From the crest of Scopus they looked down upon a broad plain or plateau, where the first view seemed to be one of desolation. Limestone rocks were spread in ridges, one beyond the other, until they appeared to leave but little space for arable land. Close observation showed that between every ridge and its neighbor there was a strip of soil which might be made productive with a little care and industry, and the sides of the hills and valleys were terraced till they sometimes resembled a series of broad steps. "This land is full of promise," one of the boys remarked. "Yes," responded the Doctor, "and by cultivation it can be made to answer the scriptural description. The Land of Promise was a land of 'vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive, and honey,' as we read in the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. [Illustration: THE GRAPES OF ESHCOL.] "Observe what this land might be rather than what it is. The fig-tree and the olive would grow and bear fruit in the spaces between the ridges of rock, and the vines might clamber up the sides of the terraces, and be as luxuriant as they were in the days when the spies visited Eshcol, and brought back the famous grapes described in the Bible and represented in the books of our infancy." Fred asked if such grapes were found at present, and where Eshcol was supposed to be. [Illustration: HEBRON.] "There is some doubt on that score," was the reply, "but it is generally believed that the Brook of Eshcol was in the neighborhood of Hebron. There are extensive vineyards at Hebron, and their grapes are larger and finer than in most places in the Holy Land. The clusters are often very long, but nobody in these modern days has ever seen them so large that it would require the strength of two men to carry one of them. "The Bible does not say that it required their strength to carry this burden. Read the passage in Numbers xiii. 23, and you will find it says, they 'cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.' Remember that a bunch of grapes cannot be carried in a sack like pomegranates and figs, but must be suspended, so as to preserve the fruit from injury. The spies had a long way to travel, and there was no other mode of transporting the fruit of the vines of Eshcol than the one described."