stealers, and there is a colony of them which has been recently established about fifteen miles distant. No doubt there are parts of the country which are less safe than others; but I have been in the habit of riding about Carmel at all hours alone, and have never observed any symptom of danger – indeed it is very rare, even in the course of a ride to Haifa, to meet a living soul on the sparsely inhabited mountain.
It is only to be expected that, in a district and amid a population which have been so much neglected, there is plenty to be done. The difficulty is, to know where to begin, and how to set about it. The obstacles in the way of progress are mainly from the Government, and not, as might be supposed, from the prejudices of the inhabitants themselves. The Druses are especially eager for improvement. Their first inquiry was, whether it would not be possible for me to help them to make a waggon-road to the plain, which would enable them to carry manure to their fields, and their produce to Haifa. They are the first villagers I have met who seem to have any idea of the use of manure for agricultural purposes. Then they expressed a great desire to have a school, as the village was destitute of all means of education. With some kind missionary assistance, I have succeeded in meeting their wishes in this respect. The village furnishes the schoolmaster with board and lodging free, and has set apart a house for school purposes. The master's salary is supplied from other sources. He teaches the Arabic and English languages, besides other elementary branches of knowledge; and the attendance of boys already exceeds fifty, although the school is not a month old, and, as soon as the pressure of agricultural work is over, will be largely increased. About twenty girls have also applied for admission. The neighbouring villages are also making efforts to send their boys, though the distances to be traversed every day involve journeys of from two to three hours. It is a pity that any attempt at the amelioration of the condition of the people, however harmless, should have a tendency to arouse official suspicion. Some deep political design is supposed to lie behind a school: the improving of a mountain-path, with a view to making it available for agricultural purposes, may mean the commencement of a military road preparatory to the invasion of the country by a hostile army; and an innocent little bath-house which I put up on the beach, was gravely suspected of being the beginning of a fortification. As for the purchase of land, that, although legally and internationally his right, is virtually almost prohibited to the foreigner, and at present can only be accomplished on a very small scale. This is the more trying when one rides over thousands of acres of fine arable land, only waiting for the application of capital and industry to be made to yield rich returns. The crops on Mount Carmel itself are almost limited to wheat and a little barley, and a species of vetch: near the two villages there is a little sesame and tobacco, with olive-groves, gardens, and vineyards. There is probably no better locality anywhere for vines, as the ancient terraces show, and the very name of the mountain indicates. But under native culture the vines are allowed to sprawl over the ground at will: the consequence is, that the grapes get wasted on the hot stones by day and chilled by the night dews, and one-third of the crop is lost unless they are picked prematurely. They
