
other
smaller
animals.
The
bear
is
now
confined
to
Hermon,
and
possibly
one
or
two
places
in
Lebanon;
the
cheetah
is
rare,
and
the
Hon
(1
S
17",
1
K
13M
etc.)
is
extinct.
So
also
is
the
hippopotamus,
bones
of
which
have
been
found
in
excavations.
Among
wild
birds
we
may
mention
the
eagle,
vulture,
stork,
and
partridge:
there
is
a
great
variety
of
smaller
birds.
Snakes
and
lizards
abound,
and
crocodiles
are
occasionally
to
be
seen
in
the
Nakr
en-Zerka
near
Csesarea.
The
domesticated
animals
are
the
camel,
cow,
buffalo
(only
in
the
Jordan
Valley),
sheep,
horse,
donkey,
swine
(only
among
Christians),
and
domestic
fowl.
The
dog
can
scarcely
be
called
PALESTINE
domesticated:
it
is
kept
by
shepherds
for
their
flocks,
but
otherwise
prowls
about
the
streets
of
towns
and
villages
seeking
a
living
among
the
rubbish
thrown
from
the
houses.
4.
History,
races,
antiquities.—
The
earliest
dawn
of
history
in
Palestine
has
left
no
trace
in
the
country
itself,
so
far
as
we
can
tell
from
the
limited
range
of
excavations
hitherto
carried
out.
There
was,
how-ever,
a
Babylonian
supremacy
over
the
country
in
the
fourth
millennium
b.c,
of
which
the
records
left
by
the
kings
of
Agade
speak.
These
records
are
as
yet
only
imperfectly
known,
and
their
discussion
in
a
short
article
like
the
present
would
be
out
of
place.
A
very
full
account
of
all
that
is
as
yet
known
of
these
remote
waifs
of
history
will
be
found
in
L.
B.
Baton's
excellent
History
of
Syria
and
Palestine.
About
B.C.
3000
we
first
reach
a
period
where
excavation
in
Palestine
has
some
information
to
give.
It
appears
that
the
inhabitants
were
then
still
in
the
neolithic
stage
of
culture,
dwelling
in
caves,
natural
or
artificial.
The
excavation
of
Gezer
has
shown
that
the
site
of
that
city
was
occupied
by
an
extensive
community
of
this
race.
They
were
non-Semitic;
but
as
they
practised
cremation,
the
bones
were
too
much
destroyed
to
make
it
possible
to
assign
them,
to
their
proper
place
among
the
Mediterranean
races.
Further
discoveries
may
ultimately
lead
to
this
question
being
settled.
It
is
possible
that
the
Horit^of
Gn
14'
and
elsewhere
may
have
been
the
survivofELOt
this
race.
About
B.C.
2500
the
first
Semitic
;settlers
seem
to
have
estabhshed
themselves
in
the
•
country.
These
were
the
people
known
to
Bible
students
as
Canaanites
or
Amorites.
The
success
of
atternpts
that
have
been
made
to
distinguish
these
names,
as
indicating
two
separate
stocks
must
be
considered
doubtful,
and
it
is
perhaps
safer
to
treat
the
two
names
as
synonymous.
About
B.C.
2000,
as
appears
by^the
reference
to
'Amraphel,
king
of
Shlnar'
(
=
Hamihurabi),
occurred
the
battle
of
the
four
kings
and
five
recorded
in
Gn
14
—
the
first
event
on
Palestinian
soU
of
which
a
Palestinian
record
is
preserved.
The
dominion
of
Egypt
over
S.
Palestine,
or
at
least
the
influence
of
Egyptian
civilization,
must
early
have
been
felt,
though
no
definite
records
of
Egyptian
conquest
older
than
Tahutmes
lu.
(about
b.c.
1500)
have
come
to
light.
But
scarabs
and
other
objects
referable
to
the
Usertesens
(about
b.c.
2800-2500,
according
to
the
opinions
of
various
ohronologists)
are
not
infrequently
found
in
excavations,
which
speak
of
close
intercourse
between
the
Canaanites
and
the
civiUzation
of
the
Nile
valley.
Of
the
Canaanites
very
extensive
remains
yet
await
the
spade
of
the
excavator
in
the
mounds
that
cover
the
remains
of
the
ancient
cities
of
Palestine.
The
modern
peasantry
of
the
country
closely
resemble
the
ancient
Canaanites
in
physical
character,
to
judge
from
the
remains
of
the
latter
that
excavation
has
revealed;
indeed,
in
all
probabihty
the
substratum
of
the
population
has
remained
unchanged
in
racial
affinities
throughout
the
vicissitudes
that
the
country
has
suffered.
By
the
conquests
of
Tahutmes
in.
(c.
1500),
and
Amenhotep
iii.
(c.
1450),
Palestine
became
virtually
an
Egyptian
province,
its
urban
communities
governed
by
kings
(i.e.
local
sheiks)
answerable
to
the
Pharaoh,
but
always
quarrelling
among
them-selves.
The
'heretic
king'
Amenhotep
iv.
was
too
busy
with
his
reUgious
innovations
to
pay
attention
to
his
foreign
possessions,
and,
city
by
city,
his
rule
in
Palestine
crumbled
away
before
the
Aramaean
tribes,
named
in
the
Tell
el-Amarna
tablets
the
Khabiri.
This
name
is
identical
with
that
of
the
Biblical
Hebrews;
but
it
has
not
yet
been
possible
to
put
the
Khabiri
and
the
Hebrews
into
their
proper
mutual
relations.
The
Hebrews
represent
themselves
as
escaped
slaves
from
Egypt
who
(about
the
13th
cent.
B.C.)
were
led
as
a
solid
whole
under
a
single
leader
(Joshua)
to
the
com-plete
conquest
of
Canaan
—
this
is
the
account
of
the
