Major Conder, engaged in the survey of Palestine about 1874, said that Palestine is still a land of corn, wine, and oil, as of yore, and sheep are still fed in the same pastoral regions; the same vineyards are still famous; the corn of its plains still yields a hundred-fold. Plagues, famines, fever, and leprosy still are common. There are still the former and the latter rains; and the rose of Sharon has not withered; the purple iris is still royally robed. Except in the disappearance of the lion and the wild bull there is no change in the fauna. The deer, the antelope, the fox, the wolf, the hyæna, the jackal, the ostrich, and the crocodile still survive in the wilder part of the land, and the great boar, the leopard, the wild goat, and the wild ass. The corn ripens even in April in the Jordan Valley, and in May on the hills; and the olive harvest and the vintage follow in the early autumn. In January comes the snow, with ice and hail. In one year in Jerusalem there were seven falls of snow. MOUNT HERMON. Mount Hermon, the second mountain in Syria, is a range of hills lying east and west, all on the east side of the source of the Jordan, often called the Anti-Lebanon. The highest cone is entirely naked. The snow never disappears from the summit, though in the height of summer it melts here and there, except in the ravines radiating from the top. The parallel range nearest the Mediterranean is called the Lebanon; and Mount Lebanon, the highest part, is snow-capped the greater part of the year. The range decreases in elevation southward. The average height of both ranges, exclusive of the peaks, is 1,500 to 1,800 feet. The range is rugged, consisting of deep fissures, precipices, towering rocks, and ravines. The forests of Lebanon consist of the cedars of Lebanon and a great variety of trees; but the cedars have dwindled to about 1,400. In the lower valleys and plains fig trees cling to the rocks, mulberries are cultivated in rows on step-like terraces, vines also are trained along narrow ledges, and dense groves of olives occupy the lower parts of the glens. The date palm, once abundant, is now almost extinct. THE LILIES OF THE FIELD.