In the centre of this bleak and rugged region, on the very crest of the mountain ridge, girt about with the muniments of nature, stood Jerusalem, and the other historic cities and strongholds of the kingdom of Judah---many of them taking their names from their lofty sites, as Gibeon, and Ramah, and Gibeah, and Geba. In vigorous exercise among these mountains, and in following and defend ing their flocks over the bleak ridges and through the wild glens of the wilderness, the hardy soldiers of David received their training ; and they proved that, in mountain warfare, they were invincible. This is not a region for corn. The husbandman would obtain from its thin parched soil a poor re turn for his hard labour. But the terraced hill sides, the warm limestone strata, and the sunny skies, render it the very best field for the success ful culture of the vine and the fig ; while the aro matic shrubs of the wilderness, and the succulent herbage among the rocks and glens, afforded suit able food for flocks of sheep and goats. The dying patriarch appears to have had his eye on this region when he blessed Judah in these words : ' Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine ; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes : his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk (Gen. xlix. II, 12). Though this section of the range now seems barren and desolate, no district in Palestine bears traces of such dense population in former days. Every height is crowned with a ruin ; the remains of towns and villages thickly dot the whole country. Its ruins, its terraced hills, and its arid tortuous glens, are now the distinguish ing features of JudHa.
The southern declivities of the mountain-range have some marked and peculiar features, which probably gained for them a distinctive name, .11Tegeb. (See the article NEGEB. ) From Hebron, where the ridge begins to decline, to Beersheba, where it finally melts away into the desert of Tit], this section ektends. Here are bare rounded white or light-gray hills, gradually becoming smaller and farther apart, divided by long irregular dry valleys, which slowly become wider and bleaker, until at length hill and dale merge into an open undulating plateau. The soil on these southern hills is thin and poor ; but in some of the valleys it is richer, and during spring and early summer the pasture is luxuriant. It was one of the regions most fre quented by the patriarchs. It was a dry parched land, as its Scripture name Neseb would seem to imply. It contains no perennial streams. Its torrent-beds are as dry during a great part of the year as its hill-tops ; it is only after heavy rains, here very rare even in winter, that they contain any water. Fountains, too, are few and far between ; and hence the patriarchs, like the modern nomads who pasture their flocks on it, were forced to de pend on wells and tanks for their supply of water. These are very numerous. Miss Martineau in riding from the desert to Hebron, notes, ' All the day we continually saw gaping wells beside our path, and under every angle of the hills where they were likely to be kept filled' (Eastern Life, p. 433).
Water was absolutely necessary for the wants of men and animals ; hence the labour expended on wells, and the obstinacy with which rival tribes dis puted their possession (Gen. xxi. 25, 3o ; xxvi. 15, etc.) Vineyards and olive-groves disappear a few miles south of Jerusalem ; the larger oak trees, which are seen here and there farther north, give place to bushes and low shrubs ; cultivated fields, too, and all signs of settled habitation, give place to rude enclosures for sheep, and black tents, and roving Arabs. All picturesque beauty, all natural rich ness of scenery, is gone. The green pastures and the bright flowers of early spring are the only re deeming features (Bonar, Land of Promise, 29, 46 ; Martineau, 431 ; Stanley, p. too). Mr. Drew has delineated the features of the southern declivities with great fidelity :—` In no part of the prospect was there any loveliness, or any features of greatness and sublimity. Every aspect of the country that might be called beautiful is seen in the narrow section of the mountain district immediately on the south of Hebron. No lakes or rivers, or masses of foliage, or deep ravines, or any lofty towering heights, are within the range of sight to one in the centre of the territory. .. . For a few weeks late in spring-time a smiling aspect is thrown over the broad downs, when the ground is reddened with the anemone, in contrast with the soft white of the daisy, and the deep yellow of the tulip and mari gold. But this flush of beauty soon passes, and the permanent aspect of the country is—not wild in deed, or hideous, or frightfully desolate, but, as we may say, austerely plain—a tame unpleasant aspect, not causing absolute discomfort while one is in it, but left without any lingering reminiscence of any thing lovely, or awful, or sublime.
' As for the soil, the thin and scanty verdure, barely covering the limestone which spreads almost everywhere beneath the desert surface, sufficiently explains its nature. Here and there patches of deeper earth and richer swards, with clumps of trees, vary these pastures of the wilderness ; as again they are broken by wide areas, thickly covered with shrubs of considerable height and size' (Scrip ture Lands, 5-7).
A general view having now been given of the physical features, the scenery, and the soil of the mountain-ridge, it is hoped that a series of eleva tions carried down it from north to south will serve to complete the picture of this natural division of Palestine. The elevations are taken from Van de Velde, who has collected them from the best authorities, and arranged them, with valuable notes, in his Memoir of Map. In order to connect the Palestine ridge with Lebanon, of which it is the natural continuation, and with the desert of Tilt into which it falls, the heights of a few points be yond the boundaries of Palestine on the north and south are given : Feet.