osque was a landmark for
miles, we turned westwards and struck across the plain of Sharon towards
the sea. Hereabouts the country with its red soil and glorious verdure is
not unlike some parts of Somerset in appearance. The harvest had been
gathered in, and we passed through vast fields of stubble, which were
divided one from another by strips of curious coloured grass. Indeed, this
bluish grass and the cactus-hedges were the only forms of boundary used in
Palestine and Syria; I never saw a wall except one built by the troops for
defensive purposes.

At one part of the trek the road led through a tunnel, very nearly half a
mile in length, which was formed by a double row of vines whose branches
bent over a kind of trellis-work; and on either side of this leafy tunnel
were orchards of pomegranate and fig-trees. Dessert was plentiful for some
days. There was little evidence now of the destructive hand of war, except
that no one was working in the orchards and vineries, and the inhabitants
of the small native villages through which we passed mostly remained behind
closed doors, with not even an inquisitive eye at the window.

Caesarea seemed quite busy by contrast, when we arrived in the cool of
evening, though it is only a tiny fishing-village whose tumbledown mud-huts
are completely overshadowed by the great masses of ruins with which the
rocks are covered. As with other ruined sites in this country of ruins, it
was difficult to realise that Caesarea once represented the might of Rome,
as an imperial city and the most considerable port in Palestine. Jaffa must
have been small and mean by comparison, for Herod the Great not only built
after the pattern of Rome a great city of pillars and columns, but
constructed an artificial harbour deep enough to float any ship of his
time; nor were the defences neglected, for the city was once in its history
besieged for seven years! Of the harbour nothing now remains, and, to come
back to the present, the water was scarcely deep enough to float the
lighters of the merchant-ships landing rations for the division.

We had the Mediterranean for company after leaving Caesarea, except for an
occasional brief incursion inland where the coast was too dangerous for
traffic. On one of these detours we passed through Zimmerin, a German
colony magnificently situated on a hillside and surrounded by a great
forest. Here in times of peace lumbering was carried on, though whether the
Germans follo