Commencing with the beginning of November, the winter rains continue with short intervals until March, when spring wears her floral mantle, and, casting its ample folds over the Land of Promise, hides its otherwise rougher features; then follows the long rainless summer, with transparent atmosphere and hazy skies alternating, and with intense heat, parched soil, and streams few and scanty, which is succeeded by autumn, with its red and golden vintage, and atmosphere of unsurpassed balminess. But spring is the most delightful season of the year in the Holy Land, whether to enjoy the pleasures of the climate or behold the magnificence of the scenery. Then the skies are bright, the air balmy, and the vernal sun lights up the landscape with a thousand forms of beauty. Then sparkling fountains are unsealed, silver brooks go murmuring by, and wild cascades, leaping from their rocky heights, come dashing down the mountain side, scattering in their descent wreaths of rainbow spray. Then the valleys and the hills are clothed with verdure, the fields are green with grains and grasses, the fig and palm-tree are in blossom, the almond, apricot, olive, and pomegranate are ripening, and the cypress, tamarisk, oak, walnut, sycamore, and poplar are decked with the clean fresh foliage of a new year. Then herds of camels and buffaloes are browsing on the meadows, and flocks of sheep and goats go gamboling up the mountain sides. Then, in all the glens, on all the vast prairie plains, and over all the highest mountains are flowers blooming――anemones, oleanders, amaranths, arbutuses, poppies, hollyhocks, daisies, hyacinths, tulips, pinks, lilies, and roses, growing in unbounded profusion, delighting the senses, and transforming the land into a garden of flowers.