It was

vernal equinox, to ensure a plentiful crop. owing to these rains that Jordan used to overflow its banks, at the time of the barley-harvest (Josh. iii. 15.) When they are past, the weather is variable till May, by cold winds from Lebanon. From the end of this month till the middle of September, there are few or no showers. In the Plain of Jericho, the heat is excessive at this time; but in other parts of the country the spring is delightful. After the rains cease, the corn soon arrives at maturity, and the harvest commences and continues till about the

middle of June. It is impossible to describe the rich fragrance of an eastern climate at this season of the year, and before the excessive heat comes on. The air is filled with odours of plants, and flowers, and trees, which the breeze wafts about in most delicious freshness. Solomon says, "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come; and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines, with the tender grape, give a good smell, (Cant. ii. 11-13.) Before the middle of May, however, the verdure begins to fade, and by the end of the month all becomes parched and barren. To the extreme heat which now prevails, there are many beautiful allusions in the sacred writings. As when Isaiah is describing the peaceful and happy reign of the Messiah, he says, "And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time, from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain," (chap. iv. 6.) He uses the same language in describing God's care over the poor: "Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the

shadow of a cloud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low," (chap. xxv. 5.)

(5.) Kitz, summer, comprised the months of June and July, during which the sky is clear, and the sun's rays so intense, that the streams which in winter rushed with the impetuosity of torrents, either dwindle into brooks, or become entirely dry. The winds generally blowing from the west, refresh the air in the latter part of the day, and the dews being very moderate, the inhabitants pass the night on the roofs of their houses. Thunder is very uncommon in this climate during the summer season, and it seldom or never rains. When it does rain, it is usually preceded by a whirlwind, with clouds of dust; it is “with a stormy whirlwind, or an overflowing shower, or great hail," (Ezek. xiii. 12, 13.) What has been said of the heat which prevails at this season of the year, is chiefly applicable to the lower parts of the country; for, even in the hottest months, the regions of Libanus are so cold, at times, during the night, as to render the use of fires indispensable.

(6.) Chem, the heat, comprehended August and September. During this season the heat increases and "the drought of summer is experienced, (Ps. xxxii. 4.) The sky is serene and fair during the day; but in the night a copious dew falls, which either saturates the earth, or appears as hoar-frost: on the appearance of the sun it ascends as smoke from an oven, and becomes invisible. Lightning is also frequent in the night-time; and, if seen in the western hemisphere, it portends rain, often accompanied with thunder. During the heat, at noon, it is usual for persons to retire to rest. (See Judg. iii. 24; 2 Sam. iv. 5.)

PART II.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.

GEOGRAPHY denotes, according to the etymology of the term, a description of the earth, being compounded of ge, the earth, and grapho, I write. It comprehends the history of the earth, in its whole material organisation-of its figure and other conditions, as a planetary body-of the composition, structure, and elevation of its continents and islands which comprise its solid superficies of the extent, depth, tidal and other movements of the oceans and seas forming its liquid covering-of the rivers and lakes which give circulation to water over and through its solid parts-of the atmosphere which envelopes it and ministers so largely to all natural phenomena—of the great physical elements of light, heat, and electricity, in so far as they affect the conditions of matter on the globe-and, finally, of the innumerable forms of organic existence diffused throughout the whole of this vast creation. Thus, earth, air, and ocean, with everything of animal and vegetable life tenanting those great domains, come within the scope and constitute the science of physical geography.

For convenience, however, and the more orderly distribution and scientific handling of these multifarious subjects, the term geography is now restricted to so much of the vast subject as pertains to the surface of the globe, that which lies below the surface being assigned to geology and mineralogy.

We have already intimated the substance of the information furnished in the sacred volume relative to natural or physical science, and to the structure of the strata or rocky masses of which the earth's crust is composed. Of that wonderful series of fossil remains of animal and vegetable life, which, entombed in different portions of the crust of the earth, thence decipher to us the order and relation of mineral masses, as well as of the multitudinous forms of organic being which have given life and activity to successive epochs and conditions of the globe, it says nothing. The discovery of these and the sublime truths they suggest were left to the research and industry of man, to whom was given the dominion of the earth.

CHAPTER I.

THE BOOK AND THE ROCKS.

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I. THE Mosaic narrative opens with a statement of three distinct facts, each following the other in a regular series, in the origin of the visible world. First, an absolute creation, as opposed to a mere remodification of the heavens and the earth, which constituted the earliest step in the creative process. Second, the condition of the earth when it was thus primarily brought into being, which was that of an amorphous or shapeless waste. And, third, commencing act to reduce the unfashioned mass into a condition of order and harmony. "In the beginning," says the sacred historian, "God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep (or abyss). And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. i. 1, 2.) We are hence necessarily led to infer, that the first change of the formless chaos, after its existence, was into a state of universal aqueous solution; for it was upon the surface of the waters that the Divine Spirit commenced His operative power. We are next informed, that this chaotic mass acquired shape, not instantaneously, but in a series of six distinct days or epochs, and apparently through the agency of the established laws of gravitation and crystallization, which regulate it at the present moment. It tells us that during the first of these days was evolved—