dark brown loam, and very rich.
The stones have been laboriously built into terraces; and, even where
heavy rocky boulders almost hid the soil, young fig and olive trees were
planted in the crevices between them. I have never seen more thorough and
patient cultivation. In the crystal of the morning air, the very hills
laughed with plenty, and the whole landscape beamed with the signs of
gladness on its countenance.

The site of ancient Bethel was not far to the right of our road. Over
hills laden with the olive, fig, and vine, we passed to Ain el-Haramiyeh,
or the Fountain of the Bobbers. Here there are tombs cut in the rock on
both sides of the valley. Over another ridge, we descended to a large,
bowl-shaped valley, entirely covered with wheat, and opening eastward
towards the Jordan. Thence to Nablous (the Shechem of the Old and Sychar
of the New Testament) is four hours through a winding dell of the richest
harvest land; On the way, we first caught sight of the snowy top of Mount
Hermon, distant at least eighty miles in a straight line. Before reaching
Nablous, I stopped to drink at a fountain of clear and sweet water, beside
a square pile of masonry, upon which sat two Moslem dervishes. This, we
were told, was the Tomb of Joseph, whose body, after having accompanied
the Israelites in all their wanderings, was at last deposited near
Shechem. There is less reason to doubt this spot than most of the sacred
places of Palestine, for the reason that it rests, not on Christian, but
on Jewish tradition. The wonderful tenacity with which the Jews cling to
every record or memento of their early history, and the fact that from
the time of Joseph a portion of them have always lingered near the spot,
render it highly probable that the locality of a spot so sacred should
have been preserved from generation to generation to the present time. It
has been recently proposed to open this tomb, by digging under it from the
side. If the body of Joseph was actually deposited here, there are, no
doubt, some traces of it remaining. It must have been embalmed, according
to the Egyptian custom, and placed in a coffin of the Indian sycamore, the
wood of which is so nearly incorruptible, that thirty-five centuries would
not suffice for its decomposition. The singular interest of such a
discovery would certainly justify the experiment. Not far from the tomb is
Jacob's Well, where Christ met the Woman of Samaria. This place is also
considered as