"Divines, antiquarians, and poets have trodden the fields of Palestine, and made the world familiar with its most interesting and striking features... Notwithstanding this, however, the physical history of the Holy Land appears, hitherto, to have scarecely received the attention that is due to it, and there may in this direction be still room left for a contribution to our knowledge... In the belief that this field was not yet exhausted, I spent, accompanied by a small party of friends, in 1863-4, a period of nearly ten months in the examination chiefly of the geology and natural history of the country." - From the Preface