The size of individual vines is extraordinary.

"Stephen Schultz states that in a village near Ptolemais (Acre) he supped under a large vine, the stem of which measured a foot and a half in diameter, its height being thirty feet; and that the whole plant, supported on trellis, covered an area of fifty feet either way.

The bunches of grapes weighed from ten to twelve pounds and the berries were like small plums."[243] The olive in Phoenicia is at least as old as the Exodus, for it was said of Asher, who was assigned the more southern part of that country--"Let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil."[244] Olives at the present day clothe the slopes of Lebanon and Bargylus above the vine region,[245] and are carried upward almost to the very edge of the bare rock.

They yield largely, and produce an oil of an excellent character.

Fine olive-groves are also to be seen on Carmel,[246] in the neighbourhood of Esfia.