a company could hardly have passed from Rumla to Jerusalem, as we did, without having been relieved of some of their cash, and perhaps clothes into the bargain. We passed a district where an immense quantity of stone had been quarried and removed; the refuse stone lay in piles, and the excavations showed that large quantities had been procured. The face of the high ridge, or kind of table land, over which we now passed, was almost wholly destitute of vegetation. A few thistles and an occasional small thorn-bush might be seen; but a more naked district I had not seen in the holy land. Several miles to the right, I saw a hill or hills pretty well covered with trees of some sort--olives I thought from their looks; and at a greater distance on our left I saw several patches of trees on the side of a high and long ridge, and a small village or two near them; but more immediately about me, and over the whole face of the ridge which I was passing, all was naked--all was destitute of vegetation, except a small enclosed spot. I was struck not only with the absence of vegetation, but with the enormous quantity of rough rock that almost literally covered the face of the ground. Much of it lay in irregular patches, projecting from eighteen inches to five or six feet above the little earth that could be seen. It really appeared as if the district was _given up_ to be _occupied by rocks_, to the exclusion of all other matter. We soon began a slight but gradual descent, and after a little, some towers came into view. These were the parts of Jerusalem first seen. Presently we saw the top of the walls--the minarets, the domes, and the whole city.