cellent water preserve the plains from aridity, and all kinds of pulse grow there. Lebanon has been greatly celebrated for its stately cedars; but they are not so numerous as formerly. They are frequently mentioned in the sacred writings, and have furnished the inspired writers with many beautiful and elegant allusions. A celebrated oriental traveller who traversed mount Libanus in 1810, counted eleven or twelve of the oldest and best looking trees, twenty five large ones, fifty of middle size, and more than three hundred younger ones. These cedars were formerly the resort of eagles, while the summits of the lofty mountains were the haunts of lions, and other beasts of prey. But now the traveller beholds the hart and the fawn gliding from their native recesses, and issuing forth to allay their thirst. Antilibanus is the loftier ridge of the two; its summit is clad in perpetual snow; and with its corresponding ridge it forms a strong and almost an insurmountable barrier.

Mount Carmel is situated about ten miles from Acré, or Ptolemais, on the Mediterranean it is a range of hills extending near six or eight miles. It is very rocky; the greatest

height does not exceed forty yards; the soil bears evident marks of cultivation. The summit is covered with oaks, and wild olives grow in rank luxuriance; and rivulets and small streams water its wild, rocky, and uncultivated ground. To these two mountains frequent allusion is made in the prophetical writings. Lebanon was lofty: the eye in glancing towards its summit was detained by immense woods of cedar it is with great propriety used to designate whatever is strong, majestic, or splendid. The latter not rising so high above the surrounding country compensated for its want of loftiness by the richness of the vines and olive plantations, which extended themselves almost to the summit. Hencé Carmel is used to represent whatever is beautiful and cheerful. "The glory of Lebanon and the excellency of Carmel." To describe the majesty of king Solomon, in the Canticles, we are told "his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars ;" but to describe the grace and beauty of his spouse, a different image is employed: "Thy head is like Mount Carmel." Song v. 15. vii. 5.

Mount Tabor is of a conical form, entirely detached from any neighbouring mountain; and it is situated on the great plain of Esdraelon. The sides are rugged and precipitous, but partially clothed with trees and brushwood. The mountain is nearly one mile in length; in some parts it is perfectly even, having some relics of romantic ruins, moulder ing walls, and ancient grottoes, which have experienced the blast of many a fearful hurricane, while Time, the destroyer of the works of man, seems to exult amidst the desolations he has made, with grim insensibility!

Mount Tabor can never be forgotten by Christians, as the place where our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was transfigured. It is described by the evangelist Matthew with great reverence and simplicity. In the xviith chapter, he thus describes Christ: "His face Idid shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as light; and Moses and Elias appeared talking with him.”

The Mountains of Gilead are situated beyond Jordan, and extend from Mount Hermon unto Arabia Petræa. The northern parts are very fertile, and herds of cattle pasture on its fruitful soil.

The Mountains of Israel, also called the Mountains of Ephraim, are situated in the very centre of the Holy Land. The soil is generally fertile, except a chain extending from the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, to the plain of Jericho, which is rugged and barren, and has always afforded a lurking place for robbers and banditti.

From the mountains to the vallies the transition is easy and natural : there are two worthy of notice :

The Valley of Hinnom lies at the foot of Mount Sion, and is memorable for the inhuman and barbarous worship of Moloch; whose altars were stained with the blood of human victims; and where parents sacrificed their smiling infant offspring to that

"Horrid king besmear'd with blood

Of human sacrifice and parents' tears,

Tho' for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unknown that pass'd through

fire

To his grim idol. Him, the Ammonite,
Worshipp'd in Rabba, and her watery plain,
In Argob, and in Basan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon; not content with such
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon led by fraud to build

His temple right against the temple of God!
On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove

The pleasent valley of Hinnom. Tophet thence

And black Gehenna, called the type of Hell.*.

Three miles from Bethlehem lies the Terebinthine vale, or valley of Elah, renowned for thirty centuries, as the field of victory gained by the youthful David over the uncircumcised Philistine, “ who defied the armies of the living God." The brook whence David "chose him five smooth stones," has been noticed by many a weary pilgrim who has there quenched his thirst. The ruins of edifices are discernible, and attest the religious veneration with which that hallowed spot has been regarded. A reflecting person will feel as if he stood on holy ground, and remember how God breathed his spirit on a youth who in simplicity relied on his help.

Although rivers are frequently mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, strictly speaking, there is only one river, the Jordan, which takes its source in the vicinity of the city of Dan. The course of the Jordan is near 200 miles: its breadth and depth various, and it rolls itself into the

*Milton.