Here and there, too, bold promontories shoot out, and dip perpendicularly into the bosom of the Mediterranean.

The ragged limestone banks are scantily clothed with the evergreen oak, and the sandstone with pines; while every available spot is carefully cultivated.

The cultivation is wonderful, and shows what all Syria might be of under a good government.

Miniature fields of grain are often seen where one would suppose that the eagles alone, which hover round them, could have planted the seed.

Fig-trees cling to the naked rock; vines are trained along narrow ledges; long ranges of mulberries on terraces like steps of stairs cover the more gentle declivities; and dense groves of olives fill up the bottoms of the glens.