a part of Asiatic Turkey, situated between 36° and 38° degrees of E. Long. and between 31° and 34° of N. Lat. It is bounded by Mount Libanus, which divides it from Syria, on the north; by Mount Hermon, which separates it from Arabia Deserta, on the east; by the mountains of Seir and the deserts of Arabia Petraea, on the south; and by the Mediterranean Sea on the west.

This once fertile and happy spot was first called the land of Canaan, or Chanaan, from Noah's grandson. In scripture, however, it is frequently distinguished by other names; such as the land of promise, the land of God, the land of Israel, &c. It received the name of Palestine from the Philistines, or Philistines, who possessed a great part of it; and it had the name of Judea, or Judaea-Palestina, from Judah, the most considerable of the twelve sons of Jacob. The Christians have denominated it the Holy Land; partly on account of the many singular blessings it received from the divine Palestine, vine providence, and partly on account of its metropolis being made the centre of God's worship and his peculiar habitation; but much more for its being the place of our Saviour's birth, the scene of his preaching, and manifold miracles; especially the place in which he accomplished the great work of our redemption.

As to the name of Judaea, it did not begin to receive that till after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, though it had been styled long before the kingdom of Judah, in opposition to that of Israel, which revolted from it under Jeroboam, in the reign of Rehoboam the son of Solomon. But after the return, the tribe of Judah, the only one that made any figure, settling at Jerusalem, and in the countries adjacent, quickly gave its name to the whole territory. By profane authors it was called by many different names; such as Syria, Palestina Syria, Cælebria, Iduma, I-dumæa, and Phœnicia or Phœnice; but these are supposed only to have been given out of contempt to the Jewish nation, whom they looked upon as unworthy of any other name than what distinguished the most obscure parts of the neighbouring provinces.

That part of the country which was properly called the Land of Promise, was inclosed on the west by the Mediterranean; on the east by the lake Asphaltites, the Jordan, and the sea of Tiberias or of Galilee, and the Samachonite lake; to the north it had the mountains of Lebanon, or rather of Antilibanus, or the province of Phœnicia; and to the south, that of Edom or Idumea, from which it was likewise parted by another ridge of high mountains. The boundaries of the other part, which belonged to the two tribes and an half beyond the river Jordan, are not so easily defined, as well as those of the conquests made by the more prosperous kings of the Jews. All that can be said with any probability is, that the river Arnon was the first northern boundary on that side; and with respect to those on this side the Jordan, there is a considerable disagreement between the Hebrew and Samaritan versions of the Pentateuch.

The extent of this country is likewise variously settled by geographers; some giving it no more than 170 or 180 miles from north to south, and 140 in breadth where broadest, though not much above half that breadth where narrowest. But from the latest and most accurate maps, it appears to extend near 200 miles in length, and about 80 in breadth about the middle, and about 10 or 15 more or less, where it widens or shrinks. It reaches from 31° 30' to 33° 30' N. Lat. and from 34° 50' to 37° 15' E. Long., the longest day being about 14 hours 15 minutes.

These limits are so small, considering that the country is likewise intersected by high ridges or mountains, woods, deserts, &c. that many learned men have been induced to question what we read of its fertility and populousness in former times. It must be owned, indeed, that when we compare its ancient and flourishing state, when it was cultivated with the utmost diligence by persons well skilled in every branch of agriculture, with what it hath been since the total extirpation of the Jews out of it, and more especially since it fell into the hands of the Turks, the contrast is amazingly great: but when we consider the many evident causes which have contributed to effect this change, and even yet consider the nature of the country itself, we find not the least reason to doubt the truth of what the sacred historians have related. Moses describes the richness of it in the strongest terms, even before the Israelites got possession of it. It even exceeded the land of Egypt, so much celebrated by ancient historians; especially in the vast numbers of cattle which it produced; in the quantity and excellence of its wine, oil, and fruits. With respect to the oil and fruits, it is plain, that the olives and oil of Canaan exceeded in goodness those of Egypt, since the tribes sent them thither from thence; and as for vines, Herodotus tells us, that the Egyptians had none at all, but supplied the want of them by a liquor brewed from barley. The presents which Jacob sent to his son Joseph, of honey, spices, myrrh, almonds, and other fruits of Palestine, shew that they must have been much better in the land of Judea than in Egypt. The wines of Gaza, Ascalon, and Saræpta, were famous among the most remote nations; though it is allowed, that the wine which was made at and in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, in great quantities, was equal at least, if not superior, to any of the rest: and that of Libanus, mentioned by the prophet Hosea, was no less celebrated for its excellent flavour.

Several circumstances contributed to this wonderful fecundity: such as, the excellent temperature of the air, which was never subject to excessive heats or colds; the regularity of its seasons, especially the former and latter rain; and the natural fatness and fertility of its soil, which required neither dunging nor manuring, and could be ploughed with a single yoke of oxen and a small kind of plough; for the soil was, and is still, so shallow, that to have gone deep into it, would rather endanger, than improve, the crop. With respect to the excellency of its corn, we are told, that the bread of Jerusalem was preferred above all other; and the tribe of Asher produced the best of both, and in greater quantity than any other tribe; and such plenty was there of it, that, besides what sufficed the inhabitants, who made it their chief sustenance, Solomon, we read, could afford to send 20,000 cors, or measures, of it, and as many of oil, yearly, to Hiram king of Tyre; besides what they exported into other countries. And we find, even so late as king Herod farnamed Agrippa, the countries of Tyre and Sidon received most of their sustenance from his treachery.

As to their fruits, the grapes were delicious, finely flavoured, and very large. The palm tree and its dates were in no less request; and the plain of Jericho, among other places, was famed for the great plenty and excellence of that fruit; insomuch, that the metropolis of that territory was emphatically styled the city of palm-trees. But what both this plain, and other parts of Palestine, were most celebrated for, was, the balsam shrub, whose balm was esteemed so precious a drug among the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and other nations, and is still to this day under the name of balm of Gilead. They had likewise the greatest variety of other fruit-trees in the highest perfection; and which might be, in some sense, styled perpetual, because they were not only covered with a constant verdure, but because the new buds always appeared on the same boughs before the old fruit was ripe; and of those buds, which were in too great quantities to be allowed to come to maturity, they gathered enough to make very delightful pickles and sweatmeats, especially of their citrons, oranges, and apples of paradise, which last commonly hung by hundreds in a cluster, and as big as hens eggs, and of an excellent taste and flavour. Their vines yielded grapes twice, and sometimes three times a year, great quantities of which were dried up, and preserved for use, as well as their figs, plums, and other fruits. They had plenty of honey; the very trees distilled it; and the rocks yielded it in great quantities: but whether that of the latter kind were there deposited by the industrious bees, or produced some other way, is much disputed by travellers and naturalists. They likewise cultivated sugar-canes in great abundance; and the cotton, hemp, and flax, were mostly of their own growth and manufacture, except some of a finer sort, that were brought to them from Egypt, and worn by those of the higher rank. Their vicinity to Lebanon made the cedars, cypresses, and other flatly fragrant trees, very common in most parts of the land, but more especially in Jerusalem. Cattle, both large and small, they fed in vast quantities; and the hilly countries not only afforded them variety and plenty of pasture, but also of water, which descended thence into the valleys and lowlands, and fertilized them to the degree we have seen; besides several other rivers and brooks, some of the most remarkable of which we shall speak of in their proper places. But the most fertile pasture-grounds were those on each side the river Jordan; besides those of Sharon, or Saron, the plains of Lydda, Jannia, and some others then justly famed for their fecundity. As for fish, the rivers above-mentioned, the lake of Tiberias, and the Mediterranean Sea, afforded, as they do to this day, great plenty and variety. Vast quantities were brought to Jerusalem, on which the inhabitants mostly subsisted; and hence one of the gates of that metropolis was, according to St Jerome, called the fish-gate. The lake Asphaltites yielded salt in abundance, wherewith to season and preserve their fish, which Galen affirms to have been preferable to any other for wholesomeness, digestion, and extenuation. In short, the Scripture is so pregnant with proofs of the extraordinary richness and fecundity of this once happy land, and the vast number of people that lived in it, almost wholly upon its product, to say nothing of the vast exports of its corn, wine, oil, raisins, and other fruits, &c., that a man must have taken a strange warp to infidelity, that can call it in question, merely on account of the melancholy and quite opposite figure it now makes under its present tyrannical government.

But it ought to be considered, that it was then inhabited by an industrious people, who knew how to improve every inch of their land, and had made even the most desart and barren places to yield some kind of productions, by proper care and manure: so that the very rocks, which now appear quite bare and naked, were made to produce corn, pulse, or pasture; being, by the industry of the old inhabitants, covered with mould, which, through the laziness of the succeeding proprietors, has been since washed off with rains and storms. We may add, that the kings themselves were not above encouraging all kind of agriculture, both by precept and example; and, above all, that they had the divine blessing promised to their honest endeavours and industry: whereas it is now, and hath been long since, inhabited by a poor, lazy, indolent people, groaning under an intolerable servitude and all manner of discouragements; by which their aversion to labour and agriculture, farther than what barely serves to supply their present wants, is become, in a manner, natural and invincible. We may farther observe, after the judicious Mr Maundrell, that there is no forming an idea of its ancient flourishing state, when under the influence of heaven, from what it is now under a visible curse. And, if we had not several concurring testimonies from profane authors, who have extolled the fecundity of Palestine, that single one of Julian the apostate, a sworn enemy to Jews and Christians, as well as to all the sacred writings, would be more than sufficient to prove it; who frequently makes mention, in his epistles, of the perpetuity, as well as excellence and great abundance, of its fruits and product. The visible effects of God's anger, which this country has felt, not only under Titus Vespasian (when myriads of inhabitants were either slain, or perished by the most severe famine, pestilence, and other calamities; and the rest sold for slaves, into all lands; and new colonies sent to re-populate it; who found it in such a desolate state, as quite discouraged them from restoring it to its pristine fruitfulness); but much more since that emperor's time, in the invasions of the northern barbarians, of the Saracens, and of the more cruel and destructive Christians during the holy war; and in the oppression it now feels under the Turkish yoke; may be easily owned to be more than sufficient to have wrought the dismal change we are speaking of, and to have reduced the far greater part into a mere desert.

Nevertheless, if we may credit those who have viewed it in this doleful condition, they will tell us, there are still such visible signs of its natural richness and fertility, as plainly shew, that the bare want of culture is the main, if not the only cause of its present poverty and barrenness. We shall hint, as a further proof of this, what a learned traveller hath lately written of it from his own observations.

"The Holy Land," says Dr Shaw, "were it as well peopled and cultivated as in former times, would still be more fruitful than the very best part of the coast of Syria and Phoenice; for the soil is generally much richer, and, all things considered, yields a more preferable crop. Thus the cotton that is gathered in the plains of Ramah, Edraclon, and Zabulon, is in greater esteem than what is cultivated near Sidon and Tripoli. Neither is it possible for pulse, wheat, or any sort of grain, to be more excellent than what is sold at Jerusalem. The barrenness, or scarcity rather, which some authors may, either ignorantly or maliciously, complain of, doth not proceed from the incapacity or natural unfruitfulness of the country, but from the want of inhabitants, and the great aversion there is to labour and industry in those few who possess it. There are, besides, such perpetual discords and depredations among the petty princes who share this fine country, that allowing it was better peopled, yet there would be small encouragement to sow, when it was uncertain who should gather in the harvest. Otherwise, the land is a good land, and still