of barrenness and famine before, from that time did supply a numerous
posterity, and afforded great abundance to the country. Accordingly, the
power of it is so great in watering the ground, that if it do but once
touch a country, it affords a sweeter nourishment than other waters do,
when they lie so long upon them, till they are satiated with them. For
which reason, the advantage gained from other waters, when they flow in
great plenty, is but small, while that of this water is great when it
flows even in little quantities. Accordingly, it waters a larger space
of ground than any other waters do, and passes along a plain of seventy
furlongs long, and twenty broad; wherein it affords nourishment to those
most excellent gardens that are thick set with trees. There are in it
many sorts of palm trees that are watered by it, different from each
other in taste and name; the better sort of them, when they are pressed,
yield an excellent kind of honey, not much inferior in sweetness to
other honey. This country withal produces honey from bees; it also bears
that balsam which is the most precious of all the fruits in that place,
cypress trees also, and those that bear myrobalanum; so that he who
should pronounce this place to be divine would not be mistaken, wherein
is such plenty of trees produced as are very rare, and of the must
excellent sort. And indeed, if we speak of those other fruits, it will
not be easy to light on any climate in the habitable earth that can
well be compared to it, what is here sown comes up in such clusters;
the cause of which seems to me to be the warmth of the air, and the
fertility of the waters; the warmth calling forth the sprouts, and
making them spread, and the moisture making every one of them take root
firmly, and supplying that virtue which it stands in need of in summer
time. Now this country is then so sadly burnt up, that nobody cares to
come at it; and if the water be drawn up before sun-rising, and after
that exposed to the air, it becomes exceeding cold, and becomes of a
nature quite contrary to the ambient air; as in winter again it becomes
warm; and if you go into it, it appears very gentle. The ambient air is
here also of so good a temperature, that the people of the country are
clothed in linen-only, even when snow covers the rest of Judea. This
place is one hundred and fifty furlongs from Jerusalem, and sixty from
Jordan. The country, as far as Jerusalem, is desert and stony; but