We descended to a valley on the east, climbed a long ascent, and after crossing the broad shoulder of a mountain beyond, saw below us a landscape even more magnificent than that of Nablous.  It was a great winding valley, its bottom rolling in waves of wheat and barley, while every hill-side, up to the bare rock, was mantled with groves of olive.  The very summits which looked into this garden of Israel, were green with fragrant plants—­wild thyme and sage, gnaphalium and camomile.  Away to the west was the sea, and in the north-west the mountain chain of Carmel.  We went down to the gardens and pasture-land, and stopped to rest at the Village of Geba, which hangs on the side of the mountain.  A spring of whitish but delicious water gushed out of the soil, in the midst of a fig orchard.  The women passed us, going back and forth with tall water-jars on their heads.  Some herd-boys brought down a flock of black goats, and they were all given drink in a large wooden bowl.  They were beautiful animals, with thick curved horns, white eyes, and ears a foot long.  It was a truly Biblical picture in every feature.

Beyond this valley we passed a circular basin, which has no outlet, so that in winter the bottom of it must be a lake.  After winding among the hills an hour more, we came out upon the town of Jenin, a Turkish village, with a tall white minaret, at the head of the great plain of Esdraelon.  It is supposed to be the ancient Jezreel, where the termagant Jezebel was thrown out of the window.  We pitched our tent in a garden near the town, under a beautiful mulberry tree, and, as the place is in very bad repute, engaged a man to keep guard at night.  An English family was robbed there two or three weeks ago.  Our guard did his duty well, pacing back and forth, and occasionally grounding his musket to keep up his courage by the sound.  In the evening, Francois caught a chameleon, a droll-looking little creature, which changed color in a marvellous manner.

Our road, next day, lay directly across the Plain of Esdraelon, one of the richest districts in the world.  It is now a green sea, covered with fields of wheat and barley, or great grazing tracts, on which multitudes of sheep and goats are wandering.  In some respects it reminded me of the Valley of San Jose, and if I were to liken Palestine to any other country I have seen, it would be California.  The climate and succession of the seasons are the same, the soil is very similar in quality, and the landscapes present the same general features.  Here, in spring, the plains are covered with that deluge of floral bloom, which makes California seem a paradise.  Here there are the same picturesque groves, the same rank fields of wild oats clothing the mountain-sides, the same aromatic herbs impregnating the air with balm, and above all, the same blue, cloudless days and dewless nights.  While travelling here, I am constantly reminded of our new Syria on the Pacific.