HISTORICAL AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE HOLY LAND-No. VIII.

WILDERNESSES OR DESERTS.

FREQUENT mention is made in the scriptures of Wildernesses or Deserts, by which we usually, though erroneously understand desolate places, equally void of cities and inhabitants: for the Hebrews gave the name of desert or wildnerness to all places that were not cultivated, but which were chiefly appropriated to the feeding of cattle, and in many of them trees and shrubs grew wild. Some of them are mountainous and well watered, while others are sterile sandy plains, either destitute of water, or affording a very scanty supply from the few springs that are occasionally to be found in them; yet even these afford a grateful, though meagre pasturage to camels, goats, and sheep. In this latter description of deserts it is, that the weary traveller is mocked by the distant t appearance of white vapors, which are not unlike those white mists we often see hovering over the surface of a river in a summer evening, after a hot day. When beheld at a distance, they resemble an expanded lake; but, upon a nearer approach, the thirsty traveller perceives the deception. To this phenomenon the prophet Isaiah alludes (xxxv. 7.); where, predicting the blessings of the Redeemer's kingdom, he says, The glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty soil bubbling springs.

The deserts of the Hebrews frequently derived their appellations from the places to which they were contiguous. The most celebrated is the Great Desert, called the Wilderness or Desert of Judah (Psalm lxiii. title.) The desert of Judæa, in which John the Baptist abode till the day of his showing unto Israel (Luke i. 80.), and where he first taught his countrymen, (Matt. iii. 1. Mark i. 4. John x. 30.), was a mountainous, wooded, and thinly inhabited tract of country, but abounding in pastures: it was situated adjacent to the Dead Sea, and the River Jordan. In the time of Joshua it had six cities, with their villages. (Josh. xv. 61, 62.)

This country also produced some WOODS or FORESTS mentioned in holy writ, such as those of Hareth in the tribe of Judah, to which David withdrew from Saul (1 Sam. xxii. 5.); of Ephraim, where Absalom received.

the due reward of his unnatural rebellion (2 Sam. xviii. 6-9,); that of Lebanon, where Solomon erected a sumptuous palace (1 Kings vii. 2.); the forest of Bethel, supposed to have stood near the city of that name (2 Kings ii. 24.); and the Forest of Oaks on the hills of Bashan. (Zech. xi. 2.)

The FERTILITY of the soil of the Holy Land, so often mentioned in the sacred writings, (and especially in Deut. viii. 9-9. xi. 10-12. Gen. xxvi. 12. and Matt. xiii. 8.) is confirmed by the united testimonies of ancient writers, as well as by all modern travellers. We are assured that, under a wise and beneficent government, the produce of the Holy Land would exceed all calculation. Its perennial harvest; the salubrity of its air; its limpid springs; its rivers, lakes, and matchless plains; its hills and vales-all these added to the serenity of its climate, prove this land to be indeed "a field which the Lord hath blessed," (Gen. xxvii. 28.); "God hath given it of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine."

Such being the state of the Holy Land, at least of that part of it which is properly cultivated, we can readily account for the vast population it anciently supported. Its present forlorn condition is satisfactorily explained by the depredations and vicissitudes to which it has been exposed in every age: and so far is this from contradicting the assertions of the sacred writings, that it confirms their authority; for, in the event of the Israelites proving unfaithful to their covenant-engagements with Jehovah, all these judgments were predicted and denounced against them (Lev. xxvi. 32. Deut. xxix. 22. et seq.); and the exact accomplishment of these prophecies affords a permanent comment on the declaration of the royal psalmist, that God "turneth a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." (Psal. cvii. 34.

Never quit your hopes. Hope is often better than enjoyment. Hope is often the cause as well as the effect of youth. It is certainly a very pleasant and healthy passion. A hopeless person is deserted by himself; and he who forsakes himself is soon forsaken by friends and fortune.-BERKELEY.

THE Scenery of Palestine is alive with holy recollections. The modern traveller, at this distance of time from the date of the grand transactions which have rendered Judea a land of sacred classics forever, can scarcely place his foot where there is not a fragrance exhaling from ancient story connected with the dust, the rocks, the hills, vales and tombs of the land of Canaan. So striking is the face of nature now, that the mind is lost in wonder in striving to conceive the glorious appearance of the country, when it was emphatically the glory of all lands-when the hills were green to the summits, the vales warm and irriguous, and the tops of the elevations crowned with fortresses and battlements that frowned defiance to the invader. But Jerusalem itself, with its temple-crested mountain, and the scenery

around it, may be supposed the diadem of beauty, sub limity and strength to the whole country. In Croly's lively pencillings we give the outlines of the temple as it rose on the adoring eyes of the chosen nation. I see the court of the Gentiles circling the whole; a fortress of the whitest marble, with its wall rising six hundred feet from the valley; its kingly entrance, worthy of the fame of Solomon; its innumerable and stately dwellings for the priests and officers of the temple, and above them, glittering like a succession of diadems, those ala baster porticos and colonades, in which the chiefs and sages of Jerusalem sat teaching the people, or walked, breathing the pure air and gazing on the grandeur of a landscape, which swept the whole amphitheatre of the mountains. I see, rising above this stupendous boundary, the court of the Jewish women, separated by its porphyry pillars and richly sculptured wall; above this, the separated court of the men; still higher, the court of the priests; and highest, the crowning splendor of all, the central temple, the place of the sanctuary and of the Holy of Holies covered with plates of gold, its roof planted with lofty spear heads of gold, the most precious marbles and metals every where flashing back the day till Mount Moriah stood forth to the eye of the stranger approaching Jerusalem, what it had so often been described by its bards and people, a mountain of snow, studded with jewels!

But a little way from this glorious mountain, eastward over the valley of Jehoshaphat, through which Cedron flows, is the Mount of Olives, now a lonely place, where contemplation loves to dwell and muse on two events in our Savior's life which have consecrated its scenerythe mental agony in the garden, and his final ascension from the earth. Of the first named incident the evangelists speak in tones of sorrow-and, although Jesus ascended into heaven to prepare mansions for all his followers, the elevated and original Bossuet speaks thus despondingly of his separation from the church:-' but she has only heard his enchanting voice, she has only enjoyed his mild and engaging presence for a moment. Suddenly he has taken to flight with a rapid course, and, swifter than the fawn of a hind, has ascended to the highest mountains. Like a desolate wife the church

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has done nothing but groan and the song of the forsaken turtle is in her mouth; in short, she is a stranger and a wanderer upon the earth.'

The Mount of Olives, even now shaded in part by the tree from whence it derives its name, is situated to the east of Jerusalem, from which it is separated by the brook Cedron and the valley of Jehoshaphat. The garden of Gethsemane lies over the brook on the acclivity of the mountain. As the traveller approaches Jerusalem through the village of Jeremiah, Olivet bursts upon his sight along with Moriah and Zion. It has three eminences or summits, one of which stretches away to a sabbath day's journey from Jerusalem. The engraving which we present in this number gives its appearance from the city. It was up this elevation that King David three thousand years ago went weeping when Absalom's rebellion forced him to abdicate his throne for a season; and from its elevation Jesus beheld and wept over the devoted city.

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We close this article with a few extracts from the journal of the lamented missionary to Palestine, Fisk, who with his friends, Parsons, King and Wolff, frequently repaired to Olivet to gaze on Jerusalem and ponder on the sublime and melancholy associations connected with its scenery. We made our first visit to Mount Olivet, and there bowed down before him, who, from thence ascended to glory, and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. There we held our first monthly concert of prayer in the holy land. There is no doubt that this is the mount from which the Medi ator ascended to his Father and to our Father. On this interesting spot, with Jerusalem before us, and on this interesting day, when thousands of Christians are praying for Zion, it was delightful to mingle our petitions with theirs, and pray for our friends, for ministers, for churches, for missionaries and the world. From this Mount we have a view of the Dead Sea where Sodom and Gomorrha stood, and the mountains beyond Jordan from which Moses beheld, in distant prospect, the promised land.

With some olive branches from Olivet, and some flowers from the mansion house of Lazarus in our hands, we returned by a winding way around the south