At present, however, they adulterate their wine with a kind of herb, which gives it a very sharp and disagreeable taste.
On the whole, the neighbourhood of Jerusalem is very desolate, barren, and sterile.

I found the town itself neither more nor less animated than most Syrian cities.

I should depart from truth if I were to say, with many travellers, that it appeared as though a peculiar curse rested upon this city.

The whole of Judea is a stony country, and this region contains many places with environs as rugged and barren as those of Jerusalem.
Birds and butterflies are rarely seen at the present season of the year, not only in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, but throughout the whole of Syria.

Where, indeed, could a butterfly or a bee find nourishment, while not a flower nor a blade of grass shoots up from the stony earth?
And a bird cannot live where there are neither seeds nor insects, but must soar away across the seas to cooler and more fertile climes.