The New York Times · New York, New York · 14 December 1913

CP-1913-004

CALLS PALESTINE ARID LAND

But Prof. Gregory’s Assertions Are Denied by Sir John Gray-Hill.

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Transcribed from the clipping

LONDON, Dec. 13.—Prof. J. W.

Gregory of the University of Glasgow, in lecturing this week before the Royal Geographical Society, discussed the changes of climate in Palestine, and said that the Palestine described in the Bible as a land flowing with milk and honey and fertile in vine and olive and, according to Old Testament statistics, with a dense population, was now a barren and arid land with scanty vegetation, occupied by some 700,000 people, mostly Arabs and paupers.

Sir John Gray-Hill, who has traveled extensively in Syria and owns a house and land near Jerusalem, denies Prof. Gregory’s assertion that Palestine is barren and arid. In a letter to The Times he points out that Judea is only a part of Palestine and the least fertile part.

The plains of Sharon, Carmel, Esdraelon, and Samaria are still very fertile, and even in the rocky parts of Judea a great deal of cultivation is possible. He says he planted over twenty acres of stony land on the ridge of which the Mount of Olives forms a part, with figs, vines, olive, and other trees.

Even now at modern Jericho bananas and the largest oranges he ever saw are grown in gardens. He added: “As to the milk and honey spoken of in the Bible, the Israelites coming from the desert to Moab would naturally hail the latter as a most fertile land.

I have drunk excellent milk from camels, goats, and sheep in Moab, and wild honey is still found in the crevices of the rocks in many parts of Palestine, both east and west.”

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