DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11789#0167
OF PALESTINE.
157
the United States are found only in gardens. I re-
member distinctly two species of hollyhock, at least
four kinds of poppy, including the yellow poppy
which I found growing among the ruins of Tyre, and
two or three different sorts of pink, besides a great
number of fragrant plants such as thyme, sweet
marjoram, &c. I did not, however, see a single rose
of any kind until we arrived within the vicinity of
Beyroot, when I discovered a species of white rose
(not double), growing in one spot in considerable
abundance. I afterwards saw immense quantities
of the same on the great plain of Balbec, and on
the side of the mountain near Zachlee.
After an unusually fatiguing journey, for with
few exceptions our whole route this day lay either
over rocky hills or plains covered with deep sand,
we arrived at Beyroot a little after noon. As you
approach this town, you are everywhere struck with
the appearance of superior industry and cultivation.
It seems, indeed, as if you had passed into a new
region, and bad bidden a final adieu to the realms of
indolence and filth. For, as I have already more
than once intimated, it is nature only tbat is beau-
tiful in Palestine ; whenever you draw near to the
habitations of men, you must expect to see not
beauty nor thrift, but squalor, neglect, and all the
14
157
the United States are found only in gardens. I re-
member distinctly two species of hollyhock, at least
four kinds of poppy, including the yellow poppy
which I found growing among the ruins of Tyre, and
two or three different sorts of pink, besides a great
number of fragrant plants such as thyme, sweet
marjoram, &c. I did not, however, see a single rose
of any kind until we arrived within the vicinity of
Beyroot, when I discovered a species of white rose
(not double), growing in one spot in considerable
abundance. I afterwards saw immense quantities
of the same on the great plain of Balbec, and on
the side of the mountain near Zachlee.
After an unusually fatiguing journey, for with
few exceptions our whole route this day lay either
over rocky hills or plains covered with deep sand,
we arrived at Beyroot a little after noon. As you
approach this town, you are everywhere struck with
the appearance of superior industry and cultivation.
It seems, indeed, as if you had passed into a new
region, and bad bidden a final adieu to the realms of
indolence and filth. For, as I have already more
than once intimated, it is nature only tbat is beau-
tiful in Palestine ; whenever you draw near to the
habitations of men, you must expect to see not
beauty nor thrift, but squalor, neglect, and all the
14