. Voices from the Orient; or, The testimony of the monuments, of the recent historical and topographical discoveries, and of the customs and traditions of the people in the Orient, to the veracity of the sacred record. ning were two beds, onwhich we piled up our rugs and spare coats, for the night airwas raw and chilly, and slept soundly under the shadow ofHebron. In the early morning I looked out on that rich plain stretch-ing away in a south-easterly direction. Here probably grewthe large bunches of grapes in the Valley of Eschol, one ofwhich the spies took with them as a sample of the ferti
. Voices from the Orient; or, The testimony of the monuments, of the recent historical and topographical discoveries, and of the customs and traditions of the people in the Orient, to the veracity of the sacred record. ning were two beds, onwhich we piled up our rugs and spare coats, for the night airwas raw and chilly, and slept soundly under the shadow ofHebron. In the early morning I looked out on that rich plain stretch-ing away in a south-easterly direction. Here probably grewthe large bunches of grapes in the Valley of Eschol, one ofwhich the spies took with them as a sample of the fertility ofthe soil. Five minutes ride down the valley from the hospice isan old oak; it is twenty-six feet in girth at its base, and afew feet from the ground divides into four immense branches,which spread out to a considerable distance, and afford a plea-sant shade, and though having no connection with Abrahammay well be a lineal descendant of that one in the plains ofMamre, beneath which he entertained the angels. A half hoursride down the valley over an old Roman road brought us toHebron, built on the north-eastern slope of the valley. On bothsides of this road were old wells, out of which David may have K C52. 328 BETHANY, BETHLEHEM, HEBRON, AND JERICHO. drank. Here, in one of the vineyards, a man was ploughing withan ox and an ass. The ox was determined to draw the plough inone direction and the ass in another,thefarmer was indifferent,fora straight furrow seemed of no account; if the plough put into thefield at one side will come out at any spot in the same field at theother side he is satisfied. I watched the result and found thatthe superior strength of the ox overcame the stubborness ofthe ass. When one sees these two unequal animals yokedtogether, the mercy of the Mosaic code to the weaker animal,and its necessity, become apparent: Thou shalt not ploughwith an ox and an ass together.* Good ploughing andstraight furrows are important in Canadian farming; in theEast howev
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectmiddlee, bookyear1884
