From Jaffa to Ramleh the country is flat or slightly undulating; most of it appears quite fertile, but there are numerous spots so deeply covered with sand that they are unfit for cultivation. There are some villages along or near the road; but, on the whole, the population is quite scattered, and the country could support more inhabitants than it has at present.
A couple of miles out from Jaffa the party halted a few minutes in order to tighten some of the saddle-girths, which had worked loose, and to arrange a few other matters about the travelling-gear. As the incident of the well was fresh in the minds of the youths they spoke of it, and the time of the halt was utilized by the Doctor in a short lecture upon the wells of the Holy Land.
"In most parts of Palestine," said he, "the water is very scarce, and the possession of a spring or permanent stream is a matter of great importance. Fierce fights have occurred for the ownership of springs, and sometimes the feuds that have arisen from this cause have lasted hundreds of years. The existence of a fine spring has often determined the site of a town or village, and every precaution is exercised to prevent the waste of the precious liquid.
[Illustration: PUBLIC FOUNTAIN AT JERUSALEM.]
"For public uses the water is made to flow into a fountain, with a stone trough in front of it. The women go to the fountain to fill their jars from the stream that flows through the stone, and the horses and cattle are driven there to drink from the trough. If from any cause the spring dries up there is great distress, and if there is no other water in the immediate neighborhood the site of the village or town must be abandoned. Many of the ruined towns which we find in Palestine to-day were given to desolation in consequence of the drying up of springs or streams.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE WELLS OF BEERSHEBA, WITH ITS WATERING-TROUGHS.]
"The scarcity of running water led to the digging of wells, and we find them mentioned in the earliest books of the Bible. There are many wells of this sort in the country, and some of them are thousands of years old. We read in Genesis of the wells that were dug by Abraham and his descendants, where the flocks were watered. The wells of Beersheba which were made by the servants of Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 32, 33) can be seen to-day, and the stone watering-troughs from which the flocks drank are where they have stood for thousands of years. In some of the ancient wells there are stone steps leading down to the water, while in others the water was drawn to the surface by means of buckets at the ends of ropes. The ropes made deep channels in the stone where they rubbed against it. Some of the wells have been dry for hundreds of years, but the stones that surround them remain undisturbed.