aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

320 ABOUND THE WORLD.
those of Australia, are grown not for the silk-worm, but for
their fruit, the berries of which, while resembling the largest
blackberries, have a sharper acid taste. From the mountains
of Judea and Samaria to the sea, and from the foot of Carmel
to the more barren lands of Philistia, lie spread out
the plains of Sharon, in spring-time like a flower-flecked
island, beautiful as vast, and diversified as beautiful, fascinating
the eye, and enchanting the imagination. It must
have been paradisaic when Israel's king sang of Sharon's
rose.
RAMLEH.
This old city, mostly in ruins, is said by Eusebius and
St. Jerome to have been the Arimathea of Joseph, the
Joseph into whose new tomb they put the body of Jesus.
It was and is customary for Jews in distant localities to
have tombs and burial-places in the immediate vicinity of
Jerusalem, the holy city. This Ramlehan city of ancient
buildings, cisterns, and subterranean vaults, has a grand old
tower, believed by some to have been a minaret ; others
think it originally the campanile of a magnificent church.
That it has an Arabic inscription, bearing date A.H. 710,
A.D. 1310, proves nothing, as there are similar vaunting
inscriptions on castles and temples in Syria much older than
the Mohammedan religion.
Among the old stone houses of
this city rises a palatial Latin convent, the monks entertaining
travelers. The kindness of these celibate monks is proverbial.
THROUGH THE JUDEAN COUNTRY.
" We have turned us away from the fragrant East,
For the desert sand and the arid waste."
" Selim," our guide, announcing himself ready with
horses watered, bridled, equipped, we are again snugly in
the saddle under a scorching sun, on the way from Ramleh
to Jerusalem. It is several mUes yet across the plains of