FROM-THE- LIBRARY OF
TR1NITYCOLLEGETORDNTO
capture
What though I trace each herb and flower
That drinks the morning dew,
Did I not own Jehovah s power
How vain were all I knew !
BY
MARIA CALLGOTT
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1842.
2.7
LONDON :
Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE.
New-Street-Square.
PREFACE.
MY chief object and aim in writing this little book
has been to induce those who read and love God s
written word, to read and love the great unwritten
book which he has every where spread abroad for our
learning. In doing this we shall follow the steps of
our Lord Jesus. How constantly his lessons and
parables are quickened and adorned by references not
only to the use, but to the beauty, of the vegetable
creation; saying of the Lily, " Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these ! " Observe, too, how
the precursors of our own heavenly Teacher, the pro
phets, and the psalmist, and the writer of the Canti
cles, are perpetually setting forth the majesty and
beauty of the heavens and earth, until we join them
and cry, "Lord! how manifold are thy works! in
wisdom hast thou made them all."
iy PREFACE.
A second reason for printing an English Scripture
Herbal is, that, of the best and most trusty books on
the natural history of the Bible, the greater number
are written in the learned languages ; and, of the
many millions who read the Scriptures in my native
tongue, how few there are who can decipher the in
scription " written in the Hebrew, and in the Greek,
and in the Latin ! " *
I feel, however, that I ought to give some account
of the help I have had in composing my Herbal, a
task which has occupied and comforted me during the
last three years of a long and hopeless illness.
The title I honestly acknowledge I have borrowed
from an almost forgotten little bookf, which used to
* The principal books of this kind are :
Calmet s Dictionary.
Ursini Arboretum Biblicum, 1699.
Killer s Hierophyticon, 1725.
Scheutzer s Physica Sacra, 1731.
Celsius s Hicrobotanicon, 1745.
Forskal de Rebus naturalibus, &c., 1776.
Bochart s Hierozoicon, 1793.
Besides these, there are many books of early travels to Egypt and the
East that throw great light on the natural history of the Bible.
| Theolotanologia, sire Historia Vegetabilium Sacra ; or a Scripture
Herbal, by William Westmacott of New castle-under- Line, a physician,
1694. Many of his wonderful recipes are taken from Dr. Bates or Butts
(perhaps Henry VIII. s physician).
PREFACE. V
excite my admiration when a child, by the wonderful
powers it ascribed to simples, especially if due regard
were paid to gathering them at the rising and setting
of their planets. It is a curious little work, and
contains much that is rare, at least in our times.
I have made use of another but very superior
English tract, namely, that of Sir Thomas Brown;
which professes to treat of all the plants named in
Scripture, from the Fig-tree in Genesis to the Worm
wood of the Revelations.
Gerard s Herbal, and Dr. Philemon Holland s
translation of Pliny, have been invaluable to me. Pub
lished but little before the authorised version of the
Bible, the names of plants in them can hardly be
other than those used by our venerable translators.
The wood-cuts and histories in Gerard, and Pliny s
descriptions under the English names supplied by
Holland, have often guided me to the true plant of
which I was in search.
Of the works written professedly on any branch of
the natural history, I have made most use of the
Hierobotanicon of Celsius. That learned man, who
was in part the tutor of Linnseus, and his predecessor
in the chair of natural science at Upsal, employed fifty
years in composing his most laborious work ; and, when
PREFACE.
about to print it, travelled himself to Holland and
Germany to procure the Oriental types necessary for
the purpose. On his return, two hundred and fifty
copies only were printed, and the work is now very
difficult to procure. I owe the use of it to my ex
cellent friend Robert Brown, Esquire, without whose
kindness in advising me and procuring for me books
which I could not otherwise have commanded, my
own little work, if executed at all, must have been
defective indeed.*
The enthusiastic Hasselquist, short as was his
career, did much for Scripture botany. Struck with
an expression in one of Linnaeus s lectures, regretting
that so little was known of the natural history of
Palestine, the young man devoted himself to travels
in that country ; and, overcoming difficulties of which
poverty and bad health were not the least, he reached
Syria, saw some part of Egypt, but never recovered
* It may seem vain-glorious thus publicly to boast of the friendship of
this great botanist, who, by the universal voice of the naturalists on the
continent of Europe, has received the title of PRINCEPS BOTANICORTJM, a
title hitherto bestowed only on Linnosus. But I shall soon be beyond
the power of expressing gratitude in this world, and I am willing with
what breath I have to thank him, and to express a regard that has lasted
long, and can only end with life. His friend Mr. Bennet has also done
much for me, and must receive my thanks here for all his trouble.
PREFACE. Vll
from the heat and fatigue of his journeys in Palestine,
and died a martyr to science.*
Forskal, another of the same class, if he did not
travel expressly to seek Bible plants or to explore
the vegetation of the Holy Land, did very much to
increase our knowledge of the botany of the East,
and, like poor Hasselquist, became a victim to the
effects of fatigue and a hot climate.
On the revival of letters after the long night of the
dark ages, the ancient botanists and physicians had
their share of the attention of scholars. Hermolaus
Barbarus, in his lectures at Rome, included botany, as
known to the Greeks, among the natural sciences on
which he discoursed. Mathiolus wrote more than
one treatise on the botany of Dioscorides, and others
followed in the same train.
But the travels of Clusius into Spain and Africa,
and the visit of Prosper Alpinus into Egypt, gave an
impulse to the study of living plants which could not
but bear worthy fruit.
Of their followers among the older travellers, I
have profited most by the journeyings of Rauwolf,
* His papers were placed in the hands of Linnaeus, who best knew their
value. Few biographical sketches are so interesting as that prefixed by
the master to the travels of his unhappy pupil.
PREFACE.
in whose book we find the work of a cheerful active
mind, allowing nothing to escape observation. His
descriptions are consequently satisfactory, and the few
figures he has given of rare plants are trustworthy as
far as they go.
Kasmpfer s agreeable Amcenitates Exotica has fur
nished me with much instruction relative to the
Oriental drugs and plants, especially the palm.
Among more recent travellers I have read with
great advantage Tournefort s travels in the Levant,
Bruce s in Abyssinia, Dr. Russell s history of Aleppo,
and Sonnini s account of the visit of the French s$a-
vans to Egypt : and, of contemporary travellers, I have
found Dr. Royle most to be depended upon, either
for confirming old notions concerning the drugs of
the East, or adding the weight of his testimony to
those of more recent botanists, illustrated as his work
is by beautiful coloured figures.
From Mr. Loddiges s curious collection of exotic
plants, he kindly sent me specimens from which I
have drawn three of my most interesting subjects.
But were I to name every friend to whom I owe
plants or prints to copy, and every book I have con
sulted, this notice would become unreasonably long.
I must, however, mention two little modern books,
PREFACE. IX
now published in English. The first and best we
owe to an American author. Dr. Harris s Dictionary
of the Natural History of the Bible is most carefully
and conscientiously compiled, and is an admirable
book for the table of every reader of Scripture,
though it is not, as the ingenious writer imagines, so
perfect as to supersede the necessity of any other.
The second small book I would name is Rosen-
muller s Mineralogy and Botany of the Bible. This
I did not see till my own work was just ready for the
press. At first the great array of learned names at
the foot of each page alarmed me, even more than the
words in Oriental characters. But I was soon satis
fied that Rosenmiiller, though a diligent and labo
rious compiler on Scripture matters, had depended
for his botany entirely on the authors whom I had
already consulted, adopting their quotations as his
own. Of course I was pleased, after looking through
the work of so meritorious a Bible scholar, that I had
nothing to alter, and nothing to add to what I had
previously gleaned from his predecessors.
I must now say something of the cuts which head
the descriptions of the plants. The collecting the
figures and drawing them on the wood-blocks, as it
was a work of labour, so it was a labour of love. The
X PREFACE.
authorities whence they are taken will be found in the
index to the cuts ; and the great solace I have derived
from the drawing of them, confined as I am to a
sick bed, makes up for whatever pain there might
be in acknowledging that the faults are entirely my
own, since my lines were most carefully and accu
rately followed by that excellent wood-engraver Mr.
W. Folkard, to whose exactness and diligence I am
greatly indebted.
That the drawings and the descriptions, together
with the illustrative matter contained in my hum
ble book, may effect the object I have already laid
open, namely, that of inducing even a few to unite
the study of the unwritten book of God with that
of his written law, is the ardent wish and fervent
prayer of
THE AUTHOR.
NOTE. I have never been able to discover the author of the beautiful
lines set to music by Handel, which I have chosen for my motto. They
are not Dr. Watts s. But tradition assigns the poem of the Solomon, as
well as some other oratorios of Handel, to his friend Dr. Morell.
INDEX TO PLANTS
DESCRIBED
IN THE SCRIPTURE HERBAL.
ALGUM, OR ALMUG
ALMOND .
ALOES
ANISE
APPLE
ASH
ASPALATHUS
BALM
BARLEY .
/BAY TREE
1 BAY, ROSE
BDELLIUM
BEANS
Box TREE
BRAMBLE
BRIAR
BULRUSH
Thuja articulata, called by some Cal-
litris quadrivalvis, Desfontaines Atl.
and Shaw .....
Amygdalus communis Linn.
f Aloe perfoliata Linn,
I Aloe socotrina DeCand.
Pimpinella Anisum Linn.
Pyrus Malus Linn. .
Fraxinus excelsior Linn.
Anthyllis Hermannias Linn.
(This is called in its place Aspalathus
Creticus. I was not aware, when
the sheet was in press, of the change
of name.)
Balsamodendron Gileadense Kunth
Hordeum vulgare Linn.
Laurus nobilis Linn. 1 . . .
Nerium Oleander Linn. J
Amyris commiphora Roxburgh
Vicia Faba Linn. . . . .
Buxus sempervirens Linn. .
Rubus fruticosus Linn.
Rosa canina Linn. .
Typha latifolia Linn
Page
1
8
10
16
19
25
27
30
38
45
50
53
57
61
65
xii INDEX TO PLANTS.
Page
CALAMUS, OR SWEET CANE
Andropogon Calamus aromaticus
1
Royles Sot. of Himalaya Moun
72
tains, p. 425.
1
CAMPHOR
Laurus Camphora Linn. ~|
GOPHER, KUPROS, OR Cu-
,
1
. 78
PHER, THE HENNA or
>- Lawsonia inermis Linn.
THE ARABS
J J
CAPER ....
Capparis spinosa Linn.
. 84
r CASSIA, 1.
Laurus Cassia Linn, l
1 CASSIA, 2. ...
Cassia Fistula Linn. J
. 87
CEDAR ....
Pinus Cedrus Linn.
. 91
CHESNUT
Fagus Castanea Linn. .
. 102
CINNAMON
Laurus Cinnamomum Linn.
. 105
CITRON ....
Citrus Medica Linn.
. 108
COCKLE ....
Agrostemma Coronaria Linn.
. 112
CORIANDER
Coriandrum sativum Linn. .
. 114
COTTON ....
Gossypium herbaceum Linn.
. 116
CUCUMBER
Cucumis sativa Linn. .
. 120
CUMMIN ....
Cuminum Cyminum Linn.
. 123
CYPRESS ....
Cupressus sempervirens Linn.
. 126
DOVE S DUNG .
Ornithogalum umbellatum Linn. .
. 129
EBONY
Diospyros Ebenum Linn.
ELM
Ulmus campestris Linn.
. 137
FIG
Ficus Carica Linn.
. 139
FIR
Pinus Abies Linn
14*7
FITCHES ....
Vicia Sativa Linn.
. 152
FLAGS, OR WEED
Zostera Marina Linn. .
. 155
FLAX ....
Linum Usitatissimum Linn.
. 160
FRANKINCENSE
Boswellia Thurifera Roxburgh
. 168
GALBANUM
Bubon Galbanum Linn.
. 172
GARLIC ....
Allium Ascalonicuin Linn. .
. 175
GOPHER WOOD
. 177
INDEX TO PLANTS.
xiii
Page
f GOURD (WILD)
Cucumis Prophetarum Linn. ~\
179
1 GOURD (JONAH S)
Ricinus communis Linn. ]
GRASS ....
fFestuca fluitans Linn., also ~|
I Glyceria fluitans R. B. }
. 184
HASEL ....
Corylus Avellana Linn.
. 192
HEATH ....
Erica vulgaris Linn.
. 196
HEMLOCK
Conium maculatum Linn.
. 199
HOLM ....
Quercus Cerris Linn. .
. 203
HYSSOP ....
Hyssopus officinalis Linn.
. 206
IVY
Hedera Helix Linn.
. 211
JUNIPER
Juniperus communis Linn.
]
BROOM
Genista Scoparium or Spartium Sco-
I 217
parium Linn.
BROOM-RAPE
Orobanche major Linn.
J
LADANUM
Cistus ladanifera Linn.
. 224
LEEKS ....
Allium Porrum Linn. .
. 228
LENTILS ....
Ervum Lens Linn.
. 231
LIGN ALOES
Aquilaria Agallochum Roxburgh .
. 234
f LILIES ....
Lilium candidum Linn. ~
I LILY OF SOLOMON
Narcissus Calathinus Linn, ]
. 243
LOCUST ....
Ceratonia Siliqua Linn.
. 249
MALLOWS
Corchorus olitorius Lamarck
. 254
MANDRAKE
Atropa Mandragora Linn. .
. 258
MANNA, OR CAMEL S THORN
{Alhagi Maurorum DeCand. 1
Hedysarum Alhagi Linn. j
. 265
MASTICK ....
Pistacia Lentiscus Linn.
. 269
MELON
Cucumis Melo Linn.
. 273
MILLET ....
Panicum Miliaceum Linn.
. 276
MINT ....
Mentha viridis Linn.
. 278
MULBERRY
Morus nigra and M. alba Linn.
. 281
MUSTARD
Sinapis nigra Linn.
. 287
xiv INDEX TO PLANTS.
Page
MYRRH ....
Balsamodendron Myrrha
. 291
MYRTLE ....
Myrtus cornmunis Linn.
. 296
NETTLES ....
Urtica Dioica Linn.
. 302
NIGELLA, OR BLACK-SEED
Nigella Orientalis Linn.
. 306
JNUTS ....
I WALNUTS .
Pistacia vera Linn. ~\
Juglans regia Linn. J
. 309
OAK ....
Quercus Robur Linn. .
. 313
OLEASTER, OR WILD OLIVE
Elseagnus spinosa Linn.
. 328
OLIVE ....
Olea Europeea Linn.
. 331
ONION ....
Allitim Cepa Linn.
. 344
ONYCHA ....
Styrax Benzoin Dryander .
. 347
PALM ....
Phoenix Dactylifera Linn.
. 351
PANNAG ....
Panax Quinquefolium Linn.
. 370
PAPER REED
Cyperus Papyrus Linn.
. 375
PINE ....
Pinus sylvestris Linn. .
. 383
PLANE ....
Plat-anus Orientalis Linn.
. 388
POMEGRANATE .
Punica Granatuin Linn.
. 393
POPLAR ....
Populus alba Linn.
. 402
QUINCE ....
Pyrus Cydonia Linn.
. 406
REED ....
Arundo Donax Linn. .
. 410
ROSE ....
Rosa centifolia rubra Linn. ,
. 419
RUE ....
Ruta graveolens Linn.
. 424
RUSH ....
Juncus effusus Linn.
. 426
RYE
Secale cereale Linn.
. 429
SAFFRON ....
Crocus sativus Linn.
. 431
SCARLET ....
Quercus coccifera Linn.
. 434
SHITTIM WOOD
f Acacia vera Willdenow i
I Mimosa Nilotica Linn. J
. 439
SOAP ....
Salsola Kali Linn.
. 442
SPIKENARD
Nardostachys Jatamansi DeCand.
. 446
INDEX TO PLANTS.
STACTB ".
STYRAX, OR STORAX
SYCAMORE
f TARES, OR
I DARNEL
THISTLE .
THORNS, varieties :
CHRIST S THORN
BUCKTHORN .
Box THORN .
MAD APPLE .
SWEET-BRIAR
REST-HARROW
BUTCHER S BROOM
SLOE
TIEL TREE, OR LINDEN
TURPENTINE TREE .
Page
Balsamodendron Kataf Royle, Nees von
Esenbeck 462
Styrax officinalis Linn. . . . 465
Ficus Sycomorus Linn. . . . 467
Ervum tetraspermum Linn. ~\
Lolium temulentum Linn. j
Carduus Arabicus Linn.
Paliurus aculeatus Lam.
Rhamnus Spina Christi Linn.
Lycium horridum Linn.
Solamim spinosum Linn.
Eglantine Rosa rubiginosa Linn.
Ononis spinosa Linn.
Ruscus aculeatus Linn.
Prunus sylvestris
Tilia Europaea Linn. .
Pistacia Terebinthus Linn. .
472
479
483
494
500
VINE
Vitis Vinifera Linn. . . . 507
WHEAT, SUMMER AND
WINTER
WILLOWS
WORMWOOD
Triticum 2Estivum and Hibernum Linn. 520
Salices (various) Linn.
Artemisia Judaica Linn.
532
542
LIST OF THE WOOD-CUTS,
WITH THE AUTHORITIES FOR THE FIGURES; WHETHER FROM OLD OR
RECENT AUTHORS, OR FROM NATURE.
ALGUM, OR ALMUG . Thuja articulata : copied from the Flora Atlantica
of Desfontaines.
ALMONIJ . . . Amygdalus communis : from Nature.
ALOES . . . Aloe socotrina : from an old wood-cut under
which is the name Great Sea HoitseleeTi ; and
the description calls it the plant from which
the purgative medicinal aloes is produced. The
figure is repeated with little difference in
several Herbals of the 16th and 17th centuries.
ANISE . . . Pimpinella Anisum : from Nature.
APPLES . . . Pyrus Mains : from Nature.
ASH .... Fraxinus excelsior : from Nature.
ASPALATHUS . . Aspalathus Creticus, Anthyllis Hermannice : from
Nature. The plant sent me by Mr. Loddiges.
BALM, OR BALSAM . Balsamodendron Gileadense : copied from Bruce s
Travels.
BARLEY . . . Hordenm vulgare : from Nature.
f BAY . . . Laurus nobilis : from Nature.
I ROSE BAY . . Nerium Oleander : copied from the Botanical
Magazine.
BEANS . . . Vicia Faba : from Nature
Box TREE . . Buxus sempermrens : from Nature.
BRAMIJLE . . . Rubus fruticosus : copied from English Botany.
BRIAR . . . Rosa canina : from Nature.
BULRUSH . . . TijpTia latifolia : from Nature.
LIST OF THE WOOD-CUTS.
xvn
CALAMUS, OR SWEET
CANE
CAMPHOR
rightly COPHUR,
CUPHER,
ClJPRUS
CAPER
>PHUR, ~j
r, OR L
f CASSIA
OR
CASSIA FISTULA
CEDAR
CHESNUT .
CINNAMON
CITRON
COCKLE
CORIANDER
COTTON
CUCUMBER
CUMMIN .
CYPRESS .
Andropogon Calamus aromaticus : copied from
Dr. Royle s Illustrations of the Botany of the
Himalaya Mountains, p. 425.
Laurus Camphora : copied from the Botanical
Magazine.
Lawsonia inermis ; the Henna or Alkenna of the
East : copied from part of Sonnini s plate, after
comparing it with Eauwolf s figure.
Capparis spinosa : copied from the Botanical
Magazine.
Laurus Cassia : copied from the Botanical Maga
zine.
Cassia Fistula : from Magazine of Medical Botany.
Pinus Cedrus : drawn from a branch of the cedars
of Lebanon in the gardens of Holland House.
Fagus Castanea : from Nature.
Laurus Cinnamomum : copied from the Botanical
Magazine.
Citrus Medica : drawn from a branch grown at
Mr.Wells s, at Redleaf, Kent.
Agrostemma Coronaria : from Nature.
Coriandrum sativum : from Knorr s Flowers.
Gossypium herbaceum : from a dried specimen of
Maltese cotton, compared with Dr. Royle s
figure. My leaves are a little more obtuse than
those of the print in Royle.
Cucumis sativus : from Nature.
Cuminum Cyminum: from a plant raised in the
garden of Launce Chambers, Esq., compared
with the figure in Cavanilles.
Cupressus sempervirens : part of the plate in Pal-
las s Flora Rossica.
DOVE S DUNG Omithogalum umbellatum ; also, in English, Bird s
(1, Flower ; 2, Root) Milk and Star of Bethlehem : from Nature.
EBONY
ELM
Diospyros Ebenus : from a modern wood-cut.
Ulmus campestris : from Nature.
XV111
LIST OF THE WOOD-CUTS.
FIG .
Fi?. .
FITCHES ,
FLAGS, OR SEAWEACK
FLAX
FRANKINCENSE
GALBANUM
GARLIC
Ficus Carica \ from Nature.
Pinus Abies : from Nature.
Vicia Sativa : from English Botany.
Zostera Marina : from English Botany, Soirerby.
Linum Usitatissimum : from Sowerby in English
Botany, compared with nature, the seed-vessel
added.
Boswellia Thurifera : from a modern wood-cut.
Biibon Galbanum : Botanical Magazine.
Allium Ascalonicum : from the Botanical Maa a-
GOURD
GOURD OF JONAH, OR
KIKI
GRASS
Cucumis Prophetarum : from a modern wood-cut.
Ricinus communis ; Palma Christ!, or Castor- Oil
Nut : from the Botanical Magazine.
Festuca fluitans and Glyceria fluitans : from an
engraved collection of grasses.
HASEL
HEATH
HEMLOCK
HOLM
HYSSOP
f IVY LEAF T
\ IVY BERRIES J
Corylus Avellana : from Nature.
Erica vulgaris : from Nature.
Conium maculatum : from Nature.
Quercus C err is : from Nature.
Hyssopus qfficinalis : from Nature.
Hedera Helix : both from Nature.
" JUNIPER, OR BROOM \ Juni P erus communis : from PaUas s Flora Rossica.
1 Spartium Scoparium : Botanical Magazine.
Illustration,
BROOM-RAPE Orobanche major : from English Botany.
LADANUM
LEEK
LENTILS .
LIGN ALOES, OR LIG
NUM ALOES
Cistus ladanifera : from the Botanical Magazine.
Allium Porrum : from Nature.
Cicer Lens : from Nature.
Aquilaria Agalloclmm : from an inedited drawing-
sent from India by Dr. Roxburgh to Robert
Brown, Esq., who kindly lent it me to copy.
LIST OF THE WOOD-CUTS.
xix
LILIES
LILY OF SOLOMON
LOCUST
MALLOWS
MANDRAKE
MANNA .
MASTICK .
MELON
MILLET
MINT
MULBERRIES
MUSTARD
MYRRH .
MYRTLE .
NETTLE .
NlGELLA .
NUTS (WALNUTS)
OAK
OLEASTER, OR WILD
OLIVE.
OLIVE
ONION
ONYCHA .
Lilium candidum : from Nature.
Narcissus Calathinus : from Nature.
Ceratonia Siliqua : from Knorr s Flowers.
Corchorus olitorius : from Lamarck s Encyclop.
Method.
Atropa Mandragora: from the cuts in Gerard s
Herbal, and in Camerarius s edition of Mat-
thiolus.
Alhagi Maurorum, or Hedysarum Alhagi : from
Rauwolf s Travels.
Pistacia Lentiscus : from the Botanical Magazine.
Cucumis Melo : from Nature.
Panicum Miliaceum : from London s Encyclo
paedia.
Mentha viridis : from Nature.
Morus nigra : from Nature.
Sinapis nigra : from the Magazine of Medical
Botany.
Balsamodendron Myrrha : from the lithograph
of Nees von Esenbeck.
Myrtus communis : from Nature.
Urtica Dioica from Nature.
Nigella Orientalis : from the Botanical Magazine.
Juglans regia : from Nature.
Quercus Eobur (Pedunculata) : from Nature.
Elceagnus spinosa : from Pallas s Flora Rossica.
Olea Europcea : from a wood-cut.
Allium Cepa : from Nature.
Styrax Benzoin : from the lithograph of Nees von
Esenbeck.
PALM (4 cuts) . . Phoenix Dactylifera. The cultivated Palm, and
the cuts of the flower and bunch of fruit, are
xviii LIST OF THE WOOD-CUTS.
p IG copied from Ksempfer s Amoenitates Exoticae.
p TT - The cut of the wild Date tree represents such
as I have seen when neglected, or at most only
tapped in the trunk to procure the sweet juice
whence the j agree is made. The leaves left
to perish on the stem, looking like the beard
of some octogenary hermit, no care taken to
secure the forming and ripening of the fruit, and
the desert Palm appears the wildest of trees.
Ksempfer gives us a curious plate of the gather
ing of the date. In the foreground the ex
pressing the juice of the fresh fruit for making
date wine is represented. The cylindrical
wicker or cane baskets are filled to the top with
fruit, upon which heavy stones are piled till
the juice runs out by a spigot below, whence it
flows into the jars where the vinous fermentation
takes place. The next group is formed of those
who gather the choicer fruit, throwing it into
mats held up by persons below, and pack it in
flag baskets for the merchants, who are seen
advancing in the distance with their beasts of
burden, ready for the conveyance of the new
fruit to the nearest market, whether that be a
caravan station, or a city, or sea-port. Be
tween the trees, and mixed with the cultivators,
the masters appear to enjoy the harvest. In
one place an aged man is seated on his prayer
carpet, and reading his Koran. Beyond him is a
group of younger men smoking and drinking
coffee, listening apparently to a teller of tales ;
and further 011 another set, amusing themselves
with the sight of public dancers and musicians.
This plate is well adapted to show the import
ance of the date harvest to Egypt and Arabia,
being to a great proportion of the natives both
corn and wine.
LIST OF THE WOOD-CUTS.
xxi
PANNAG . . . Panax Quinquefolium : from the Botanical Ma
gazine.
PAPER REED, AND Cyperus Papyrus : from Bruce s Travels. The
ILLUSTRATION illustration is from a drawing of my kind friend
Mr. Clift of the College of Surgeons.
PINE . . . Pinus sylvestris : from Nature.
PLANE . . . Platanus Orientalis : from Nature.
POMEGRANATE . . Punica Granatum. The leaves and flowers from
branches sent from Windsor Castle, and the
fruit from Portugal, put together from Nature.
POPLAR . . . Populus alba : from Nature.
QUINCE .
REED
ROSE
RUE
RUSH
RYE
Cydonia Vulgaris: from Nature, the fruit just set.
Arundo Donax. My friend Mr. E. Cooke drew
the reed from the living plant in the Botanic
Garden at Leyden ; the flower I have from
another source.
Rosa centifolia rubra : from Nature.
Ruta graveolens : from Nature.
Juncus effusus : from Nature.
Secale cereale : from Nature.
SAFFRON .
SCARLET .
SHITTIM WOOD
SOAP
SPIKENARD (with an
other cut of the
part formerly sold
in the shops)
STACTE
Crocus sativus. Botanical Magazine.
Quercus cocci/era : from Russell s Aleppo.
Acacia vera. The branch and leaves kindly sent
me by Mr. Loddiges, the flowers and fruit from
authentic sources.
Salsola Kali : from English Botany, compared
with Rauwolf s cut of the Kali of Arabia.
Nardostachys Jatamansi. This cut is part of the
beautiful plate in Dr. Royle s Illustrations of the
Botany, &c., of the Himalaya Mountains. The
drawing from Gerard agrees with that in Ca-
merarius s edition of Matthiolus s Epitome.
Balsamodendron Kataf : from Nees von Esenbeck.
XX11
LIST OF THE WOOD-CUTS.
STYRAX, OR STORAX
SYCAMORE
Styrax officinalis : from Nature. The sprig was
gathered from the plant set by Miller himself
in the Physic Garden at Chelsea.
Ficns Sycomorus : from Rauwolf s Travels.
TARES .
or perhaps DARNEL
THISTLE
I.
II.
III.
THORNS 4 IV.
V.
-VI.
TIEL TREE
TURPENTINE OR TE
REBINTH TREE
Ervum tetraspermum : from English Botany.
Lolium temulentnm : from London s Encyclopaedia
of Botany.
Carduus Ardbicus : from the Botanical Maga
zine.
Paliurus aculeatus : from Pallas s Flora Rossica.
Seed-vessel of the same.
Lycium horridum : from the Flora Rossica.
Ononis spinosa, or Rest-Harrow : from Nature.
Ruscus aculeatus, or Butcher s Broom : from
Nature.
Prunus sylvestris, or Sloe : from Nature.
Tilia Europ&a : from Nature.
Pistacia Terebinthus : from a living branch sent
me by Mr. Loddiges. The flower and fruit
from Rauwolf s Travels.
VINE, GRAPE, &c. . Vitis Vinifera. The young grape just set : from
Nature.
WHEAT . . . Triticum JEstivum, &c. The English ear from
Nature, the Egyptian or Minnith wheat from a
cut.
WILLOW (2 cuts) . Salix : both cuts from Nature.
WORMWOOD . . Artemisia Judaica : from Knorr s Flowers.
SCRIPTURE HERBAL,
ALGUM, OR ALMUG.
Thuya articulata, Algum, Almug, or Thyine Tree.
Linnsean class and order, MONCECIA MONADELPHIA.
Natural order, CONIFERS.
ALGUM, OR ALMUG.
ALGUM, Oil ALMUG.
1 Kings, v. 6. 2 Chron. ii. 8.; ix. 10, 11.
Revelation, xviii. 12.
A CONIFEROUS tree, growing in the North of Africa,
may lay claim to being the Alnrng of the Old Tes
tament, the Thyme tree of the Revelation.
The cut I have given is from Desfontaine s Atlan-
tica. He says it grows in arid land, and attains to the
height of sixteen feet. Vahl talks of it as a shrub of
six feet high ; but Schaw, in his account of African
trees, says that it is something between a tree and a
shrub.
The tree is called ARAR by Schousboe, who resided
some years in Mauritania, and is shown by him to be
the Thuya articulata. His description tallies exactly
Avith that given of it by Vahl, Schaw, and other tra
vellers. He says that the usual size was from twenty
to twenty-four feet in height, and a foot or a foot and
a half in diameter. * This agrees exactly with Des-
* See Schousboe s paper on the true origin of the resin known by the
name of Sandarach, in the Bulletin de la Societe Philomath ique. No. 31.
ALGUM, OK ALMUG. 3
fontaines, who saw the trees among the mountains
near Algiers, but he says Broussonet assured him
that he had seen larger in Morocco. The difference
in size may probably be owing to the difference of
soil in the places where they grow. An English
officer, belonging to the Duke of Wellington s army
in Spain, having occasion to be on the western side
of the lower range of Mount Atlas in search of a
particular breed of horses, observed that the pines * of
the forests on the mountain were not only diminutive
in size, but singularly contorted ; perhaps either the
aridity of the soil, or the prevalence of certain winds,
or both together, might have produced these dwarfish
forests.f
The Algum was one of the costly materials fur
nished by Hiram, King of Tyre, to Solomon, for the
building of the Temple of Jerusalem ; and also for
* Pinus halepensis.
f I have seen a specimen of the wood of the Thuya articulata cut
longitudinally ; it is dark nut-brown, close-grained, and very fragrant.
Another specimen sent home to the Admiralty, with a branch of the tree
attached to it, proves it to be the Thuya articulata. Another section of
a wood, thought till lately to be a larger Thuya, was shown me. This has
also been sent to the Admiralty as a specimen of African timber, together
with a small branch showing it to be a species of Larch. The native name
is El Aris, or El Areez.
4 ALGUM, OR ALMUG.
his own magnificent palaces, particularly the house
of Mount Lebanon.
The cargo of Algum trees brought to Solomon while
the Queen of Sheba was at Jerusalem, is said to have
exceeded all that had been seen before in that city, or
that was ever imported afterwards.
Pillars to ornament the magnificent terraces of the
temple and the palace were formed of it ; but a part
was reserved for the making of harps and psalteries for
the king s singers. Thus the whole was dedicated to
pious or to regal uses. Nor had it sunk in estimation
when St. John wrote the Apocalypse, for he names it
as one of the precious things that shall no longer
attract the merchants of the earth to fallen Babylon.
In the sixteenth chapter of the thirteenth book of
Pliny s Natural Hi story, he says that the Thyine trees
grew in the neighbourhood of the temple of Jupiter
Ammon, and also in the Cyrenaic province ; and that
Theophrastus * recommends the timber for temples,
and such buildings as should be almost everlasting.
In the preceding chapter he gives an account of
the precious citron or citrine tables, which the most
* Theophrastus wrote A.U.C. 440.
ALGUM, OR ALMUG. 5
elegant, as well as the most luxurious, of the Romans
loved to have for their banqueting-halls. The planks
were sawn out of the Thyine tree, and measured about
four feet in diameter ; they were valued according
to the veins, knots, and colours, which variegated
them ; and were called from those accidents, tiger ci
tron, leopard, peacock s feather, or fly citron tables.
Cicero appears to have introduced this luxury to Rome :
but the most costly we read of is one that Tiberius
caused to be plated all over with one of the precious
metals.
The trees producing these citron tables grew chiefly
in the forests skirting Mount Atlas, which were ex
hausted even in Pliny s time : but the mountain An-
chorarius, in Upper Mauritania, yielded the best and
fairest trees ; and these trees were very like to the
female cypress in leaf, in smell, and in bulk.
These descriptions, I think, leave little doubt that
the Thyine is the Algum of Scripture, the modern
Thuya articulata; and, as it was easily procurable by
the ships of Tyre from the port of Gyrene and those
of Mauritania, Hiram would naturally send so pre
cious a material for the building of the Temple. That
it came to Jerusalem from Joppa, with the firs and
6 ALGUM, OK ALMUG.
cedars, appears certain ; because Solomon applies to
Hiram for it in these words : " Send me also cedar
trees, fir trees, and Algum trees, out of Lebanon."
2 Chron. ii. 8.
The little difference in time between St. John and
Pliny does nothing to weaken the opinion that the
Thyine tree, an object of commerce to Babylon, is the
same with the Algum and the citrine.
This tree yields the gum sandarach, so much used
in the preparation of parchment ; and therefore an
absolute necessary to the Jews, who were commanded
to make such frequent copies of their Scriptures,
and who required, besides, an immense quantity
of parchment for their phylacteries, that is, texts
written on slips, to be bound upon their hands,
and worn as frontlets between their eyes, and placed
upon the doorposts of their houses, and upon their
gates.*
Some writers, and among them Sprengel, suggest
that the Algum tree might be sandal wood : but the
* Deuteronomy, vi. 8, 9. The modern Jews write a sentence of the
Law on parchment, and enclose it in a glass or brazen tube, and fix it to
their doors. It is said that sandarach is also gathered from the juniper
and the tamarisk, which some of the Arabs call indifferently Arar.
ALGUM, OK ALMUG. 7
sandal wood of Sprengel is the Pterocarpus santalinus
or red sanders, not the true sandal wood. It is an
Oriental coniferous tree ; and those who take either it
or the true sandal for Algum have an authority in
the tenth chapter of the first book of Kings, and ninth
chapter of the second book of Chronicles, not at all
agreeing with Solomon s request as to the trees to be
furnished by Hiram ; for it is related that " the navy
of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in
from Ophir great plenty of Almug trees and precious
stones."
However this may be, it is certain that the true
sandal wood is unfit for the purposes to which the
Algum was applied, especially for the making of mu
sical instruments, while the Thuja is particularly
adapted to them, and was moreover easily purchased
by Hiram from the Phoenician colonists along the
African shore of the Mediterranean ; but the bring
ing of sandal wood, or even red sanders, from so distant
a country as Eastern India, the nearest place where
it is found, particularly in such large quantities,
would have been extremely difficult, even to the fleets
which brought the spices and precious metals from
Ophir to the ports of the Red Sea.
ALMOND.
Amygdalus communis, Common Almond.
Linnasan class and order, ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, AMTGDALEJE.
Gen. xliii. 11.
Exod. xxv. 33, 34.; xxxvii. 19, 20.
Jerem. i. 11,
Num. xvii.
Eccl. xii. 5.
THIS pretty little tree, whose pink and white blossoms
appearing before the leaves, make our gardens gay in
the early spring, bears two varieties of fruit, the sweet,
and the bitter almond. The sweet almond is known
ALMOND.
best as a mere luxury in this country, though the
apothecary makes great use of it in emulsions for
coughs and colds. By long pounding in a mortar, the
oil and the substance of the almond become so tho
roughly mixed, that a kind of milk is formed, which I
have seen put into tea, like cow s milk, during a sea
voyage.
The bitter almond yields a great quantity of that
powerful medicine, yet terrible poison, prussic acid ;
notwithstanding which, the smell and taste are so
agreeable, that confectioners, particularly in Italy,
use it to flavour many of their sweetmeats and
cakes.*
The Jews both of ancient and modern times natu
rally reverenced the Almond, as it was the subject of
one of the miracles wrought at the time when they
were brought up out of their Egyptian bondage, and
received the law which distinguished them among all
nations as the people of God.
When the heads of the families of Israel presented
their rods or staffs before God, the rod of Aaron, though
long cut from the tree, budded, blossomed, and even
* The duty on almonds, called Jordan almonds, imported from Syria to
England in 1841, amounted to 33737., and of other almonds, to 41447.
10 ALMOND.
bore fruit, a miracle which confirmed the priesthood
for ever in the family of Aaron and his sons.
Hence it is that on the days of great festivals, when
the ancient Jews would have presented palm branches
in the Temple, the modern English Jews, who cannot
obtain a palm branch, carry a bough of the flowering
Almond to the synagogue.
Perhaps they may be influenced in their choice by
the circumstance, that, in the great famine that pre
vailed in the East in the days of Joseph, the Almond
was among the fruits of the land of Canaan that did
not fail. For Israel, when pressed by his sons to allow
them to go a second time to Egypt to buy corn, desires
them to carry a present of the best fruits of the land,
" A little balm, and a little honey, and myrrh, and
nuts, and Almonds."
So, as the Almond failed not to their patriarchs in
the days of dearth, it cometh to their hand in this day
of worse and more bitter privation, as a token that
God forgetteth not his people in their distress, nor the
children of Israel, though scattered in a foreign land,
though their home is the prey of the spoiler, and their
temple is become an high place for the heathen.
ALOES.
Aloe socotri?ia, Socotrine Aloes.
Linnasan class and order, HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, LILIACE.S:.
Psalm xlv. 8.
Prov. vii. 17.
Song of Solomon, iv. 14.
St. John, xix. 39. *
THIS plant itself is not mentioned in Scripture ; and
all the texts in which Aloes are named, relate to the
* For some observations on these texts look forward to LIGN ALOES.
12 ALOES.
gummy substance procured from the Aloe, either by
making incisions and carefully collecting the juice
that exudes, or by bruising the fleshy leaves. In
either case, the liquor is set by in an airy place in the
shade, and carefully skimmed for many days succes
sively ; when it is sufficiently thick, it is laid out in
the sun to dry, and then packed in" skins or boxes.
The taste is intensely bitter, but the smell very
agreeable. It was one of the drugs used by the
ancients, particularly the Egyptians, for embalming
the dead.
The strong sweet odour, and the bitterness com
bined, kept off destructive reptiles and insects ; and
myrrh, having the same qualities, was employed,
together with Aloes, for the same purpose.
When Christ was taken down hastily from the
cross, that his body might not remain exposed on the
Sabbath day, Nicodemus brought about a hundred
pounds weight of myrrh and Aloes, which were
wrapped with the body in the linen cloth wherein he
was laid.
When Aloes are mentioned simply as perfumes, it
is probable that lign aloes is meant.
The modern medicinal Aloes are collected from
ALOES. 13
various species of Aloe ; some growing in Asia,
where, however, they are not native ; some in the
West Indies, where they have been introduced for
the purposes of commerce ; but the Socotrine Aloe
is the best. It is a beautiful plant, growing to the
height of five or six feet, with vivid green leaves, and
a flower of scarlet, white, and green. It owes its
name to the Island of Socotra, lying at the mouth of
the Red Sea ; and probably the method of collecting
and managing the juice, which gives the Socotrine
Aloes the superiority over others, is a relic of the
practice of the ancient Egyptian priests and em-
balmers, who made so much use of it, and possibly
might have their agents on the island, near as it is
to Egypt, for the purpose of buying it up.
Some species of Aloe, more correctly Agave, which
are in common speech called Aloes, though impro
perly, grow in desert sandy places, where no water is.
They are, nevertheless, the sign of refreshment to the
traveller ; for their long thick leaves are each gathered
round the stem, forming a cup, which collects the
rain and dew in such large quantities, that the thirsty
may drink, and the weary rest and drink again, of this
desert fountain.
14 ALOES.
The Aloe seems to love to adorn ruins. Who has
been in Rome, and has not seen how the palace of the
Caesars is crumbling piecemeal into nothing ? yet the
Aloe (really Agave) that crowns the ruin is fresh and
brilliant as on the day of creation, shrouding, with its
ever- springing youth, the perishable work of man.
It is said the finest of such Aloes cover the ruined
walls of Famagosta, and hide the bones, it may be,
too, the blood-stains, where Turk and Christian
struggled for the dominion of the civilised world.
That conflict has long ceased, and the banners of the
crescent and the cross are flying together in many a
region in friendship.
The real Aloe is one of the plants to some species
of which a superstitious value has been attached. The
Mahominedans of Egypt and Palestine reverence the
Mitre Aloe, which grows in plenty in the neighbour
hood of Mecca ; and every man who has performed his
pilgrimage would fain hang a Mitre Aloe over his door
as a proof that he had done so, even without the pre
valent notion that such Aloes bring good luck ; and
travellers, a century ago, often found them suspended
across a street, to render it fortunate.
The Agave, commonly called American Aloe, is a
ALOES. 15
very beautiful plant, very different in character from
the genuine Aloe ; from one species of Agave the
Mexicans prepare an intoxicating liquor. The long
leaves, like those of the true Aloe, have a firm straight
fibre, which, on steeping and beating, becomes fit for
rope-making or the loom. But the chief praise of the
true Aloe now, as in the days of King David, is, that
it is a precious medicine.
ANISE.
Pimpinella Anisum, or Anisum officinale, called also Anicetum
or Anise, and by Dioscorides Anison.
Linnaean class and order, PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, UMBELLIFER.E.
ANISE. 17
ANISE.
St. Matthew, xxiii. 23.
ANISE is named but once in Scripture, and that in the
New Testament, where St. Matthew, relating our
Saviour s reproof of the outward righteousness and
inward corruption of the Pharisees, tells us, that his
words were, " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of mint, and Anise, and
cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of
the law, judgment, mercy, and faith."
Among the ancients Anise seems to have been a com
mon pot-herb in every garden ; for Pliny says of Anise,
" be it green or dry, it serveth as well for seasoning
all viands as making all sauces, inasmuch as the kitchen
cannot be without it." *
Anise grows wild in Egypt, in Syria, Palestine, and
all parts of the Levant ; but the Romans considered
the Egyptian and Cretan Anise to be the best, espe
cially for medicinal purposes. We look upon the Anise
seed of Malta as equally good, and although it is less
* Holland s translation, b. xx. chap. 17.
18 ANISE.
used in medicine by the moderns than by the ancients,
it retains its place in the Pharmacopoeia as an excel
lent stomachic, particularly for delicate women and
young children. The Romans chewed it in order to
keep up an agreeable moisture in the mouth, and to
sweeten the breath ; and some Oriental nations still
do the same.
Some of the Persian poets have sung the agreeable
qualities of the Anise, and I possess a modern street
ballad of Rome in which the slender grace of a young
girl is compared to the Anise.
A large species of Anise grows wild in England ; but
neither that, nor the Eastern Anise when cultivated
here, are much esteemed, and a great quantity is
annually imported for the apothecary and distiller s
use.
APPLE.
Pyrus Malus, Apple.
Linnaean class and order, ICOSANDRIA PENTAGYNIA.
Natural order, Eos ACE ^E.
Deut. xxxii. 10. Song of Solomon, ii. 3. 5.
Prov. xxv. 11. Joel, i. 12.
Zech. ii. 8.
SOME of the commentators on the Bible are unwilling
to believe that so ordinary a fruit as the common
20 APPLE.
apple could be named with, so much commendation as
is bestowed on it in Proverbs and in the Song of Solo
mon. The golden colour mentioned in the first, and
the fragrance so praised in the second, have induced
them to propose the citron, or the quince, as the Apple
of Scripture, on the ground that the native Oriental
Apples are hard and worthless, and that therefore
they are not likely to be the precious fruit referred to.
But it may be observed, that the uncultivated Apple
is nowhere a good fruit ; that the art of gardening
was first practised in the East ; and that the ancient
Greeks appear to have received the fruit, along with
the knowledge of grafting to improve and vary it,
from Media. They, again, transmitted their skill to
the Romans, who carried the cultivation of the Apple
so far as to possess no less than twenty-nine sorts
when Pliny wrote.*
What Media to the east, and Greece to the west of
Syria and Palestine, possessed in the way of fruit,
it is certain that the intermediate provinces might
* For proof of the early culture of the Apple in Greece, we need only
refer to the touching passage in the Odyssey, where Ulysses, in his inter
view with his father in the garden, reminds him of the thirteen pears,
ten apples, and thirty figs, which he had given him when a boy.
APPLE. 21
have possessed also ; and it is notorious that the cul
tivation of the Apple and the pear continued in Arabia,
so that only a century ago the convent gardens of
Mount Sinai furnished the luxurious in Egypt with
most delicious apples and pears.*
The word pomum, apple, was formerly applied to
every kind of fruit, as designating the most precious
part of the plant. For instance, when first the peach
was brought into Italy, the Romans called it Pomum
Persica, the Persian apple ; the quince is the Sidonian
apple ; and in England the annana is called the Pine-
apple, because it resembles one of the fruits our fore
fathers knew, that is, the cone of the cultivated pine
tree. The annona is called custard apple ; a species
of Solanum, mad apple; and so on.
It is in this sense that Apple is used in Deute
ronomy, and by the prophet Zechariah. In Deute
ronomy the goodness of the Lord to Israel is thus
described : " He led him about, he instructed him, he
kept him as the Apple of his eye." Zechariah says to
Zion, to express the tender care of God : " He that
toucheth you, toucheth the Apple of his eye."
* Hasselquist s Travels.
22 APPLE.
In the prophet Joel s description of the desolation
of the land, he says that the Apple tree is one of the
trees of the field which is withered, simply and with
out a figure, and then it appears in its own true cha
racter with great propriety.
The application of the word pomum, Apple, to fruit
in general has led the Latin Christians almost uni
versally to consider the Apple as the forbidden fruit
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
The Oriental Christians and the Mahommedans
are divided as to the claims of the fig and the grape
to that " bad eminence ; " and the apocryphal Enoch
describes the tree as having the leaves of the tamarind
and the fruit of the grape. These fictions, however,
would not be worth notice, but for the high import
ance of the subject on which they are hung.*
The Apple suits best with a temperate climate. I
never ate a good one grown between the tropics, nor
do the finer sorts thrive in very cold countries. The
native Apple of Britain is the crab, formerly more
* I shall consider the claims of the citron and the quince separately
in their alphabetical order.
APPLE. 23
valued than it is now, on account of the quantity of
verjuice it yields. The crab verjuice was preferred to
that expressed from the unripe grape, for domestic and
medicinal purposes ; but both have fallen in value, since
the introduction of milder vegetable acids.
Crab Apple trees are chiefly cultivated for the sake
of their stocks or stems, which are the best for grafting
all the finer kinds of Apples upon ; and a considerable
number are yearly consumed in the manufacture of
walking-sticks.
The Apple is one of the good gifts which Europe
has bestowed upon the new world. In North America,
excellent Apples are sufficiently abundant to supply
not only plenty of fruit and cider for home consumption,
but a large quantity for exportation.
The Jesuits introduced the Apple into Chile, where
it has taken possession of the soil in the province of
Conception. There the woods are full of the most
delicious Apples ; and the great river of the country
rolls millions of them down to the very sea beach
every autumn, where they are eagerly collected by
the crews of such ships as may be at anchor there, and
by the fishermen. These Apples are neither trained
nor grafted ; but they have lighted on a good soil and
24 AITLE.
a climate adapted to their growth ; so that in shape,
colour, and flavour, they are equal to any in the
world.
Would that such gifts, from one land to another,
might henceforth become the main object of naviga
tion ! and our guardian flag rather protect the
interchange of the natural productions of various
climates, and the works of arts and industry of
different nations, than be a battle signal, unless the
cause of freedom or of independence should again call
upon us to win another Trafalgar ! But let us rather
pray that peace may endure, and that the period may
be long during which the
" Birds of calm sit brooding o er the charmed wave ! "
ASH.
Fraxinus excelsior., Common Ash.
Linnsean class and order, POLYGAMIA DKECIA.
Natural order, OI.EACEJE.
26 ASH.
ASH.
Isaiah, xliv. 14.
THE Ash is among the trees enumerated by the sub-
limest of the prophets, in that marvellous passage,
where, with such noble irony, he describes the wor
shipper of a carved image, who hath not " knowledge
nor understanding," to say : " I have burned part of it
in the fire ; yea, also I have baked bread upon the
coals thereof ; I have roasted flesh and eaten it ; and
shall I make the residue thereof an abomination ?
shall I fall down to the stock of a tree ? "
The timber of the Ash, from its toughness and
lightness, is fit for carvers and turners purposes, and
is much used for the tools of husbandmen. The oars
of light boats are also made of Ash. It is a tall hand
some tree ; very graceful when young, with its delicate
winged leaves, and drooping bunches of flowers, suc
ceeded by the light-brown keys ; and yielding to few
trees in picturesque beauty in old age. It loves the
neighbourhood of the sea, and does not appear to
suffer from the washing of the salt spray.
In the South of Europe, and in the countries of the
ASH. 27
Levant, manna exudes from the Fraxinus excelsior,
as well as from the Fraxinus Ornus, or Flowering Ash ;
but, in our colder climate, that valuable medicine is
not secreted by the Ash.
ASPALATHUS.
Aspalathus Creticus, Cretan Aspalathus.
Linnaean class and order, DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.
Natural order, LEGUMINOSJE.
Ecclus. xxiv. 15.
ASPALATHUS is enumerated among the precious spices
and perfumes unto which wisdom is likened in the
text.
A sweet perfume and ointment were made from the
root of it, and there was a notion that the smell be
came surpassingly delicious, if the rainbow had rested
on the shrub. It was also called Sceptrum and Erysi-
ASPALATHUS. 29
sceptrum, by the ancient Romans, who received the
perfume from Egypt.
Now the book of Ecclesiasticus seems first to Imve
been published in Alexandria, though written in
Judea, after the Captivity. The translation into
Greek was made in the reign of Ptolemy Evergetes,
by the great grandson of the original writer, as he
tells us in his prologue. It is therefore not wonderful
that an Egyptian drug, not named elsewhere in Scrip
ture, should have found a place in the text here.
In modern times, the Cretan Aspalathus, or An-
thyllis Hermannias, or Anthyllis Vulneraria, has had
a great reputation as one of the best styptics. The
roots are still used in various preparations by the
apothecary.
BALM.
Balsamodendron Gileadensis, Balm of Gilead.
Linnaean class and order, OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, BURSERACEJE.
This has been called by various botanists by various names. Linnaeus
calls it Amyris Gileadensis ; others, Opobalsanium ; others, Proteum Gi-
leadense. It is the Balsanion of Theophrastus and Dioscorides,
BALM. 31
BALM.
Gen. xxxvii. 25.; xliii. 11. Jerem. viii. 22.; xlvi. 11.; li. 8.
Ezekiel, xxvii. 17.
IT is curious, that the tree producing the precious
balsam, or balm of Gilead, is not a native of the
country where we have the first accounts of its being
gathered in sufficient quantity to become an article of
commerce. It has nowhere been found wild, except
on the African coast of the Ked Sea, as far as Babel-
mandel. Of the two gardens in Judea, where Pliny
and other ancient authors relate that it grew, that of
Gilead was so early planted, that we can form no
conjecture as to its origin.
Its produce is named as an article of merchandise,
in the book of Genesis, without any observation what
ever : but it is probable that the plants which Jose-
phus says the Queen of Sheba presented to Solomon
may have stocked the gardens of Jericho, between
twenty and thirty miles from those of Gilead, and in
a climate and soil still more favourable.
We may conclude, from the care taken of these
gardens, from the constant opinion that one of them,
32 BALM.
at least, was planted by Solomon, and from the know
ledge possessed by the Greeks and Romans that they
were the peculiar property of the kings of Judah, how
precious the balm was.
Now Jeremiah instructs us in its healing properties,
when lamenting the miseries of Israel ! "Is there no
balm in Gilead, is there no physician there ? " And
again he mourns the woes of Egypt and Babylon, be
cause they are such as the balm even of Gilead cannot
cure.
The road by which the balsam reached Greece and
Rome is pointed out by Ezekiel, who says that Israel
and Judah supplied the markets of Tyre with it, and
the merchants frequenting Tyre carried it, of course,
further west.
Tacitus, describing Judea, says that it equals
Italy in all natural productions ; and has, besides, the
Balsam tree and the palm tree to boast of. And
Virgil sings, in the Georgics :
" Balm slowly trickles through the bleeding veins
" Of happy shrubs, in Idumean plains."
Indeed so highly prized was the balsam, that, during
the war of Titus against the Jews, two fierce contests
took place for the Balsam orchards of Jericho ; the
BALM. 33
last of which was to prevent the Jews from destroy
ing the trees, that the trade might not fall into the
enemy s hands. The gardens were taken formal pos
session of as public property ; an imperial guard was
appointed to watch over them ; and it appears that the
emperors increased their size, and endeavoured to
propagate the plants.
The imperial care has been unavailing ; not a root
nor a branch of the Balsam tree is now to be found in
all Palestine.
Twice was the curiosity of the Roman people grati
fied by the sight of a Balsam tree exhibited in triumph
in their streets. The first time was when Pompey
returned from his conquests in the East, and Judea
first became a Roman province ; and the last time
was after a lapse of 144 years, when the spoils of the
Temple of Jerusalem were borne in triumph through
the imperial city; and, as a sign of the subjection of
the whole country, the precious Balm tree was one of
the objects exhibited with pride by Vespasian. *
But centuries have passed by since the very names
of Balsam of Judea and Balm of Gilead have been
* Pompey s triumph was sixty-five years before Christ; that of Ves
pasian, A.D. 79.
34 BALM.
I
forgotten. The substance, however, is still eagerly
sought for in Egypt and the East, under the name of
Balsam of Mecca. It appeal s to have been one of the
great objects of poor Hasselquist s Oriental travels,
to procure some unadulterated balsam of Mecca.
This, it seems, he was fortunate enough to do at Cairo,
but complains much of the fraudulent mixtures sold
in its stead ; mixtures which appear to be much like
those of which Pliny gives so long a list, and which
the Roman and Egyptian apothecaries used to increase
the quantity, for which they found a ready sale.
Hasselquist never procured a sight of the plant, nor
does it appear that he conversed with any one who had
seen it. Bruce was more fortunate. He saw the tree,
which he calls Balassum, in some valleys in Arabia ;
and at Beder procured the specimens from which he has
given his figures. The balsam is yielded in very small
quantities, and is carried to Mecca to meet the caravans
from Egypt and Syria. The most considerable grove or
garden of Balsam trees is in a recess in the mountains,
between Mecca and Medina, near a place where Maliom-
med fought one of his severest battles. He, sensible of
the advantage of possessing the precious grove, at once
took possession of it ; and asserted, even in the face of his
BALM. 35
companions, at the time, that the trees had sprung from
the blood of such of the Koreish as had died there.*
When Prosper Alpinus visited Egypt, there was a
garden of Balsam trees at Matariah, containing forty
plants, set there by a certain Messoner, governor of
Cairo. These plants had dwindled to ten, when Bel-
lonius saw the garden ; but Bruce found not one :
and this appears to have been the last attempt to form
a plantation of Balsam trees.
The Amyris Gileadensis is a small tree, rising to
little more than the height of fourteen feet. At five
feet from the ground it branches out something like
an old hawthorn, but the foliage is scanty and ragged.
The bark is smooth, shining, and of a whitish grey
colour, with brown blotches. The leaves are of a
bright green, and grow in threes and fives. The flower
is insignificant, and generally grows three together,
though it is rare to find more than two berries near
each other.
The greatest quantity of the balsam flows from the
wounded bark. But there are three kinds procured
* A similar story is told in the apocryphal Gospel of the Infancy, viii.
11., that, when the Holy Family reached Matariah, the sweat of the infant
Jesus produced the Balsam trees there.
36 BALM.
by art : the first and best is the opobalsamum, ex
pressed from the green berry ; the second is the
carpo-balsamum, from the ripe nut or berry ; and the
last is obtained by bruising and boiling the young
wood.
The twigs, possibly after boiling, are sent to Venice,
where they enter into that heterogeneous compound,
Venice treacle. From Forskal s account, the twigs
sold in the bazaars under the name of God (wood) i
Balasson are those of the Balsamon Kataf, which pro
duces myrrh.
When Bruce travelled, a certain tribute on the
Balsam was paid in kind, by the caravans, to the
Sultan, to the Governor of Cairo, to the Pacha of
Damascus, and to the Emir Hadjee, or conductor of
the pilgrims. But it seems this is discontinued.
The figure and description by Nees von Esenbeck
tally with those of Bruce : only the figure of Von
Esenbeck is evidently from a young plant ; that of
Bruce from an aged one, whose bark shows the dark
spots whence the Balsam has exuded.
It would, perhaps, be idle to enquire who first con
veyed the Balsam from the African coast of the Red
Sea to Arabia and the Land of Canaan. Were they
BALM. 37
those Ishmaelite merchants that carried spiceries into
Egypt ; receiving by the ports on the Red Sea, or
perhaps at Orrnuz, the cinnamon and cassia of India ?
Did any of their settled tribes cultivate the Balsam
gardens, and bring the produce to the halting-places
of the Desert, to be taken up by the merchant for the
great market of Egypt ? Was the garden of Gilead of
so ancient a date ?
How little, after all our search, do we know of the
great Eastern monarchies ; of the nations that were
their servants ; of the realms cultivated for their
supplies !
BARLEY.
Hordeum vulgare, Common Barley.
Linnsean class and order, TBIANDBIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, GRAMINE^B.
BARLEY. 39
BARLEY.
Exod. ix. 31. 2 Chron. ii. 10.; xxvii. 5.
Numb. v. 15. Job, xxxi. 40.
Deut. viii. 8. Isaiah, xxviii. 25.
Ruth, i. 22.; ii. 23.; iii. 2. 15. 17. Ezekiel, iv. 9.; xlv. 13.
2 Sam. xiv. 30. ; xvii. 28. ; xxi. 9. Joel, i. 11.
1 Kings, iv. 28. Judith, viii. 2.
2 Kings, iv. 42. St. John, vi. 9.
1 Chron. xi. 13.
THERE are several kinds of Barley ; that generally
cultivated in Egypt and by the African Moors is among
the best.
The first mention made of Barley tells of the de
struction of the crop in Egypt by the plague of thunder
and hailstones, for at that season " the Barley was in
the ear." The wheat and the rye were not grown up,
and so escaped. The time, then, must have been about
the beginning of March, for the regular Barley harvest
was in April. Pliny says that the people in Spain
gathered in their first crop of Barley in April, and
that they had two crops a year.
During the siege of Rhodes by the Turks, the Grand
master of the Order of St. John, fearful lest the enemy
should profit by the harvest, caused the rye, half-ripe,
40 BARLEY.
to be reaped, and brought within the gates, at the end
of April, the Barley being already housed : but the
wheat, even in May, was gathered in the green and
was fit for nought but fodder for cattle.
In the book of Numbers, Barley-meal is an offering
appointed for a man to make in case of jealousy ; and
there is a singular coincidence to be remarked in pro
fane history, namely, that the Thracian women offered
Barley straAv to the regal Diana, the goddess of the
chaste. *
That Barley was pretty generally used by the
Greeks in their sacrifices we have plenty of instances.
For this purpose it was salted and strewed between
the horns of the victim ; but, in the Hebrew offering
for jealousy, neither oil nor salt nor other seasoning
was added.
There is a use of Barley so long known in Egypt,
that its discovery was attributed to their god Osiris,
which, I am persuaded, the Israelites continued for some
time at least after the Exode ; I mean the extracting
* Herodotus, b. iv. sect. 33. Melpomene. He mentions that the Hy
perboreans, i. c. the most northern of European nations, sent offerings to
Delos wrapped in Barley straw ; so far had the culture of this grain
extended before his time.
BARLEY. 41
from it an intoxicating liquor. * The vine was not a
native of Egypt ; and wine was scarce and precious, for
the culture of the grape did not succeed there. The
ordinary drink of the people of ancient Egypt was a
kind of Barley wine : and Pococke, in our own days,
found the Egyptian labourers drinking beer of un-
malted Barley. f Now in Leviticus (x. 9.) the priests
are forbidden to drink wine or strong drink before they
go into the Tabernacle ; and in the chapter of Numbers
(vi. 3.) concerning the law of the Nazarenes, they are
forbidden not only wine and strong drink, but vinegar
made from wine or strong drink ; and, in all these pas
sages, strong drink is formally distinguished from wine.
In the book of Deuteronomy, the Promised Land is
emphatically called a land of Barley and of wheat ;
and it appears that while wheat was reserved for the
service of the altar, the tables of the rich, and the
purposes of commerce, Barley was the food of the
labouring classes. The friends of David brought
* Herodotus, b. ii. sect. 77. Euterpe.
f The Caffres, whose manners and habits, nay even their weapons,
resemble those of the ancient robbers of the Nile, make an intoxicating
drink from Barley : the Hottentots do the same, but improve it much, and
hasten its fermentation, by the infusing of a root which they find in their
country, much resembling the Chinese ginseng.
42 BARLEY.
Barley bread for his young men during the rebellion
of Absalom ; and Barley was part of the provision of
food for the labourers, given by Solomon to Hiram,
king of Tyre, for the hire of his workmen and his
ships, when he collected the timber for the building
of the Temple.
It was the custom of the Jews to date events ac
cording to the seasons. The entrance of Holofernes
with his army into Judea was in the wheat har
vest. The husband of Judith is recorded to have died
during the Barley harvest ; and the beautiful history
of Until is dated from the beginning of the Barley
harvest, when she began her gleaning in the fields of
Boaz, from whose marriage with her sprang the house
of David.
Neither the Babylonish captivity, nor the other
great and strange events that befel the Jews, changed
their custom as to diet. When Jesus, seeing the
multitude that had followed him to listen to his doc
trine, had compassion on them, for they were hungry ;
he asked what food his disciples had at hand to give
unto the people. A few Barley loaves was all the
bread he found : but, on the instant, these sufficed
for all. As his few and clear and simple precepts,
BAELEY. 43
truly followed, are all-sufficient for the soul, so, by his
divine blessing, two small fishes and a few Barley
loaves fed the people ; nor were they exhausted,
but a store still remained for the after-comers.
How much is taught here ! The poor and hungry
must not be left to the temptations of such a state,
lest they lose sight of the spiritual teaching they may
have received ; and so, in the words of the wise
Agur*, "Steal, and take the name of the Lord in
vain."
Where spiritual instruction is bestowed, let it be
also remembered, that the body is the servant of the
soul : and that, unless it be well nurtured, it can
render no good service. In vain will words of salva
tion sound in the ear, if the way to escape temptation
be not opened by an education inculcating industry,
good habits, and that knowledge of outward things
that may preserve the poor from the evil that the wise
man prayed against ; because it will enable them to
earn their daily bread, that is, the food convenient for
* Proverbs, xxx. 9. The prayer of Agur : " Remove from me vanity
and lies : give me neither poverty nor riches : feed me with food con
venient for me, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord ?
or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of the Lord in vain."
44 BAKLEY.
them ; labouring like St. Paul, and working with
their hands the things that are good, even while
carrying on their spiritual improvement. So shall
the fragments of our Barley loaves become as
precious as the bread of fine wheaten flour in the
sanctuary.
7 KEEN BAY.
BAY.
Two plants claim to be the Bay of Scripture : these are
Laurus nobilis, Green Bay ;
Nerium Oleander, Rose Bay.
Linneean classes j~ Laurus nobilis, ENNEANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
and orders, [ Nerium Oleander, PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural orders,
Laurus nobilis, LAURIN^E.
Nerium Oleander, APOCYNACE^E.
46 BAY.
BAY.
Psalm i. 3. ; xxxvii. 35. Daniel, iv. 4.
"I HAVE seen the wicked in great power, spreading
himself like a green Bay tree ; yet he passed away."
Ps. xxxvii.
This striking exclamation is the only passage in
which the Bay tree is named in our version of the
Bible ; how beautiful, how natural is the comparison !
The word rendered " green Bay tree," in this text,
appears, however, to have a more general application,
and to mean " flourishing, beautiful, green ;" the word
tree being understood. * So in the first Psalm, in
describing the righteous man, it is simply, "he shall be
like a tree planted by the rivers of water. " In the
fourth chapter of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar describes
himself as flourishing in his palace, that is, like a
healthy tree.
The Laurus nobilis, or Sweet Bay, is a native of
the East ; and, although the modern traveller does not
* .ZEsrach, translated Bay tree in the English Bible, according to Celsius,
is "green, flourishing, ornamental :" he instances the Psalms and Daniel.
BAY.
47
often meet with it in Judea, it luxuriates in the old
gardens of Tyre and Sidon*, and in Palestine itself
is found by some forgotten tower, or deserted wine
press.
About a century ago, the pious and eager traveller,
* Modern Zur and Seidc.
48
Hasselquist, was struck with the sight of a valley in
Judea, where, by the side of a stream, thickets of
various shrubs, especially the Rose Bay, or Nerium
Oleander, were in full blossom. The splendour of
the Nerium immediately recalled to his memory the
tree planted by the rivers of water of the Psalmist,
and the spreading Bay tree, to which the wicked man
is likened in his prosperity. His letters, addressed to
.
Linna3us, suggested the substitution of the Nerium
for the Lauras ; the idea was adopted, and Sprengel
and others have implicitly followed it.
The Nerium is certainly one of the most ornamen
tal shrubs of Palestine. We find it enlivening the banks
of the Jordan, mixed with the willow and the tama-
I risk ; Oleander and myrtle in blossom perfume the air
around the Lake of Tiberias, according to the relation
of recent travellers ; and I have heard my friend
Mr. Roberts* talk admiringly of the magnificent
Oleanders that grow along the stream that once
i
rendered Petra habitable, and almost fill up the
entrance to the valley, while the flaunting bramble,
* David Roberts, Esq. R. A., whose beautiful drawings of Egypt, the
neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, and the Holy Land, need no commen
dation of mine.
BAY. 49
loaded with clusters of black berries, hangs from every
pinnacle of the carved rock. Thus are the prophecies
concerning Edom accomplished. The briar springs
up among her palaces.
BDELLIUM.
Amyris comiphora, Bdellium.
Lirmaean class and order, OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order,
Gen. ii. 12. Numb. xi. 7.
IN the first text in which this precious gum is
mentioned, it is said to be found in the land of Havi-
lah, watered by the river Pison, where there is gold,
and the gold is good. Now as Pison is one of the
rivers of Paradise, and as the learned are not agreed
as to which of the rivers now known the name should
be applied we can only suppose it somewhere near
the country whence we receive good gold and the best
Bdellium, and that country is India.
Bdellium is used in the book of Numbers to compare
with the manna which fed the children of Israel in the
wilderness, and it is said to be clear, and of a whitish
colour.
This answers to the description Pliny gives of the
best, or Indian, Bdellium ; that of a dark colour being
BDELLIUM. 51
adulterated, or the gum of a different tree from the
true Bdellium.
Bdellium was offered in solemn sacrifices to the
greater divinities of Rome, being first steeped in wine.
It was also highly valued as a perfume, and employed
sometimes to flavour wine.
Sprengel, in his Flora Biblica, says that Bdellium is
produced by the Borassus flabelliformis, or Lontarus
domestica, and that this palm grows wild in Arabia
Felix, and on the south coast of Persia.
Professor Royle says that Indian Bdellium is the
product of Amyris comiphora, a native of Assam
arid Silhet, as well as of Madagascar.* M. Perrotet
gathered some tears of Bdellium, as he thought, from
the Heudelotia africana ; and Lindley, mentioning the
circumstance, says that it probably exudes from some
tree of the genus Amyris, a native of Arabia Felix.
I have mentioned these different opinions, as an
example of the uncertainty in which we continue to
this day, as to the real origin, and even the country, of
many objects, particularly the gums and resins, which
have yet been known and used at a period beyond the
* Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalaya Mountains, p. 176.
Royle mentions that the Persians call this gum Budleyuon.
52 BDELLIUM.
reach of history, and which we find on the lists of the
merchants in the very first ages of commerce.
Perhaps the collectors of these costly matters are
themselves ignorant that the name they give to one
substance, is the same given to another on the farther
side of a rapid river or beyond a range of mountains ;
and the merchants receive them both as mere varieties,
classing them by the higher or lower prices they fetch
in the markets.
Notwithstanding these considerations, however,
there seems little doubt of the correctness of Dr.
Royle s opinion, founded as it is on the researches of
Mr. Colebrooke and Dr. Roxburgh. The Bdellium
is often called Indian Myrrh, but it does not appear
that any tree or shrub, from which real myrrh exudes,
is to be found in India, while Bdellium is produced
in considerable quantities.
BEANS.*
Vicia Faba, Common broad Bean.
Linnaean class and order, DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.
Natural order, LEGUMINOS.E.
* From the Arabic name for bean, Phul, our word pulse, signifying peas,
beans, and other vegetables of that family, is derived.
54 BEANS.
BEANS.
2 Sam. xvii. 28. Ezek. iv. 9.
BEANS are only mentioned twice by name in the
Bible, but under the general appellation of pulse they
are often spoken of. We first find them particular
ised in the list of stores for the troops, sent by
Barzillai to David, when the unhappy king and father
withdrew from Zion on account of Absalom s conspi
racy. The second passage in which Beans are named
is that describing the mixed bread which the prophet
Ezekiel was enjoined to eat before he should pro
phesy.
The Bean is a native of Palestine, Syria, and Asia
Minor ; it was cultivated very early in Greece, and
well known, but abhorred in Egypt. From Greece
it speedily found its way to Italy, and with the Eoman
armies it was not long before it reached every part of
Europe then known. The soil of Britain has been
peculiarly favourable to it ; and we have now a num
ber of varieties for the food both of man and cattle.
Nothing is more delicious than the smell of a Bean-
field when in blossom, and there is great beauty in the
BEANS. 55
appearance of the crop. In some parts of the country
the haulm, or dry Bean-stalk, is used for fuel, and the
poor are as commonly allowed to pull the stubs, as
they are called, of a Bean-field, as they are to glean or
lease in corn lands. *
The ancient Italians used bread made of Bean flour
or meal ; but it was heavy and indigestible, like the
pease bread of Scotland and the North of England.
Rye or wheat flour was often mixed with Bean
meal, which made the bread a degree better. Cakes
of whole Beans were offered to the deities who ferti
lised the earth, and were both offered and eaten at
funeral ceremonies. The arch-flamen or great priest,
who officiated at these ceremonies, abstained alto
gether from eating Beans, and so did not only the
priests but the higher classes of the Egyptians. It is
supposed that the dislike of Pythagoras to Beans was
owing to his having been instructed in the ceremonies
of the Egyptian priests, and having adopted their
prejudices. His dislike, however, did not prevent his
countrymen from using them largely.
* The burning of Bean-stubble only prevails where canals have not
yet carried coals to every man s market-town ; elsewhere the stubs are
ploughed into the ground as manure of some value.
56 BEANS.
As domestic slavery existed both in Greece and
Rome, so cheap a kind of bread was of great im
portance ; and that it was cheap we are sure, because
the Bean was valued for producing a better return
for its cultivation than grain. The Romans fed their
horses and other domestic animals upon Beans, and it
was probably for the sake of provender that they
introduced the Bean into England, as the Roman
soldiers, and even the common people of Rome, fed
upon wlieaten bread ; and a dearth of that luxury
more than once caused mutiny in the armies and
rebellion in the city.
The seed of the nelumbium, or lotus, is often called
the Egyptian Bean. It was much used as food in
ancient Egypt, but seems to be neglected now.
The seed-vessel is of a peculiarly beautiful form ;
the top, becoming detached when ripe, discloses a
chamber with five partitions. This has furnished the
Etruscan artists with beautiful models ; and I have
seen, in the possession of Samuel Rogers, Esq., a very
perfect Etruscan vase, the cover of which, being
removed, showed the divisions within, in imitation of
the seed-vessel of the nelumbium.
BOX.
Buxus seuipervirens, Box Tree.
Linnaean class and order, MONCECIA TETRANDRIA.
Natural order, EUPHORBIACE^.
Isaiah, xli. 19. Ix. 13. 2 Esdras, xiv. 24.
THIS elegant shrub, or rather small tree, is twice
named by Isaiah for its beauty. "I will set in the
desert the fir tree and the pine and the Box tree to
gether." And again : " The glory of Lebanon shall
come unto thee, the fir tree and the pine and the Box
together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary." Such
58 BOX.
is the announcement of the preparation for the coming
of Messiah. *
In the Apocryphal book of Esdras a very important
purpose to which Box-wood was anciently applied is
pointed out.
The Spirit that over-ruled the prophet tells him to
" prepare many Box trees," and to take five scribes
which are ready to write swiftly to assist him to write
the inspirations which should come upon him.
Now Esdras was a Levite, and a captive in Babylon
in the reign of Artaxerxes, and doubtless made use
of the writing materials then common in Babylonia.
These, it appears, were tablets of Box, and were pro
bably waxed over that the impression made by the
iron style, or pen, might be the more readily received.
Such tablets were in use among the writers and de
signers of ancient Greece and Koine, resembling the
* How elegantly has Pope paraphrased these passages !
" Waste sandy valleys, once perplex d with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn ;
To leafless shrubs the flowery palms succeed,
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed."
Yet how feeble is even his beautiful poem, compared with the prophesying
of the sublime Isaiah !
BOX. 59
tablets that the painters of Italy, even after the time
of Giotto, used in their workshops and schools.
Though paper of papyrus was not unknown, and
parchment was manufactured in Asia Minor, they were
both too costly for common use ; and the Box tablets
served for ordinary purposes, and for the first draughts
of writings that might require correction. In the form
of diptychs, Box tablets long served for private letters,
for public despatches, and last, though not least, for
secret altar-pieces, which at length were openly dis
played, when the progress of Christianity had brought
the great ones of the earth to know and bow down to
their " Saviour and their Redeemer, the mighty one
of Israel *," and his Messiah.
It is thought that the word ivory ought to be
translated Box-wood, in Ezekiel, ch. xxvii. ver. 6. : and
it does appear more probable, that the rower s benches
of the Tyrian galleys should have been of Box- wood
rather than of ivory. The chief of the Isles of
Chittim, according to Bochart, was Sardinia, which
abounds in Box trees ; and the prophet says, expressly,
that the materials of those benches were brought from
the Isles of Chittim.
* Isaiah, Ix. 14.
60 BOX.
The common domestic uses of the Box- wood, among
the ancients, were those where strength and elegance
together were desired. For instance, the yoke of
Priam s horses was of Box-wood^; and such furniture
as admitted of carving, coffers for jewels, combs, and
other small ware of the kind, were made of the marbled
root of the tree, while the writing-tables were of the
plain, smooth, yellowish wood of the trunk.
Among the moderns, Box is still used for combs,
and by the carver and the turner ; but it has become
of great importance, as the best material for blocks for
the wood-engraver. It is sufficiently tough, fine in
the grain, and little apt to split. It is a native of
England, but has almost disappeared, as such, before
the spade and the plough. It is cultivated for orna
mental purposes, and a dwarf kind is much used for
garden bordering, f
* Iliad, Cowper s translation, where the unhappy king goes to beg the
dead body of Hector from Achilles.
t The import duty on Box-wood, at 10*. per ton, amounted in 1841
to 8691.
BE AMBLE.
Rubus fruticosus, Bramble.
Linnsean class and order, ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, ROSACES.
Judges, ix. 14. Isaiah, xxxiv. 13. St. Luke, vi. 44.
THE first mention of the Blackberry occurs in the
oldest familiar fable of which we have any account,
and it was related on a most remarkable occasion.
62 BRAMBLE.
After the death of Gideon, or Jerubbaal, a great
crime had destroyed all the worthy persons of his
family except one, and the light-minded Israelites
had chosen the unworthy and criminal Abimelech to
be their judge. While the conspirators were still
assembled before the pillar, or altar, at which they
conferred the supremacy on Abimelech, Jotham, the
son of Gideon, who had escaped the general massacre,
appeared on the top of a neighbouring height, and
calling to them, related the beautiful fable of the
" trees who went forth on a time to anoint a king
over them." The wise refusals of the Olive, the Fig
tree, and the Vine, and the vain acceptance of the
Bramble, with the denunciation of the consequences,
are most beautifully and skilfully managed, and I
doubt if any thing more perfect in its kind has ever
been composed.
Isaiah, foretelling the desolation of Idumea, says,
" Thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and
Brambles in the fortresses thereof, and it shall be
an habitation for dragons, and a court for owls." A
sublime passage, and one often borrowed or copied,
but never better than by the Persian poet, when he
says : " The spider spreads the veil in the palace of
BRAMBLE. 63
the Cesars, and the owl stands centinel on the watch-
tower of Afrasiab."
The beautiful moral inculcated by our Saviour in
the last text in which the Bramble is mentioned,
" Every tree is known by its fruits, for of thorns men
do not gather figs, nor of a Bramble bush gather they
grapes," is but an enforcement of the blessing on the
pure in heart. Another form of the precept, given
before by the Holy Spirit, is, " Keep thy heart with
all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life ! " Such
an example as that of the Bramble, taken from the
common things seen every day, recalls the words of
life far oftener and better than to wear them on the
arm, or to bind them upon the brow. We cannot
walk abroad but the very hedges speak to us of Him
from whom we have received the doctrine that makes
us wise unto salvation.
The word translated Bramble in the texts I have
quoted above, is rendered bush in some other places ;
and, among them, in the second verse of the third
chapter of Exodus, where it is said that the Angel of
the Lord appeared to Moses, in a flame of fire, out of
the midst of a bush. Hence the Christians of the
Holy Land are taught to believe that a Bramble bush,
64 BRAMBLE.
still shown in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, is
the real bush whence the miraculous vision appeared
to Moses.
The Bramble is found wild in most countries of the
known world. Its angular, prickly, and weak stem
trails along the ground, or supports itself upon other
plants. Its fruit is agreeable, but has little flavour;
and though there is something graceful in its bunches
of white flowers, succeeded by clusters of bright black
berries, the Bramble has been always looked upon as
a nuisance both in the field and in the garden.
The five-lobed leaves have been occasionally used
to feed silkworms, during a dearth of mulberry leaves,
and the young tops of the Bramble dve animal sub-
O 1
stances black.
The root is strongly astringent, and a conserve of
the fruit is said to alleviate some of the distressing
ills attendant on gout.
Hasselquist found the Bramble among the ruins of
Scanderette; it flourishes among the rocks of Petra,
and I have met with it wild on the top of a high
mountain in Brazil.
BRIAR.
Rosa canina, Briar.
Linnaean class and order, ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA.
Natural order, ROSACEJE.
Judges, viii. 7. Ezekiel, ii. 6.
Isaiah, v. 6. ; xxvii. 4. ; xxxii. 13. ; Iv. 13. Micah, vii. 4.
To which, according to Celsius, should be added,
1 Kings, xii. 11. 14. 2 Chron. x. 11. 14.
IN the last two texts, the original word means a
scorpion, and also sweet-briar. If the Rabbins, whose
66 BRIAR.
opinions Celsius quotes, are right, then the passage in
Judges has the same meaning, and all three refer to
an ancient and well known punishment for crimes.
This was, forming scourges or rods, not of the twigs
of smooth trees simply to beat or whip the offender,
but of Briars and thorns to tear the flesh. *
This interpretation will explain the threat of the
presumptuous young king Rehoboam, in 1 Kings xii.
11. " My father hath chastised you with whips, but I
will chastise you with scorpions," that is, scourges
made of Briars. And the same words are repeated
in the same chapter, and again in the tenth chapter
of the second Book of Chronicles.
Wherever in other parts of Scripture the Briar is
mentioned, it is with something of contempt or dislike
as a nuisance. The fruit is worthless as food, though
brilliant in colour. Its flower, though fair, is gene
rally scentless, its prickles are sharp and hooked, and
its trailing root, once in the ground, is eradicated with
difficulty, while it is mischievous to the surrounding
herbage.
* Judges, viii. 7. Gideon s threat to the rebellious men of Succoth
was : " Then will I tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and
with Briars."
BRIAR. 67
The Briar, or Dog-Rose, like the more valuable
flowers of its family, is a native of Palestine, and the
adjacent countries ; where, if it hides the nakedness of
the rock, it is often beforehand with the negligence of
the husbandman, and seizes upon his field almost
before he can determine whether it shall lie fallow.
In our colder countries it is more easily kept within
bounds. We suffer it to adorn our hedges, and, by
cultivation, have obtained from it beautiful va
rieties to ornament our gardens.
Of the heps, or scarlet fruit of the Briar, the
English apothecaries prepare a conserve much used in
electuaries. The stocks are used by gardeners to
engraft upon, especially in France.
BULRUSH.
Typha latifolia, Bulrush.
Linnsean class and order, TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, CYPERACE^.
Exod. ii. 3. Isaiah, xviii. 2.
THE original word in these two texts is Gome, and,
according to Celsius, who quotes Rabbins without end
BULKUSH. by
as his authority, Gome means the papyrus or paper-
reed, while the word Aroth, translated paper-reed in
Isaiah, xix. 7., means any grassy reed whatever.
We read in several ancient authors that the Egyp
tians made various uses of the paper-reed, and among
others that they constructed small vessels with it, and
that its fibres served for cordage. So far it suited the
purpose of Jochebed, namely, to make an ark or chest
in which to lay her young son, but reeds and rushes
of all descriptions were used for the same purpose, and
many other kinds were as plentiful as the paper- reed
or the Bulrush, on the banks of the Nile.*
However, the word being positively the name for
papyrus, we have only to regret this small oversight
of our excellent translators.
Whatever reed or rush Jochebed employed, the
daubing, either with the slime of the Nile, or with the
asphaltum so much in use in Egypt for embalming,
was quite necessary to render it water-proof, and so
fulfil the tender purpose of the mother.
* Mrs. Hannah More is the only writer, as far as I know, that has
imagined the ark of Moses was a wicker basket. In one of her sacred
dramas she represents Jochebed,
" With a separate prayer each osier weaving."
70 BULRUSH.
Iii the Hierobotanicon there is a dissertation, full, as
usual, of learned quotations, on the different meanings
of the word Agmon, which is found in several of the
sacred books. One of these meanings is Bulrush ; but,
as all these are uncertain, I will conclude by copying
from Hasselquist a passage showing the great use of
these, and other reeds and rushes, in such a country as
Egypt.
" There are two sorts of reed growing near the Nile.
One of them has scarcely any branches, but nume
rous leaves, which are narrow, smooth, channelled on
the upper surface ; and the plant is about eleven feet
high. The Egyptians make ropes of the leaves. They
make floats of this reed, which they use when they fish
with nets. The other sort is of great consequence.
It is a small reed, about two or three feet high, full
branched, with short sharp lancet-shaped leaves : the
roots, which are as thick as the stem, creep and mat
themselves together to a considerable distance. This
plant seems useless in ordinary life : but to it is the
very soil of Egypt owing, for the matted roots have
stopped the earth which floated in the waters, and
formed out of the sea a country that is habitable."
In like manner, the Bulrushes in Holland are
BULKUSH. 71
planted, and carefully kept by public officers, on
account of their matted roots, which are found to be
the best binders for the clay of which the dykes and
mounds are formed, that defend that industrious and
well-peopled country from the inroads of the ocean ;
and of whose original builders neither history nor tra
dition has preserved the slightest memorial, though
their sons still
" stand
Where the broad ocean leans against the land ;
And, sedulous to stop the coming tide,
Lift the tall rampire s artificial pride.
Onward methinks, and diligently slow,
The firm connected bulwark seems to grow,
Spreads its long arms amidst the wat ry roar,
Scoops out an empire, and usurps the shore ;
While the pent ocean, rising o er the pile,
Sees an amphibious world beneath him smile :
The slow canal, the yellow-blossom d vale,
The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail,
The crowded mart, the cultivated plain,
A new creation rescued from his reign."
CALAMUS, OR SWEET CANE.
Andropogon Calamus aromaticus, Sweet Cane.
Linnsean class and order, POLYGAMIA MONCECIA.
Natural order,
CALAMUS, OR SWEET CANE. 73
CALAMUS, OR SWEET CANE.
Exodus, xxx. 23. Isaiah, xliii. 24.
Song of Solomon, iv. 14. Ezekiel, xxvii. 19.
THE Sweet Cane of Isaiah is the Sweet Calamus of
Exodus, the Calamus of the Canticles and of Ezekiel,
the difference being only in the translation.
It was reckoned among the principal spices and
perfumes of which the precious oil for the service of
the tabernacle was composed, and the want of it in
sacrifice is one of the sins with which Isaiah reproaches
the backsliding Jews. " Thou hast bought me no
Sweet Cane with money, neither hast thou filled me
with the fat of thy sacrifices."
Yet though the name of Sweet Calamus was handed
down by the Greek and Latin botanists and physicians,
and though apothecaries continued to use what they
called Sweet Cane, neither botanist nor simpler has
absolutely discovered the very Calamus aromaticus.
Like the spikenard, it has been much sought after,
and, if found at all, it is only of very late days.
The apothecaries in the West of Europe, in the 16th
century, certainly used the sweet acorus, which they
74 CALAMUS, OR SWEET CANE.
cultivated in their gardens for the purpose, as a cure
for those maladies in which the Sweet Calamus had
been thought useful by the ancients.
Clusius, in the researches he made concerning the
medicinal plants of the far East, was of course anxious
to ascertain the country of the true Sweet Calamus, and
to obtain a sight of the plant. His success was small.
That it w^as brought from India, or its borders, seemed
certain ; for the Venetians, who used it in the compo
sition of their famous treacle, made no secret of the
places whence they got it, and those were the markets
to which the Arabs trading to India resorted. In
1595, the Frisian physician, Bernhard Paludanus, gave
Clusius a fragment of the Sweet Cane, which he him
self had brought from the East. Clusius figured it in
his work, and Gerard has represented it in his Herbal,
probably from the same wood-block. It just suifices
to show that it was a small cane, but there is no indi
cation of the species ; and Gerard says that another
piece Clusius had from Antony Colina, the learned
apothecary, was not more satisfactory.
The merchants, of whom Clusius enquired, told him
that their Sweet Cane was reported to grow about
Libanus and Anti-Libanus ; and certainly there is a
CALAMUS, OR SWEET CANE. 75
sweet rush or schoenus, called Camel s Hay, which is
very fragrant and abounds there. But this cannot be
the Sweet Calamus from a far country, equal with
the best spices spoken of in Scripture ; nor does the
Arabian camel s hay which Hasselquist calls a Schoe-
nanthus, and tells us grows near Limbo in Arabia
Petrsea*, fulfil the conditions on which we can accept
it as the true Calamus aromaticus. But the Andro-
pogon, which Royle calls Calamus aromaticus, and
which Sir Gilbert Blane and his brother believed
to be spikenard, does so in every particular, f It
is from a far country; it is very fragrant in itself,
and the aromatic oil obtained from it would contri
bute to the odour of the costly perfume which Moses
was enjoined to make, according to the art of the
apothecary, for the service of the tabernacle.
Arrian s story, if true, that the Phoenician soldiers
* " Camel s hay, which is a Schcenanthus, grows in the deserts of both
the Arabias ; it is gathered near Limbo, a port in Arabia Petrsea, and
exported to Egypt. The Venetians buy it in Egypt, as it enters into the
composition of Venice treacle. This was undoubtedly one of v the aromatic
and sweet plants which the Queen of Sheba gave to Solomon, being to
this day much esteemed by the Arabians for its sweet smell. They call
it Nelsi Meccani and Iddhur Mecchi" Hasselquisfs Travels.
f See farther on, under the head SPIKENARD ; and Mr. Hatchett s ele
gant essay on the spikenard of the ancients.
76 CALAMUS, OR SWEET CANE.
in Alexander s army, when on the borders of India,
gathered the sweet-scented grass which the soldiers
trod under foot, and carried it to their own country
i
for merchandise, applies at least as well to the Sweet
Calamus as to the spikenard, for they were sought
I
after almost in an equal degree by the ancient apothe
caries ; and the modern Europeans, down to a late
period, perhaps even preferred the Sweet Cane, as it
was an ingredient in their favourite theriacuin.
There are numerous aromatic canes and grasses in
India, besides the Andropogon in question ; one of the
most remarkable of which is the koosa grass*, of which
so much use is made, both by natives and Europeans,
to temper the hard hot winds in the warm season.
The roots are woven for this purpose very neatly and
ingeniously into screens or mats, which are sprinkled
with water and suspended before the open doors or
windows, so that the breeze in passing through them
is cooled, and regains a portion of its healthy elasticity,
while a slight but very agreeable fragrance is diffused
around.
The roots of koosa grass have the property of
* Poa cynosuroides. Dr. Fleming OH Indian medicinal Plants.
CALAMUS, OE SWEET CANE. 77
repelling insects, and are therefore laid among clothes
of every kind, and the whole plant is highly valued
and much cultivated in Brahmin villages. In that
ancient fable book the Hetopadesa *, the koosa is
considered as an emblem of sanctity ; and, wherever a
tiger is made to play the hypocrite, he always ap
proaches his intended victim with a blade of koosa
grass in his hand, which he holds out as a kind of flag
of truce.
Besides these, Dr. Royle mentions several grasses
from which fragrant and medicinal oils are extracted,
and hints at more not yet perfectly known to Euro
pean botanists, who are constantly thwarted in their
enquiries concerning the plants yielding the drugs of
commerce, by the jealousy of the traffickers in those
matters.
* Known to us as Pilpay s Fables.
v u
CAMPHOE.
Laurus Camphora of Linnceus., Dryobalanops Camphor a of
Colebrooke.
Linnasan class and order, ENNEANBRIA MONOGYNIA.
f Laurus Camphora, LAURACE^E.
Natural order,
[ Dryobalanops, DIPTERACE^E.
Song of Solomon, i. 14.; iv. 13.
CAMPHIRE is not named any where in Scripture but
in the Song of Solomon ; where every perfume, of the
CAMPHOR. 79
richest and choicest kind, is brought together to fur
nish comparisons, or rather allegories, of the wide
spreading and beneficent influence of the church of
Christ. Camphire is more than simply a perfume:
it has always been believed powerful to purify the
air, and cleanse it from foul and infectious qualities,
and thus it is doubly proper for the purpose of the
text.
The two sorts of Camphire named above are pro
duced by very different trees, but the fatty gum or
resin of both has the same properties, except that the
Camphor of the Dryobalanops, being harder, does
not so readily waste away in the open air.
The Camphor of the Dryobalanops is so precious,
that it is mostly reserved for the consumption of the
mandarins of China and Japan, and hardly ever finds
its way to Europe.
The plant is a native of Sumatra and Borneo. It is
a very large tree, and within the trunk large cavities
are found, containing both oil and Camphor. The oil
is supposed to be the first state of the Camphor, which
is found in solid heaps as large as a man s arm, weigh
ing eleven or twelve pounds.
If Solomon, as the texts seem to imply, planted
80 CAMPHOR.
Camphor in his vineyards of Engeddi, it was most pro
bably the Lauras Camphora, which might better suit
the climate, and was easier to procure. It is cultivated
all over the South of India, and furnishes the Camphor
of commerce.
The Camphor is obtained by distillation, from the
leaves of the flowers, and the branches of the tree.
Other species of Laurus also furnish it. The
Laurus Cassia with broad pointed leaves, a native of
Asam and Silhet, gives out a good deal from its
roots; and the cinnamon itself yields a proportion.
Most of the Camphor that reaches the European
markets is collected in the Island of Formosa, whence
the Chinese junks convey it to Canton, to await the
European and American traders. The chests made
of Camphor wood are eagerly bought, as they have
the reputation of securing whatever is put into them
from the attacks of insects.
I have given the figure and description of the
true Camphire above, from deference to our beautiful
version of the Scriptures ; though I believe the text
quoted from Solomon really refers to the next cut,
and that the plant there described is the real Cam
phire of the Canticles.
CAPHER, CUPROS, CYPRUS.
Lawsonia inermis, Hennah.
Linnaean class and order, OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, LYTHRARI-SG.
MOST authors of note who have attended to the botany
of the Scriptures, are of opinion that the word in the
text should not have been translated camphire at all,
82 CAPHER, CUPROS, CYPRUS.
but that the plant meant is the Henna, or Lawsonia
Inermis of the moderns. It is the Cupros of Diosco-
rides, and the Hebrew name is Capher. It grows
plentifully in Egypt, and in most parts of the East as
far as India. The flowers grow in graceful fragrant
clusters, often used by the young women to adorn
their hair ; and from the leaves a paste is compounded,
with which every Eastern beauty colours her hands
and feet. Nay, so ancient is the custom, that mum
mies have been found with their nails dyed with
Henna. In later times Mahommed used Henna as
a dye for his beard, and the fashion was followed by
several of the caliphs.
Pliny tells us that the best Cupros, or Cyprus,
was brought from Ascalon ; and it was in the neigh
bourhood of that place, that Clusius found it most
abundant. Gerard raised some from seed, and had
flourishing plants in his own garden, besides some
that he set in the Earl of Essex s garden at Nine-Elms.
In his time it was looked upon as akin to the privet
and the phillyrea, which last was Queen Elizabeth s
favourite evergreen. It never flowered with Gerard,
but Miller had it in bloom at Chelsea, where it was
kept in a hothouse.
CAPHER, CUPROS, CYPRUS. 83
The figure of the leaf and berry, given by Gerard,
is tolerable ; and that of the flower, in Rauwolf s
Travels, is really good. Sonnini s engraving, how
ever, is a beautiful thing, which he seems to have
taken pains about, in proportion to his admiration of
the plant, which really is extravagant.
The use of Henna is scarcely to be called a caprice
in the East. There is a quality in the drug which
gently restrains perspiration in the hands and feet,
and produces an agreeable coolness, equally conducive
to health and comfort.
If the Jewish women were not in the habit of using
Caphor, or Henna, before the time of Solomon, might
it not have been introduced among them by his wife,
the daughter of Pharaoh ; in which case it would be
natural for him to plant it for her use in the vineyards
of Engeddi?
CAPER,
Capparis spinosa, Caper Bush.
Linnaean class and order, POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, CAPPARID^E.
Ecclesiastes, xii. o.
THIS is one among the twenty-two plants which the
Rabbins say are named as thorns in Scripture. But
in that most beautiful chapter of Ecclesiastes, quoted
CAPER. 85
above, it is used figuratively, and very properly trans
lated Desire in our version.
The metaphor here made use of is derived from an
ancient practice, not quite obsolete in some countries
within the memory of man, namely, that of present
ing to the guests at a feast, some time before
approaching the table, condiments of various kinds
for the purpose of exciting appetite. Of these condi
ments, a very favourite one in the East was the
flower-buds of Capers, preserved either in salt and
water, or in vinegar. * But the Preacher says that the
Capers, that is, the stimulants that used to excite the
desire for food, " shall fail : because man goeth to his
long home, and the mourners go about the streets."
Celsius has, in the Hierobotanicon, brought a world
of learning, Heathen and Rabbinical, to prove the
meaning of the word in this passage; the fitness of
which is enhanced by the circumstance that the
Caper bush, a low trailing shrub, loves to grow un
disturbed among rocks and ruins, and was constantly
to be found overhanging the antique tombs that
* Its qualities are stimulant, antiscorbutic, and aperient. The Caper
bush is a native of the South of Europe and the Levant. The amount
of the duty, Qd. per pound, in 1841 was 2107.
86 CAPER.
sanctified a valley overlooked by the palace of the
Preacher.
This beautiful plant is rooted in many a crevice
of the palace of the Caesars at Rome; it spreads its
green glossy leaves and starry white flowers, with
their long purple anthers, over the ruins of that once
stirring place, the Colosseum; and clothes the arches
of the Temple of Peace with festoons which adorn,
without hiding, their beauty. The ancient tombs of
the Campagna are frequently hung with it ; the rocks
of Naples are favourable to it ; and it has fixed itself
not only on the mouldering cliffs of Malta, but in the
narrow crevices of the stones of the fortification.
CASSIA.
Laurus Cassia, Cassia Buds.
Cassia Fistula, Common Cassia.
Linnsean class f Laurus Cassia, ENNEANDRIA MONOGYNIA,
and order, |_ Cassia Fistula, DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA,
Laurm Cassia, LAURACE^E.
Natural order,
Cassia Fistula, LEGUMINOS^.
88 CASSIA.
CASSIA,
Exod. xxx. 24. Psalm xlv. 8. Ezekiel, xxvii. 19.
THE text from Exodus numbers Cassia with the
principal spices which should compose the ointment
for the tabernacle; the Psalmist names it among
choice perfumes, and Ezekiel among the precious mer
chandise of Tyre. The first two texts seem certainly
to designate the Laurus Cassia, the last may compre
hend both it and the Cassia Fistula. The Laurus
Cassia, which produces the flowers and buds of Cassia
of commerce, is a native of India, China, and the
Eastern islands ; and the commonest variety so closely
resembles the true Cinnamon tree in appearance, and
in the flavour of the bark, that one not accustomed
to them would with difficulty distinguish them.
It is curious to observe that Ezekiel, in his account
of the merchandise brought to Tyre, groups together
the Cassia, calamus, and bright iron. Now the Cassia
and calamus certainly came from India, and the
bright iron was no doubt of the same kind now so
prized, and which the native Hindoos, with their very
small furnaces, prepare with a perfection to which
European ingenuity has not reached.
CASSIA.
89
ASSIA FISTULA.
The Cassia Fistula is a tree of larger growth, some
times reaching the height of forty or fifty feet. It is
a native of Arabia and of Egypt ; and it is to the
90 CASSIA.
Arabs that we owe its use, and the method of pre
paring it. The drug is the round pod, from ten to
twenty inches long, with its seed. The pod is subdi
vided by transverse scales separating the seeds, which
are embedded in a sweet pulp. It is prepared in whole
pods, with only the trouble of alternate heaping up
and spreading for a certain number of days. The
taste is so agreeable, that the Arabs and Egyptians
make comfits of it, which used to be brought into
Europe as a gentle and agreeable aperient; and, in
its native country, the Cassia Fistula is valued as a
perfume.
Cassia Fistula, of a kind differing little from that
of Arabia, has been found in the woods of South
America.
CEDAR.
Pinus Cedrus, Cedar of Lebanon.
Linnaean class and order, MONCECIA MON T ABELPIIIA.
Natural order, CONIFER^E.
92
CEDAR.
CEDAR.
Leviticus, xiv. 4. 6. 49. 51, 52.
Numb. xix. 6. ; xxiv. 6.
Judges, ix. 15.
2 Sam. v. 11.; vii. 7.
1 Kings, iv. 33. ; v. 6. 8. 10. ; vi.
15, 16. 18. 20.; vii. 2, 3. 12.;
ix. 11.; x. 27.
2 Kings, xix. 23.
1 Chron. xvii. 6.
2 Chron. ii. 8.; ix. 27. ; xxv. 18.
Job, xl. 17.
Psalms, xxix. 5. ; Ixxx. 10 ; xcii,
12.; civ. 16.; cxlviii. 9.
Song of Solomon, i. 17.; v. 15.;
viii. 9.
Isaiah, ii. 13,; ix. 9, 10.; xiv.
8.; xxxvii. 24.; xli. 19.; xliv.
14. -
Jerem. xxii. 7. 14. 23.
Ezekiel, xvii. 3. 22, 23. ; xxvii. 5.
24. ; xxxi. 3. 8.
Amos, ii. 9.
Zeph. ii. 14.
Zach. xi. 1, 2.
1 Esdras, iv. 48. ; v. 55.
Ecclus. xxiv. 13.; 1. 12.
BESIDES the numerous texts cited above, there are
several passages in Scripture where the Cedar is
simply called the Glory of Lebanon.
It is not impossible that the Cedar of Leviticus
may be a juniper* ; for it is only used as that fra
grant shrub might be, namely, as a purification for
a person or a house infected with leprosy. The
Cedar was not a native of Egypt, nor could it have
* The Cedar wood in common use, so soft in substance and red in
colour, is the wood of a West Indian juniper. Its fragrance renders it
the most agreeable of pencils.
CEDAR. 93
been procured in the desert without great difficulty :
but the juniper is most plentiful there, and takes
deep root in the crevices of the rocks of Mount Sinai ;
together with that variety of the bramble sometimes
called Rubus-sacer because it grows there, and an
elegant species of white broom.
The first text in Numbers might also be read
juniper with propriety ; but not so the second.
There the Cedar is magnificently placed. When
the faithless prophet, willing to curse the people of
God, is forced by the Spirit to bless instead of
cursing, he compares the tents of Israel to " the
trees of a garden which the Lord hath planted, lign
aloes and the Cedars by the waters."
Next we have the Cedars of Lebanon in the beau
tiful fable of Jotham, too noble to be subjects of the
worthless bramble : and then the texts from the
five historical books, beginning with the second of
Samuel, and ending with the second of Chronicles,
acquaint us with the various domestic uses of the
timber of the Cedar.
The negotiations of the King of Tyre with David
and Solomon, for the cutting down of the timber and
the carriage of it when cut, teach us that at that
94 CEDAK.
period Cedar was used generally, in the surrounding
countries, in the construction of temples and palaces ;
as there is no appearance of any thing out of the
ordinary course of business in the agreement. A
certain number of workmen were to be sent from
Jewry, to work under the more experienced wood
cutters of Tyre ; and the payment was to be in pro
visions, partly for the consumption of the labourers,
partly for the supply of the Tyrian market.
Nothing could be fitter for the purpose required
than Cedar wood. Its size and straightness, and
above all its durability, were most desirable for build
ings that were to last. The beauty of the wood, the
high polish of which it was susceptible, and its fra
grance, also recommended it equally for the temple and
the palace ; and that for centuries it continued to be
sought for such purposes, we find from Jeremiah s
denunciation of woe to the rich, who built them
selves houses with large rooms, and made wide their
windows, and with ceilings of Cedar, and painted
with vermilion.
As to the carriage of the Cedars from Lebanon to
Jerusalem, the timber was floated down some of the
mountain streams, mostly down the Nar el Kelb, to
CEDAR. 95
the beach, and thence towed by the ships of Hiram
to Joppa, the nearest seaport to Jerusalem.
The prophet Ezekiel tells us, in the twenty-seventh
chapter of his prophecies, that the masts of the
Tyrian ships were of Cedar* ; and, doubtless, so like
wise were those of Solomon s fleet of Tarshish, which
was in part manned by Tyrians, and in part by the
maritime tribes of Israel.
The Cedar is merely named in the book of Job, as
an object with which to compare the strength of be
hemoth ; and so, in the eightieth psalm, the prosperity
of Israel is compared to the wide-spreading branches
of the Cedar, and in the ninety-second the Cedar is
a type of the virtuous man. But in the twenty-ninth
how grand is the introduction of the Cedar! " The
voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of
glory thundereth. The voice of the Lord breaketh
the Cedars; yea, the Cedars of Lebanon."
In the last two passages in which the Cedar is
* The ancient Greeks and Romans commonly used fir for their masts :
but the enormous ship which conveyed the obelisk of the Vatican
from Egypt to Rome had for her mast a very large and tall Cedar,
cut in the woods of Cyprus. The ship itself was sunk in the harbour of
Ostia, by order of Caligula, to serve as the foundation of a pier and some
towers.
96 CEDAR.
named by the Psalmist, it is as one of the wonderful
and beneficent works of God, and calling upon it with
all created beings to join in his praise.
In the mystical Song of Solomon the Cedar is always
an emblem of strength or beauty.
What sublime poetry is there in the first mention
of the Cedar by Isaiah ! " The lofty looks of man
shall be humbled For the day of the Lord of
Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty,
and upon every one that is lifted up ; and he shall be
brought low: and upon all the Cedars of Lebanon,
that are high and lifted up." Then how apt an
illustration do we find, in the prophecy concerning
Samaria, of the vain-glorious, who say : " The syca
mores are cut down, but we will change them into
Cedars!" When Israel rejoices over fallen Babylon,
what can be more significant than the exclamation,
" Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the Cedars of
Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller
is come up against us ! " How consoling to the penitent
and broken-hearted Hezekiah the prophecy against
Sennacherib, who boasted that he would cut down the
tall Cedars of Lebanon !
But, oh ! how infinitely more precious to us who
CEDAE. 97
enjoy the fulfilment of it, is the promise : "I will plant
in the wilderness the Cedar, the shittah tree, and the
myrtle, and the oil tree : I will set in the desert the fir
tree, and the pine, and the box tree together : that they
may see, and know, and understand together, that the
hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of
Israel created it."
The very remarkable passage in Jeremiah concern
ing the Cedar, I have already noticed ; and the texts
in Ezekiel blend with other portions of the subject,
from which it would not be well to detach them.
The figurative mention of the Cedar by the three
minor prophets, Amos, Zephaniah, and Zachariah, is
admirable in their text, but not to be compared with
the passages already quoted from the first of prophets.
Among the apocryphal writers, Esdras simply names
Cedar among the materials granted by the kings of
Babylon for the building of the second Temple : but,
in the hands of the author of Ecclesiasticus, the Cedar
is once more the subject of poetry. In the praise of
Wisdom, she is exalted like a Cedar in Lebanon. In
the commendation of holy men, of Simon the son of
Onias, who repaired and fortified the Temple, the
son of Sirach says he was as " the morning star in the
98 CEDAR.
midst of a cloud ; ... he stood by the hearth of the
altar, compassed with his brethren round about, as a
young Cedar in Libanus."
Well might the Cedar be called the glory of Lebanon.
The magnificence of the living tree, and the beauty,
fragrance, and durability of the timber, distinguish it
among all the trees of the mountain forest : but time
and neglect have nearly disrobed Lebanon of its glory.
These many centuries have the Cedars served for
shelter and firewood to innumerable wandering tribes,
and to settled barbarians as wasteful. A continual
petty warfare has often enveloped large tracts of the
mountain in accidental or mischievous fires : and the
traveller looks with sadness on the few remaining
patriarchs of the woods, scarce daring to hope that
any of the young plants, which year by year spring up
around, will be suffered to reach maturity. *
The ancients believed that the Cedar of Lebanon
* The Cedar of Lebanon thrives admirably in England, and is pretty
widely spread over the country. Those in the physic garden at Chelsea
were planted in the year 1683. The growth of these trees is very rapid
for the first fifty years ; but there is every reason to believe that after
that it is slow, and that the Cedar does not arrive at its proper bulk in
less than two centuries. The wood-cut that heads this article was drawn
from a branch gathered in the grounds of Holland House.
CEDAR. 99
preserved animal substances from putrefaction ; and
oil of Cedar is supposed to preserve books and writings
from the attacks of insects. I do not know on what
authority Lord Bacon says that Cedar continues sound
for a thousand years ; but, according to Pliny, Cedar
wood of near two thousand years old was found in
the temple of Apollo at Utica.
Most Eastern travellers have been anxious to see
the Cedars of Lebanon ; and the gradually diminishing
number of those most ancient ones, emphatically
called "the Cedars," has called forth many a lamen
tation.
Pococke measured the largest remaining tree on
Lebanon in his time, and found it twenty-four feet in
circumference. Forty-two years earlier, Maundrel had
measured another of thirty-six feet in girth. That
great tree was blown down, and lay where it fell when
Pococke visited Lebanon and took some of the wood,
which was white and of great fragrance. Eighty years
later, Dr. Richardson found but seven of the fifteen
which Pococke had counted of that ancient group.*
A.D. TREES.
* Seen by Bellonius - 1550 - 28
Chris. Fischner 1556 - 25
Leonard Rawwolf 1575 - 24
100 CEDAR.
The most flourishing of the younger forest were the
trees near the village of Eden ; and it is remarkable
that Ezekiel speaks of the trees of Eden as the choicest
of Lebanon.
The inhabitants of Mount Lebanon devoutly believe
that the seven ancient trees were in being in the days
of Solomon and Hiram ; and they have also a supersti-
A.D. TEEES.
Seen by John Jacob! 1579 - 26
Of these 26 Jacob! confesses two were entirely dead, and one had but
one healthy branch. Therefore there is no contradiction of Rawwolf.
Nicholas Radzivil 1583 - 24
Jean Villamont 1590 - 24
Chris. Harant 1598 24
Dandini 1600 23
Wm. Lithgow 1609 - 24
This traveller saw, at 9000 paces distance, 17 others of a large size.
fand two lying
Eugene Rogers 1632 - 22-^
I prostrate.
Boullaye le Gouze 1650 - 22
_ rbut he counted
Thevenot - 1657 - 23 J
|_ some small ones.
De la Roque 1688 - 20
" Nous nous reposames," says this traveller, " plus de deux heures, et
nous dinames meme au milieu de cette petite foret. Elle est composee
de vingt Cedres d une grosseur prodigieuse." Celsius s Hierobotanicon.
It would seem by this last that Lithgow and Thevenot had counted care
lessly.
Maundrel found growing 1696 - 16
Pococke - - - 1738 - 15
CEDAR. 101
tious notion that they cannot be counted, every person
giving a different number who sees them. Every
year, on the anniversary of the Transfiguration, the
Maronites, Greeks, and Armenians perform mass upon
a homely stone altar reared under the most venerable
of the trees.
These pious, though mistaken, acts lose the evil
character of superstition, when we look upon them as
a means of drawing together, in peace and love, the
half-wild and lawless inhabitants of the dens and
ravines of the mountain.
" There where the tempest rives the hoary stone,
The wintry top of giant Lebanon,
Fierce, hardy, proud, in conscious freedom bold,
Their stormy seats the warrior Druses hold :
Yes ! valorous chiefs, while yet your sabres shine,
The native guard of feeble Palestine,
Oh ! ever thus, by no vain boast dismay d,
Defend the birthright of the Cedar shade."*
* Since Heber wrote these lines, the hardy tribes of the mountain have
answered to the call, and delivered the inhabitants of Palestine from
another Egyptian bondage.
CHESNUT.
Fagus Castanea, Sweet Chesnut
Linnsean class and order, MONCECIA POLYANDKIA.
Natural order, COBYLACEJE.
CHESNUT. 103
CHESNUT.
Gen. xxx. 37. Ezekiel, xxxi. 8.
THE first time the Chesnut is named in the Bible is
in the account of Jacob s management of Laban s
flocks and herds. The second mention of it is by
Ezekiel, as one of the most beautiful of trees.
It is a native of the more temperate parts of Asia
and the greatest part of Europe, even so far north as
Britain * : but, with us, the finest of the fruit is small,
and scarcely worth collecting, except for feeding deer ;
while, in the South of Europe, it is a very important
article of the food for man.
The timber of the Chesnut is handsome and
durable. It is particularly fit for the cooper s use,
as it stands well an alternation of wet and dry.
This quality is particularly useful in a country like
Palestine, in many parts of which the cultivation of
* There were formerly Chesnut forests in England. One to the north of
London is especially mentioned in history, and perhaps it may have fur
nished the quantity of Chesnut timber that is found in the old houses of
London. The duty on foreign Chesnuts, 2s. per bushel, amounted in
1841 to 2020/.
104 CHESNUT.
the ground is chiefly carried on by means of irriga
tion ; and Chesnut is equally fit for troughs, pipes,
water wheels, and the beams of the shadoof, or wa
tering bucket.
This beautiful tree vies with the oak in long life.
There is one at Tortworth, in Gloucestershire, which
was a very large tree 680 years ago: but, in this
country, young Chesnuts are mostly grown in cop
pices, and cut in rotation for hop-poles, on account of
their durability ; and the same quality would proba
bly recommend them for vine props in Judea.
The vintage of the Holy Land, important even in
modern times, required, in the flourishing period of
Israel s prosperity, numerous vessels for treading out
the juice of the grape, or, in large vineyards, receiving
it from the wine-press, and carrying it through its
following stages, till it was fit for the earthen or
leathern bottles in which it was preserved either for
home consumption or exportation.
For all these purposes there is no better timber
than Chesnut, which, from the place where Ezekiel
mentions it, must have formed part of the forests of
Lebanon in his time, as it does to this day.
CINNAMON.
Laurus Cinnamomum, Cinnamon.
Linnaean class and order, MONANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order,
Exodus, xxx. 23. Song of Solomon, iv. 14.
Proverbs, vii. 17. Ecclus. xxiv. 15.
Revelation, xviii. 13.
ONE of the principal spices which composed the
precious ointment for the tabernacle, and always
106 CINNAMON.
highly valued for its perfume. The necessity for
strong and sweet perfumes must have been imperious,
where sacrifices of blood were performed in the very
temples. Had it not been for the burning of incense
and sweet spices, neither the Temple of Jerusalem,
nor those erected by the heathen to their superior
gods, could have escaped the odour of a slaughter
house. Hence the value set upon fragrant gums and
spices, and probably the custom of adorning the vic
tims, as well as the votaries, with flowers and fragrant
evergreens.
The Cinnamon tree, or rather shrub, is a native of
Ceylon, and other islands near the equator. Neither
the leaves nor flowers emit any smell; and the plea
sure of a walk through Cinnamon gardens owes little
to the fragrance of the plant itself, until the season for
gathering the spice arrives. Then it is charming ; and
the busy groups of Cingalese, peeling the twigs, which
are cut annually, add interest to the beauty of the
gardens. The bark is peeled off with astonishing
quickness and dexterity, by means of a small sharp
iron instrument, and laid in the sun, where it curls
up into the shape of the Cinnamon sticks of the
shops.
CINNAMON. 107
When Herodotus wrote, the western world was
supplied with Cinnamon by the Phoenicians, who
procured it from the Arabian merchants. These
merchants professed not to know whence it came ; and
asserted that they procured it by means of certain
large birds, who had stores of it in their nests. They
found the means, they said, to decoy the birds to a
distance, and robbed the nests before they had time
to return. This story proves both the very ancient
use of the spice, and the great jealousy with which
the Arabs, or Ismaelites, guarded the secrets of their
commerce.
The Dutch, in succeeding to the spice trade of the
ancient Arabs, did not fall behind them in cunning.
When the Cinnamon crops were over-abundant, whole
stacks of the fragrant bark were burned on the sea
shore, that the price of spice in Europe might be kept
up : and, at that season of the year, the ships sailing
the Indian seas were regaled with the spicy odours;
" And many a league
Cheer d with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiled."
CITKON.
Citrus Medica, Citron.
Linnseau class and order, POL.YANDRIA ICOSANDRIA.
Natural order,
CITRON. 109
CITRON.
Lev. xxiii. 40.
THE text in Leviticus translated in our version,
" And ye shall take you, on the first day, the boughs
of goodly trees" is, as I learn from Celsius, rendered
Citron trees by Onkelos ; and this reading is con
firmed by Rabbi Salomon and other Hebrew critics.
It is certain that from an early period Citrons were
offered at the Feast of Tabernacles, as emblems of
fruitfulness ; and that, in such numbers, that when
King Alexander Jannasus, in one of his freaks of
tyranny, attacked the people while engaged in their
religious duties during the feast, he and his party
were repelled by the worshippers, who, having no
other weapons, pelted them with citrons, so that the
king narrowly escaped with his life. *
The modern Jews continue the practice of offering
Citrons at the Feast of Tabernacles. In London, con
siderable sums of money are expended in importing
them of the best kind, for the purpose. They must be
* About 100 years before Christ. Josephus.
110 CITRON.
without blemish, and the stalk must still adhere to
them.
After the feast is over, the Citrons are openly sold,
and the money produced by the sale is placed in the
common treasury, as part of the provision for the poor
of the congregation.
The Jewish ladies, it would seem, are in some par
ticulars quite as fanciful as Christians ; and they parti
cularly covet the possession of a Citron that has been
offered at the Feast of Tabernacles, as an emblem of
fertility and plenty. Therefore the husbands, brothers,
fathers, and sons, are eager to purchase ; and hence the
price paid for these consecrated Citrons is often more
than double the original cost.
Some commentators have supposed that the apple
of Solomon s Song is the Citron ; but there is better
reason to consider the quince as the apple of that
poem.
The beautiful proverb, u A word spoken in season
is like apples of gold in pictures of silver, " should be,
according to some readings, Citrons of golden colour
in trays or baskets of silver ; but here, too, again, the
preference is claimed for the quince, and apparently
with justice.
CITRON. Ill
The use of the Citron, however, is very ancient, as a
medicine, and as flavouring many of the cooling drinks
of the East. It is certain, also, that for thousands of
years it has been offered in the sanctuary of the living
God by his people ; therefore, though unnamed in our
version, I have placed it among the goodly trees of
the Scripture herbal.
COCKLE.
Agrostemma Coronaria, Corn Cockle.
Linnaean class and order, DECANDRIA PENTAGYNIA.
Natural order, CAROPHYLLE^E.
Job, xxxi. 40.
WHEREVER the ancient cultivated grains, barley and
wheat, are grown, some of the varieties of Corn Cockle
COCKLE. 113
appear. The English Com Cockle, or Rose Campion,
differs from those of the Levant, in being of larger
growth, with a smaller flower and less brilliant colour.
The Bladder Cockle, or Campion, which the ancients
looked upon as a specific cure for the bite of venomous
reptiles, grows almost as freely with us as in the corn
lands at the foot of Mount Caucasus ; and, wherever
the Cockle grows, it is a peculiar nuisance to the farmer.
Such being the case, I cannot perceive why we
should abandon the old reading of our translators, to
replace it with either hoary nightshade, or monk s-
hood, or dwarf elder, plants little likely to thrive
quickly after the plough or spade ; whereas the Cockle
springs up with the corn, at the same time and season.
Celsius himself, though he proposes the aconite, leaves
the matter uncertain. The same Hebrew name, Baes-
cha, is rendered wild grapes in our version of Isaiah.
The Agrostemma was one of the flowers employed
by the ancient Greeks and Italians in braiding chaplets
for crowning the guests at feasts, and hence the trivial
name Coronaria. Several authors have enumerated
the plants consecrated to this use ; and even Linnaeus
calls one of the orders, in his Fragments of a Natural
System, Coronarias, on this account.
CORIANDER,
Coriandrum sativum, Garden Coriander
Linnaean class and order, PENTANDBIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, UMBELLIFERJE.
Exod. xvi. 31. Numb. xi. 7.
THE two texts wherein the Coriander is mentioned
only speak of it for the sake of comparing the manna,
CORIANDER. 115
which fed the Israelites in the Desert, with it, as to
size and shape. It has been from most ancient times,
and still continues to be, a favourite condiment in
the East. It is an essential ingredient in the curry-
stuff which flavours the dry rice of the poor pariah,
as well as in the dishes of his Mussulman lord and
his European master. All alike chew it, or hold it in
the mouth, for the sake of its pleasant flavour ; and
the confectioners of Europe, by encrusting it with
sugar, form it into a delicious comfit.
The Coriander is an annual umbelliferous plant,
native to all the countries bordering on the Levant,
and to the plains of Tartary. In Pliny s time, the
best, both for medicine and seasoning, was brought to
Rome from Egypt ; and now a good deal is imported
into England from the Mediterranean. It thrives
so well, however, with us, as to have become almost
wild ; and a good deal is cultivated in Suffolk, for the
use of the apothecary, the confectioner, and the
distiller.
COTTON.
Gossypium hcrbaceum, Cotton Shrub.
Linna?an class and order, MONADELPHIA POLYANDBIA.
Natural order, MALVACEAE.
COTTON. 117
COTTON.
Esther, i. 6.
CELSIUS devotes six pages of his second volume to
show that the Hebrew Carpes (the Carbesa of the
ancients, and the Persian Kirbas) means Cotton.
The scene of the history of Esther being in a
country where Cotton, from time immemorial, has
furnished the greater part of the national clothing,
gives strong support to his opinion. If the Jews
were not in the habit of cultivating Cotton before
the great captivity, they probably brought the plant,
and the method of cultivating it, from Babylon with
them to Jewry, on their restoration. It is certain
that they raised a sufficient quantity for the purposes
of commerce in after times, for Pausanias speaks of
the Cotton of Judea as being of a yellower hue than
that of Egypt and other places.
The delicate veils spoken of by the ancient poets,
as seeming to be of woven wind, and represented in
some antique pictures and on several mummy-cases,
could scarcely have been of linen, but were in all
118 COTTON.
likelihood of muslin ; and it appears that the neigh
bourhood of Jerusalem was celebrated for manu
facturing veils of fine quality and elegant patterns.
If Celsius is right in reading Cotton in the text
he quotes, then the hangings of the palace of
Ahasuerus which was named Shushan, or the Lily,
were of white Cotton and blue, fastened with cords
of fine flax or Cotton, and purple, to rings of silver.
The drapery of much of the Egyptian sculpture
seems intended to represent some striped elastic stuff;
and we know that extreme whiteness was one of the
qualities required in the dresses of the Egyptian
priests and priestesses. That such elastic striped
stuffs were anciently made in Egypt, we have
strong presumptive proof, in the fact that our
dimity takes its name from the town of Damietta,
whence it was first brought into the western markets
of Europe.
The Cotton cultivated in Malta is of the herbaceous
kind, and is the deepest coloured I ever saw ; the
cloth made from it being rather brown, than of the
fleshy tint of the Chinese nankeens : but neither can
compare with the beauty of the cloths woven from
the white- woolled plant,
COTTON. 119
The Cotton seeds yield a considerable quantity
of oil ; and it has more than once happened, that
stray seeds, having been left in Cotton bales, have
given out sufficient oil to take fire on the admis
sion of air to the bale, and thus caused lamentable
destruction of life and property, by consuming ships
at sea.
CUCUMBER.
Cucumis sativus, Common Cucumber.
Linnsean class and order, MONGECIA SYNGENESIA.
Natural order, CUCURBITACE^E.
Numb. xi. 5. Isaiah, i. 8. Baruch, vi. 70.
THE first mention of the Cucumber is by the rebellious
and murmuring Israelites. When in the desert, they
reproached Moses with having decoyed them out of a
CUCUMBER. 121
land of plenty, "of Cucumbers and of melons," &c.,
to perish in the wilderness.
Egypt is still a land of Cucumbers ; and the pictu
resque image of the prophet, "The daughter of Zion
is left like a cottage in a vineyard, like a lodge in a
garden of Cucumbers," is constantly recalled to the
memory of the modern traveller in Egypt, by the vast
plantations of Cucumbers on the banks of the Nile.
There, as of old, the peasant has his lodge, that he
may water his rich plants with the shadoof, or, as
the Scripture expresses it, " by the foot ;" and that he
may guard his little property from the robbers of the
Nile, who, though of a different class, are not less
formidable to the cultivator than those of the time of
Herodotus.
The homely expression of Baruch is curious, as a
piece of ancient agricultural costume. " As a scare
crow in a garden of Cucumbers keepeth nothing, so
are their gods of wood."
Besides the common Cucumber, there is a delicious
species peculiar to Egypt, called the Cucumis Chate.*
It grows in the earth around Cairo after the inun-
* Linnaeus. Called Abdellavi by Alpinus. Highly praised, as a fruit,
by Hasselquist.
122 CUCUMBER.
dation of the Nile, and nowhere else in Egypt. The
fruit is sweet, cool, watery, and in substance like
the melon : it is eagerly sought after by the highest
classes, who assert that it is the wholesomest fruit
in the country.
CUMMIN.
Cuminum Cyminum, Cummin Seed.
Lhmsean class and order, PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, UMBELLIFER^B.
124 CUMMIN.
CUMMIN.
Isaiah, xxviii. 25. 27, 28. St. Matthew, xxiii. 23.
THIS umbelliferous plant is a native of all the countries
bordering on the Mediterranean, and is found also in
Ethiopia. It was cultivated by the ancients, both as
a condiment and as a medicine.
In the chapter of Isaiah wherein it is mentioned, he
speaks of the season for sowing the Cummin seed, and
of the gathering and threshing it; which last opera
tion was performed by beating it with a rod, and
not by threshing with a flail, treading out by cattle,
or driving the threshing wain over it, as was practised
with regard to bread corn.
Cummin is still cultivated in Palestine, whence it
is exported in considerable quantities ; but England is
chiefly supplied from Malta. In all those nations
which use the rite of circumcision, Cummin is of some
importance ; because the bruised seed mixed with wine
is used as a styptic after the operation, the officiating
priest himself mingling and applying it.
In medicine, generally, Cummin seed is little used
CUMMIN. 125
now, except as an ingredient in plasters ; and these
are seldom employed for the human subject, though
highly valued for their efficacy in the ulcers of cattle
of all sorts. In the warm pastoral parts of Jewry, the
herds are particularly afflicted with ulcers arising from
the bites of insects, or the worms which come from
the eggs deposited in the skin by several sorts of flies ;
and, as Cummin has always been looked upon as a
sovereign remedy for all these evils, we must suppose
it to have been, next to bread corn, one of the most
important grains cultivated by the Jews.
The mention of Cummin in St. Matthew is as
follows, in the characteristic description of hypocrites
by Christ. " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites ! for ye pay the tithe of mint and anise and
Cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of
the law, judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye
to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
Let us then pray for judgment to discern the right ;
mercy towards our fellow-creatures, however low their
estate; and faith, that the blessing of God will follow
the works of mercy, and sooner or later give them
full effect.
CYPRESS.
Cupressus scmpervircns, Evergreen Cypress.
Linngean class and order, MONCECIA MONABELPHIA.
Natural order, CONIFER^E.
Isaiah, xliv. 14. Ecclus. xxiv. 13.; 1. 10.
THE son of Sirach praises the Cypress for its height
and beauty, to which qualities the loveliness of wisdom
is first compared, and afterwards the merits of Onias
the high priest.
Isaiah, in his scorn of idolaters, numbers up the
trees of which a part is burnt, and of the residue
CYPRESS. 127
thereof is made a god. Among these ill-applied
gifts of the Creator is the Cypress : and the prophet
thus confirms the words of the heathen writers, who
tell us that the oldest statues were made of Cypress
wood. The statue of Jupiter Olympus at Rome, for
instance, though many centuries old, was quite sound
in the time of Pliny; and the Athenians used the
Cypress wood for coffins, in order that the bones of
their heroes might have a long duration.
The Egyptians, too, who were careful in such
matters, made the coffins of their remarkable men of
Cypress wood. Perhaps the timber used for this
purpose was that of the horizontal Cypress ; a tree
less beautiful, but even more durable, than that which
tapers into a spire, or, as the Scripture says, " groweth
up to the clouds," among the snows of Lebanon.
The doors of St. Peter s church at Rome, which
lasted undecayed eleven hundred years, until Pope
Eugenius IV. replaced them with doors of bronze,
were of Cypress.
The ancients loved to make their funeral pyres of
the evergreen trees which mostly give out in burning
an aromatic odour. The Cypress was favoured
among these. Its spiry shape, resembling an ascend-
128 CYPRESS.
ing flame, might seem to point to the upward flight
of the disembodied spirit. Hence the Cypress was
planted by the tomb. Hence it is so even now ; for in
these matters ancient custom is long retained.
The Turkish burial-grounds at Constantinople are
marked by groves of Cypress. They form the public
walks, as they shadow and protect the graves, which
are often overgrown with flowers. The Persian saints
and poets, Hafiz and Sadi, have gardens surrounding
their tombs. No pleasure-garden in the East is perfect
without its Cypress walk, where the young man
dreams of his lover, and repeats the well-known verse
of Hafiz,
" The Cypress is graceful,
But thou art more graceful than the Cypress."
So the Cypress seems to hallow the first pleasures of
the youth, over the headstone of whose grave, ere
many years be past, it shall wave, perhaps the only
memorial that he once lived.
oy Boy;; s DOMG.
DOVE S DUNG.
Ornithogalum umbellatum, Dove s Dung, or Birds Milk;
Common Star of Bethlehem.
Linnaean class and order, HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, LILIACE^E.
2 Kings, vi. 25.
THIS elegant little flower, of the lily tribe, is but
once mentioned in Scripture, and that by a local and
130 DOVE S DUNG.
equivocal name ; so that it has seldom been noticed
as a vegetable by Bible critics, and the few who do
so consider it have taken it for a kind of pulse. The
marginal note in the Spanish Bible calls it "a worth
less kind of grain like dung, which was given to
pigeons." Some of the Rabbins think that it was the
contents of the crops of the pigeons, which, having
flown beyond the boundaries of the besiegers, came
home to Samaria with full crops : but the price of
the pigeons themselves, which must have been killed
to obtain these crops, is nowhere mentioned. A
writer, a follower of Sprengel, contends * that real
pigeons dung is meant; and quotes an abridged
chronicle of the history of England, to prove that the
siege of Samaria was not the only occasion on which
pigeons dung had been used for food. This chro
nicle says that, in the famine which laid England
waste in 1316, the poor ate pigeons dung. Now the
Ornithogalum mnbellatum is a native of England,
and was commonly eaten in Italy and other southern
countries at that period ; therefore, it is probable that
* In the 122d No. of the Edinburgh Christian Instructor, which number
is little, if any thing, more than a copy of the portion of the preface to
Sprengel s Historia Rei Herbaria which he calls Flora Biblica.
DOVE S DUNG. 131
the pigeons dung of the English chronicler is only
the Dove s dung of Scripture.
The bulbous root of the ornithogalum has in all
times been used as an esculent vegetable, in Syria
and the neighbouring countries. Dioscorides says
that it was sometimes dried, pulverised, and mixed
with bread flour ; and that it was also eaten both raw
and roasted. He remarks further, that, of thirty-six
known species, one bearing a yellow flower yielded the
most agreeable food. Laurentius, in his Essay on
bulbous and tuberous Roots, says that in his time
the peasants of Italy and the neighbouring countries
often roasted the roots of the ornithogalum, and ate
them like chesnuts ; or lightly boiled them, and
peeled and used them as salad, with oil, vinegar,
and pepper. The plains and valleys about Samaria
abound in this pretty flower; and the dearth of its
roots, during the siege of the city by the Syrians
under Benhadad, was a token of famine beyond en
durance.
Jehoram, the son of Ahaz, was king of Israel when
his capital was surrounded by the Syrian host. He
was passing along upon the town wall, when a woman
shrieked to him for help : " And he said, If the Lord
132 DOVE S DUNG.
help thee not, whence shall I help thee ? What
aileth thee?" Then follows that tale of horror:
the mothers had devoured their offspring for the
famine ! u And it came to pass, when the king had
heard the words of the woman, that he rent his
clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the
people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within
upon his flesh."
Then it was that the fourth part of a cab * of
Dove s dung was sold for five pieces of silver! But
the misery of the people, and the humiliation of the
king, ended soon after, by the miraculous restoration
of plenty and peace.
The ornithogalum groAvs wild in many countries.
There are several pretty varieties in Spain and
Portugal, but scarcely more agreeable to the sight
than our own English star of Bethlehem. I never
saw so much of it in any one spot, as in the Campo
Santo of Pisa. While I was wondering at the cir
cumstance, I was reminded that the whole of the
earth within the enclosure was holy. During the
building of that magnificent burial-place, every Pisa.n
* A cab is a measure equal to three English pints.
DOVE S DUNG. 133
ship returning from the Levant brought, as ballast, a
portion of the soil of the Holy Land, until there was
sufficient to fill the area of the sacred field to a great
depth ; so that those pious citizens, whose interests or
duties prevented their performing a pilgrimage to the
holy places during their lives, might still lay their
bones in the venerated soil of Palestine.
This accounts naturally for the number of the
starry flowers I saw there : and who knows how many
of the lovely Eastern blossoms, that now enrich our
garden borders, have thus been introduced by the
unconscious hands of the pious pilgrim !
EATABLE ROOT.
EBONY.
Diospyros Ebenw, or Diospyrus Melanoxylon, Ebony.
Linnsean class and order, POLYGAMIA DICECIA.
Natural order, EBENACE^E.
Ezekiel, xxvii. 15.
TRUE Ebony is a native of the coast of Malabar
and of Ceylon, whence it was brought to Tyre,
among other precious merchandise from the Eastern
isles; of which Ezekiel says, addressing Tyre, "They
EBONY. 135
brought thee for a present horns of ivory and Ebony."
Under the name of present, tribute is often implied
by the ancients. Herodotus, in reckoning up the
revenue of the ancient Kings of Persia, mentions that
the Ethiopians made them a present every three years
of various costly articles, among which were twelve
tusks of elephants of large size, and two hundred logs
of Ebony.
Pausanias speaks of very ancient statues carved of
Ebony ; but his account of the wood, on the inform
ation of a Cyprian botanist with whom he conversed,
might lead us to suppose that his Ebony was found
in the ruins of some forest, either buried by a sand-
drift or submerged by waters. He says the tree had
neither leaf nor flower nor fruit ; that it was dug
by the Ethiopians from under ground, where the
large black root never sees the sun, and that there
were persons skilled in finding the place of its conceal
ment. The black colour of trees long buried is too
common to excite wonder ; but that these should
pass for true Ebony seems hardly credible.
The Ebony of Ezekiel and of Herodotus is, however,
no doubt, true Ebony.
The tree is large; the stem is about nine feet in
136 EBONY.
circumference, and shoots up, before it branches, to
twenty feet in height ; the branches are stiff,
irregular, and very numerous. Its fruit is of the
size of a small apple, and is often called the date plum.
It is yellow and pulpy, and contains eight seeds.
The bark, mixed with pepper, is used medicinally by
the Hindoos, particularly in dysentery.
The Chinese are exceedingly fond of the fruit of the
Diospyros made into a dry sweetmeat, which some
times finds its way to this country, under the name of
date plum.
Pliny speaks not only of the true Ebony of India,
but also of another, which, by his slender description,
must be the bauhinia, or mountain Ebony, some
species of which are said to be found in Crete. This
elegant plant furnishes valuable materials for in
laying ; its fine-grained wood being sometimes black,
sometimes grey or green.
i<K
f^m i ^(\
a
^W n
.
ELM.
Ulmus campestris, Common Elm.
Linnsean class and order, PENTANDRIA DIGTNIA.
Natural order,
Hosea, iv. 13.
HOSEA, prophesying against the idolatry of Israel,
says, " They burn incense upon the hills, under oaks,
138 ELM.
and poplars, and Elms, because the shadow thereof
is good." And this is the only time the Elm is
mentioned in Scripture.
Some commentators doubt the correctness of the
translation : but, as Elms do grow in that part of
Palestine where the oak and poplar are also found,
namely, in the hilly portion of Hermon, it seems a
pity to disturb the usual reading; especially as Cel
sius is very uncertain about it, and gives it, without
pronouncing an opinion, among five versions of the
word Eschel, which our Bible has elsewhere ren
dered " thick tree."
The Elm needs no description in England, where it
abounds, and contributes much to the beauty of the
country.
The timber is fit for water-troughs, pumps, and all
machines used in watering the land, as it lasts well,
not only when under water, but in alternate dry and
wet. It is very tough, but never takes a polish ; and
in England is universally employed for coffins, owing
to its durability in damp situations.
The bark is useful in fevers ; and I have seen it
gathered in Italy, for the purpose of adulterating the
Jesuits bark.
FIG.
Ficus Carica, Garden Fig.
Linnaean class and order, POLYGAMIA DIGECIA.
Natural order, URTICACE^.
140
FIG.
FIG.
Gen. iii. 7.
Numb. xiii. 23. ; xx. 5.
Deut. viii. 8.
Judges, ix. 10, 11.
1 Sam. xxv. 18.; xxx. 12.
1 Kings, iv. 25.
2 Kings, xviii. 31.; xx. 7.
1 Chron. xii. 40.
Nehemiah, xiii. 15.
Psalm cv. 33.
Prov. xxvii. 18.
Song of Solomon, ii. 13.
Isa. xxxiv. 4. ; xxxvi. 16.; xxxviii.
21.
Jerem. v. 17.; viii. 13.; xxiv. 1, 2,
3, 5. 8.; xxix. 17.
Hosea, ii. 12.; ix. 10.
Joel, i. 7. 12.; ii. 22.
Amos, iv. 9.
Micali, iv. 4.
Nahuni, iii. 12.
Habakkuk, iii. 17.
Haggai, ii. 19.
Zech. iii. 10.
St. Matthew, vii. 16. ; xxi. 19, 20,
21. ; xxiv. 32.
St. Mark, xiii. 28.
St. Luke, vi. 44.; xiii. 6.; xxi.
29.
St. John, i. 48. 50.
Epistle of James, iii. 12.
Revelations, vi. 13
IT has been sharply disputed whether the leaves of
the common Fig were really those which formed the
covering of our first parents, when they became con
scious of shame by sin. But the dispute is frivolous,
since, whatever leaves they might be, they were
gathered from the trees of Paradise, and far beyond
our search.
I will therefore proceed to the later history of this
favoured plant. Among the fruits brought by the
FIG. 141
Israelite spies to their brethren in the Desert, to prove
the goodness of the promised land, were Figs. Yet
the very next time they are mentioned, it is by the
rebellious people, who murmured against Moses for
bringing them to the Desert, which " is no land of
Figs."
In Deuteronomy, Moses introduces the Fig, when
enumerating the riches of their new home, in his
farewell exhortation to the people whom he had so
long led and governed ; and, throughout the Bible,
the Fig is generally named as a mark of fruitfulness.
In the admirable fable of Jotham the Fig-tree is made
to say, " Shall I leave my sweetness and my good
fruit?"
Both the texts quoted from Samuel relate to the
economical value of the Fig. In the first book of
Kings, it is the sign of the prosperous reign of
Solomon, that every man dwelt safely under his vine
and under his Fig-tree; and, in the second book,
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, uses the same metaphor
to seduce the Israelites from their allegiance to
Hezekiah.*
* Repeated in the thirty-sixth chapter of Isaiah, word for word.
142 FIG.
The Psalmist, enumerating the miseries of Egypt,
when Pharaoh would not let the children of Israel
go, says, u He smote their Fig-trees, and brake the
trees of their coasts." The loss of the Figs, which,
along with bread, are the chief food of the labourers
during some months of the year, being a national
calamity of the most cruel kind, though little con
sidered in our cold climate, where fruit, green or dry,
is consumed as a luxury, not a necessary of life.
I am tempted to copy several verses of Solomon s
Song alluding to the Fig, in this place, for their
extreme beauty.
" Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
" For, lo ! the winter is past, the rain is over and
gone. The flowers appear on the earth : the time of
the singing-birds is come, and the voice of the
turtle is heard in our land. The Fig-tree putteth
forth her green Figs, and the vines, with the tender
grapes, give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair
one, and come away."
But Isaiah s strain of the Fig is sublime. " The
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all
their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth from the
vine, and as a falling Fig from the Fig-tree."
FIG. 143
Throughout the book of Jeremiah, the Fig is used
as an emblem of good or evil; and the twenty-fourth
chapter is entirely filled with the vision of the good
and bad Figs.
The books of the minor prophets are full of
allusions to the Fig-tree in the same sense. The pas
sage in Habakkuk relating in part to the Fig-tree
is so fine, that I will conclude the notices of the Fig
in the Old Testament with it.
" Although the Fig-tree shall not bud, neither
shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive
shall fail, and the field s shall yield no meat ; the flock
shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no
herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I
will joy in the God of my salvation."
The Evangelists record that Christ himself used
the Fig-tree in his discourses as an emblem of
goodness. "Do men gather Figs of thistles?" he asks,
in order to enforce the necessity of purity of heart
to produce good actions. And in St. Luke we find
the parable of the hitherto barren Fig-tree, which the
master of the vineyard would have destroyed ; but the
mediator entreated him to spare it, till it should have
been dressed and pruned, and time had been given to
144 FIG.
show whether it might not yet bear fruit. Such is
the merciful intercession of Christ for us !
The destruction of the barren Fig-tree, related by
St. Matthew, forms a sequel to this. The tree,
dressed and pruned, put forth green leaves, and
appeared fair and promising to the passer by. But
when the hungry wayfarer approached, the deceit
was laid bare. No sweetness, no good fruit was there,
and the tree, the emblem of the hypocrite, was blasted
by the word of the Lord !
This excellent and nutritious fruit grows naturally
on all the shores and islands of the Mediterranean,
where it has been cultivated from the very earliest
times, spreading southwards to Upper Egypt and
Nubia, and to Arabia and Persia eastward.
The Fig-tree requires care and culture in order to
bring its fruit to perfection, and to increase its
quantity. The prophet Joel, describing the mis
chievous acts of an invading enemy, says, " He hath
barked my Fig-trees;" as if the killing of the Figs
was an injury like that of burning the corn.
The ancient and singular art of cultivating the
garden Fig is described at some length by Pliny, and
in our time it has been detailed curiously by that
FIG, 145
eminent botanist Tournefort. It is on seeing such
deviations as the Fig-tree presents from the common
course of nature, that we are most apt to exclaim :
" Lord ! how wonderful are thy works ! in wisdom hast
thou made them all ! " And yet the annual growth
of the commonest blade of grass, with its curious
structure fitted to preserve its kind, is not less indi
cative of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the
Creator, than the fructification of the Fig, or the
blossoming of the aloe; hence, therefore, " God never
wrought a miracle to convince atheism, because his
ordinary works convince it."
Besides the great use of dried Figs as an article of
common food in the East, they are used medicinally.
Boiled in milk or barley water, they are recommended
for coughs and pains in the chest. When heated
and split, they are applied to boils and imposthumes
with success ; a practice as old as the age of Isaiah,
who cured King Hezekiah of a dangerous boil by
laying on it a lump of Figs.*
The whole plant abounds in a milky juice, suffi
ciently viscous to have been used by painters as a
* See 2 Kings, xx. 7. ; and Isaiah, xxxviii. 21.
146 FIG.
vehicle for laying on colour, before the use of oil
painting became general.
The Fig thrives well in England. It was brought
hither in the time of Henry VIII., who had a French
priest for his gardener. The fine Fig-trees at Lam
beth are said to have been planted by Cardinal Pole.
Our fruit is exceedingly good, but the seed does
not ripen thoroughly, so that our young trees are
always raised from layers or cuttings.*
The Fig-tree loves to grow by a well or fountain.
The most delicious figs I ever ate were from a tree
in the Campagna of Rome, whose roots had penetrated
far into an ancient aqueduct : and I can never
forget the charming shade afforded by a Fig-tree
planted by some Spanish visiter, close by a rill of
pure water, on the Island of Juan Fernandez ; where
many a recollection of Europe, and those who dwelt
there, arose at the sight of that tree, to pain yet
comfort the wanderers of the ocean ; for,
" There is mercy in every place ;
And mercy, encouraging thought,
Lends even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot."
* The net amount of the duty on dried Figs imported in 1841 was
20.728^., at 13,9. per cwt.
--
FIR.
Pinus Abies, Swiss Fir.
Linnaean class and order, MON<ECIA DIADELPHIA.
Natural order, CONIFERS.
2 Sam. vi. 5. Isaiah, xiv. 8.; xxxvii. 24.; xli. 19.
1 Kings, v. 8. 10.; vi. 15.34.; ix. 11. Iv. 13.; Ix. 13.
2 Kings, xix. 23. Ezek. xxvii. 5.; xxxi. 8.
2 Chron. ii. 8.; iii. 5. Hosea, xiv. 8.
Psalm civ. 17. Nahum, ii. 3.
Song of Solomon, i. 17. / Zech. xi. 2.
THE first time the Fir is mentioned in Scripture, it is
as a material for making musical instruments : u And
148 FIB.
David and all the house of Israel played before the
Lord on all manner of instruments made of Fir wood,
even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels,
and on cornets, and on cymbals." In the books of
Kings and Chronicles, and in the Song of Solomon,
the Fir is constantly coupled with the cedar, for
the building and adorning the Temple of Jerusalem,
and the palaces of David and Solomon. Hiram the
architect made those doors of it which were to be
overlaid with gold ; the Fir being carved, and repre
senting cherubim and palm trees, over which the
gold Avas fitted.
The Psalmist, meditating on the wonderful works
of God, says, " As for the stork, the Fir trees are her
house; " and this is immediately after the mention of
the cedars of Lebanon, wherein the birds have their
nests, thus intimating the superior height of the Fir.
In the two first texts quoted from Isaiah, the Fir
is again coupled with the cedar, and made to rejoice in
the downfall of the wicked in one, and is the subject
of vain boasting in the other : but in the three last,
-the Fir tree shall grow up in desolate places; " the
Fir tree shall spring up instead of the thorn; " and,
together with the glory of Lebanon, the Fir tree
FIR. 149
shall come to the courts of the everlasting Temple
built without hands, the throne of Christ upon earth,
the prophet triumphs in the coming of the Messiah.
How beautifully Hosea paints the repentant sinner
as a " green Fir tree; " while Naliurn and Zechariah
represent the wrath of God as causing the Fir trees
to shake, or to howl with fear !
Lebanon is still adorned with Fir trees, mixed with
its cedar, its cypress, and its pine, as in the days of
the prophets ; and they are felled for the builders and
shipwrights purposes, as of old. Ezekiel says of the
ships of Tyre, that the boards were of the Firs of
Senir, the masts of cedar of Lebanon, the oars of the
oaks of Basan, the rowers benches of the ivory*
from the isles of Chittim ;. the sails were of the
linen of Egypt ; and the awnings, indispensable in
that climate, of blue and purple, from the isles of
Elishah.
Other ancient nations built the solid parts of their
ships of oak; witness the oracular beam of the Argof,
and had their masts of Fir, and often the planks and
* Celsius says box-wood, not ivory, as we have seen, p. 59.
f It was cut in the Forest of Dodona, sacred to Jupiter, and of which
all the trees spoke oracles.
150 FIR.
oars; and it was also a favourite wood for burning
with the dead.
The softness and toughness of the Fir timber
renders it fit for carving ; and, as I have already said,
Hiram employed it for that purpose in the doors of
the Temple ; and the carved prows and sterns of
ancient ships of most nations were fashioned of it.
From the time of David to our own, the Fir and
its congeners have been employed in making musical
instruments ; probably because the length and straight-
ness of the fibres allow them to give truer vibrations
than those of other trees. Harps and psalteries are
particularly mentioned in the Bible. The lutes and
guitars of the middle ages, and every kind of fiddle
in all times, have had the front or belly at least of
some kind of Fir, even when richer and more or
namental woods have been chosen for the backs and
sides. Moreover, the sounding boards of pianos are
invariably made of Fir.
As the Fir timber is of universal application,
so one or other of the numerous species of Fir and
pine is found in every country. The inhabitants of
the rugged ice-pinnacled mountains of Norway owe
what they enjoy of light and heat in their long
FIB. 151
winters to the Fir, which frames their houses and
supplies fuel and torches ; while the inner bark, dried
and powdered, supplies one of the materials of their
harsh bread. Their stout boats owe no strength to
any forests but those of their native Firs and pines ;
and the red Indian of America enjoys his Fir-built
cabin, and a thousand comforts derived from his
native woods, as much as the swarthy Norwegian.
Farther south, in both hemispheres, Pines of larger
growth present eatable nuts and trunks of wider
dimensions, but less durable than the hardy foresters
of the north ; and the araucaria beautifies the passes
of the Chilian Andes, as the green Fir does the
heights of Lebanon.
The ancients feigned that Pan, or Universal Na
ture, and Boreas, the father of the winds, were both
enamoured of the virgin Pine ; a mere allegorical
expression of the fact, that the Fir is found over the
whole earth, on high places, exposed to every wind.
FITCHES.
Vicia Sativa,, Fitch or Common Vetch.
Linnean class and order, DIADELPHIA DODECANDRIA.
Natural order, LEGTJMINOS^.
FITCHES. 153
FITCHES.
Isaiah, xxviii. 25. 28. Ezekiel, iv. 9.
ISAIAH mentions both the sowing and thrashing of
Fitches ; but some translators, Dr. Lowth among the
number, has substituted dill for Fitches, perhaps as
being more like the cummin named in the same
verses. Sprengel, a better botanical authority, refers
one of the grains in the text to fennel flower, a plant
equally common, and equally used in the East. No
one, however, has disputed the Fitches of Ezekiel s
mixed bread.
The Fitch is a small coarse kind of pea, hard and
not very agreeable, but still furnishing nutritious
food; and more than once in England, during times
of famine or scarcity, wild Fitches have preserved
thousands of poor people from starving, particularly,
according to Turner, in the great famine of 1555.
With us they are cultivated chiefly as green fodder
for cattle, but in some countries Fitches form an
important part of the labourer s food.
The Fitch is found wild in every country, from
154 FITCHES.
England to Bengal; and, from its beauty, deserves a
place in the flower-garden. Pigeons are extremely
fond of it, and perhaps it was cultivated in Jewry for
their use.
The middle and lower classes of Jews were
permitted by the law to redeem their first-born
with a pair of doves, while a lamb was required from
the rich. These beautiful birds were therefore bred
in great numbers; and Fitches, being their food,
must have been an object of some importance in the
husbandry of Jewry.
FLAGS.
Zostera Marina, Water-weed, Flags, Sea Wrack.
Linnaean class and order, MONANDRIA DIGTNIA.
Natural order, FLUVIALES.
156 FLAGS.
FLAGS.
Exodus, ii. 3. 5. Job, viii. 11. Isaiah, xix. 6.
In addition to these texts, where Flags are named in our Bible, we might
add, according to Celsius,
Exod. xiii. 18.; xv. 4. Psalm cvi. 7. 9. 22.; cxxxvi. 13.
Numb. xiv. 25.; xxi. 4. 15.
Judges, xi. 16. Jer. xlix.-21.
1 Kings, ix. 26. Jonah, ii. 5.
Two different Hebrew words have been rendered
Flags by our translators, so that there are reasonable
grounds for a difference of opinion among commen
tators concerning the true Flags intended.
The word rendered Flags in the book of Job is given
o o
as meadow in the forty-first chapter of Genesis*; and
sedge, or long water-grass, in Ecclesiasticus, xl. 16.
The other word, rendered Flags in the second of
Exodus and the nineteenth of Isaiah, is the same
with the weeds of the prophet Jonah, f
Our want of accurate knowledge concerning the
plants that grow on the borders of the Nile, and form
what one of the Oriental travellers calls an " arun-
dinaceous thicket" on its shores, precludes the
* Second and eighteenth verses. f Jonah, ii. 5,
FLAGS. 157
possibility of even a tolerable conjecture concerning
the Flags among which Moses was laid. It might
possibly be in a water meadow near the river, where
his sister could better watch and guard him, than if
exposed in the stream itself; in which case our trans
lators probably had in view the common sedge, or
water iris, usually called Flags in England.
Some writers think that the prophet Isaiah alludes
to the lotus in the following sadly beautiful pic
ture of desolation : " And the brooks of defence
shall be emptied and dried up, the reeds and the Flags
shall wither." Yet, on the whole, Celsius is inclined
to interpret this and other passages, alga, or water-
weed ; because the word Suph, which our interpreters
render Flags in one text of Exodus and in one of
Isaiah, is rendered weeds in the prophet Jonah:
" The depth closed me round about, the weeds
were wrapped about my head." And in twelve other
passages Suph is translated the Eed Sea.
Some interpreters suppose that Yam Suph, Red
Sea, designates the colour of that gulf, whether
derived from coral or weeds ; others maintain that it
signifies only Weedy Sea, and such it must be if the
interpretation of Jonah be correct.
158 FLAGS.
Now the common weed of the coast, where Jonah
was cast into the sea, and one which may be found
in the waters of the Nile, is the Zostera Marina ; and
I have ventured to place it at the head of this chap
ter, as the best representative of the Flag or weed
of Scripture. It is rather a smaller weed than the
Zostera Oceanica, but differs from it in little else. The
riband-like leaves of both, when first thrown ashore,
are eaten greedily by horses and swine : in Holland,
and some other countries, they are used, for manure ;
and with us, on the east coast, for many purposes.
The immense balls of the zostera, thrown up by
the tides, are used in forming sea-barriers and dikes ;
and the less tangled leaves make admirable stuffing
for mattresses and cushions, as they repel all vermin.
They are used for the same purposes in the Levant,
and the twisted rush-like covers of the Florence flasks
are formed of the zostera.
As it is found chiefly in the shallows near the
shores, in marshes and ditches, whether of the sea or of
great rivers, Isaiah s text, prophesying the withering
of the Flags when the brooks of defence are dried up,
doubtless refers to Celsius s water-weeds, and answers
to none of these so well as to the zostera; and, per-
FLAGS. 159
haps, the Flags among which Moses was laid were
the long leaves of the common water weed or zostera
of the marshes, notwithstanding the variety in the
original word and in our translation.
FLAX.
Linum Usitatissimum, Common Flax,
Linna^an class and order, PENTANDRIA PETSTTAGYNIA.
Natural order, LINE^E.
FLAX. 161
FLAX.
Exod. ix. 31. Isaiah, xix. 9. ; xlii. 3.
Joshua, ii. 6. Ezekiel, xl. 3.
Judges, xv. 14. Hosea, ii. 5. 9.
Prov. xxxi. 13. Matthew, xii. 20.
THIS very elegant and most useful plant is found
wild in England, and in most countries in Europe.
It spreads eastward as far as China, and the earliest
writings, sacred and profane, mention that it had
been cultivated in Egypt from times beyond the
knowledge of man. We first find Flax in our Bible
as connected with the miracles wrought for the
deliverance of Israel from the house of bondage. The
hailstones destroyed the Flax, for it was boiled, and
the barley which was in the ear; which fixes the
time for the Flax-gathering in Egypt to the early
part of the month of April, a time of year when hail
stones would have been portentous in the South of
Europe how much more in Egypt !
The linen cloth, which, it appears from several
passages of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the Israelites
possessed in abundance during their forty years
162 FLAX.
wandering in the wilderness, was either part of the
spoil which they carried up out of Egypt, or purchased,
as occasion served, from those caravans of travelling
merchants, known to the early patriarchs as Ishma-
elites, because they appear not to have sojourned at
any of their stations long enough to have sown and
stored their Flax. Accordingly, there is no mention
of the plant Flax during the whole history of the
wandering in the wilderness, But as soon as they
touched the borders of the promised land, and Joshua
sent his spies to reconnoitre it, we find Rahab hiding
those spies under the stalks of the Flax which she
had laid to dry on the house-top.
Flax therefore was known and cultivated in Pales
tine before the exode, a fact indeed to be inferred from
the familiar mention of it in the history of Samson.
The mode of spinning Flax by the spindle and the
distaff, spoken of by Solomon in his Proverbs, and
beautifully portrayed to us in the marbles of Athens
and of Rome, endured even to our days. I have seen
the rock or distaff formed simply of the leading shoot
of some young tree carefully peeled, it might be
birch or alder, and, farther north, of fir or pine ; and
the spindle formed of the stem of the beautiful shrub
FLAX. 163
euonymus, or spindle-tree. This primitive mode of
spinning first gave way to the spinning-wheel, before
it finally disappeared on the invention of more com
plicated machinery, though the spinning-wheel is far
from obsolete.
In Isaiah s denunciation of woe to Egypt, the
workers of fine Flax are numbered among the fore
doomed sufferers, that is, those who manufactured
the fine linen, which was long one of the staple
exports of that rich country.
In another prophecy, describing the meekness and
gentleness of the coming Messiah, he says : " He shall
not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his
voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not
break, and smoking Flax shall he not quench, till
he send forth judgment unto victory." This text
is quoted by St. Matthew in the only passage where
Flax is mentioned in the New Testament.
Ezekiel, in his vision, speaks of a measuring line, or
cord, of Flax ; and Hosea alludes to the household
uses of Flax. Solomon says of the virtuous woman :
" She seeketh wool and Flax, and worketh willingly
with her hands. . . . She layeth her hands to the
spindle, and her hands hold the distaff."
164 FLAX.
Linen cloth is frequently named both in the
Old and New Testaments; and we may conjecture,
from the quantity mentioned in those chapters of
Exodus which describe the framing of the tabernacle
and the clothing of the priests, that it formed the
common clothing of many of the congregation.
Linen also occurs more than once in the chapters
of Leviticus and Deuteronomy which treat of sump
tuary laws; and later we find Solomon trading to
Egypt for fine linen, for his own use, and that of the
Temple.
Although much linen was spun and woven in
Palestine and the adjacent countries, and much in
Greece and Italy, the ancients seem universally to
have preferred the fine linen of Egypt, where the
priests were clad in the purest white as a part of
their religion.
But when we speak of the fine linen of Egypt, we
must not suppose it was any thing like that of
Holland or Ireland. It was, in fact, more like a thin
dowlas, the threads being beautifully even and well
wove, as may be observed in the swathings of the
Egyptian mummies. It is curious that Egypt should
have exported linen yarn for the manufactures of
FLAX. 165
other countries, yet it was among the articles brought
into Palestine by Solomon for the use of his people. *
The prophet Ezekiel says that the ships of Tyre
had their sails of the fine linen of Egypt f , and that
the awnings were also of purple and blue linen, whilst
at that period, and long after it, the common vessels
of the Mediterranean had their sails of matting.
Sylla s mosaic pavement, in the Temple of Fortune
at PraBneste, exhibits vessels with sails of matting;
and in the 14th century, Taddeo Gaddi, the Floren
tine painter, who probably copied what he saw, has
given sails of matting to the ships in which the
saints, whose lives form the subject of his pictures,
performed their voyages.
But the Tyrians, luxurious as they were, did not
use linen sails only because they were costly. Their
ships, it is well known, made their way into the far
Atlantic; and, as their pilots were also their wise
men J, they resorted, of course, to a firmer material
* 1 Kings, x. 28,
f The model ship, which was carried in procession at Athens during the
Panathenaic festival, had its sail originally from Sais in Egypt, though it
was afterwards woven and embroidered by certain women of Athens, and
annually renewed.
J Ezekiel, xxvii. 8.
166 FLAX.
than matting, for the sails that were to fetch their tin
and their iron from the shores of Britain; and the
linen of Egypt was the best, and most easily procured.
The use of fine linen in the Temple, and for the
priests clothing, was part of the strict ceremonial of
the Jewish worship. When Hannah presented young
Samuel to the high priest Eli, to stand before the
Lord, she clothed him in a linen cphod; and when
David brought up the ark of the covenant in triumph
from the house of Obed-edom unto his own city, he
performed his religious dance before the ark, girt in
a linen ephod : in both instances, the persons engaged
in solemn acts conforming to the custom of the priests
and Levites of the tabernacle, afterwards continued
in the Temple.
Linen cloth and fine linen are several times named
in the New Testament. The rich man, at whose gate
Lazarus was laid, was clothed in purple and fine linen.
Linen was used to enwrap the infant s tender limbs,
and in linen the bodies of the dead were swathed.
The last occasion on which linen is mentioned in
the Gospel is this, the most important on which the
work of man s hands could be employed: " Then
took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen
FLAX. 167
clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is
to bury."*
" Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and
went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes
lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying
with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a
place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple,
which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and
believed," f
* St. John, xix. 40.
f St. John, xx. 6, 7, 8. See, also, all the other evangelists, in their
account of the burial and resurrection of Christ,
FRANKINCENSE.
Bosivellia Thurifera, also Boswellia Glalra, Frankincense.
Linnaean class and order, DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, TEREBINTACE^E.
Exod. xxx. 134.
Levit. ii. 1, 2. ; xxiv. 7.
Numb. v. 15.
Neheiniah, xiii. 5.
Song of Solomon, iii. 6. ; iv. 6.
14.
St. Matthew, ii. 11.
Rev. viii. 3, 4.
THE perfume which Moses was commanded to prepare
for the use of the ark of the covenant consisted of
equal weight of Frankincense, stacte, onycha, and
FRANKINCENSE . 169
galbanum. The making it for any secular purpose
was to be most severely punished.
In Leviticus we find that the burnt-offering was to
be strewed with Frankincense, and the same fragrant
substance was to be sprinkled over the shew-bread in
the tabernacle ; but in Numbers the offering for
7 O
jealousy is forbidden to be perfumed with Frankin
cense.
Nehemiah mentions Frankincense among the ne
cessaries furnished to the Levites, when they re-esta
blished the ritual of the law, after the building of
the second Temple of Jerusalem ; and, in the Song of
Solomon, he first speaks of the perfume of myrrh and
Frankincense and all the powders of the merchant,
and afterwards numbers it up among precious trees
and principal spices.
St. Matthew tells us that Frankincense was among
the offerings made to the infant Christ, when
" Three kings,
Or, what is more, three wise men, went
Westward, to find the world s true Orient."
In the Apocalypse, St. John sees that the angel
who burns incense before the elect has much Frank
incense in his censer.
170 FRANKINCENSE.
Such is the honour in which Frankincense is held
in Scripture. But it is probable that the fine
Frankincense of the Bible was really olibanum, a
gum exuding naturally from the tree or trees that
produce Frankincense, while the proper Frankincense
flows from wounds made in the bark of the tree, for
the purpose of procuring this incense.
Till of late years, the tree or trees producing
olibanum and Frankincense were unknown ; but the
researches of Mr. Colebrook, Drs. Roxburgh, Wallich,
and other Indian botanists, have discovered them in
the Boswellia Thurifera or Serrata and Boswellia
Glabra ; the latter of which may perhaps be found in
Persia or Arabia. But the olibanum and Frankin
cense of commerce are produced from these trees in
Central India, and Bombay is the port whence the
greatest quantity is exported.
This drug is still constantly burnt as incense in the
Hindoo temples, under the names of Rhoonda and
Looban ; the latter is certainly the Lybanus of Dios-
corides*; and this coincidence of the ancient names
* Some have fancied that this Lybanos of the Greek was derived from
Lebanon, and that once on a time Frankincense grew wild on Mount
Lebanon.
FRANKINCENSE. 171
with that of the modern natives, corroborates the
other evidence insisted on by the Indian naturalists,
as to the identity of the incense-bearing trees with
the boswellia.
GALBANUM.
Bubon Galbanum, Gallanum Gum.
Linnacan class and order, PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, UMBELLIFER^.
GALBANUM. 173
GALBANUM.
Exod. xxx. 34.
GALBANUM is mentioned but once in the Bible, and
then it is along with onycha, frankincense, and stacte,
as a component part of the incense for the most holy
altar.
Gum Galbanum exudes from the stalks and
branches of the plant, and much resembles Asafoetida
in its medicinal qualities, and a good deal also in
smell, though it is by no means so offensive. Hence
it is often preferred, as a remedy, for persons of de
licate habits.
It may appear singular, that a gum having such a
scent should have been mingled in the holy perfume,
but the Eastern nations are far from agreeing with us
on the subjects of agreeable smells; and, after all,
mingled with the other ingredients burnt on the altar
of perfumes, it may have assisted, in no small degree,
to keep down the disgusting effluvium arising from
the constant shedding of blood in the Jewish sacri
fices.
174 GALBANUM.
In India, asafoetida itself is chewed as a luxury;
and I well remember what it cost me to swallow al
monds and raisins sprinkled with that nauseous drug,
when, being on a visit to the temple of the Mahadeo
of Chimchore *, the priests presented them to me in
return for certain rupees which were the price of my
admittance.
* In the Mahratta country, the Mahadeo was a pretended incarnation
of the Hindoo God of Wisdom Gancsa, in the person of a weakly boy,
twelve years old.
GARLIC.
Allium Ascalonicum, Common Garlic.
Linnaean class and order, HEXANDRIA MONOGYNTA.
Natural order, LILIACEJE.
Numb. xi. 5.
GARLIC is only once named in Scripture, and that is
along with other vegetables, by the ungrateful Israel
ites, when they reproached Moses for leading them up
out of Egypt, where they enjoyed luxuries which the
176 GARLIC.
desert they had to pass through in their way to the
land of promise did not afford.
The Israelites had been employed by the Pharaohs
of Egypt on public works, and had doubtless been
fed as other workmen were. Now Herodotus gives
an account of the great sums spent on the provisions
of the labourers employed in building the pyramids ;
and among the articles of food which he enumerates,
Garlick, leeks, onions, and radishes form a very con
siderable portion. The Jewish brick-makers naturally
regretted the savoury roots they had left behind.
Perhaps the Garlic of Egypt was of the delicate kind
called eschalot, brought to the West of Europe by the
Crusaders, who named it after Askalon, in Palestine,
where they found it.
There are various kinds of Garlic, some of which
have very elegant flowers. The root of our English
Garlic is not worth cultivating ; indeed, it is a trouble
some weed in the meadows, because, as the leaves
shoot up early in the spring, cows often eat it, and
their milk in consequence acquires a very disagreeable
taste : but the Garlic of Escalon is an indispensable
condiment in modern cookery.
GOPHER WOOD,
Gen. vi. 14.
THERE is but this one mention of Gopher wood in
the Bible, nor is there any thing that can be imagined
to be the same in any ancient profane author, nor any
similar name in other tongues, to give a clue to the
discovery of the real Gopher. Accordingly, the Bible
critics have been busy.
Bochart and Fuller will have cypress to be Gopher
wood, because of its durability. Asenarius, Minister,
Tailor, and others, choose the fir, because it overflows
with inflammable matter, and they say that in
Hebrew Gopher means sulphur ; whereupon Park-
hurst sensibly remarks that Gopher probably means
any and all trees yielding pitch or resin, thus includ
ing the cedar, and in this he agrees with Sir Walter
Raleigh.
Now the ark was pitched within and without ; so
some suppose that it was made of wicker-work, and
daubed over with asphaltum within and without.
These are all useless conjectures, as well as a
178 GOPHER WOOD.
hundred others that might be named. Noah dwelt
where the pine and fir and cedar and oak were all at
hand ; and, directed by the spirit of God, no doubt he
made the best choice of wood, and wrought it with
skill and with zeal to do the bidding of his God.
GOURD.
Cucumis Prophetarum, Colocynth, or Bitter Gourd.
Linnaean class and order, MONCECIA SYNGENESIA.
Natural order, CUCURBITACE^.
2 Kings, iv. 39. Jonah, iv. 6, 7. 9, 10.
THE words translated Gourd in the texts named
above are very different, and are, by good commen
tators, said to mean very different plants.
During a famine in the time of the prophet Elisha,
an assembly or college of the sons of the prophets, as
*
the students of the law were called, was with Elisha
180 GOUKD.
as their instructor ; and he ordered his servant to
seethe pottage for them. c And one went into the field
to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered
thereof wild Gourds his lap full, and came and shred
them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them not.
So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came
to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they
cried out and said, Oh thou man of God ! there is
death in the pot."
Now this description, and the intolerably bitter
taste (which the prophet only cured by miracle),
point out with tolerable certainty the Prophet s Gourd,
or Cucumis Prophetarum, a plant common in Pa
lestine, intolerably bitter, and even poisonous. An
extract is however prepared from it, called colocynth,
or coloquintida, which is one of our commonest and
most valuable drastic medicines.
The Gourd of Jonah does not appear to have been
any of the Cucurbitaceous plants. The Arab version
of the Scriptures, and the best informed European
commentators, agree that the plant so quickly grow
ing and so quickly dying was the Ricinus communis,
which we call Palma Christi, or castor-oil nut.
GOURD.
181
Ricinus communis, Palma Christi.
Linnaean class and order, MON<ECIA MONADELPHIA.
Natural order, EUPHORBIACEJE.
The dispute concerning Jonah s Gourd began so
early as the time of St. Jerome and Rufinus of
Aquila. One maintaining that the plant was ivy,
the other excommunicated him, and the saint of ivy
182 GOURD.
returned the compliment. Many other extravagances
were acted by them for this insignificant cause, and,
strange to say, a large portion of the Christian world
joined in the squabble.
But the ancient name *, not unlike that now given
to the plant in the East, the situation in a place where
the Eicinus reaches its full perfection, the delicious
shade afforded by its broad tender leaves, and its
liability to sudden decay, all agree in pointing it out
as the object of the prophet s care, and of his regret.
But the certainty or doubt as to the particular
plant that shadowed Jonah is of no consequence, com
pared with the beautiful and touching lesson conveyed
in the two last verses.
" Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the
Gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither
madest it grow ; which came up in a night, and
perished in a night : and should not I spare Nineveh,
* In Hebrew Kikajon, called by Pliny Cici or Kiki. It is singular
that the oil expressed from the seeds of the cici should have been used by
the ancients, including the Jews, as one of the pleasantest oils for burn
ing, and for several domestic uses ; though I cannot find that its medicinal
virtues were known. The modern Jews of London use this oil by the
name of oil of kik for their Sabbath lamps, it being one of the five kinds
of oil their traditions allow them to burn on such occasions.
GOURD. 183
that great city, wherein are more than six score
thousand persons, that cannot discern between their
right hand and their left hand, and also much
cattle?"
GEASS.
Festucajluitans 3 Glyceriajluitans, Sheep s Fescue, Flote
Fescue.
Linnrcan class and order, TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, GRAMINE^E.
GRASS. 185
GKRASS.
Gen. i. 11, 12. St. Matthew, vi. 30.; xiv. 19.
Psalms, xxxvii. 2.; xc. 5.; xcii. 7.; St. John, vi. 10.
cii. 4. 11.; cxix. 6. Epistle of James, i. 10, 11.
Isaiah, xxxvii. 27.; xl. 6, 7, 8. 1 Epistle of Peter, i. 24.
Daniel, iv. 23. 32, 33. Revelations, vii. 7. ; ix. 4.
Amos, vii. 1, 2.
IN the sublime description of the creation that opens
the book of Genesis, it is said that on the third day
the earth brought forth Grass, and herb yielding seed ;
and these, notwithstanding a common habit of regard
ing them as nearly of the same import, are really
carefully distinguished in the venerable language of
the original.
It was an ancient opinion, that the short-tufted
Grass that forms our greenswards produced neither
flower nor seed, but sprung, as Theophrastus says,
spontaneously from the soil, to be the food of beasts ;
whereas the herbs yielding seed were potherbs avail
able for man.
Time, of course, discovered that Grass, like other
things of vegetable growth, produced its flower and
seed ; and some of the more useful kinds appear to be
spread over every country, and through every climate.
186 GKASS.
As far as I have read, however, Hasselquist appears
to be the only traveller who has noticed the Grass of
Palestine. He mentions fescue-grass more than once ;
and speaks of the great abundance of sheep s fescue
in a particular situation, as indicative of the fitness of
the hilly land for the pasture of numerous flocks.
Other travellers have told us of the abundance of
sheep s fescue in the more northern parts of Asia;
and represent the herdsmen Tartars as moving with
their flocks in pursuit of it, through their wide-
spreading steppes. Royle* enumerates the common
Grasses of Europe which spread into Asia, wherever
there is soil, in the north, for pasturage. He speaks
of the fox-tail, cat s-tail, meadow-grass, fescue, cock s-
foot, oat-grass, and bromus, besides some others which
he does not name, as being like those of Europe, of the
very best quality. He mentions lemon-grass, Andro-
pogon Schcenanthus, which he takes for the Schoenus
of Dioscorides, as common in Middle India, while the
others are mostly confined to the northern and moun
tainous districts. In truth, sweet Grass of some kind
is found in all the temperate regions of the globe.
* Botany, c., of the Himalaya Mountains.
GRASS. 187
Such as is found between the tropics is larger and
harsher, and makes but a poor clothing for the surface
of the earth ; while that which approaches the polar
climates dwindles gradually, and finally makes way
for the lichens and mosses.
Throughout the book of Psalms, the prosperity of
the unrighteous man is compared with " the Grass
which is cut down and withereth;" or that "which
withereth ere the mower can fill his hand with it,
or he who bindeth the sheaves his bosom ; " or the
" Grass that withereth on the house-top."
The same image, drawn from the ephemeral ap
pearance of Grass, occurs in the thirty-seventh chapter
of Isaiah : but, in the forty-fourth, the prophet says,
comforting fallen Israel, that " the redeemed seed of
the house of Jacob, having the Spirit of the Lord
poured upon it, shall spring up as among the Grass ; "
alluding to the quick and rich growth of Grass in
the spring. Isaiah afterwards compares the fate of
the enemies of Hezekiah to the Grass of the field,
or upon the house-tops, or corn blighted before it
be grown up.
Several of these passages evidently allude to the
custom of cutting and drying Grass as hay, for store
188 GRASS.
fodder; but there is also a practice which prevails in
hot climates, which may be referred to. Persons are
sent out into the woods and other wild places to collect
the Grass, which would otherwise be wasted ; and it is
no uncommon thing in the evening to see groups of
grass-cutters in the market, waiting to dispose of their
bundles or sheaves, which are often so large, that one
is disposed to wonder how they could have been con
veyed from the woods upon one man s shoulders.
Sir Thomas Brown quotes Columella and Yarro as
authorities for the ancient practice of cutting Grass
for hay. The method, according to him, was nearly
that we now follow in England; and the antique
farmers had also their first and second crops. Colu
mella mentions that, even when the Grass was cut
and turned till dry, it was unlawful to gather it
together, or bind it, on the festivals dedicated to the
greater heathen deities.
By the text quoted above from the prophet Amos,
it appears that there were likewise two crops of hay
in Palestine. The prophet dates the judgement of
the grasshoppers from " the beginning of the shooting
up of the latter growth after the king s mowings."
The first time Grass is mentioned in the New Tes-
GRASS. 189
tament, it is as the general name for the vegetable
clothing of the earth. " Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin :
and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore,
if God so clothe the Grass of the field, which to-day
is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not
much more clothe you, oh ye of little faith."* Again,
we are told that the multitude that was fed with five
loaves and a few small fishes sat down upon the Grass,
and that " there was much Grass in that place."
In the Apocalypse, also, Grass is considered as the
mere clothing of the earth, a third part of Avhich
perished when the first blast of the destroying angel
was heard.
St. James and St. Peter, in their epistles to the
general body of Christians, use the following beautiful
metaphor with but little variation. " All flesh is as
Grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of
Grass: the Grass withereth, and the flower thereof
fadeth away ; but the word of the Lord endureth for
ever."
Sermon on the Mount.
190 GRASS.
From these examples we perceive that any species
of Grass, growing in the country, may have been
intended by the authors of the various books I have
quoted. The summer Grass
" That fastest grows by night,
Unseen yet crescive in his faculty,"
may belong to the latter growth, after the mowings ;
and of all the rest it may be said, they are equally
likely to have furnished the imagery of the sacred
writers. The fescue-grasses, as I have already said,
are certainly natives of the Holy Land. One remark
able species, Glyceria fluitans*, produces such abun
dance of sweet seeds, that they are exported from the
Syrian coast, and sold in Turkey, Hungary, and the
South of Germany, under the name of sweet manna
seeds, for the table, where they are presented in the
forms of soups, puddings, and confections of various
kinds.
This glyceria would scarcely thrive on a dry sheep-
walk, but it is an admirable Grass for the meadow,
whether for fresh food for cattle or for hay.
The sheep s fescue, on the contrary, prefers the dry
* So named by Mr. Robert Brown, on account of its sweetness : it Is
often called note fescue.
GRASS. 191
and often parched sheep-walk. Its tufted leaves are
fine as threads, and its little flower peculiarly delicate.
Perhaps it may be the small Grass upon the house-top ;
yielding no profit except in the dry pastures, where
it may be detected, even at a distance, by the pretty
fescue moth, which in spring is for ever hovering
over it.
HASEL.
Cory Ins Avelanus, Ilasel Nut.
Linnsean class and order, MONCKCIA POJLYANDRIA.
Natural order, CORYLACE^:.
HASEL. 193
HASEL.
Gen. xxx. 37.
THE Hasel wands that Jacob used in his crafty
management of Laban s flocks are noticed in the
only text of Scripture in which Hasel itself is specified,
although nuts are repeatedly spoken of. The Hasel
and filbert, the walnut, pistacea, and almond, are
alike indigenous in Palestine; and though they are
nowhere, like the chesnut, the dried fig, or the
raisin, principal articles of food, yet they are more
frequently used in diet than with us, and enter pretty
largely into the composition of many Eastern dishes.
The lamb stuffed with pistacea nuts, which we read
of in the Arabian tales, is still one of the luxuries of
the Arab camp, and pistaceas or almonds are strewed
over the most savoury pillaws.
Nuts were much used as food in ancient Italy ;
indeed, the people of Praeneste, the modern Palestrina,
received from the Komans the nickname of nut-eaters,
which their descendants to this day inherit. Some
194 HASEL.
imagine that this name had its origin in the plenty
and excellence of the nuts in the Pra3nestine territory,
but Ceccone* gives from Livy a more honourable
derivation. He says that, when Hannibal besieged
Casselino, the PraBnestines, who formed the garrison,
were reduced to the extreme of famine. Gracchus
had vainly attempted to relieve them by causing
barrels of corn to be set afloat in the river, so
that the soldiers might draw them ashore. But
the enemy soon discovered and put an end to this
supply. It was the nut season, and an immense
number of nuts were thrown into the water ; which
floating singly reached the famishing garrison, and
being caught by the soldiers in cloths and fine nets,
enabled them to hold out.
Delicious confections of nuts, honey, and wheaten
flour, are common to Italy, Turkey, and the countries
bordering the Levant.
A great profit is made in Syria and Palestine of
the oil of the Hasel-nut, as well as the walnut. Both
are eaten when fresh, and are much used in the East
for the lamp. The greater part produced there is,
* In his Historia di Palestrina.
HASEL. 195
however, consumed by the soap-makers of the Syrian
ports, whence there is a great yearly exportation of
soap.*
* The amount of duty paid in England in 1841 was 8,628Z., at 2s. per
bushel, for Hasel and filberts only, brought in for the table or the oil-
mill.
HEATH.
Erica vulgaris, Common Heath, Heather, or Ling.
Linnsean class and order, OCTANDBIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, ERICE-ZE.
HEATH. 197
HEATH.
Jerem. xvii. 6.; xlviii. 6.
THE prophet speaks figuratively of Heath in both
these passages, which imply the loneliness of the
Desert. *
Heath of several species and varieties is found
covering large tracts of country in Europe, Asia, and
Africa. Our own islands possess several indigenous
species, but that most widely spread is the Heather,
or Ling.
Hasselquist visited the Holy Land as a botanist ;
as Linnaeus tells us in his interesting account of him,
from an enthusiastic desire to make the botanical
treasures of the sacred places known as well as those
of other countries that have not half the claim to our
attention.
Celsius says the Heather is the Heath of Jeremiah,
and Hasselquist found it growing abundantly in the
* In the first text the Hebrew word is Accobita, which Celsius says
is Heath, Heather, or Ling, in English and Swedish. In the second text
the original word is Arar, which may be either tamarix or juniper.
198 HEATH.
vale of Jericho; and, according to the account of
recent travellers, the neighbourhood of Joppa is so
covered with it, that it is annually burnt for ashes
for the soap-makers.
But pearl-ash is not the only profit drawn from
Heath. The land is still one of milk and honey, and
few plants yield so much to " Nature s alchemist, the
busy bustling bee," as Heather. The Scotch Heather
honey, though dark in colour, is delicious in flavour;
and every Eastern traveller can tell how the Arab
dips his fresh flour cake into the mingled cup of
honey and butter, and needs no better sustenance in
crossing the Desert.
HEMLOCK.
Conium maculatum, Spotted Hemlock.
Linnsean class and order, PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, UMBELLIFER^E.
Hosea, x. 4. Amos, vi. 12.
THESE are the only two texts in our translation of the
Bible where the name of Hemlock occurs. But the
200 HEMLOCK.
same Hebrew word is rendered gall in the following
passages: Dent. xxix. 18., xxxii. 32.; Psalm Ixix.
21.; Jer. viii. 14., ix. 15., xxxiii. 15.; Sam. iii. 5. 9.
There is no question but that some bitter weed is
meant in all these places. In the three first it is
coupled with wormwood ; and the prophet Jeremiah
expresses the last degree of punishment, the greatest
evil to be brought upon sin, as drinking the water of
gall.
In Hosea, the false swearer is said to cause j uclge-
ment to spring up "like Hemlock in the furrows;"
that is to say, that false judgement is as mischievous,
from its semblance to justice, as the poisonous Hem
lock is, by its resemblance to the wholesome dill or
anise, in the furrows of which it springs, and may
deceive the husbandman.
Amos expresses nearly the same thing more briefly.
The wicked " have turned righteousness into Hem
lock."
The use of Hemlock, as a means of putting
criminals to death, is very ancient. In some cases,
probably, the Cicuta virosa, which is a more active
poison, was substituted for it. Of the juice of
one or other of these noxious weeds, that bowl was
HEMLOCK. 201
composed which put an end to the life of Socrates ;
a bitter draught, but he comforted himself that his
SOUL COULD NOT DIE, and patiently submitted to the
death of his body.
If he, a heathen, could attain to so. excellent a
doctrine by the right use of his reason, or that sage
philosophy,
" From Heav n descended to the low-roof d house
Of Socrates,"
as to gild the stormy sunset of his own life, and
enable him to cheer the spirits of his mourning fol
lowers with the hope of a happy immortality, how
much more should we, who are blessed with the direct
promise of Eternity, hope and believe likewise !
The Jews made a different use of their Hemlock or
gall- weed. They availed themselves of its benumbing
powers, to deaden the pangs of the dying criminal.
To such as were condemned to be stoned, they gave
a cup of wine, with a grain of myrrh and a portion of
Hemlock juice mingled in it, to strengthen their
nerves as they walked to the place of execution, and
dull the sense of their death pains. Hence, the ex
pression in Proverbs*, "Give strong drink to him
* Proverbs, xxxi. 6.
202 HEMLOCK.
who is ready to perish, and wine to him who is bitter
of soul."
This practice of the Jews explains the relations of
the evangelists, who say that, while Jesus was on
the cross, they gave him vinegar mixed with gall, or
wine mingled with myrrh, upon a sponge, to moisten
his lips. Now the common "ration wine of the
soldiers was almost as poor and sour as the vinegar
with which the Jewish labourers were wont to refresh
themselves*, and some of the by-standers, we trust
in compassion, mingled with this wine gall or myrrh,
perhaps both, and put it upon a sponge to his lips,
thinking to soothe his agony. He tasted and put it
aside. Not because of the bitterness of the draught,
but that in his body he would bear the whole bitter
ness of the punishment for sin, and win the salvation
of mankind by a worthy sacrifice, full, and conscious,
and knowing of the price he paid.
* Ruth, ii. 14. Boaz desires that Ruth may dip her morsel in the
vinegar at meal-time, and she sat beside the reapers and ate.
HOLM.
Quercus Cerris, Holm Oak.
Linnsean class and order, MONGECIA POLYANDRIA.
Natural order, QUERCIN.E.
204 HOLM.
HOLM.
Susannah, verse 58.
I WAS for some time doubtful what tree is the Holm
of our version of the Bible. But I find that Gerard
gives that name to the rough-acorned oak, which
some call Turkish oak now-a-days ; and that Dr.
Phineas Holland, in his translation of Pliny s Natural
History, says decidedly, b. xxiv. c. 4., that the great
Holm Oak is the Quercus Cerris ; and, in b. xvi.
c. 6., he says of the fruit of the Quercus Cerris, " clad
it is with a cup beset with sharp prickles ; " which
answers, not only to Gerard s description and cut, but
to the specimen brought to me by a countryman as
the Holm Oak, and which I have drawn from the
branch itself.*
Now, as our authorised version was published very
* Another rough-acorned Oak, the Velame or Quercus 2Egilops, is of
great importance in commerce : the acorns are very large ; I possess one
of the cupules, above an inch in diameter. The fruit, especially when
just formed, contains a great proportion of tannin, and is imported for our
tanners in great quantities : at the rate of Is. per cwt., the duty amounted
in 1841 to 8,260Z.
HOLM. 205
little after Holland s translation and the Great
Herbal, it seems next to certain that, in our version
of the story of Susannah, the word rendered Holm is
really the Quercus Cerris. It is a native of Asia
Minor, Syria, Palestine, the hilly parts of Persia, and
onwards to Cabool, if not beyond ; therefore it might
well be one of the ornaments of Susannah s garden,
where it would find few rivals in the stateliness of its
growth, or the beauty of its foliage.
HYSSOP.
Hyssopus officinalis, Common Hyssop.
Linnaean class and order, DIDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA.
Natural order, LABIATE.
HYSSOP. 207
HYSSOP.
Exodus, xii. 22. 1 Kings, iv. 83.
Leviticus, xiv. 4. 6. 49. Psalm li. 7.
51, 52. St. John, xix. 29.
Numbers, xix. 6. 18. Hebrews, ix. 19.
SPRENGEL, in that part of the introduction to his
History of Plants which he calls Flora Biblica, makes
no doubt that Solomon s Hyssop was Thymbia
spicata, found by Hasselquist growing on rocks, and
among the ruins about Jerusalem. And this certainly
suits with Solomon s discoursing of plants, from the
cedar of Lebanon to the Hyssop on the wall, as it is
said in the book of Kings.
But there is good reason for believing that the
larger and commoner Hyssop is the Hyssop of Exo
dus, and, indeed, of all the other texts. A bunch of
Hyssop was used to sprinkle the blood of the first
paschal lamb on the door-posts and the lintels of the
Hebrews, when the angel of the Lord smote the
first-born of Egypt ; and a bunch of Hyssop was
used for sprinkling the altar and the people at the
time of sacrifice, after the ceremonial of the law had
been established.
208 HYSSOP.
I do not know at what precise period the Hyssop
of aspersion began, in the Temple, to be tied with a
thread or cord of scarlet to a handle of cedar wood ;
thus uniting the Hyssop, cedar, and scarlet, as ordered
in the nineteenth chapter of Numbers to be cast into
the burning of the heifer, whose ashes, mingled with
water, were to form the water Qf purification, which
was to be sprinkled over such as had become unclean,
as a sign of readmission to the congregation. It was,
however, a very ancient practice. I would humbly
ask, if the Hyssop upon which St. John says
the sponge steeped in vinegar was put, to be held to
the lips of Christ upon the cross, might not be the
Hyssop attached to its staff of cedar wood, for the
purposes of sprinkling the people, lest they should
contract defilement on the eve of the Sabbath, which
was a high day, by being in the field of execution.
It is true that St. Matthew and St. Mark say the
sponge was put upon a reed ; but John, the disciple
whom Jesus loved, was at the very foot of the cross,
receiving that divinest legacy of the love of Christ s
human nature, " Behold thy mother," and HE saw the
sponge put upon that Hyssop, thenceforth the sign
of purification to all mankind.
HYSSOP. 209
Whatever may be thought of this humble conjec
ture, it is certain that the early Christian church
imitated the ceremonial of the temple of Jerusalem,
in its music, its dresses, and even the minutest im
plements of the service. For some centuries a bunch
of common Hyssop, tied to a handle, was used for
sprinkling the holy water, the emblem of purification,
over catechumens and penitents, and in such places
as were to be purified either from profaneness or
disease : and perhaps we may receive this as a proof
that common Hyssop is, generally speaking, that of
the Bible. To this day, the long-haired brush used
in Roman Catholic churches for aspersing with holy
water is called, in many places, the Hyssop.
Hyssop was formerly in great repute for coughs,
and other complaints of the chest. It was also given,
along with aperients, to relieve flatulence. Hence,
probably, the expression of the Psalmist, " Purge me
with Hyssop, and I shall be clean." In modern times
Hyssop is almost forgotten by the apothecaries, but
country people continue to place considerable reliance
on its effects, and not without reason. Celsius enu
merates eighteen herbs which different writers have
supposed might be the real Hyssop, though his own
210 HYSSOP.
opinion is in favour of the common Hyssop. These
eighteen are : 1. Southernwood, 2. Wormwood,
3. Maiden-hair, 4. Alsinella, 5. Goose-foot, 6. Hyssopus
Cochalcensis, 7. Greek Hyssop, 8. Roman Hyssop,
9. Common Hyssop, 10. Rosemary, 11. Marjoram,
12. Marum, 13. Mint, 14. Organs, 15. Poly, 16.
Pulegium, 17. Wall-rue, and 18. Thyme.
IVY.
Hedera Helix, Common Ivy.
Linngean class and order, PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, AEALIJE.
2 Maccabees, vi. 71.
DURING the reign of Antiochus, who robbed the tem
ple of Jerusalem and profaned the Sabbath, Judas
212 IVY.
Macabeus and his family retired to the wilderness to
avoid pollution, and await some favourable oppor
tunity of restoring their country to freedom, and the
people to a sense of their duty.
Meanwhile, however, Antiochus sent an old man
from Athens, to see that the gods of Greece were
worshipped in Judea. The Samaritans had gone
before the king s wishes, and petitioned to have their
temple on Mount Gerizim dedicated to Jupiter, the
protector of strangers ; and the Athenian missionary
dedicated the temple on Mount Sion to Jupiter
Olympus. Nor was this all; for, on the birthday of
Antiochus, the feast of Bacchus was celebrated in
Jerusalem, " and the Jews were compelled to go in
procession to Bacchus, carrying Ivy."
It is on this momentous occasion only that Ivy is
named in Scripture. But the very mention of this
minute circumstance tells all the hardships of the
yoke under which the wretched Hebrews were bent
by the successors of Alexander.
Men accustomed to carry up their pure offerings,
the first fruits of their flocks and herds, their fields
and orchards, to the temple of the God of purity,
were compelled now to carry the insignia of the deity
IVY.
213
of license. Mingled with drunken women, polluted
with the touch, if not the taste, of swine s flesh, they
were forced to crown themselves with Ivy, and bear
it in triumph, as a symbol of the false god, even into
the courts of Jehovah ! Can we wonder at the fierce
ness with which the Jews fought against such
enemies ?
But to return to the herb Ivy. It is common all
over Europe and part of Asia. In the North of
Europe, the chief variety consists in having leaves
larger or smaller, or sometimes variegated.
The Hedera chrysocarpus, or golden-berried Ivy,
which is common in the Levant*, differs in nothing
* See Bauhin and Tournefort.
214 IVY.
from common Ivy but in the colour of its fruit ; and
it is found occasionally in Italy, to the south of Rome.
This was preferred by the ancient priests and
priestesses of Bacchus, for the celebrations of the
festivals of their deity. Hence it had the name of
Hedera Dionysius.
An opinion has generally prevailed, that Ivy, even
when worn as a chaplet, has the virtue of dispelling
the fumes of wine. Its berries, indeed, have been
used, as it is said, with good effect in the plague * ;
and this of itself might account for its favour in the
East, and the attributing to it sovereign powers of
healing.
A species of Ivy growing in Amboyna and other
Indian isles, called Hedera umbellifera, yields a dull
brown resin with a very powerful aromatic smell.
The green wood and young shoots of our own Ivy
have an agreeably bitter aromatic taste and smell,
especially the leaf-buds springing from the joints of
the climbing stems. Some of the ancient naturalists
imagined that the Ivy with the beautiful three-lobed
leaf was an entirely different plant from the berry-
* Their specific use is as an emetic.
IVY. 215
bearing Ivy, because the terminal branches, which
produce the fruit, bear leaves entirely different from
those which grace the lower stem. Want of observ
ation alone could have led to this error.
Ivy was long used as a vintner s sign, perhaps it is
so used still in some places ; and here it is the proper
emblem of the wine within. But it must be on
account of its unfading nature that it won its way
into houses and churches, as a Christmas and New
Year decoration; that it was strewed in this country
upon the coffins of the dead, and planted on the grave
as a sign of immortality.
This, perhaps, it is, also, which entitled it to the
favour of the poets, who often claim it as their
peculiar plant; and it would appear that it was an
appropriate crown for the critic and the man of
learning, for Horace, in his first ode, says
" An Ivy wreath, fair learning s prize,
Raises Maecenas to the skies."
In our own times, the literary men, and I believe
women too, in Germany, delight themselves with
forming at the back of their writing-tables screens of
Ivy, which they take great pains to nourish and keep
216 IVY.
green all the year. This they do in the spirit of
Horace, and think thus to consecrate their studies to
learning and criticism. Not so the Russians (at
least those of the court and capital), to whom the
custom has spread ; they look to Father Bacchus, and
say that their cooling Ivy-screens, secure the powers
of thought and clearness of head .amidst the deepest
potations.
\
JUNIPEK.
Juniperus communis, Common Juniper.
Linnaean class and order, DICECIA MONADELPHIA.
Natural order, CONIFERA.
1 Kings, xix. 4, 5. Job, xxx. 4. Psalm cxx. 4, 5.
THE first passage quoted above is from the history of
the prophet Elijah, who, being persecuted by Jezebel
and the priests of her false gods, fled to the wilderness,
and sat himself down under a Juniper tree, and he
requested for himself that he might die. In the next
verse we find the angel of the Lord ministering to
him, as he slept under a Juniper tree.
The Juniper is really a tree of the wilderness,
where the larger kinds afford a thick shadow from
218 JUNIPER.
the heat of noon and the dews of night. Milton
follows our own translation in the Paradise Regained,
where he writes of the Saviour s dream, when he
saw
" the prophet, how he fled
Into the desert, and how there he slept
Under a Juniper."
In Sprengel s Flora BiUica, he maintains the
same reading, against those interpreters who would
read broom. The reason assigned for a change is
this : that the roots of Juniper could not afford food,
even such as might suffice to nourish the outcasts in
the text of Job. Neither do they pretend that the
root of the broom is eatable; but Ursinus suggests
that, at the root of the Oriental broom, orobanche, or
broom-rape, like our own is found, and that this when
fried affords good nourishment.
OrobancheaB appear to be always parasitical ; and it
is said that the seeds of some species will lie dormant
in the ground for years, until the root of the plant on
which they are used to grow comes in contact with
them, when they sprout immediately. They are
never green: their leaves are converted into scales,
and the steins succulent.
JUNIPEK.
219
I- BOOM EAP".
But whence were these outcasts to procure the fire,
the utensils, and the condiments necessary to make
the broom-rape eatable? If some more succulent
vegetable than the root of either the Juniper or the
broom were to be sought for a substitute on this
occasion, there is the truffle of the desert, which the
modern Arabs eat both raw and dressed while fresh,
220 JUNIPER.
and dry and preserve in bags for provision on their
long journeys. But it would seem that the difficulty
arising from the unfitness of Juniper roots for food
exists only in those versions which, like our own
and Luther s German Bible, have followed the vul-
gate implicitly. Other and older interpreters say
that " they gathered Juniper roots for fuel," and the
Spanish version, "they gathered Juniper roots to
warm themselves ; " and this agrees with the coals of
Juniper, to which the Psalmist compares a false
tongue. According to Celsius, the Medrash Te-
leilim countenances this reading of the psalm, by ob
serving that " The Lord gave the people in the
Desert Juniper to burn, wherewith they cooked their
food."
There is an idea that the coals of Juniper acquire
a greater heat than those of any other vegetable fuel,
and also that they retain heat longer. Hence their
fitness for the purposes of the people in the Desert.
There is, however, a circumstance very favourable
to the opinion of those who would read broom in the
texts quoted at the head of this section. It is, that
the name by which the Arabs call broom is Retem
or Rotam, the very word in the Hebrew texts.
JUNIPER.
221
Broom.
Linnsean class and order, DIADELPHIA DECANDEIA.
Natural order, LEGUMINOS^E.
The peculiar Broom to which this is applied was
first seen by Clusius in Mauritania, who describes it
as very beautiful, white, abundant in flowers, and so
large as to give shade. This same Broom is found all
along the southern shore of the Mediterranean, and
in the deserts of Arabia and Palestine. *
But to return to the Juniper; it is common to
most wild parts of Europe and Asia. Britain, Sweden,
Germany, abound in it wherever the plough has
not uprooted it. Pallas tells us it spreads over all
* Rosenmiiller speaks of it as the common Spanish Broom, from which,
however, it differs greatly.
222 JUNIPEK.
Russia and Tartary; it is not wanting among the
Himalaya Mountains. From the great cedar Juniper
to the common savine, it adorns the desert places of
Syria, Palestine, and Arabia; and I have in my
possession a Juniper plant of five years old, grown
from seed gathered on Mount Sinai.
I believe all the Junipers yield -gum sanderach, as
well as the almug. The berries are valued not only for
their medicinal qualities, but for the agreeable flavour
they impart to spirituous liquors, whether distilled
from wine or malt.
The spirit distilled over Juniper berries is the but
too well known gin, which is probably less destructive
of health and life than it might be, on account of the
wholesome qualities of the berries.
In Europe, Juniper bushes are cut for fuel, and for
making fine charcoal. Juniper smoke is much used
in curing dried provisions, and is said to communicate
their excellent flavour to the hams of Westphalia and
the dried beef of Hamburgh. *
* The earliest notice of salted meat that I know of occurs in the
apocryphal book of Baruch, vi. 28.; where he says: "As for the things
sacrificed, the priests sell and abuse them ; in the like manner, their wives
lay up part thereof in salt."
JUNIPER. 223
I the rather mention these economical purposes to
which Juniper is applied, because it sanctions the
interpretation of the passage in Job which reads
"Juniper roots for fuel;" but, indeed, whether the
retem be really Juniper or Broom, the propriety of
the reading, that "they gathered the roots for fuel,"
is evident.
LADANUM.
Cistus ladanifera, Gum Cistus.
Linnaean class and order, POLYANDRIA MONOGYNTA.
Natural order, CISTI.
Gen. xxxvii. 25.: xliii. 11.
THE name of Ladanum is not to be found in our
translation of the Bible ; but the best Bible scholars
LADANUM. 225
and botanists are convinced that the word rendered
myrrh, in the two passages of Genesis above quoted,
should have been translated Ladanum. This drug is a
sweet-scented gum-resin, exuding from the Cretan
cistus, the Ladanum cistus, and some other varieties.
Of this resin Herodotus says that it was found
sticking to the beards of goats, and that the Arabs
mixed it with various aromatics ; and, indeed, that it
was Ladanum with which they perfumed themselves
in common.
By the time of Dioscorides, it had been discovered
that the gum exuded from the young branches of
the cistus, upon which the goats browsed ; and the
people of Syria and Crete availed themselves of
the discovery, to procure the perfume in greater
quantities than the combings of the goats beards
afforded. They made use of whips with broad
leather thongs, with which, by passing them over the
shrubs, they wounded them sufficiently to gather the
juice, without destroying them ; and, after drying
the whips in the sun, the gum was carefully scraped
off. Still further improvements had been made
before Tournefort travelled. The whip has assumed
a more convenient form. To an instrument much
226 LADANUM.
like a garden rake, they attach, in place of teeth, a
double row of broad leather thongs, and thus sweep
off the exudation, which is always most plentiful
about sunrise. Nor do they neglect the most ancient
collectors of Ladanum, for the beards and coats of
the goats are still most carefully combed for the sake
of the gum.
But, though Ladanum was chiefly valued by the
early Arabs as a perfume, it was not neglected as a
remedy for some complaints, as we learn from Hippo
crates.*
The narcotic drug which Helen infused into the
wine, to cheer and revive Telemachus and his com
panion, when they arrived at the house of Menelaus,
seems to have been opium, or the hardened juice of
the poppy. This precious drug, antidote to the pains
of grief and anger f , Helen had received in Egypt
from Polydamna, the wife of the priest Thone, " for
Egypt teems with drugs." Many of these were na
tive, many imported from Arabia, and by Arabian
caravans, or ships, from the farthest isles of the
East, whence they found their way to Greece, and
* See Sprengel, Flora Hippocratica, vol. i, p. 43. Hist. jRei Herb.
f Odyssey, iv. 277. of Cowper s translation. Sprengel, Flora Homerica.
LADANUM. 227
passed for the productions of Egypt and Arabia
without question.
The greater proportion of liquid Ladanum con
sumed in this and other countries is, in fact, tincture
of opium. But the gum-resin Ladanum is much em
ployed, with a mixture of frankincense, beat up with
oil of mace and oil of mint, as a strengthening
plaster; at the same time it soothes pain, and often
procures sleep, not less than
" That nepenthes, which the wife of Thone
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena."
LEEK.
Allium Porrum, Common Leek.
Linnasan class and order, HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, LILACEA.
LEEK. 229
LEEK.
Numb. xi. 5.
THE sole mention of Leeks in the Bible occurs in the
passage where the murmuring Israelites reproach
Moses for having brought them into the Desert, and
number up the delicious vegetables, garlick, Leeks,
and onions, which they had left behind them in
Egypt.
Leeks are indigenous in the countries bordering on
the Mediterranean, and thrive particularly well in
Egypt, where they now, as of old, form a considerable
article in the food of the Fellahs or cultivators of the
soil. Hasselquist saw them eating their Leeks and
barley bread with a zest which he notices as superior
to any they would have had with a meal of dainties.
Some objectors to Scripture suggest that the
Israelites could never have been permitted, while in
Egypt, to feed on these vegetables.
" When Leeks were sacred, and twas crime in sooth,
To wound an onion with unholy tooth." *
* Juvenal, Sat. xv.
230 LEEK.
But these plants were never objects of general
worship; particular towns venerated particular spe
cies, as, for instance, the onion* was adored at Pelu-
sium. Such objects were, however, for the most part
reverenced on account of their being dedicated to, or
symbolic of, some well known deity, much in the
way in which a Welchman reverences his Leek, the
emblem of Wales, and wears one on St. David s day.
That compliment paid, however, he would never
think of denying himself the pleasure of eating his
Leek, and no doubt the ancient Egyptians and their
bondsmen made equally free with their savoury gods.
* More probably the sea onion, or squill.
LENTILS.
Cicer Lens, Common Lentil.
Linnaean class and order, DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.
Natural order, LEGUMINOS^E.
Gen. xxv. 34. 2 Sam. xvii. 28.; xxiii. 11. Ezekiel, iv. 9.
THE pottage with which Jacob purchased Esau s
birthright was red pottage of Lentils. The Lentil
232 LENTILS.
was therefore one of the kinds of pulse most anciently
cultivated, and the red Lentil is still esteemed the
best of the three kinds grown in the South of Europe,
Barbary, Egypt, and the Levant.
In the seventeenth chapter of the second book of
Samuel, Lentils are among the provisions which the
friends of David presented to him," for the sustenance
of his troops, when he withdrew from Jerusalem, on
account of the rebellion of Absalom ; and Lentils are
again mentioned in the same book, in the account of
a battle fought with the Philistines in a field of
Lentils.
The prophet Ezekiel names Lentils among the
pulse and grains of which the mixed bread, typical of
his prophecy, was to be made. And these are all the
passages in which the Lentil is introduced.
In England the Lentil is little used, except as green
fodder for cattle ; because other and more hardy kinds
of pulse thrive better and ripen better, particularly
the pea and bean.
In Italy the cultivation of maize has partially
superseded that of Lentils, especially in Lombardy
and the Venetian states, where pollenta is infinitely
preferred to Lentil pottage. There is, however, a
LENTILS. 233
dish prepared, sometimes of Lentils, sometimes of
caravangas, by the Spaniards and Portuguese, much
more savoury than the fried slices of cold pollenta
which are so commonly sold in the streets in Venice
and Verona. It is made by half-seething the Lentil,
and then mixing with it a little broth or oil, garlic,
and pepper, with any pleasant herb that may be
at hand, and baking it. This is a great breakfast
dish, when made of caravangas, among the Chilian
Spaniards, who probably learned it originally from
their Arab masters. And who can say that the
pottage of Jacob might not have been of this savoury
description ; particularly as we have evidence, in a
subsequent chapter, of the dexterity of his mother
Rebekah in the arts of cookery ?
D Arvieux says that the Arabs have a tradition
that the spot where Esau sold his birthright is in
Hebron, near the Cave of Macpelah; and, out of
respect to the place, there is a college of Dervises
near, who daily cook pottage of Lentils, mixed with
potherbs, to distribute to the poor.
LIGN ALOES.
Aquilaria Agallochum, Lignum Aloes, or Lign Aloes.
Linnsean class and order, DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, AQUILARIN^.
LIGN ALOES. 235
LIGN ALOES.
Numb. xxiv. 6.
MANY centuries elapsed from the time when the
precious fragrant Aloe-wood was first noticed by the
ancients, before any probable conjecture concerning
the tree producing it, or the region in which it grows,
could be formed.*
At length the European merchants and mission
aries discovered that the precious incense, Lignum
Aloes, was produced in the peninsula of India beyond
the Ganges, and in the Eastern islands. Father
Loureiro had a branch of the tree, from which he
describes it, sent him from Cochin China, where he
was informed it grew among the mountains in the
neighbourhood of the great river Laoum ; a situation
* The Greeks called it Agallochum; and the Arabs, copying them,
Agha-loo-choo, or, as some write it, Agalugi : both perhaps derived from
its native Sanscrit name Aguru. In Hindi and Bengali, it is Aggur, Ugger,
and Agor ; and the Persians call it Owd- Hindi, or properly Hud (pro
nounced wood) Hindi or Indian wood. The Hebrew names are Ahalim
and Ahaloth.
236 LIGN ALOES.
agreeing most remarkably with the words of the text :
"As gardens by the river s side; as the trees of Lign
Aloes which the Lord hath planted." 1
The account Loureiro published at Lisbon of his
Aloexylon Agallochum was not so exact as that
given by Ka3mpfer, in his Voyage to Japan, probably
because Loureiro had only a mutilated specimen
before him, and Kasmpfer had a whole young tree.
They were both surpassed in accuracy by our
countryman Cuninghame, who, about the same time
when Ka3inpfer went to Japan, was employed by the
East India Company on the frontier of China. In
his travels he must have seen the tree, for he gave a
most exact description of its fruit.
Still there were different opinions concerning the
true Aloe-wood, because those who furnished mer
chants with the drug in a marketable shape were
careless, perhaps ignorant, of the plant which pro
duced the commodity.
One missionary, Father Camellus, having written
* Loureiro sent a MS. with some specimens of this and other Oriental
plants to Sir Joseph Banks, by a Captain Blddell, of the East India Com
pany s service. But these were very defective. The good father afterwards
improved in preparing his plants, and formed a set of very satisfactory
specimens for a public collection_at Lisbon.
LIGN ALOES. 237
that the juice of the bark of the Agallochum was
acrid and injurious to the eyes, a tree which
possesses that noxious quality, and also yields a
perfume something resembling Lign Aloes, but very
inferior, namely, the Excoecaria Agallochum, was
taken for the real tree of incense.
At length some young trees, which had been sent
from the mountainous part of Silhet to the Botanic
Garden at Calcutta, produced flowers and fruit in
the years 1809 and 1810, under the care of Dr.
Roxburgh, whose account of the plant, and the
manner of obtaining the precious parts of it, together
with the notes of the late H. Colebrooke, Esq., I have
been permitted to see and to use.*
It is a native of the mountainous parts of the
East and South-east of Silhet, in about latitude 24
north; where it grows to the great height of one
hundred and twenty feet, having a trunk of twelve
feet in girth. In Asam it is of still larger growth.
The bark of the trunk is smooth and ash-coloured ;
that of the branches, grey, lightly striped with brown.
The branches themselves are each divided into two
* The figure I have given is from a hitherto unpublished drawing, sent
home by Dr. Roxburgh.
238 LIGN ALOES.
at the extremities, and the young shoots are covered
with white silky hairs.
The wood is white, and very light and soft. It is
totally without smell, and the leaves, bark, and
flowers are equally inodorous.
The leaves are of a beautiful deep shiny green, lance-
shaped, and from three to six inches long. The flowers,
which are small and yellowish, grow in tassels of
thirty or forty together, almost close to the branches
and between the alternate foot-stalks of the leaves.
The fruit is a sort of downy pale green berry, containing
two cells for seeds, one of which is often empty.
The Utter Aggur incense, or perfume of the Lign
Aloes, is procured from the wood when in a peculiar
state, and the procuring it is a precarious and tedious
business. Few trees contain any of it ; and such as
do, have it very partially distributed in the trunk and
branches.
The people employed in cutting it go two or three
days journeys into the hill country of Jentya, in the
dry season, and hew down without choice all the
Tuggur trees, as they call them, young and old, fresh
and withered, the latter being much preferred. In
order to find the Aggur, or fragrant part, the moment
LIGN ALOES. 239
a tree is felled they chip off the bark and cut into the
wood, until they find some dark-coloured vein, which
generally encloses, in the very centre of the trunk or
branch, a hollow wherein is deposited the oily sub
stance sought for.
This dark portion of the tree sinks immediately in
water and fetches a high price ; it is called Gharkhi .
That which is next, and retains some of the perfume,
sinks, but not deep ; and this is Nim Gharkhi. And
there are still two other portions of different de
grees of scent, which are saleable, though they fetch
only one sixteenth of the price of the first. These
last are both called Temlah.
It appears, from Mr. Colebrooke s notes, that, in
some places at least, the decay of the timber necessary
to form the secretion of the Utter, or fragrant oil,
is accelerated by burying it in moist ground for a
certain time. When dug up, the dark parts are found
to have acquired, besides a deeper colour, a glossy
appearance, and the whole sinks in water ; the pre
cious veins are separated from the less valuable
portion with an iron instrument, and the rest of the
wood is sorted into the three inferior kinds, as in the
naturally decayed trees.
240 LIGN ALOES.
The oil is extracted by bruising the wood, and
then laying it in water for a certain time, when the
whole is distilled, and the produce of the still in
cooling yields the essential oil.
An inferior perfume, called Chuwah Aggur, is pre
pared from the residue of the Aloe-wood after its
first distillation, with the addition of a few bruised
almonds or powdered sandal-wood.
Some of the choicest pieces of the Lignum Aloes
sell for their weight in gold. They seem to have no
smell until warmed by holding in the hand, when
they become dewy, and exhale a most delicious odour,
which does not soon go off. Some fragments of a piece
of Lignum Aloes which had been in England several
years, and appeared to have lost its smell, were burnt
in a chamber, where at first they appeared to give out
no fragrance, but shortly afterwards the perfume
was perceived, and it did not go off for some time.
Besides the uses of Lign Aloes as perfume for man
and incense for the altar, it has been employed time
immemorial as a valuable medicine.
The Greek physicians knew it under the name of
Agallochum, taken from the native word Aguruca;
and the Arab writers copied the Greek, and called
LIGN ALOES. 241
it Agalugi. It is curious that the generic name,
Aquilaria, should be derived from the Portuguese
imitation of the same Indian name Aguru, or Agalu,
in some dialects, and thus becoming Pao d Aquila,
or eagle-wood ; the genus is Aquilaria, eagle-wood,
the species Agallocha, also eagle-wood.
Kosaries, or strings of beads, of two kinds of eagle-
wood, were brought into England in the time of
Gerard, who says that one sort was harder, sweeter,
and whiter than the other. These are used in the
East, by both Brahmins and Mahommedans, to count
their prayers, in the same manner as the Western
nuns and monks use their beads. These have some
times been taken for sandal-wood, because in truth
that fragrant wood is often applied to the same
purpose. It is perhaps from this fact, that some
writers have supposed sandal-wood to be meant,
where the fragrant wood of Aloes is mentioned in
Scripture. The fragrant root of the Aspalathus of
the ancients has also been taken for Lignum Aloes ;
but all these conjectures have been put an end to by
the discoveries of Loureiro, Dr. Roxburgh, and his
friends in Bengal.
It is most probable that the following texts, where
242 LIGN ALOES.
our version names simply Aloes, really allude to
Lign Aloes: Psalm xlv. 5.; Proverbs, vii. 17.; Song
of Solomon, iv. 14.
The Psalmist, speaking figuratively of Christ, says,
" All thy garments smell of myrrh, Aloes, and cassia."
In the Proverbs of Solomon the seducing woman is
made to say, "I have perfumed .my bed with myrrh,
Aloes, and cinnamon." And again, in Canticles, the
same royal poet couples together myrrh and Aloes,
as things of equal price, and coming from the same
distant land.
Whoever wishes to learn whatever the ancient
Greek and Roman writers, or the Rabbins of old, and
the Arabian physicians, have said and conjectured
concerning the Agalochum, or Lignum Aloes, will
do well to consult Celsius s most learned dissertation
in the Hierobotanicon.
I will only copy from his pages his quotation from
Abu Mansul al Thalebi s praise of India : " From
her seas come the pearl, and her mountains produce
jacynths. Her trees are Lign Aloes, and her bushes
are fragrant with camphor."
LILY.
Lilium candidum, White Lily.
Linnaean class and order, HEXANDEIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, LLLIACE^:.
244 LILY.
LILY.
1 Kings, vii. 19. 22, 23. 26. Hosea, xiv. 5.
2 Chron. iv. 5. 2 Esdras, ii. 19.; v. 24.
Song of Solomon, ii. 1, 2. 16.; Ecclus. xxxix. 14.; 1. 8.
iv. 5.; v. 13.; vi. 2, 3.; vii. 2. St. Matthew, vi. 28.
St. Luke, xii. 27.
THIS most lovely flower is a native of Palestine,
where it adorns the valleys with its beauty, and per
fumes them with its fragrance. Indeed, the land
itself has sometimes been called Phaselida, because it
so abounded in Lilies.
We read in the books of Kings and of Chronicles,
that the artists who decorated Solomon s temple chose
the Lily for the capitals of the pillars ; and, moreover,
that the great cistern, or molten sea, had its edges
wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of Lilies,
a due homage paid to the loveliness of the queen
of the valleys of Palestine.*
The Lily of Solomon s Song, in those passages in
the second chapter, " I am the rose of Sharon, and the
* I am aware that some persons, who will display their learning or their
fancy, or both, insist upon it that the Temple was built on an Egyptian
model, and that these Lilies were lotuses ; but their arguments do not seem
well founded : and why go to Egypt for the lotus, while the Lily adorned
every field about Jerusalem ?
LILY.
245
Lily of the valleys," and " As the Lily among thorns,
so is my beloved," should be translated jonquil,
according to Sprengel, after the most ancient Chaldee
and Arabic versions ; and, as the jonquil, narcissus,
and others of the Lily family, abound in Palestine,
it is not surprising that the poet king should have
varied the sweets to which he compared his beloved.
SOLOMON S LILY.
246 LILY.
Sprengel calls the narcissus jonquil also Narcissus
Calathinus. I do not know whether it is the species
called Modaf by the natives of the country round
Aleppo, who cultivate it in open fields ; and, towards
the end of winter, certain Arab women are seen in
the streets carrying baskets of the flowers for sale, and
chaunting as they walk along, Yd ma, hullu Zemanoo!
Haiku Kereem. " How delightful its season ! Its
Maker is bountiful."*
Hosea says, of repentant and forgiven Israel, that
he shall grow as the Lily ; so, likewise, Esdras,
speaking of the restored house of Jacob, writes : "I
have sanctified and prepared for thee twelve trees
laden with clivers fruits, and as many fountains flow
ing with milk and honey, and seven mighty moun
tains, whereupon there grow roses and Lilies, whereby
I will fill thy children with joy." And again, alluding
to Israel; " O Lord that bearest rule, of every wood
of the earth, and of all the trees thereof, thou hast
chosen thee one only vine: and of all the flowers
thereof one Lily." And twice the wise son of Sirach,
calling upon the good to praise first the Lord, and
* Russel s History of Aleppo.
LILY. 247
then holy men, compares the praises to the sweet smell
of Lilies, to the Lilies by the waters.
But all these poetical passages in the Old Testament
shrink into nothing before the exquisite simile in the
sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says : " Consider
the Lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not,
neither do they spin : and yet I say unto you, That
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
one of these."
At the moment of speaking the Saviour was
seated on Mount Tabor, which is still a flowery hill,
and looking over fertile plains to sheltered valleys,
where the Lily springs up at every step; so that his
hearers had only to look on either hand to the beau
tiful and stately flower, and behold its purity of
colour and delicacy of texture, far exceeding all
human workmanship, even for a monarch s wear.
When such is the fitness, the propriety of the
simile divinely spoken in that place, I can scarcely
comprehend the anxiety to displace the reading of
the Testament, and substitute every and any thing
for the Lily of Palestine.
Salt s scarlet amaryllis from Abyssinia, Le
Yaillant s giant Lily from desert Africa, nay even
248 LILY.
the fetid crown imperial, have in turns been pro
posed; but each and all ought surely to be rejected
in favour of the true white Lily of Palestine.
r\
LOCUST.
Ceratonia Siliqua, Locust, or Carob Tree; St. John s Bread.
Linnsean class and order, POLYGYNIA TRICECIA,
Natural order, LEGUMINOSJE.
St. Matthew, iii. 4. St. Mark, i. 6.
IN these two passages the original word is Akris; in
Luke, xv. 16., where our version has " husks," it is
Keratonia.
250 LOCUST.
Notwithstanding the evidence of the popular name,
St. John s Bread, and the tradition that enabled the
monks of Palestine long to exhibit a tree which, as
they affirmed, produced food for the Baptist while in
the Desert, it is not probable that he ate of any
vegetable at all.
The original word, in the passages cited above
from St. Matthew and St. Mark, signifies not the
Locust tree, but the formidable insect of that name,
whose occasional visitations in cultivated countries are
dreaded as certain forerunners of famine, and generally
of pestilence.
The locust was one of the many-legged creeping and
flying things that the Jews were permitted to eat. *
The Arabs still eat them, both fresh and dried ; and,
in Africa, not only the insects, but their Iarva3, are
sought after as dainties.
The locusts for food are always caught at night,
when they are at rest, and carried in sacks to the
nearest encampment or village, to be prepared for keep
ing. A very small quantity of water is put into a pot,
and the locusts, piled up to the very brim, are covered
* Leviticus, xi. 22.
LOCUST. 251
very closely, so that they are rather steamed than
boiled. They are next carefully separated and laid
out to dry, which the heat of an Arabian or African
sun does thoroughly and speedily; after which they
are winnowed, to get rid of the wings and legs, when
they are laid in heaps, or packed in bags of skin, for
future use. Sometimes the dry locusts are beaten
into powder, of which, with water and a little salt, a
kind of pottage is made.*
Such was most probably the diet of the Baptist in
the wilderness, along with the wild honey, which
even yet forms, whenever it can be procured, part of
an Arab meal.
There can be no doubt of the meaning of the
Keratonia of St. Luke. The swine which were under
the charge of the prodigal son were fed, as domestic
animals still are, on the fruit of the carob tree, the
husks of which the unhappy swineherd would fain
have satisfied his hunger withal. Sir Thomas Brown
observes that the ancients made wine from the sweet
pulp contained within the pod of the bean ceratonia,
* For this account of the method of curing locusts, I am indebted to
Moffat s account of the missionary labours in Southern Africa.
252 LOCUST.
and that the husks or mashed part, still mixed with
the nourishing sweet pulp, were given to swine and
other animals; and Sir Thomas makes no doubt
that it was these sweet husks that the young man
longed for.
This very handsome tree grows in the countries
bordering on the Mediterranean, and in all its
islands. It is chiefly valued on account of the
abundant food it affords for cattle. The horses at
Naples are seldom supplied with corn or pulse while
the fruit of the carob tree is in season. The German
coachmen who bring their hired horses into Italy
complain, possibly without reason, that the bean of
the carob, or Locust, nils their horses with wind. In
Malta, cattle of all descriptions feed upon it, and in
that island the tree grows in the highest perfection.
Its roots penetrate into the fissures of the white
rock, and its dark green shade forms a curious
contrast with the white buildings, and the equally
white tufa of which the island is composed. The
effect of this contrast is most remarkable by moon
light. Then, seen with its terraced gardens, flat-
roofed houses, and long lines of fortification, Malta
might be taken for an island of the dead. No sound
LOCUST. 253
is heard but the murmurs of the waves, as they wash
the rocks, or a stilly breeze scarcely stirring the dark
carob trees, which seem like funereal plumes waving
over the tombs below.
MALLOWS.
Cor chorus olitorius, Jew s Mallow.
Linnrean class and order, MONADELPHIA POLYANDRIA.
Natural order,
MALLOWS. 255
MALLOWS.
Job, xxx. 4.
AMONG the heartbroken moanings of Job, he says:
" Now they that are younger than I have me in deri
sion, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set
with the dogs of my flock : .... for want and famine
they were solitary who cut up Mallows by the
bushes .... for meat."
Of the many Mallows indigenous in Syria, Pales
tine, and Arabia, the Corchorus olitorius, or Jew s
Mallow, appears to be certainly that of the patriarch.
Avicenna calls it Olus Judaicum ; and Rauwolf saw
the Jews about Aleppo use the leaves as pot-herbs.
In Purchase s Pilgrims there is a letter from Master
William Biddulph, who was travelling from Aleppo
to Jerusalem in 1600, in which he says: " After the
shower, while our horses were preparing, we walked
into the fields near unto the church (of Lacmihe),
and saw many poor people gathering Mallows and
three-leaved grasse, and asked them what they did
256 MALLOWS.
with it ; and they answered that it was all their food,
and they did eate it. Then we tooke pitie on them,
and gave them bread, which they received very joy
fully, and blessed God that there was bread in the
world, and said they had not seen bread the space of
many months."
The Mallow of Master Bicldulph was doubtless
the Corchorus olitorius ; and this same Mallow
continues to be eaten in Egypt and Arabia, as well
as Palestine.
There is, however, a podded Mallow*, a native of
the Levant, which is used in soups, and, among us, is
sometimes served up at table like sea-kale or aspara
gus. It is an agreeable, soft, mucilaginous vegetable,
the pod and seeds being equally delicate. I have
eaten of it in Malta and in the East Indies, under the
names of Okra and Bendy, and have also eaten it as
Mallow in Brazil; at least, if it was of a different
species, the plant, flower, and fruit are so like those
of the East, that at the distance of ten years I took
them for the same.
I cannot help thinking that this was the Mallow of
* The Hibiscus esculentus of Linnaeus.
MALLOWS. 257
which Horace speaks, in his charming address to
Apollo : *
" My food is olives,
" With endive and light Mallow."
And now having shown that the Mallow was used
as an esculent vegetable in ancient as well as in
modern times, and that the eatable kinds are to be
found in various and distant countries, for even the
Tartars and people of Japan have their Mallows, it
appears to be needless to change the translation of
Job in this text; for I believe that the Mallow he
speaks of is really the Corchorus olitorius, though far
from being the most nutritious of its kind. Celsius
tells us that some have read nettle, and some purslain
or orache, for Mallow ; however, he prefers Mallow,
guided probably, in some degree, by the Hebrew name
Malluach, and in this opinion he is followed by
Sprengel.
* Ode xxxi. book i.
MANDKAKE.
Cucumis Dudaim ; which the Rabbins, as well as modern
botanists, judge to be Atropa Mandrac/ora.
Linnsean class and order, PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, S
Gen. xxx. 14, 15, 16. Song of Solomon, vii. 13.
THE manner in which the Mandrake is spoken of in
the book of Genesis instructs us that it was not only
MANDRAKE. 259
fair to look upon and pleasant to smell, but that it
was exciting in its quality when first eaten, but pro
duced, after a time, lassitude and sleep. This is
probably the reason why the modern Arabians, who
are fond of it, call it devil s meat.
In the Song of Solomon, the Mandrake is said to
give a smell among all sorts of pleasant fruits, fresh
and dry. And these are the only two places of
Scripture in which the Mandrake are mentioned.
Nevertheless, it is one of the plants about which
commentators of all countries and tongues have dis
puted the most.
At length, rational travellers and men of science
having visited the countries where the Mandrake
grows in perfection, the plant is acknowledged to be
the Atropa Mandragora, which in this country is
fetid, and reputed to be poisonous ; the flower too is
white, while that of Palestine is purple.
The root is spindle-shaped, and in colour not unlike
a parsnip ; when old it becomes forked, and it runs
under ground to the depth of four feet or more.
Immediately above the root is a tuft of leaves like
an open lettuce, and from the centre of the tuft
springs the flower. In England the fruit is green,
260 MANDRAKE.
and no bigger than a nutmeg. In Palestine it is as
large as a small apple, and of a beautiful ruddy colour
and sweet smell. Hasselquist found them in Galilee:
the Abbate Mariti in Judea. Burkhardt tasted them
in the Jebel Heish ; and Maundrel had heard them
celebrated in Samaria.
The singular form of the root,- when aged, suggested
in ignorant times the notion that it represented man ;
and that with it witches might perform their foolish
and mischievous rites, setting up the root, and call
ing it by the name of any person upon whom they
meant to operate for good or ill. As the wretched
persons laying claim to supernatural powers generally
owed their reputation to a real knowledge of the use
of drugs and simples, the herb basket of the witch
was often a book of knowledge to the physician.
There is a manuscript copy of the botany of Dios-
corides at Vienna, in which he is represented as
drawing a Mandrake root, held up for him in a con
venient position by an attendant.
It would appear that the sorcerers had the secret
of extracting poisons from this as well as other herbs,
while the physicians were using them as beneficial
medicines : but nobody seems to have doubted that
MANDRAKE. 261
something mysterious, if not awful, belonged to the
Mandrake.
It was believed that the root, when drawn from
the earth, uttered such fearful shrieks that mortal
ear might not hear them and live.* Hence it was,
that, when they were required for the sorcerer s pur
pose, a dog, or some other animal, was to be led to
the place where they grew, tied to the plant, and
there left. The animal s struggles to escape tore up
the desired Mandrake; but, at the moment, its un
earthly shriek struck the creature dead, and in the
morning (for the root was plucked up by night) the
poor victim and the prize were found fast bound
together. Such and still wilder fables were related
of this simple plant, before science and good sense
had taught us the folly of a belief in magic, and the
real value of the herbs of the field. We now remem
ber that, at the end of the sixth day of creation,
* Shakspeare alludes to this wild notion in the Second Part of Henry
VI., where he makes Suffolk say :
" Would curses kill as doth the Mandrake s groan."
And again, in Romeo and Juliet, where she imagines beforehand the
horrors of lying in the vault, where she may hear
" Shrieks like Mandrake s torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad."
262 MANDRAKE.
" God saw every thing that he had made, and behold
it was very good."
It is to ourselves we owe whatever evil may arise
from the perversion of his gifts, for he has endowed
us with talents and powers to use all he has created
for good. The Mandrake is now eaten as a harmless,
if not wholesome, fruit; and its power of soothing,
and producing sleep, was not unfrequently used,
before the more powerful juice of the poppy super
seded it.
So lately as the reign of James I., the narcotic
virtues of Mandragora were acknowledged and used :
for Shakspeare makes Cleopatra call for a cup of
Mandragora, that she may sleep out the great gap of
time that Anthony is absent ; and again, in that most
terrible passage in Othello where lago says,
" Not poppy nor Mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever med cine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ow dst yesterday,"
he names it as powerfully soothing, and disposing to
sleep.
The ancient superstition regarding the powers of
roots or herbs, especially when gathered at certain
MANDKAKE. 263
periods of the moon, or when particular stars rose or
set with the sun, seems to have been general over all
the known world ; and we find it now among the most
uncivilised tribes of both hemispheres. The Negroes,
Caffres, and Hottentots in Africa, and the North Ame
rican Indians, rival the wizards of ancient Thessaly :
and the transformations which the incantations of
the latter were believed to effect had probably their
foundation in a professional dress, akin to the bear
skin habit of a red Indian physician ; whose basket of
bones, and savage claws and teeth, would be incom
plete, without such herbs as the Negro obi woman
and the Thessalian Erictho sought to aid their prac
tices, and gathered in plains which
" A horrid crop produce,
Noxious and fit for witchcraft s deadly use.
With baleful weeds each mountain s brow is hung,
While list ning rocks attend the charmer s song ;
And potent and mysterious plants arise,
Plants that compel the Gods, and awe the skies." *
Of late years another species of Atropa, the most
poisonous, I believe, of our native plants, namely the
Belladonna, has been adopted as a powerful remedy
for complaints of the eyes, and in nervous affections of
* Lucan s Pharsalia.
264 MANDRAKE.
the limbs. The fruit is sweet and very pleasant to
the taste, but not, like that of the Mandrake, harmless ;
for many children have died from eating it.
Celsius, who is satisfied that the Atropa Mandragora
is the Mandrake, gives the following list of plants
which various commentators have proposed to sub
stitute for it. Alkekengi, wipter cherry, or Jew s
cherry ; the fruit of the lotus ; strawberry ; raspberry ;
blackberry; the Arab dustenbuje, a small fragrant
kind of melon ; Musa plantain, or Adam s apple ; the
fruit of the Paliurus JSTabka; and, finally, a basket of
figs, dudaim meaning basket, and figs understood.*
* In the tract concerning the Mandrake by the celebrated Olaf Hud-
beck the list is still longer, and alas ! the reasoning and conclusion are
but a memento of the " follies of the wise."
MANNA.
Alhagi Maurorum, formerly called Hedysarum Alhacfi, Ca-
meVs Thorn, or Judcean Manna.
Linnasan class and order, DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.
Natural order, LEGTJMINOS^E.
266 MANNA.
MANNA.
Numb. xi. 7. Joshua, v. 12.
I AM not one of those who would explain the
miracles recorded in the Old Testament by natural
causes. Therefore I do not join in opinion, that the
feeding the people with Manna in the wilderness,
simply means that Moses led the people, at a time of
scarcity, through that part of the Desert where the
Manna-bearing shrubs abound.
Even had the shrubs been more numerous than we
have reason to think they ever were, and produced
their Manna as in the most plentiful season, the
miracle by which it was collected in the Israelitish
camp, so as to allow the people to gather sufficient
for their wants, and on the sixth day to make provi
sion for the Sabbath, would be incontrovertible ; and
far from me be the thought of laying an unholy hand
on the veil of the Divine mysteries !
But there is no reason why we should pass over
the Manna shrub of the wilderness, particularly as
it is mentioned in two texts of Scripture which our
version renders nettles. Besides, it must have been of
MANNA. 267
important service to the people of Israel in the De
sert, as there is nothing which cattle delight more to
browse upon ; and in many places it furnishes the only
fodder for camels in long journeys through the Desert,
and hence the common name for it, of Camel s Thorn.
The two passages in which it is believed that Hedy-
sarum Alhagi should be read, instead of nettle, are
Job, xxx. 7., and Zephaniah, ii. 9. ; in both of which
places, the herb, whichever it may be, is merely
mentioned as a sign of a desolate place.
Rawwolf has given a figure of the Alhagi, and
describes it among the plants of the neighbourhood
of Aleppo. He says it was an ell in height ; that it
bore many long sharp thorns, among which its pink
flowers were scattered singly. There are from one
seed to ten in the pods, which contract between each
seed. It is rather scantily furnished with leaves. It
does not produce Manna in the climate of Aleppo ;
but a great deal of that Manna which was of the very
finest kind was, in his time, brought to that city
from Mesopotamia, under the name of Trunsjebin or
Tereniabin. The shrub itself is called by the Arabs,
Agul, Algul, or Alhagi. On Rawwolf s farther
progress, he describes his voyage down the Euphrates
268 MANNA.
from Birs to Bagdad ; and, on landing at a town
called Racka, he found the Alhagi bearing Manna.
Dr. Russel, in his History of Aleppo, confirms
Rawwolf s account of the plant in every particular.
As to the Manna itself, Rawwolf says it is per
fectly round, a little bigger than the coriander-seed
of Germany; and he compares, it with the Manna
secreted from the larch: and both are superior to
the common Manna of the shops, which is the produce
of various kinds of ash tree. The sweet sugary
substance which exudes from the tamarix in the
East, though called Manna, contains none of the
peculiar principle of that useful drug, any more than
the honey-dew, which, like it, seems to be the work of
an insect *, and has been found on the low gall oak
of Kermanshaw.f
The Manna of the Alhagi has been called Manna
Hebraica. Tournefort calls the plant, Alhagi Mauro-
rem. The name adopted by Linnaeus is Hedysarum
Alhagi, but Tournefort s name is now universally
acknowledged.
* Coccus Manniparus.
"j" Since the above was written, I have read Rosemnuller s account of
Manna. He seems rather to confuse the Manna and the honey-dew.
MASTICK.
Pistacea Lentiscus, Mastick.
Linnaean class and order, DKECIA PENTANDRIA.
Natural order, ANACARDI^E.
270 MASTICK.
MASTICK.
Susannah, verse 54.
WHEN, in answer to the supplications of the innocent
Susannah, the Lord sent Daniel to do righteous judge
ment upon the false accusers, and to restore the vir
tuous woman to her father and to her mother, to her
husband and to her children, the young prophet ques
tioned the two elders (who not only bore false witness,
but sat in judgement on the accused) as to where they
had seen the sin committed. The answer of the first
was, that he had seen Susannah and her companion
under a Mastick tree : the answer condemned him at
once, for his partner in falsehood said it was under a
holm tree ; proving that they both had lied.
Neither of these trees are mentioned elsewhere in
our version of the Bible, though they abound in the
Holy Land and the adjacent countries. The reason
may possibly be, that the Story of Susannah is not
found in Hebrew, and the Greek names may be ap
plied differently. It is certain, however, that many
texts in the Bible, where the word oak is used in our
MASTICK. 271
translation, might have been more correctly rendered
holm ; and one or two writers have been willing,
though apparently without reason, to suppose that
the nut of the Mastick tree, instead of the true pista-
cea-nut, was the nut sent by Jacob, with honey and
balm, to propitiate the, as yet, unknown Joseph.
The Mastick abounds in all the countries bordering
on the Mediterranean ; it is a very bushy tallish shrub,
from which gum-mastick is procured from incisions
in the bark made in autumn. This gum is used by
the dentist in various ways ; but with the apothecary
it is chiefly applied outwardly.
Mastick forms an ingredient in some durable kinds
of cement and stucco, but it is principally known as
the basis of a very beautiful and lasting varnish.
I am loath to notice the puerile puns which the
names of the holm and Mastick, in the Story of Su
sannah, have given rise to ; and now I have mentioned
their existence, I will leave it to the little-minded
critics to explain and comment on them. A larger
criticism allows for the temporary usages of lan
guage; and there appears nothing extraordinary in
the fact that the Jews of Egypt, speaking and writing
a not very pure Greek, should have fallen into the
272 MASTICK.
practice of the less reputable writers, and have seized
occasion to write down a pun, without at all meaning
to shake the credibility of the story they were trans
lating.
MELON.
Cucumis MelO) Melon.
Linnaean class and order, MONCECIA SYNGENESIA.
Natural order, CUCUBBTTACEJB.
Numb, id, 5.
MELONS were among the things anxiously desired and
much regretted by the Israelites, during their progress
274 MELON.
through the wilderness; and, indeed, their desires
were not unnatural, when parched among the sands
of Arabia, and remembering the cool juicy fruits of
the Nile. Yet was their discontent a rebellion against
their God, who in a supernatural manner had delivered
them from a cruel bondage, and was even then lead
ing them to that good land which he had promised to
the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Citrulla, or Water Melon, though not highly
flavoured, is one of the most refreshing fruits of a
hot climate. The very sight of the crisp flesh be
dewed with its cool watery juice is invigorating, and
seems to give spirit to the happy beggar of the South,
who is rich enough to purchase a slice, just as wine
and strong drink do to one in a cold climate, but
without their evil effects. The various kinds of Musk
Melons, all of them to be seen in Egypt, deserve a
place next to the Water Melon, as cooling and adapted
to the climate, notwithstanding the prejudice against
eating them which many persons entertain ; a preju
dice, indeed, felt and acknowledged by Hasselquist.
It is not possible, at this distance of time, to deter
mine which was the fruit lamented by the Hebrews,
because, among other reasons, we have no means of
MELON. 275
knowing which species was most cultivated at that
period, or whether all that now adorn the markets of
Cairo and Alexandria had then reached the perfec
tion they now display.
The modern people of Syria and Palestine salt and
dry Melon seeds, and use them fried, as a pungent and
rather coarse condiment, with rice, lentils, and other
pulse.
The Arabs of the coast of Barbary have for many
centuries practised the best arts of gardening, which
in their prosperous times they introduced into Spain :
among these arts is that of engrafting Melons and
other cucurbitaceous plants, in order to ameliorate
the fruit and increase its quantity. In our northern
climates, the Melon tribe is not sufficiently valued to
induce our gardeners to so much pains-taking.
MILLET.
Panicum Miliaccum, Common Millet.
Linnaean class and order, TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, GR AMINEJE.
MILLET. 277
MILLET.
Ezekiel, iv. 9.
THE only notice of Millet in the Bible occurs in the
list of grains and pulse of which Ezekiel was to make his
mixed bread, as a type of the nature of his prophecy.
Millet is, however, a common grain in the East, and
has been cultivated there from the earliest times. The
species mostly grown now in the Levant is the Pani-
cum Miliaceum, of which there are two sorts, the
white and the yellow ; both are imported, though
sparingly, into England, for making soups and pud
dings, for which purposes Millet is inferior to rice or
pearl barley.
In France, Germany, and England, two other spe
cies of Millet, the lendigerum with spiked panicle,
and the eifusum with scattered panicle, are cultivated ;
but in England none of them are much esteemed.
Some persons have supposed that Holcus Sorghum,
or Guinea corn, was intended in the text ; but that
is unlikely, Guinea corn being peculiar to Africa,
while Millet is one of the grains of Palestine.
MINT.
Mentha viridis, Spear Mint.
Linnaean class and order, DLDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA.
Natural order, LABIATE.
MINT. 279
MINT.
St. Matthew, xxiii. 23. St. Luke, xi. 42.
AMONG the lessons which our blessed Saviour thought
fit to inculcate by severe precept, was that against
hypocrisy. For he says, according to Matthew, "Woe
unto you, hypocrites ! for you pay the tithe of Mint,
and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weigh
tier matters of the law:" or, as St. Luke writes, "Woe
unto you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe Mint and rue, and
all manner of herbs, and pass over judgement and the
love of God."
Nothing can more strongly shadow out the sin of
those who, by petty external observances, think to
redeem their souls from the punishment due to the
practice of vice.
Mint is among the commonest of our herbs, and,
though valuable as a medicinal plant, is too common
and too easily propagated to be of any price ; so that
the Pharisee taxed himself lightly indeed, who paid
but the tithe of Mint.
Various species of Mint are common all over
280 MINT.
Europe and Asia, but the common Spear Mint and
Pepper Mint are those mostly set in gardens; the
latter is entirely grown for the apothecaries use, but
Spear Mint is not only beneficial as a remedy, but
highly agreeable as a potherb.
I know not whether it was originally one of the
bitter herbs with which the Israelites ate the Pas
chal lamb * ; but our use of it with roast lamb, par
ticularly about Easter time, inclines me to suppose
it was. Mint continues to be used by us, as it was
by the Eomans according to Pliny, both green and
dry, in many kinds of pottage, and to boil with
pulse and other things, to impart sweetness to their
flavour.
* The modern English Jews eat horse-radish and chervil with it,
MULBERRY.
Moras nigra and M. alba, Black and White Mulberry.
Linnaean class and order, MON(ECIA TETRANDBIA.
Natural order,
282 MULBERRY.
MULBERRY.
2 Sam. v. 23, 24. 1 Maccabees, vi. 34.
1 Chron. xiv. 14. St. Luke, xvii. 6.
THE two texts of the Old Testament in which the
Mulberry tree is directly mentioned are repetitions
of each other ; and relate to the victory obtained by
King David over the Philistines, in the valley of
Rephaim*, when he was miraculously warned of the
proper moment to attack the enemy, by a noise on
the tops of the Mulberry trees.
We do not find the Mulberry named again, until
the account of the war between King Eupator and
Judas Maccabeus, when the king s people irritated
the elephants to make them fight, by showing them
the blood of grapes and of Mulberries.
The passage in St. Luke concerning the Mulberry
is not translated in our version, for the original
Greek name for the Purple Mulberry is retained:
"And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine f tree,
* Rephaim, the Giants. f Celsius.
MULBERRY. 283
Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted
in the sea; and it should obey you."
Thus it is certain that the two latter texts refer
to the Purple Mulberry, although the White Mul
berry is the most common in Syria and Palestine ;
and of such were, probably, the trees of the valley
of Rephaim.
The Purple and the White Mulberry are both
natives of Persia and the adjacent countries. When
left to grow naturally, the White Mulberry attains
to the greatest height, and is the handsomest tree,
though the fruit is far inferior to the other : but the
White Mulberry is cut into very ugly shapes, and
kept low; in order that it may produce a larger crop
of leaves for feeding the silkworms, which are bred
in prodigious numbers in Syria. In the neighbour
hood of Mount Lebanon, the land tax of the peasants
is assessed according to the number of mule loads of
Mulberry leaves their little farms produce ; so that
the cultivation of the tree is directed to favour the
growth of the leaf, at the expense of the fruit.
All travellers in the Holy Land agree in praising
the beauty of the natural groves of Mulberries that
adorn it. One part of the vale of Baalbec is called
284 MULBERKY.
Bekaa*, from the abundance of its Mulberry trees.
It is described as charmingly verdant, and watered
with frequent rills gushing from the neighbouring
mountains, and maintaining constant freshness in the
air, and vigour in the herbage.
Most Oriental houses have one or more inner courts,
surrounded by arcades, into which the various apart
ments open. Where there is more than one court,
the master s apartments look into the principal one,
and then the whole is laid out as a garden, with a
fountain or two, a tree for shelter, and abundance of
roses and other sweet- smelling shrubs, among which
the henna, or Lawsonia inermis, is a favourite. Where
there is but one court, the side next the master s
rooms is reserved for the shrubbery ; and the poorest
house about Aleppo, having a yard only a few feet
square, is sure to have its Mulberry tree, and some
sweet-scented shrub, if not its fountain, f
In the southern parts of the Holy Land, a palm
tree is usually planted in the court : towards the
north, it is the Purple Mulberry ; the pleasant juice of
* Some have interpreted Bekaa, weeping ; if this be right, is it figurative
of the numerous rills that flow into it ?
f Russel s Aleppo.
MULBERRY. 285
whose fruit, mingled with water in which the sweet-
scented violet has been infused, forms one of the most
grateful kinds of sherbet.
The Oriental custom of having inner courts to the
houses, adorned with shrubs and trees, was carried by
the Arabs into Spain, whence it migrated to South
America; and much hospitality have I experienced
in Chili, sitting on the estrada, or raised floor of the
arcade, shaded by orange and citron trees, and
surrounded by roses, Arabian jasmine, and other
memorials of Europe, mingled with the fuchsia and
other beautiful native shrubs.
I know not at what period the Mulberry began to
be cultivated in England. We have the authority of
Shakspeare s Mulberry tree, to show that there were
full-grown ones before the middle of the sixteenth
century. It is most likely, that, among many other
fruits, with various vegetables and flowers, we owe it
to the Crusaders. In their days of enthusiasm, he
who brought a plant, a twig, a seed, from the Holy
Land, be his condition what it might, was sure of a
good reception in the monasteries; the gardens of
which became the nurseries whence many countries
have been supplied with new kinds of food, and new
286 MULBERRY.
pleasures added to those already known to the eye
and the palate.
James L, when he attempted to introduce the
culture of silk into England, had a number of White
Mulberry trees imported; but they do not appear to
have thriven well, as there are few now surviving.
The ancients used the bark, of the Purple Mul
berry in medicine, and it still holds its place in the
Pharmacopoeias. The tree is of very slow growth,
and continues in vigour for several centuries.
MUSTARD.
Sinapis nigra, Common Black Mustard.
Linnsean class and order, TETRANDRIA SILIQUOSA.
Natural order, CRUCIFER^E.
288 MUSTARD.
MUSTARD.
St. Matthew, xiii. 31.; xvii. 20. St. Mark, iv. 31
St. Luke, xiii. 19.; xvii. 6.
ALL three of the evangelists above quoted relate the
parable which I will repeat in the words of St. Luke.
" Unto what is the kingdom of God like? It is like a
grain of Mustard seed, which a man took and cast
into his garden ; and it grew and waxed a great tree,
and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it."
This passage has been a stumbling-block to com
mentators, who, in their criticisms, seem to have
forgotten two things : first, the very low plants and
shrubs upon which birds often roost, and even build;
and, second, how much larger many of our common
herbs become in a warm climate. Some Jewish
writers mention Mustard trees of enormous size,
especially one under which tents might be spread:
but these are probably fables, unless the writers refer
to a very different species of Mustard.*
* Sir Thomas Brown, with his usual good sense, says of this passage of
the Gospel : " The expression, that it might grow into such dimensions that
birds might lodge in the branches thereof, may be literally conceived ; if
MUSTARD. 289
Captains Mangles l and Irby, in their Travels, after
speaking of the common Mustard, which reached to
their horses 7 bridles, mention a tree whose leaves and
fruit have the taste of Mustard, and produce the same
effect on the eyes and nose : they give neither native
nor European name to the tree, but remark that the
birds did actually lodge in it.
Their description, as far as it goes, agrees with that
of the Salvadora Persica; whose seeds are very minute,
with the strong pungent taste of cress ; and which has
been suggested as the probable Mustard tree of the
Jews, and therefore that of the parable. Linnaeus calls
it Rivina paniculata, and Forskal Cissus arborea. It
is described as having a crooked rough trunk, branch
ing at eight or ten feet from the ground, and mea
suring a foot in diameter ; the branches droop like the
weeping willow, and have smooth shiny leaves, with
bunches of very minute flowers at the ends.
It is much valued for its medicinal qualities in the
we allow the luxuriancy of plants in Judaea above our northern regions ;
if we accept of but half the story taken notice of by Tremellius, from the
Jerusalem Talmud, of a Mustard tree that was to be climbed like a fig
tree, and of another under whose shade a potter daily wrought." Ob
servations upon several Plants mentioned in Scripture.
290 MUSTARD.
East, and these qualities curiously coincide with those
of our own Durham Mustard.
Of this last Hippocrates writes by the name of
Napi, and Dioscorides also speaks of its powers as a
remedy in some disorders. From Pliny we learn that
the ancients, like ourselves, used it as a condiment.
Various kinds of Sinapis were found in Syria and
Palestine by Hasselquist, precisely like those of our
northern climates. But the natives, of the country do
not use it so commonly as we do : for it appears that,
in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, the Franks sent
their servants to collect it for their tables in the
hedges, because there was none then grown in the
gardens ; and Eussel, in his History of Aleppo, men
tions the same fact.*
* It is a pity, that, in several works of great use recently published, the
very strange notion that the Phytolacca is the Mustard of Scripture is
admitted ; that plant being well known to be a native of America, and
never seen on this side of the Atlantic till a very few years ago.
MYRRH.
Balsam odendrvn Myrrha, formerly called Amyris Myrrha, or
y Myrrh,
Linnsean class and order, OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
JSTatural order, TEREBINTACE^E.
292 MYRRH.
MYRRH.
Gen. xxxvii. 25.; xliii. 11. Ecclus. xxiv. 15.
Exodus, xxx. 23. St. Matthew, ii. 11,
Esther, ii. 12. St. Mark, xv. 23.
Psalm xlv. 8. St. John, xix. 39.
Song of Solomon, i. 13.; iii. 6.; iv. 6. 14.
I HAVE already noticed that the verses in the 37th
chapter, and also in the 43d, of Genesis, in which
our version reads Myrrh are not rightly translated ;
the meaning of the Hebrew word in those places
being, not Myrrh, but ladanum.
In the book of Exodus, Myrrh is one of the
ingredients of the holy oil, to be used for anointing
the priests and various parts of the altar of the
tabernacle ; after which there is no mention of it in
the Bible, until we find it employed in the purification
of Esther and her young companions, in the palace of
Babylon, before they were presented to the king.
In the 45th psalm of David, and in Solomon s Song,
Myrrh is reckoned among the chief perfumes and
spices and precious fruits, with which the regal poets
love to compare the excellence and purity of Christ
and of his church.
MYRRH. 293
In the 24th chapter of Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom says
of herself, " I yielded a pleasant odour like the best
Myrrh." So that we are not surprised that among
the offerings brought by the wise men from the East,
at the birth of Christ, St. Matthew should mention
Myrrh along with gold and frankincense.
St. Mark speaks of the wine mingled with Myrrh
which the Jews offered to Jesus, just before they
crucified him; that the whole ceremonies belonging
to condemnation and execution, according to their
customs, might be fulfilled. For they gave wine and
strong drink to those about to perish, to render them
insensible to their sufferings. " But he received it
not." His comfort was from above ; and he prayed,
" Father forgive them, for they know not what they
do."
The last mention of Myrrh in Scripture is in the
Gospel of St. John, where the evangelist relates the
pious act of Nicodemus, who brought a hundred
pounds weight of Myrrh and aloes to embalm the
body of Jesus ; and it was wrapped with his body in a
linen cloth, and laid in the tomb.
This gum, so highly valued by the ancients, is no
longer in request as a perfume; but its medicinal
294 MYRRH.
qualities are now better known. It is administered
as a tonic medicine with great success, and it is
known to be a powerful styptic.
It was not till our own time that any thing con
cerning the trees producing Myrrh was known, ex
cept by imperfect traditions, pointing to Arabia and
India as their native country. It is certain, however,
that no Indian plant produces true Myrrh, though
a great deal reaches the European markets by way
of India. This, it appears, is the produce of Soco-
tra and Abyssinia, especially the country about the
Straits of Babelmaiidel, whence the Arab ships convey
it to Bombay or Calcutta. But this drug is particu
larly dirty, and mixed with other gums, chiefly gum
Arabic. The Arabian Myrrh reaches Europe through
Turkey, scarcely in better condition than the other.
Dr. Ehrenberg of Berlin found the true Myrrh
tree at Gison, on the borders of Arabia Felix. He
describes it as a small tree, growing among acacias,
moringas, and euphorbias. The wood is yellowish
white, the bark smooth, and of an ashen grey; the
leaves, on short stems, are imperfectly ternate. He
saw no blossom, and but one fruit ; but he gathered
Myrrh from the trunk. Nees v. Esenbeck received
MYRRH. 295
it from, him, and has figured it * ; but finds it not to
be distinguished, in description at least, from the
Balsamodendron Kataf. The two figures he has
given are, however, very different. I shall place one
of them at the head of this article, and the other at
the head of that on Stacte, which, by the account of
Pliny, was only a finer kind of Myrrh.
* In his Dusseldorff s Officinaler Pflanzen. See also Royle s Illustrations
of the Botany, $"c., of the Himalaya, p. 176.
MYRTLE.
Mijrtus communis, Common Myrtle.
Linngean class and order, ICOSANDRIA MONADELPHIA,
Natural order, MYKTACE^E.
Nehemiah, viii. 15. Isaiah, xli. 19.; Iv. 13. Zech. i. 8. 10, 11.
ON the return of the Jews under Nehemiah to their
own land, after the Babylonian captivity, the people
MYETLE. 297
were ordered to cut down palm branches, and Myrtle
branches, and olive branches, and other trees, to make
them booths, wherein they might renew the feast of
tabernacles, and hold it to the Lord as their fathers
had done in their own land. The booths being pre
pared, the people were assembled, and, before the
solemn feast began, Ezra, who had so large a share
in bringing back the children of Abraham from their
captivity, read aloud in their hearing the books of
the law, which had been preserved, notwithstanding
the disastrous condition of the nation.
To this day the dispersed families of the house of
Israel adorn the booths and sheds in which they
observe the feast, as well as their position will allow,
with Myrtle, as of old. And as no palm branches
can be had in our climates, the London Jews sub
stitute for these a branch of flowering almond, which
they present in the synagogue, having a piece of
Myrtle and two or three twigs of willow fastened to
it with a golden thread.
Isaiah, the mighty poet, prophesying the coming of
Christ, says : " When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst,
I the Lord will hear them ; I the God of Israel will
298 MYRTLE.
not forsake them ; I will open rivers in high places,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys ; I will make
the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land
springs of water ; I will plant in the wilderness the
cedar and the shittah, and the Myrtle, and the oil
tree."
And again, foretelling the marvels of the same
stupendous event, he says : u Instead of the briar
shall come up the Myrtle tree ; and it shall be to the
Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not
be cut off."
In the remarkable vision of Zechariah, the prophet
saw the angel of the Lord standing among the
Myrtles, questioning the spirits whom the Lord sent
to walk to and fro through the earth. " And they
answered the angel of the Lord that stood among
the Myrtle trees, and said : We have walked to and
fro through the earth, and behold all the earth sitteth
still, and is at rest."
In this passage the prophet doubtless had in mind
that justice is the typical meaning of the Myrtle
among the Jews; and where so fitly could the en
quiring angel execute his high commission, as sur
rounded by the emblems of justice?
MYRTLE. 299
Milton had surely this passage in his thoughts,
when he makes Adam instruct Eve, that
" Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep."
We do not find the Myrtle again named in our
version of the Scripture; but the feminine form of
the Hebrew word for it occurs in the name Hadassah,
which was that of Esther, while she lived in her uncle
Mordecai s house. She was thus named, not only on
account of her justice, but because she was the pro
tector and shelter of her people, even as the Myrtle
of the wilderness had comforted the congregation
during their forty years wandering.
The extreme beauty and grace of the Myrtle have
obtained for it the suffrages of the poets of all times
and countries. Our saintly Milton places it in the
blissful bower of Paradise, which was
" A place
Chosen by the sov ran planter, when he framed
All things to man s delightful use ; the roof
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade,
Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf."
The Romans seemed to have regarded it as one of
300 MYRTLE.
the flowers fit for coronals at rural feasts ; for Horace,
rejecting the gaudy chaplets of the city feasts, desires,
at his happy home, nothing better than a crown of
Myrtle.
In ancient Italy, the berries and flower-buds of the
Myrtle were used as a kind of spice ; and the modern
Tuscans, and the people of Syria and Palestine, still
frequently substitute it for pepper. The bark and
root are invaluable for tanning the fine Russian and
Turkish leather, to which they communicate a pecu
liar colour and perfume. In Italy the leaves are
used by the country-people to dress the skins of their
flocks, while the brushwood is made into brooms,
and the stock and roots are used for fuel in many
places.
Nothing is more beautiful than a Myrtle thicket,
where the dark glossy foliage is studded with white
starry flowers, and not a foot can step without
wakening the charming odour of the fallen leaves.
Such thickets adorn the hill sides of Italy ; and such,
too, according to Hasselquist and Burkhardt, still
clothe the hills about Jerusalem : mixed with the
Nerium Oleander, they shed fragrance over the shores
of the Sea of Tiberias ; and, stretching far up into the
MYRTLE. 301
valleys of Lebanon, refresh the traveller and pilgrim
on their curious or their pious way, to explore the
country which Faith has made holy ground.
NETTLES.
Urtica Dioica, Common Nettle.
Linnaean class and order, MON<ECIA TETRANDETA.
Natural order, URTICE.SE.
NETTLES. 303
NETTLES.
Job, xxx. 7. Isaiah, xxxiv. 13.
Proverbs, xxiv. 31. Hosea, ix. 6.
Zephaniah, ii. 9.
IN the very chapter of Job in which the juniper and
mallow are mentioned as the signs of desolate places,
we find the Nettle a few verses farther on, along with
the uncultivated bushes, as a still greater sign of
barrenness.
In the book of Proverbs it is said : " I went by the
field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man
void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown
over with thorns, and Nettles had covered the face
thereof." A picture among the most impressive and
picturesque to be found in any writer, of the baleful
effects of sloth.
The prophesy of Isaiah against Iduine has been
already quoted : " Thorns shall come up in her palaces,
Nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof." How
true to nature this picture is, all who have trodden
the ruins of towers and palaces can tell ; and, through
out his whole book, truth of description, allied to the
304 NETTLES.
sublimest poetry, is the character of this prophet.
Nearly to the same effect, Hosea prophesies of
fallen Israel: " The pleasant places for their silver,
Nettles shall possess them, thorns shall be in their
tabernacles." And again, in Zephaniah, the breeding
of Nettles is one sign of perpetual desolation. Now
there is nothing in any of these five passages of
Scripture which, either for the sake of sense or beauty,
requires the substitution of any other plant for the
Nettle. Nevertheless, as two different Hebrew words
occur in these places, it is not without reason that
there should be some difference of opinion as to the
proper rendering of them.
Celsius brings good authority for maintaining the
translation of Kimosh by Nettles, in Proverbs, in
Isaiah, and Hosea. Sprengel is inclined to contradict
him, and would substitute the Hedysarum Alhagi, or
Alhagi Maurorum, in those passages, as well as in Job
and in Zephaniah. This shrub certainly springs up in
desert places, and was common in the country of
Job.*
But Nettles are equally common in the desert
* See, under the head MANNA, the shrub Alhagi.
NETTLES. 305
places, and more frequent near cultivated lands, being
sure to seize on any rich soil, especially where the
husbandman has lately been at work. Hasselquist
found both Urtica dioica and Urtica pilulifera in
Palestine. The Nettle was probably not utterly
despised in Jewry. It appears always to have been
used as a potherb; and in a dairy country, such as
part of Judea was, the quality of its salt decoction,
which curdles milk without communicating any bad
taste, must have been really valuable.
NIGELLA.
Nigella sativa, or N. Oriejitalis, Nigella, Black-seedy or Gitta.
Linnsean class and order, POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA.
Natural order, RANUNCULA.
Isaiah, xxviii. 25. 27.
IN this passage Celsius and other commentators re
ject the word fitches, and produce good authority
NIGELLA. 307
for supplying its place with Nigella, or the Black-seed
as the Arabs call it. The Nigella is much esteemed in
the East ; where it is common, even now, to strew it
over the floor of the oven before the bread is put in,
and to sprinkle it over the loaves, and even to knead it
into the dough, as I have seen done with poppy seeds
in Bohemia and some parts of Germany. The seed
of the Nigella is used in this manner, and also by
way of pepper, in Egypt, Persia, and India, as well as
in Syria and Palestine; and very powerful, as well as
healthful, qualities are ascribed to it. It is, however,
one of the crowfoot tribe, many of which are most
virulent poisons. But this plant, under the strange
name of fennel flower, was formerly cultivated in our
kitchen-gardens as a potherb ; but, like many others, it
has been displaced by Eastern spices, which, besides
the aroma in which they mostly surpass the herbs
of our climate, have the advantage of being at hand
in all seasons, summer and winter alike.
NUTS.
Juglans regia, Walnut.
Linnsean class and order, MONCECIA POLYANDRIA.
Natural order,
Gen. xliii. 11. Son^ of Solomon, vi. 11.
NUTS were among the fruits of the land of Canaan
that did not entirely fail during the dreadful famine
NUTS. 309
that laid waste that country, and from which even
the fruitful Egypt was only saved by the foresight of
Joseph. Accordingly, Jacob, when he sent his sons
a second time to buy corn, and permitted his beloved
Benjamin to go along with them, reckoned them
among the presents he wished them to take, in order
to propitiate Joseph, and secure the well-being of
Benjamin, and perhaps, also, the liberation of Simeon,
whom Joseph had kept as a hostage.
The Pistacea Nut was most probably, if not
certainly, the Nut in question, though some have
suggested the smaller and inferior fruit of the tere
binth. The Pistacea grows plentifully in all the land
of Canaan, and the Nut is highly valued throughout
the East. It is used both raw and parched; bruised,
and mixed with honey and a very small portion of
wheaten flour, it forms a delicate cake ; and not
only the natives of the East, but the Italians, employ
it in many forms of confectionery.
The Pistacea vera grows to the height of 25 or 30
feet ; the bark is dark brown, and the pinnated leaves
are of a darkish glossy green. The insignificant
flowers grow upon the two-years-old wood, and the
Nuts grow singly.
310 NUTS.
The pistacea is not, however, the " Nut " of So
lomon s Song. "I went down to the garden of
Nuts," says the poet king, " to see the fruits of the
valley." But here the garden of Nuts was not
formed of the stunted pistacea, but of the stately
Walnut ; and the Hebrew word should have been so
rendered in our translation. In this reading Sprengel
follows several other writers, some of whom mention
the modern Arabic name, which resembles the He
brew word used by Solomon, as corroborative of
their opinion.
There is scarcely a modern traveller who does not
speak with admiration of the Walnut groves of Syria
and Palestine, where the tree is indigenous as well as
in the northern provinces of Persia and all Asia
Minor. The Walnut, the mulberry, the olive, the
pomegranate, all delight nearly in the same situa
tions; the myrtle and Oriental arbutus are seldom
far off; and a degree farther southward, or half an
hour s journey downward to the plain, adds the citron
and the rose-bay to this delicious vegetable group.
Something of the same kind may be enjoyed in the
Italian valleys about Palestrina or Prasneste. The oak
and chesnut, the hasel and pistacea, the Walnut and
NUTS. 311
the olive, occupy the summit and declivities; at the
bottom the plantations of mulberries are diversified
with the cherry, the plum, the apple, the orange, and
the citron, hedged in with myrtle and arbutus.
As in Italy, the Walnut of the Levant is important
to the merchant* ; and in the district of Lebanon
the Nuts themselves fetch a large price, and the oil is
of great value. When fresh, it is eaten in common
with olive oil, and the refuse is largely employed in
making soap. Walnut oil is also used in dressing
woollen cloths, though inferior for that purpose to the
oil of sesamum.
The smooth and delicately grained timber of the
Walnut is fit for ornamental furniture, though in this
country it is now superseded by mahogany ; but its
lightness and toughness recommend it for gun-stocks ;
and, during the last war, as much as forty pounds
sterling has been given for a single tree, for that
purpose.
In Circassia, the tree is pierced in the spring, and
a spigot is left for some time in the hole : when this
* In the Campagna and its bordering hills, the Nuts, though used as
food, are still more valuable for the oil they produce, Walnut oil being
almost exclusively used by painters in Italy.
312 NUTS.
is withdrawn, a clear sweet liquor flows out, which is
considered by the Circassians as a valuable remedy
for diseases of the lungs. *
* Walnuts are subject to a duty of 2s, per bushel, and in 1841 the net
proceeds were 3,37 IL
OAK.
Quercus, Common Oak.
Linnsean class and order, MONOZCIA POLYANDRIA.
Natural order,
Gen. xxxv. 4. 8.
Joshua, xxiv. 26.
Judges, vi. 11. 19.
2 Samuel, xviii. 9, 10,
14.
1 Kings, xiii. 14.
1 Chron. x. 12.
Isaiah, i. 29, 30.; ii. 13.; vi. 13.;
xliv. 14.
Ezekiel, vi. 13.; xxvii. 6.
Hosea, iv. 13.
Amos, ii. 9.
Zech. xi. 2.
2 Esdras, xiv. 1.
THESE are the texts in which, according to our
English version, the Oak is mentioned by name in
314 OAK.
Scripture ; but there are nine other places in which
the best commentators think that, instead of the
word plain, the name of the Oak, or of some other
strong tree, should be introduced.
The texts in question are the following : Genesis
xii. G., xiii. 18., xiv. 13., xviii. 1.; Deut. xi. 30.;
Joshua, xix. 33. ; Judges, iv. 11., ix. 6. 37. ; 1 Samuel,
x. 3. I have compared the texts in the translations
into six of the principal modern tongues*, to see
how far they agree with ours, with each other, and
with modern commentaries.
The Spanish version gives the Alcornoque, Oak, of
Moreh, instead of the plain of Moreh ; and the Alcor-
nocal, Oak grove, of Mamre is always substituted for
the plain.
The passage in Joshua is rendered by a compound
proper name ; and the texts in Judges give valley and
plain, but with a marginal note, in which Ilex, or
Oak, is preferred.*)*
* The French Geneva Bible; Deodati s Italian Bible; Luther s German
Bible ; the Spanish version called the Bear s Bible, because it has the
symbol of Berne, where it was printed, on its titlepage ; the Dutch, and
the Danish Bibles.
j" It is remarkable, that in Judges, ix. 37., where we read the pillar
of Sicheni, the French have, Le chenain des devins, the Oak grove of
OAK. 315
The Dutch also render the plains of Moreh and
Mamre by Eychenbosch, Oak grove ; while the four
other versions agree in reading the plain of Moreh
and of Mamre with our own. Yet all read Oak in
the other passages.
Since the time of the Keformation, when most, if
not all, of these versions were made, Bible criticism
has been a favourite study among the learned, parti
cularly in Germany ; and, in consequence, many cer
tain, and some probable, mistakes have been pointed
out in the names of the trees and other plants
mentioned in different versions of the Bible. Some
objections appear to have been made on insufficient
grounds, and some in the very wantonness of cri
ticism ; and, finally, some because very good Hebrew
scholars are occasionally bad botanists.
There certainly appear to be good grounds for the
criticism that goes to prove that the Oak is sometimes
put in place of the terebinth, or some other strong
and thick tree; and for the terebinth they have to
the prophets ; the Germans, Zauber Eich, the enchanted Oak ; the Danish,
Trolders Egg, the soothsayer s Oak. On turning back to the twenty-
fourth chapter of Joshua, we find that he set up a great stone, or pillar,
under the Oak that was by the sanctuary in Sichem.
316 OAK.
plead the authority of many traditions recorded by
ancient writers, particularly Josephus. He says that
in his time a terebinth was shown at Mamre, evidently
of great age, as that under which Abraham had en
tertained the angels; and that, in the valley where
David slew Goliath, the grove of terebinths which
gave its name to the place was still in existence.
Wishing to obtain something like certainty on the
subject, and despairing at the time of procuring a
sight of Celsius s extraordinary work, I took the
liberty of applying to the Rev. Dr. Hyman Hurwitz,
a Jewish gentleman whose well known kindness
encouraged me to apply to him, as one of the most
learned Hebrew scholars of our country. His reply,
great part of which I copy below, contains a satisfac
tory explanation of some of the causes of the various
readings.*
* " Many Hebrew names of inanimate objects appear under two forms,
masculine and feminine, without any difference in their signification.
Now the feminine form of the word for Oak is Allah, Jos. xxiv. 26. ; but
the word most frequently used is the masculine form Allan, Gen. xxxv.
8.; Isaiah, vi. 13.; Hosea, iv. 13. The plural of this is Allonim, Ez. xxvii.
6. The genitive plural is Allona, Isaiah, ii. 24.
" We now come to the Terebinthus. The masculine form is Ail or Ailon t
Gen. xiv. 6.; El-Paran, Judges, ix. 6.; and in combination with Moieh,
Gen. xii. 6. The plural is Ailim or Alim, Isaiah, i. 29.; meaning also
OAK. 317
The Quercus ^Esculus is thought by many to be
the Oak of Scripture, because it is very frequent in
the climate of Syria and Palestine. The sacred grove
of Dodona, whence the oracular beam was cut which
guided the Argonauts on their expedition, was of
this Oak; and therefore scholars have been fond to
think that the oars of the ships of Tyre, mentioned
by Ezekiel, were of the same wood. But the common
Oak (Eobur), the Turkish Oak, the holm, besides
various evergreen Oaks, are abundant in all parts of
Palestine; and the hills of Bashan are so decorated
with them, especially the Quercus Robur, that the
English traveller, on reaching them, is perpetu
ally reminded of the woodland scenery of his own
country.
any large or stately tree or trees, and hence the name Elim (Exod. xv. 27. ;
xvi. 1.) is derived. The feminine form is Aildh, Gen. xxxv. 4.; Isaiah, i.
30.; vi. 13. Genitive Ailafh, genitive plural Ailoth. These are the
origin of the proper names Eleth or Elath, Deut. ii. 8. ; 2 Kings, xvi. 6.
"The rendering AilonAilone (Gen. xii. 6.; xviii. 1.) by plain originated
in the Chaldee version of Onkelos ; not that either of the words mean
plain, but the plains of Moreh and Mamre are so named from the trees
which grew there."
It is not wonderful that others have confused the names of the Oak and
the Terebinth, since Celsius himself, in his dissertation on the subject in
the Hierobotanicon, takes Allah, the feminine form of Oak, for Allah,
Terebinth.
318 OAK.
In the early books of Scripture the Oak is always
mentioned as connected with some sacred place,
rendered holy by the near neighbourhood of a sanc
tuary, an altar, a pillar of memorial, or the grave
of some remarkable person.
After Abraham had left the land of Haran, at God s
command, and had journeyed.into Canaan, his first
resting-place was at the Oak of Moreh* and in the
place of Sichem; which Oak, even at that time, pro
bably marked a sanctuary ; for when Joshua made a
covenant in Sechem, with that numerous people
descended from Abraham which Moses had led up
out of Egypt, he placed the pillar of the covenant
" under an Oak that was by the sanctuary of the
Lord."
Again, Abraham came and dwelt in the Oak grove
of Mamref and builded an altar unto the Lord. J
" And the Lord appeared unto Abraham in the Oak
grove [plain] of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door
in the heat of the day." Abraham s hospitable recep-
* Plain of Moreh, English version.
| Plain of Mamre, English version.
I The altars of the Patriarchs were of turf, or of rough unhewn stone.
See Exodus, xx. 24,25.
OAK. 319
tion of the three strangers who bore the message of
the Lord is related as follows. " He said, let a little
water I pray you be fetched, and wash your feet, and
rest yourselves under the TKEE." He does not say,
on the plain, or in the tent, but under the tree, the
chief tree of the grove.
The first time our version mentions the Oak refers
to the Oak in Sichem. When Jacob learned that his
wives, on leaving Padan Aram had brought away the
family teraphin, or sacred images of their father
Laban, he collected them all and buried them under
the Oak in Sichem, already a consecrated place ; thus
disposing reverently of what had been objects of
worship in his father s family, but, at the same time,
depositing them where it would have been a violation
of the holy place of the God of Abraham to have
sought them again.
A few verses farther on, we read of the death of
Deborah, Rebekah s nurse, and that Jacob buried her
under the Oak that was in Bethel ; that is, the very
place where Abraham had rested and built an altar
to the Lord. And the place where Deborah was
buried was called Allon Bachuth, or the Oak of
Tears.
320 OAK.
It is remarkable that the sixth chapter of Judges
contains not only a confirmation of the sacred cha
racter of the Oak, but an account of the desecration
of an Oak grove, and its adjacent sanctuary, because
it had been perverted to the use of the worshippers
of Baal, or the sun.*
Under a peculiar Oak the angel of the Lord
appeared to Gideon, and gave him the divine com
mission to set Israel free ; and under that same Oak
Gideon built an altar to the Lord. But the grove
hard by, belonging, as would appear, to his father s
house, Gideon was commanded to destroy, because
the offerings to Baal had polluted it.
In the first book of Samuel, Saul is directed to go
to the Oak f of Tabor, at which spot he should meet a
man to conduct him to the high place of the prophets,
among whom, after his being anointed king, he was
to receive the divine spirit of prophecy, and to become
another man.
Before any farther mention of the Oak occurs
* The same degraded image of God, doubtless, as that worshipped by
the druids of the West, in their Oak groves and their open sanctuaries.
f In our version, plain ; but the propriety of reading Oak here is most
obvious.
OAK. 321
in Scripture, David had been for some time king
instead of Saul, and had resolved on building a house
to the Lord, a design fulfilled by Solomon his son.
From that period the use of groves and high places
was forbidden, on account of the temptation to ido
latry which they presented.
But the Oak was to David a fatal tree ; for in an
Oak his rebellious but still beloved son Absalom was
entangled, and there slain.*
Twice again the Oak is spoken of in the historical
books of the Old Testament. It was under an Oak
that the disobedient prophet sat, when he determined
to turn back, and to eat and to drink, in defiance of
the command of God ; and so incurred the punishment
deserved by his spirit of disobedience f : and it was
under the Oak of Jabesh that the compassionate men
of Jabesh- Gilead buried the bodies of Saul and his
sons.J
The prophets, those greatest of poets, delight in
drawing their images from the trees of the forest.
How does Isaiah, in his bitterness, reproach the sinful
* 2 Sam. xviii. 9, 10, 11. f 1 Kings, xiii. 14.
t 1 Chron. x. 12.
322 OAK.
people! " They [the natives] shall be ashamed of
the Oaks which ye have desired ; and ye shall be con
founded for the gardens which ye have chosen. For
ye shall be as an Oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a gar
den without water." Again, when he prophesies that
u The mighty looks of man shall be humbled, the Oaks
of Bashan shall be brought low, -along with every one
who is proud and haughty."
Then with what a beautiful image he comforts the
repentant people! " As a teil tree, and as an Oak,
whose substance is in them when they cast their
leaves, so the holy seed shall be in the substance
thereof;" that is, in the remnant of the oppressed
people.
In writing of the Ash and of the Cypress, I have
already referred to that most magnificent passage,
where the master prophet sternly numbers up the
trees of the forest designed for man s proper use,
but perverted to the purposes of idolatry ; and with
bitter scorn rebukes the sinners.
Next, the eager Ezekiel takes up his prophecy
against the idolaters, thus : " Then shall ye know that
I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among
their idols round about their altars, upon every high
OAK. 323
hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every
green tree, and under every thick Oak.*
When Ezekiel next names the Oak, it is in its
character of the " builder Oak," applied especially to
its proper use, namely, part of the furnishing of the
Tyrian ships. From the time of the ship Argo, whose
beams of Oak were cut in the forest of Dodonaf, to
our own, the Oak has been, and must be, preferred
for all those purposes requiring strength and dura
bility ; and it is observable, that all the words rendered
Oak, in our version of the Bible, have a root signifying
strength.
* Ezek. vi. 13. Here the Spanish Bible has Enzina, Ilex.
f Tradition, as authentic as history, ascribes the establishment of the
sanctuary and oracle of Dodona, in an Oak forest of Epirus, to two
Phoenician priestesses, or, as the poets write, two black doves from
Phoenicia, who brought an olive branch in the ship they arrived in, re
commending the inhabitants of the country to cultivate the olive, the first
tree springing from the branch then brought. One of the doves, the poets
say, remained perched on the branch of a tree of the forest, and prophesied
and pronounced oracles. The plainer tradition says that one of the
priestesses remained at Dodona, established a sanctuary, and taught a re
ligion, and some of the arts of cultivation, to the then savage people. The
other dove, or priestess, journeyed as far in Africa as the oasis where the
oracle of Jupiter Ammon was fixed ; and there, among the thick trees of
the oasis, a sanctuary and oracle were set up. The Oak was no longer,
however, the sacred tree. The burning climate encouraged other vegeta
tion, and the Thuja Articulata, the Algum of Scripture, surrounded and
protected the religious establishment of the African oracle.
324 OAK.
Zechariah imitates Ezekiel in reprobating the
idolatry practised under the thick Oaks, because the
shadow thereof is good.
Amos, exhorting the people to remember the fa
vour and the power of God, says, " I destroyed the
Amorite before them," who " was strong as the
Oaks:" and Zechariah, in his lament, calls upon the
Oaks of Bashan to howl for the desolation of the
people of God.
The apocryphal prophet Esdras was sitting under
an Oak, when the voice of the Lord from the thicket
pronounced that memorable warning : "to set his
house in order, to let go from his mortal thoughts,
to cast away the burdens of man, and to put off the
weak nature."
Thus almost every text in which the Oak is named
treats of it as something sacred or venerable, a cha
racter which it received also throughout the Western
heathen world.
The Oak was sacred to the highest gods of Greece.
It was planted by the side of the most venerated
sanctuaries, and even the trees themselves were sup
posed to be endowed with a prophetic character.
In Rome, the Oak was, again, the tree of their chief
OAK. 325
god; and of its leaves was formed that crown, the
most honourable of all, that was to be earned by
saving the life of a citizen. At first it appears that
only the common oak (Quercus Robur) was used for
the civic crown, afterwards the Evergreen Oak, and
finally any species, provided the acorns were with the
leaf.
In Iberia, Gaul, and Britain, the Oak was held in
especial esteem. The grove of Oaks was indispensable
to the worship of the druids, who not only sheltered
their altars and adorned their sanctuaries with them,
but, like Israel at Allon Bachuth, they planted them
on the graves of their dead. Celsius has many
curious and learned observations on the subject of
burial under trees; and quotes, from the ancient
Hervorar Saga, the example of the hero Angantyr
and his brothers, buried under the trees in Samsoe. *
Such coincidence of custom, between the nations
of Western Europe and those of the land of Canaan,
as may appear too close to be accounted for by the
natural spreading of Noah s family over the earth,
may safely be ascribed to the communication carried
* See farther, under the head TURPENTINE TREE, or TEREBINTH.
326 OAK.
on by the Phoenician ships with every port in the
known world. The great druid temples of England
are matched by those recently discovered in Syria,
Palestine, and Asia Minor : and it would appear that
the very form in which the Eastern Moloch was
served, polluted the later worship of the British
druids.
The religion of the Patriarchs, pure and simple,
demanded nothing more than prayer and praise,
and an offering at a simple altar over which no tool
of iron had been raised: but, before the children of
Abraham came up out of Egypt, superstition and
idolatry had possessed the earth, and it became
necessary that a new law should be declared among
the people of God.
Then were the rough altar and open sanctuary still
tolerated, and even purified for a season, to serve
until the people should have multiplied, and filled the
land of promise.
This being accomplished, the ancient places of
worship were desecrated for ever; the Oak groves
were no longer holy ; a temple, framed by the hand
of man, was accepted in their stead.
That the sanctuary and grove were still lawful
OAK. 327
places of worship, after the promulgation of the
written law, is certain, from the fact that Joshua,
though present at the giving of the commandments
from Mount Sinai, did, towards the end of his
ministry, set up a sacred pillar under an Oak that
was by the sanctuary of the Lord in Sichem; and
that, too, on no less occasion than the covenant made
with the whole people.
But it is time to take leave of the most venerable
of trees. Its use is of importance in our every-day
life ; the grand character of its beauty gives it the
preeminence in our forests ; in its long life it sees a
hundred generations of men pass away. Well, then,
was it consecrated to be the first temple to the
worship of its Maker !
OLEASTER, WILD OLIVE.
Elceagnus spinosa^ Wild Olive.
Linnsean class and order, TETRANDIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, ELJEAGNI.
Romans, xi. 17. 24.
" IF the root be holy, so are the branches. And if
some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being
OLEASTER. 329
a Wild Olive, wert graffed in among them, and with
them partakest of the root and fatness of the Olive
tree; boast not against the branches: for
God is able to graif them in again. For if thou wert
cut out of the Olive tree which is wild by nature,
and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good
Olive tree : how much more shall these, which be the
natural branches, be graffed into their own Olive
tree ? "
This beautiful figurative argument of St. Paul is
the only passage in Scripture in which the Wild Olive
is mentioned; though the tree, or rather large shrub,
is so common in Judea, that Pallas, in the Flora
Rossica, gives the words " thorn of Jerusalem " as
one of the synonymous names.
The Elseagnus spinosa grows to the height of
fourteen or sixteen feet. Its berries resemble those
of the Olive, and its yellow flowers emit a most
fragrant smell. Sometimes they are laid in oil of
Olives or of nuts, to which they impart an agreeable
perfume; but their chief use was formerly as the
principal ingredient in a medicinal water, supposed to
be of great importance as a remedy for the plague,
and other contagious diseases.
330 OLEASTER.
There are several varieties of the Elasagnus, of
which the angustifolium is the only one which bears
the severity of our winters. That called orient alis
is supposed to be the zaccoum of Oriental travellers,
which monkish tradition has substituted for the
sycamore on which Zaccheus climbed to see the
triumphal procession of Christ into Jerusalem.
The poor monks make a little money by showing
this tree, and a little more by the sale of what they
call oil of zaccoum, to pilgrims. This, they affirm, is
produced by the berries of that single tree ; and they
ascribe to it almost miraculous powers of healing.
The medicinal properties of the elaeagnus do not
seem to have been acknowledged by the Greeks, who,
however, paid it high honour ; for of its branches the
crowns of the victors in the Olympic games were
woven, and it was generally called among them
callistephanos, or the beautiful garland.
OLIYE.
Olea Europcea, Cultivated Olive.
Limuean class and order, DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order,
332
OLIVE.
OLIVE.
Gen. viii. 11.
Exod. xxiii. 11.; xxvii. 20.
Deut. vi. 11.; viii. 8.; xxiv. 20.;
xxviii. 40.
Joshua, xxiv. 13.
Judges, ix. 8, 9.; xv. 5.
1 Sam. viii. 14.
1 Kings, vi. 23. 31, 32, 33.
2 Kings, v. 26.; xvii. 32.
1 Cbron. xxvii. 28.
Nehemiah, v. 11.; viii. 15.; ix. 25.
Job, xv. 33.
Psalm lii. 8.; cxxviii. 3.
Isaiah, xvii. 6.; xli. 19.
Jeromiah, xi. 16.
Hosea, xiv. 6.
Amos, iv. 9.
Micah, vi. 15.
Habakkuk, iii. 17.
Haggai v ii. 19.
Zech. iv. 11, 12.; xiv. 4.
Judith, xv. 13.
Matthew, xxi. 1.; xxvi. 30.
Mark, xi. 1.; xiv. 26.
Luke, xix. 29. ; xxii. 39.
Romans, xi. 17. 21. 23.
James, iii. 12.
Rev. xi. 4.
WITH reverence I write of the Olive. The Olive,
symbol of peace and forgiveness, was the first green
thing seen by that pure family, whom faith and hope
had led into the ark, when the dread punishment of
the everlasting God rushed in the floods of heaven,
and from the broken up springs of the deep, upon all
flesh.
So was the Olive a type of that greater mercy and
forgiveness, when, in the fulness of time, the law with
all its ceremonial, its feasts under tabernacles shaded
by the Olive, and its ever-burning lamps fed with the
OLIVE. 333
consecrated oil of the Olive, should have passed away,
and the Saviour and Redeemer be born.
While he condescended to remain on earth, where
may we, on so many important occasions, trace his
steps, as on the Mount of Olives? There he sat
when he wept over Jerusalem. In a village of that
Mount he condescended to human friendship, and
proved his human nature by affection and by grief,
being moved like as we are. Finally, the garden on
the Mount of Olives witnessed his agony and resig
nation. There the inward sacrifice was completed by
the words, " Father, if it be possible, remove this cup
from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou
wilt." And from the Mount of Olives he visibly
ascended to the Father, having gained the victory
over death, and begun the reign of peace on earth,
good will towards man.
The Olive branch brought to Noah by the dove
was not only a sign of peace, but of the recovered
fertility of the earth. The Olive was to form a main
part of the riches of the land promised to Abraham.
Moses and Joshua tell the people of their inherit
ance of Olive trees, which they have not planted.
The beautiful fable of Jotham tells of the fatness
334 OLIVE.
of the Olive, whereby " they honour God and man."
The oil of the lamps of the Temple, the anointing oil
for the altar and the priests, and the oil of the first-
fruits, were humble offerings in honour of God. The
anointing of the kings, by command of God, was an
especial honour to man; and hence one of the
Oriental customs of hospitality Was, and still is, to
offer to a respected guest oil, generally perfumed, to
anoint his head, after having refreshed him with
water for his feet.
The prodigious quantities of oil produced in ancient
Judea may be estimated from the number of measures
annually sent by Solomon to the King of Tyre, besides
what was required for the home consumption of a
people who used vegetable oil, instead of any animal
fat, in cookery; who consumed little, if any, wax for
candles in common domestic life; and, therefore,
depended for artificial light upon the oils procured
from seeds and fruits, of which the Olive was the
chief.
It appears, from the epistle to the Komans*, that
the Jews grafted their Olives, using the stock of the
Wild Olive as an improvement to the fruit.
* xi. 17.
OLIVE. 335
In Italy, where the Greek method was probably
followed, the Olives were only occasionally grafted;
and the Olive tree was generally propagated, as it
still is, by removing the suckers, which spring up in
abundance annually from the roots of the old trees,
and planting them in a fresh soil. Thus managed,
the Olive soon comes into bearing ; and there are few
trees which can compare with it for length of life,
and a long succession of productive seasons.
Some of the most ancient in the world still grow
on the Mount of Olives, especially in the garden of
Gethsemane. Travellers have doubted whether, as
the poor monks who show them say, they are the
same under which Jesus sat. First, they object the
age of the trees, and then that Titus cut down every
tree, in order to furnish himself with warlike ma
chines, during the siege of Jerusalem.
To the last objection might be answered, that Olive
wood is little fitted for such purposes, and that most
probably the young trees at any rate would escape ;
besides, Titus would hardly have been at the pains to
dig up the large spreading roots of the Olives, whose
nature it is to fix themselves to rocks and stones, and
which must have had many a hold in the fissures and
336 OLIVE.
rents of the limestone rocks of the Mount of Olives.
Though no other trees remained, the annual shoots
which arose from those ancient roots may surely be
considered as branches of the very trees, so precious
to the imagination of the Christian pilgrim.
As to the objection founded on the age of the
trees in the garden of Gethsemane, there are other
Olive trees which claim an equal date. For instance,
there is at Gericomio, on the mountain road between
Tivoli and Palestrina, an ancient Olive tree of large
size, which, unless the documents are purposely
falsified, stood as a boundary between two posses
sions even before the Christian era, and in the second
century was looked upon as very ancient. That tree
produced a large crop annually, even so late as 1820;
and may perhaps be still, as it was then, the pride of
the neighbourhood.
Pliny says the Athenians of his time showed an
Olive tree, which they said was coeval with the city,
and therefore sixteen centuries old ; and he mentions
an Olive yard, planted by the first of the Scipios,
about seven centuries before he wrote, and which
was then in vigorous bearing.
Modern travellers tell us of aged Olive trees, near
OLIVE. 337
the banks of the Ilyssus, which probably witnessed
the discourses of
" Divine philosophy,
From Heav n descended to the low-roof d house
Of Socrates."
But a wiser than Socrates sat under the trees of
Mount Olivet ; and his precepts, dark at the moment
of utterance, but made light by the one great and
pure sacrifice, changed the condition of man, and
placed him under the safeguard of a wisdom to which
all human philosophy is but vanity,
" Loses discountenanced,
And like folly shows."
The oil of Jewry was, in ancient times, as much
valued for its excellent properties in food and medi
cine, as for its purity and quantity. The leaves were
also used by the ancient surgeons, in the composition
of many plasters and liniments.
The timber of the Olive tree has been in all times
esteemed excellent for furniture and ornamental
carving. Homer says the nuptial bed of Ulysses
was of Olive wood. The club of Polyphemus was
also of Olive; and from that lofty poet, who was a
keen observer of nature, whether in the great or the
338 OLIVE.
minute, we find that the handles of tools for domestic
use, as well as those of warlike weapons, were of the
same solid wood. In modern times the little town
of Chiaveri, near Genoa, is famous for its light and
elegant Olive wood chairs ; and the delicate closeness
of the grain renders it fit for painters palettes ; the
exceeding beauty of which, in the colour and veining
of the wood, shows how judiciously it was applied in
the temple of Solomon in the carvings and posts of
the doors, as well as in the foundation for the gold
work of the cherubims, within the Holy of Holies.
At a distance, the Olive tree resembles the gray
willow in colour, though the hue may be a shade
grayer.
The stems of old trees appear like three or four
pollard willows congregated together; and the gray
ish brown bark, showing every here and there the
very white and bleached wood beneath, wherever it
has been exposed to the weather, adds to the likeness.
But there the resemblance stops : the Olive is ever
green; and, instead of catkins, produces bunches of
whitish flowers, succeeded by a fruit about the size of
the sloe, which is more or less abundant, and larger
or smaller, according to the soil and the season. The
OLIVE. 339
crop seldom fails ; when it does, it appears to be from
some early blight, which makes it shed its flowers
prematurely; and this it was subject to in ancient
Judea, as well as in the comparatively neglected
modern Olive yard.
The Olive affords a double harvest. The first in
or about August ; when the fully ripe fruit drops
from the tree upon sheets or mats, spread under it
for the purpose of receiving the rich produce un
damaged. The second harvest is about October, or
later in hilly places ; when the tree is beat, and the
fruit, as at the first, caught on sheets.
As to the ancient manner of expressing the oil
from the fruit, there appear to have been three
methods in use. The first, and probably most
ancient, was to squeeze the fruit with the hand ; and
by this method, though there was much waste, yet
the purest oil was produced, and this was set apart
for religious use. The next method was treading
the Olives as the grapes were trodden. As the
prophet Micah says, " Thou shalt tread the Olives,
but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil."* But we
learn, from the second and third chapters of Joel,
* vi. 15.
340 OLIVE.
that the Olive was sometimes pressed in an oil-press,
and the oil received in vats.
Some Hebrew authors, and among the rest Mai-
inonides, speak of oil mills in Judea ; but it appears
uncertain whether they were of such ancient date as
to belong to the times before our era.
It appears that, besides the* oil of Olives, there
were several other kinds of oil in use in Judea. Oil
of kiki pressed from the tick seed or castor oil nut,
oil of sesamum, oil from the seeds of melons and
cucumbers, and nut oil, were allowed to be burnt in
the sanctuary, and in the private lamps on the
Sabbath. There were, likewise, rape oil, fish oil, and
purified tallow, for ordinary lights.
The Athenians so honoured the Olive, that they
attributed its introduction to their tutelary divinity,
and set its value above that of the horse, which they
believed to be a divine gift also, received at the same
time with the Olive.
I have mentioned elsewhere the tradition concerning
o
the cultivation of the Olive in Epirus ; whither it was
said to be conveyed by a dove, who carried the first
branch of it from Phoenicia to the temple of Jupiter,
where the priests received and planted it.
OLIVE. 341
The poets feign that after Jove s victory over the
Titans, he crowned himself with Olive, as a symbol of
continual peace; Hercules, whose labours were all
undertaken for the sake of peace, was also crowned
with Olive; it was feigned that Apollo, the patron
of arts, protected it : and it was on all these accounts
that a wreath of Olive was the crown at the Olympic
games.
Nor was Greece the only country in which the
Olive crown was awarded to victory. When Judith
returned triumphant to Bethulia*, " They put a gar
land of Olive upon her and her maid that was with
her, and she went before all the people in the dance,
leading all the women: and all the men of Israel
followed in their armour with garlands, and with
songs in their mouths."
Such was the honour rendered to the Olive in the
old world. The moderns continue to pay it equal
homage. Common language and poetry have alike
adopted the Olive, whether in figurative or plain
speech, as significant of peace; and, truly, Olive oil
poured upon agitated water, will produce a sudden
* Judith, xv, 13.
342 OLIVE.
calm. How beautiful is Milton s " ready harbinger
of Christ ! "
" The meek-eyed Peace.
She, crown d with olive green, came softly sliding-
Down through the turning sphere,
With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing."
The Olive was carried by the Spanish missionaries
to South America, where it thrives well ; and, in
Chile, the Olive oil and pickled olives of the country
are, as in Spain, among the necessaries of life. With
the tree they have also planted there the name, de
rived from the ancient Hebrew Zait ; for the Spanish
for oil is Azeite, and for the tree Azeitun.
This carrying of trees to new colonies, by those
who never expect to return home, is a natural and
delightful manner of procuring a friend in a lonely
land. The palm tree of Abdurrhaman is a touching
example; and \vho can be insensible to the account
the Inca Garcilasso gives of the embraces that were
exchanged among the seven Spanish warriors, on
dividing among them the first five cherries that
ripened in Peru ?
May the planting of the Olive in that far land,
by the first conquerors, be of good omen ! May the
OLIVE. 343
mother country and her colonies soon weave the
Olive garlands for each other ! And so, in the words
of Scripture, shall the Olive do " honour to God, and
to man. 1
ONION,
Allium Cepa, Common Onion.
Linnaean class and order, HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA,
Natural order, LILACEA.
ONION. 345
ONION.
Numbers, xi. 5.
THE Onion is only mentioned in one passage of the
book of Numbers, where the Israelites murmur against
Moses for having brought them into the Desert, and
taken them from a land where they had been enjoy
ing all the vegetable luxuries of a highly cultivated
country. In all warm climates, the Onion and its
congeners seem to be particularly relished; but such
as have only tasted the harsh acrid Onion of a north
ern garden can have no notion of how much reason
the Israelites had to regret the large, nutritious, and
delicate Onion of the shores of the Mediterranean.
The modern Orientals think no dish complete without
the Onion; their pillaus, whether savoury or sweet,
are garnished with it ; and it is no uncommon sauce
to every dish, when fried with almonds or pistacea
nuts, and mixed with dried fruit. I have fancied
on receiving a dish dressed by the Arab master of a
vessel, that the cookery, excellent in its way, and
much to my taste in being what an Englishman
346 ONION.
would call over-done, was very probably the same
employed by the Pharaohs chief cook, and that my
mess probably differed from Benjamin s only in being
too small. At any rate, it was redolent of Onions, in
all the varieties of boiled, roasted, and fried.
In writing of the leek, I have mentioned the
worship paid to that and the Onion in some towns
of Egypt. It was at Pelusium, in the temple of a
goddess who was supposed to have power to arrest
the progress of the marsh fever to which the inhabi
tants were subject, that the Onion was honoured with
incense and sacrifice. In all probability, this sacred
Onion was the great sea squill, which was considered
by the ancients as a most efficacious remedy for the
marsh fever, and was nowhere produced in such
abundance and such excellence as in the neighbour
hood of Pelusium.
ONYCHA.
Styrax Benzoin, Gum Benzoin Tree.
Linnaean class and order, DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, STYRACEJE.
348 ONYCHA.
ONYCHA.
Exod. xxx. 34. Ecclus. xxiv. 15.
THIS, from the context in both the above-cited pas
sages, must have been some fragrant vegetable gum
or resin. " Take to thee sweet spices, stacte, and
Onycha, and galbanum," is the command in Exodus
for preparing the perfume for the tabernacle. In Ec-
clesiasticus, we have a a pleasant odour like the best
myrrh, as galbanum, and Onycha, and sweet storax."
Nevertheless, some authors have fancied that
Onycha was the produce of a shell-fish, and so called
from its shining something like a man s nail; and
an old Dutch naturalist says that the covercle of a
certain shell-fish of the class Murex, at Amboyna,
serves for the basis of ten different Indian perfumes,
and has that peculiar lustre like a nail.
But this seems very improbable, if only because
the context implies a vegetable perfume. The Arabic
version makes it Ladanum, but the Hebrew word
translated Onycha is different from the name of that
drug.
ONYCHA. 349
It has been suggested* that Gum Benzoin, which
is not mentioned by any other name in Scripture,
must be Onycha. Its fracture has exactly the lustre
required by the name.
It is the most odoriferous of gums, and, in fact,
rather resembles an inspissated balsam than a gum.
Its peculiarly agreeable odour and pleasant taste arise
from the principle it contains, called benzoic acid,
which is found also in the balsam of Tolu, and in the
Taca-mahac. The Benzoin tree belongs to the fa
mily of the Styrax, and is sometimes called Styrax
Benzoin t, but by Hayne Benzoin officinale.
The tree is not large, nor, by description, does it
appear to be a showy plant. The gum is a secretion
from the bark, and is of great efficacy in healing
wounds. It enters into the composition of many
balsams and salves, particularly the well known
Friar s balsam.
Such are the pretensions of the Benzoin to be looked
upon as the true Onycha, which, from the text, as I
have already said, must have been some fragrant
* By C. H., Esq.
f Dryander in the Philosophical Transactions.
350 ONYCHA.
vegetable gum, precious in itself, of foreign produc
tion, and ranking with stacte, and myrrh, and gal-
banum, and sweet storax; all which conditions are
fulfilled by the Gum Benzoin.
CULTIVATED PALM.
PALM.
Phoenix Dactylifera, Date Palm.
Linnsean class and order, DICECIA HEXANDRIA.
Natural order,
352 PALM.
PALM.
Exod. xv. 27. Song of Solomon, vii. 7, 8.
Levit. xxiii. 40. Jerem. x. 5.
Numb, xxxiii. 9. Ezek. xl. 16. 22. 26. 31. 37. ; xli. 1,
Deut. xxxiv. 3. 18, 19, 20. 25..
Judges, i. 16. ; iii. 13. ; iv. 5. Joel, i. 12.
1 Kings, vi. 29. 32. 35.; vii. 36. 2 Esdras, ii. 45, 46.
2 Chron. iii. 5.; xxviii. 15. Ecclus. xxiv. 14.; 1. 12.
Nehemiah, viii. 15. 2 Maccabees, x. 7.
Psalm xcii. 12. St. John, xii. 13.
Revelation, vii. 9.
THE Date Palm is one of the very few, out of the
large family of Palms, that does not require a tropical
climate to bring it to perfection.
The Date Palm flourishes in Egypt, Nubia, and
Morocco, Persia and Arabia, and even India. It
grows in some favoured spots in Spain and Italy :
in Spain it bears fruit yearly ; and there is a tradition
that, three centuries ago, the dates of a Palm tree
ripened in Rome.
But the southern parts of Judea and Edom appear
to have been, if not the native land of the Date Palm,
at least the most favourable climate for it.
Two considerable places in the southern part of
PALM. 353
Solomon s kingdom were named from this Palm.
The most celebrated of these, the ruins of which are
among the noblest relics of antiquity, was Tadmore
or Tamar in the Desert, from the Hebrew name
Tamar, a Palm, which the Greeks rightly translating
called the place Palmyra. But now few, if any,
Palms remain near the spot, to shelter or to refresh
the weary traveller; for the water courses which fed
the gardens of that magnificent city are broken up ; the
tanks which supplied the caravans of the merchants
have been destroyed by war or by earthquakes ; and,
since the discovery of the passage by sea from Europe
to India, the march of the caravans in that direction
has ceased, there is no one to repair the stations of
the Desert, to dress the gardens, or to renew the
Palms.
The other place of note was Engaddi, of which
little remains, except cells in the neighbouring rocks,
either natural, or dug in the mountain side, where
hermits and saints, both of ancient and modern date,
have had their dwelling. Yet there, in the pros
perous days of Israel, Solomon had his choice gar
dens and his vineyards of price ; and the place was
named Engaddi or Ain-Gaddi, the fountain of the
354 PALM.
Palm.* We also find in Scripture Hazezon-Tamar,
the castle of Palms, among the places taken by
Chederlaomer from the Amorites, in the time of
Abraham ; and Baal-Tamar and Baal-Gad among the
fortresses of Judea.
From the earliest times, the Palm branch has been
looked upon as the emblem of victory. The Palm is
the herald of triumph, whether in sacred or profane
history. Its long life, its perpetual verdure, the
assurance it affords to the yet distant wayfarer in
the Desert, that springs of water will be found
wherever it rears its graceful head, single it out from
all the growth of the forest. High-raised upon its
pillar-like trunk, the head of the Palm throws out its
equal fronds, light as the feather of the ostrich, yet
strong to resist the storms from heaven ; and, in their
immediate shelter, burst forth those marvellous
sheaths which soon disclose the abundant fruit that
nourishes the Arab and his camels, and leaves him
* Gad, as well as Tamar, is a name of the Palm. The fertility of En-
gaddi is beautifully alluded to by Crashaw. He says that, at the birth
of Christ,
" Fair Engaddi s fountains
With manna, milk, and balm, new broach d the mountains."
PALM. 355
ample superfluity to sell, or barter for the goods of
the East or of the West. If the bark is excoriated,
a fluid little less sweet than honey exudes from it,
and the lymph flowing from the wounded leaf pro
duces a wholesome wine.
Pliny says that the ancient Orientals boasted of
three hundred and sixty uses to which the Palm tree
and its products were applied. It would be too
curious to examine into the whole of these, but not
uninstructive to consider the principal purposes to
which the Date Palm was applied.
The fruit of the Date Palm is the first and most
important of its products. Each tree yields, according
to Dr. Shaw, from three to four hundred pounds
weight of dates every year, from the time it has
reached the age of thirty years, until it counts a
century, after which period it falls off in fertility.
Whether fresh or dry, there is no fruit more nutri
tious than the date, and certainly none on which so
many depend for the greater part of their sustenance.
The stones, hard and dry as they may appear, are
ground into a kind of coarse meal, on which the goats
and camels of the Arabs feed with greediness ; and,
in the longest march across the Desert, neither man
356
PALM.
nor beast require other food, if they have a little
water or camel s milk to allay their thirst.
&
NCH OF DATES.
The great midrib of the leaf of the Palm serves
not only the wandering Arabs to enclose their flocks
when encamped, but the Fellah or Egyptian husband-
PALM. 357
man to prop the walls of his hut, to fence in his
fields, and when decayed to maintain his household
fire. Sometimes the soft winged part of the leaves
being left on the midrib, they are woven into a neat
and comfortable lining to the hut : the same soft part
is converted into mats, baskets, pouches, beds, nets,
cages for poultry, and more domestic articles than I can
name. The fibrous network surrounding the bottom
of the fruit and flower sheaths is twisted into excel
lent cordage, and is not unfrequently woven into bags
fit for packing goods; finally, the poor Egyptian
thatches his hut with Palm leaves ; and such of them
as die naturally, from the neglect of the farmers of the
land, serve for excellent fuel.
The trunk of the Palm is very durable, and makes
excellent water-pipes ; because it resists the attacks of
the insects of a warm climate, even those of the white
ant. It is hard to work, and boasts of no beauty;
but in Egypt, where timber is scarce, the Fellahs
make their doors of it.
I have already mentioned the sugar or honey
drawn from the trunk of the Palm, and the wine or
strong drink obtained from the cut foot- stalks of the
leaves; but there is, according to Ksempfer, another
358 PALM.
kind of wine, obtained by pressing the fruit, which
finds a good market from the traders of the caravans.
Although, as I have stated above, the Date Palm is
at perfection at the age of a century, still, in favour
able situations, it continues in health for fifty years
more. It is increased chiefly from suckers, which
spring freely from the parent root; and, wherever
an ancient Palm has died or has been accidentally
burnt down, two or three young trees spring up near
the spot. Hence, probably, its name Phoenix, in
allusion to the fabulous Arabian bird. *
The Palms differ from every tree of the forest in
this, that from their seedling state to old age they
never increase in bulk, but raise their columnar
forms without branch f, or bend, or contortion.
Upward they grow, shooting their young foliage from
within, as annually the withered fronds beneath de
cay, leaving but the traces of their being, in circles
or reticular marks on the external surface in many
species; while in the Date Palm the stools of the
decayed leaves form projections, which serve as steps
* Phoenicia is said to have been so named from the multitude of its
Phoenices, or Date Palms.
j" Excepting the Doom, or many-headed Palm.
PALM.
359
by which man may ascend to possess himself of the
treasury of fruit that hangs in golden clusters from
beneath the wide- spreading fronds, or to tap the tree
for its invigorating wine, or, finally, to carry on those
modes of culture which are necessary to render the
Date Palm fruitful.
B
FLOWER OF THE DATE PALM.
A, Male flower B, Female flower. c, Fruit.
360 PALM.
I believe the oldest notice of the necessity of this
kind of culture for the Palm is to be found in
Herodotus s account of Assyria: but the most com
plete explanation of the methods of cultivating the
date, and gathering the harvest, is to be found in
Ka3mpfer s Amcenitates Exotica*.
So important is the Date Palin to the Arabs, that
they have fancifully invested it with a dignity ap
proaching to that of man, and endowed it with the
powers of thought and of language. They fable that
the young trees woo each other with the tenderness
of human love, and that truly virtuous adepts in the
knowledge of the secrets of nature may, with time
and study, attain to the knowledge of this language,
and understand the morals and the wisdom of these
vegetable sages. The last of such favoured adepts
was the learned Doctor Abraham Gaon, who died
about the year 1540.
The Mahommedan traditions have handed down
many marvels concerning the Palm ; among the rest
is one which must have been borrowed from one of
the apocryphal gospels of the Infancy of Christ.
The story is as follows. When the Virgin Mary was
on her way towards Jerusalem to be registered, she
PALM. 361
fainted and grew sick at the foot of a Palm, so aged
that the crown was dead, and there remained nothing
but the bare trunk. She had no sooner sat down at
its root, however, than a clear spring of water welled
out from beneath the withered Palm ; the branches
shot fresh and vigorous from the blackened stem;
the fruit budded, formed, and ripened ; the whole
graceful plant bowed down towards her, and celestial
voices were heard, saying, " Drink, eat, and refresh
thine eyes." Thus was the virgin mother comforted,
and there did she bear her divine son.
Whoever was the author of this fable must have
been well acquainted with the Greek story of the
flight of Latona to Delos, where she gave birth to
Apollo and Diana under a Palm, whence that tree
was consecrated to Diana. It is said that Theseus
first carried the Palm to Athens from Delos, when
he returned in triumph from his victory over the
Minotaur. But the mainland of Greece never was
favourable to the Palm, though several of the Greek
islands were adorned with it.
Even in the South of Italy they have always been
rare, though they are not scarce in some parts of
Sicily. Near Genoa, there is a narrow, warm, sandy
362 PALM.
valley, full of Palms, but they are diminutive in
growth, and unfruitful ; being cultivated only for the
sake of the leaves, which are annually sent to the
Pope s chapel at Rome, when they are blessed, and
distributed to the cardinals and other dignitaries, in
sign of the triumph of the church.
The first Palm seen in Spain was planted by
Abdulrahman I., the Moorish king of Cordova, in the
garden of a palace called the Rusafa, which he built
near his capital.* There he had collected many
beautiful trees and flowers from every land, and
among them the Palm of his native country. A
beautiful elegy addressed by him to this Palm became
a popular song, and spread even into Christian Spain.
It is too long for insertion here, but I cannot refrain
from copying the last stanza, f
" To thee of my loved native land
No fond remembrance clings ;
/ cannot cease to think, and still
The tear unbidden springs."
* About A.D. 750.
f The whole will be found in my short History of Spain. The elegy
was versified by one, now no more, whose talents of various kinds were
only inferior to her qualities and virtues, the late Mrs. Sullivan.
PALM.
363
WILD PAT.M.
Since the time of the Moorish king, Palm trees
have been planted in various parts of Spain, for
the purposes of the church. Those at Malaga have
thriven as if the place were native to them, and an
nually produce fruit ; but neither the Palms of Spain
nor Mauritania, Libya nor Egypt, Arabia nor Persia,
364 PALM.
could anciently vie with the Palms of Palestine, in
fruitfulness or beauty.
Celsius was so enamoured of the Palm, that he
imagines, wherever the promised land is spoken of as
a land flowing with milk and honey, that the j agree
or sugar juice of the Palm is intended, and gravely
assures us that it is equally goocL I am sure that, if
the learned Scandinavian had ever tasted it, he would
never have done such injustice to that delicious
natural confection, honey, which furnished his Gothic
ancestors with their mead and metheglin ; for the
truth is, that j agree very much resembles treacle.
And, then, he seems to have forgotten the quantity
of wax that, from the most ancient times, had been
exported from Arabia, Edom, and Palestine.
The first mention of the Palm, in the English
Bible, is in the description of the station Elim, where
there were twelve wells, and threescore and ten Palm
trees ; and where the people arrived from Marah
where the waters were bitter, and to which they had
come after three days journey along the arid and
sandy shore of the Red Sea. No wonder they counted
the wells of sweet water, and the sheltering Palms of
Elim ! In the further wanderings in the wilderness,
PALM. 365
we find frequent notice of the wells and the Palm
trees.
In the regulations for the making the booths
for the feast of Tabernacles, the Palm is, for the
second time, introduced in the books of Moses*:
and the third and last is in the account, given in
Deuteronomy, of the great lawgiver s vision from
Mount Pisgah ; whence beholding the promised land
with his eyes, though his feet might never enter it,
he saw " all the land, and the plain of the valley of
Jericho, the city of Palm trees. "f
In the book of Judges we learn that Deborah, the
only woman who appears to have executed the high
office of judge in Israel, sat to judge the people under
a Palm tree; as in other nations, even in remote
Britain and Gaul, the judgement seat was under
some remarkable tree, such as the teil tree or the
oak.
Our version says that Deborah dwelt under the
Palm tree of Deborah, though others only say that
she sat to judge there. But there is no contradiction
in this. The modest dwelling of the " mother in
* Repeated Nehemiah, viii. 15.
t Repeated 2 Chron. xxviii. 15.
366 PALM.
Israel" might be built under the shadow of the Palm :
and she would naturally, according to most ancient
custom, receive the people whom she judged under the
tree ; even as Abraham received the angels, not in his
tent, but under the tree that overshadowed it. It
was from the foot of her Palm tree that Deborah
summoned the warrior Barak, to., deliver the people
from the tyranny of Jabin, king of Canaan. But
this is not the place in which to pursue the triumphant
history of the judge and prophetess, nor to copy her
song of glory ; a glory that procured forty years of
peace and its blessings for her people.*
How beautifully do the royal poets, David and
Solomon, introduce the Palm into their divine songs !
David says: " The righteous shall flourish like a
Palm tree. They shall bring forth fruit in their old
age."
* One would imagine that some person well versed in the Jewish history
had suggested to Vespasian the reverse of his well-known medals and
coins, struck on the capture of Jerusalem by Titus. It represents gene
rally the figure of Jerusalem, as a veiled woman sitting weeping under a
Palm tree, with a captive Jew behind her, and beyond the tree. Some
of the coins bear a Roman soldier, and others a military trophy, instead of
the captive. (See Addison s Dialogues on Medals.} That from which the
wood-cut at the end of this little dissertation is taken is one of the most
elegant among the designs. It was found lately in excavating the ground
for an approach to New London Bridge.
PALM. 367
By Solomon the graces and beauties of Christ are
compared with the loveliness and fruitfulness of the
Palm ; and this emblem he never lost sight of, for he
introduced the Palm among the carvings of the Temple
between the cherubim, and in the Holy of Holies.
In Ezekiel s magnificent vision of the second Temple,
the same disposition of Palm trees as ornaments is
repeated.
In the sad lament of the prophet Joel, over the
condition into which Israel had fallen in his days, he
says : " The Palm tree also and the apple tree, even all
the trees of the field are withered, because joy is
withered away from the sons of man."
Of the Palm as the sign of triumph, we read in
the excellent history of the Maccabees. When Judas
Maccabeus had reconquered the Temple, and had
cleansed it from the pollutions of the heathen, the
people went in triumph to take possession; " and they
bore in their hands branches and fair boughs, and
Palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given
them good success :" and the procession was repeated
every year, in remembrance of it.
So, when a greater than Maccabeus rode up to
Jerusalem to purify, once and for ever, the holy
368 PALM.
places, u The people took Palm branches, and went
forth to meet him, crying Hosannah."
As long as the Temple continued to exist, the feast
of the purification was held; and, as the ceremonial
of the early Christian church was regulated by the
Jewish ritual, as nearly as was consistent with the
new faith, the annual presentation of Palms at the
altar was required, or at least practised, on the Sunday
before Easter, in memory of the entry of Christ into
Jerusalem. But the glory of the Palm is yet to come.
When Esdras saw his glorious vision of the world
hereafter, he asked the angel concerning those in
white robes who had been crowned. He answered :
" These be they that have put off the mortal clothing
and put on the immortal, and have confessed the
name of God; now they are crowned and receive
Palms." And this revelation to Esdras is the proto
type of the more celestial vision of St. John s Apoca
lypse, wherein he saw that " a great multitude, whom
no man could number, of all nations, and kindred, and
people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and
before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and Palms
in their hands."
Then to the wondering seer the guiding angel
PALM.
369
said: " These are they which have come out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are
they before the throne of God, and serve him night
and day in his temple, and he that sitteth on the
throne shall dwell among them. And they shall
hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more,
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
For the Lord, which is in the midst of the throne,
shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living
fountains of water ; and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes."
COIN OF VESPASIAN.
PANNAG.
Panax Qumquefolium, Ginseng. Pannag.
Linnsean class and order, POLYGAMIA DTCECIA.
Natural order,
PANNAG. 371
PANNAG.
Ezekiel, xxvii. 17.
PROBABLY Panax Quinquefolium, or Ginseng. That
there are various opinions, ancient as well as modern,
concerning the meaning of the word Panag, the
following extract from a letter of Dr. Hurwitz will
show :
" Pannag, Ezek. xxvii. 17., is considered by some
as the name of a place ; by others, as the name of a
delicious sort of pastry. This I think the most pro
bable, as the word delicately, Prov. xxix. 21., which
appears to be of the same root, expresses also tender
ness and delight, and is frequently used in Rabbinical
Hebrew in these senses. Those authors who render
Pannag by Balsam, forget that it is already mentioned
in the same verse."
It may appear bold, after such an opinion, to pro
pose to consider Pannag as the root of the Panax;
but I have the less scruple, because I find that some
of the learned have supposed the word might mean
372 PANNAG.
some vegetable such as millet or panic-seed, others
balm; and that one has suggested the Pan ax.*
The Panax was considered by the ancient physi
cians as a medicine so powerful and efficacious for the
cure of a great variety of distempers, that the word
Panacea was derived from it. Now this is precisely
the character the Chinese from time immemorial
have attributed to their Ginseng, which is the root
of the Panax Quinquefolium. This drug was, and
is, produced in great quantities throughout China
and Chinese Tartary, where it is probable that the
method of curing it renders it more efficacious than
it is held to be by modern European physicians;
but, as it appears from Pliny to have been as much
valued by the ancients as it now is by the Chinese,
it would naturally find its way to the market of
Tyre, as easily as camphor, lign aloes, or any other
production of the far East.
Some species of Panax are found in North Ame-
* Luther and the Danish Bible call it Balsam ; the Dutch has Panag ;
the Spanish Pannag ; Deodati s Italian version Fannag ; and, in the French
Geneva Bible, Pannag is a proper name : the greater number thus leaving
it in its original obscurity.
Hiller is the best, if not the only, authority for supposing it to be the
Panax of the ancients.
PANNAG. 373
rica; but they appear to be far inferior, in effect and
quality, to the Panax of the East; and the kind of
Panax used green by the ancient Italians seems to
have been a potherb.
There is a root well known to the Caffres and
Hottentots, who do not like to show the plant, lest
they should be robbed of it: this root is said to
resemble the Ginseng in appearance. These people
use it not only to chew, but to put into their barley
drink, to hasten the fermentation; for the Caffres,
like true savages, have scarcely patience to wait for
the natural progress of their brewing, but begin
drinking the moment the liquor begins to change its
taste and hue.
I do not know that the plant producing the
Hottentot root has ever been seen by a botanist com
petent to decide on its genus. Kolben, in his Travels,
speaks of its very extraordinary effects on the Hot
tentots ; but he appears to have seen only the root,
which, he says, is like Ginseng.
The Ginseng, or Panax, of Asia is an agreeable
root to chew, as the Egyptians do the sugar-cane;
and, excepting that it is warmer, and more pungent,
it resembles the liquorice root, with whose effects
374 PANNAG.
those of the North American species of Panax appear
to be identical.
Wherever the Panax has been found, it has been
considered as salutary, precious, and delicious ; thus
answering to the Kabbinical explanation of the word
Pannog : and such a drug might well be classed with
the honey, oil, and balsam, me-ntioned in the same
verse, and with them find its way to the markets of
Tyre.*
* In a Chinese novel called The Pleasing History, translated above
half a century ago by Mr. Davis, the Ginseng figures as an antidote to
all poison, and as a restorative so efficacious as to renew the strength,
and in a few days the embonpoint so essential to male beauty in China,
after the frame had been attenuated by the evil practices of a hired
poisoner.
PAPER REED.
Cyperus Papyrus., Paper Reed.
Linnaean class and order, TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, CYPERACE^E.
376 PAPER HEED.
PAPER EEED.
Isaiah, xix. 7.
OUR version of the Bible only names the Paper Reed
once, and the word Aroth, so translated, means, ac
cording to Celsius, any grassy reed; while the He
brew name for Papyrus is really Gome, which our
translators have generally rendered bulrush, as in
Exodus, c. ii. v. 3. ; Job, c. viii. v. 11. ; Isaiah, c. xviii.
v. 2., and c. xxxv. v. 7. Hence it would follow that
Moses was laid in an ark of Papyrus, not bulrushes,
and that the Ethiopians made their ships and boats
of the same.
It is almost certain that Ethiopia is the native
country of the Papyrus, and that it naturally descended
the Nile into Egypt. From the most ancient times
the Egyptians made cordage of the Paper Reed ; for
we find in the Odyssey, that, on an occasion of great
necessity, Ulysses made use of a rope of Egyptian
reed.*
The waving feather-like tops of the full grown Pa-
* Odyssey, b. xxi. 1. 46. of Cowper s translation.
PAPER REED. 377
pyrus were used to crown the statues of the god
desses in many temples ; the upright stem was used
in the construction of light vessels. When macerated
in water or wet sand, the fibres served for cordage,
and sail-cloth was occasionally woven of it. The
solid part near the root was converted into soles for
the sandals of the priests, cups and various toys, the
more valuable on account of the scarcity of wood in
Egypt ; but the chief and most important use of the
Papyrus was as a material for writing on.
BibloSj the ancient Egyptian word for the plant, is
preserved in the name for the most venerable of books,
the Bible.
The common name, Papyrus, comes to us in the
word paper, the original manufacture of which is
described as follows. The reed was cut into lengths,
each sufficient for a page, and then carefully peeled
at its whole length as far inward towards the core
as possible, so as to have a tolerably wide strip.*
* The beautiful substance called rice paper, of which artificial flowers
are sometimes made, and on which I have seen moths and butterflies
exquisitely painted, is cut in the same manner, from the pith of a rush
growing plentifully in the waters of the Ganges. The fishermen on the
Hoogly tie bundles of these rushes together, and use them as floats for
their fishing-nets.
378 PAPER REED.
Several of these strips were laid together to make
the breadth of the page ; these were then daubed over,
either with simple gum, animal glue, or flour paste,
or, as some authors say, simply with the slimy water
of the Nile. But this last has been found on experi
ment to be incapable of serving the purpose ; and we
know from Pliny that the three other substances
were used in the manufacture of paper, of books, and
of their bindings. The first layer of Papyrus being
dry, a second was placed transversely upon it, that
the fibres might cross each other, like the threads
of woven cloth. The sheets were then beaten, and a
strong pressure applied to render them smooth.
This description, which is chiefly, if not wholly,
from Pliny, is not quite perfect as it appears ; because
Bruce in following it failed, though he afterwards
succeeded by some other process in making a tolerable
sheet of reed paper.
It is singular that a tit of spleen, or rather perhaps
commercial jealousy, on the part of an Egyptian
monarch, which caused him to prohibit the exporta
tion of paper, should have occasioned the invention of
parchment at Pergamus by Attains its king. And I
rather remark this, because, at no great distance from
PAPER REED. 379
Attains s kingdom, the Papyrus grew in the whole
country from Paneas, the source of the Jordan, to the
lake of Tiberias, according to ancient writers ; and the
modern botanist Guiland found it at the confluence
of the Euphrates and the Tigris.*
As Pliny does not say that it grew in Italy or
Sicily, it must have been introduced into those
countries since his time. I saw it on the banks of
the Anapus near Syracuse; and Sir Joseph Banks
possessed some paper made of the Papyrus growing
in the lake of Thrasymene.f
The appearance of the Papyrus, growing in clus
ters and with other reeds, is very graceful, the top
resembling an elegant plume; but the want of lower
leaves takes from its beauty, when growing singly.
It reaches the height of fourteen feet in favourable
* The invention of Attains could only have extended to the method
of preparing skins, and stiffening and smoothing them ; because long before
his time skins were used for writing on, as we learn from Herodotus, who
says, in speaking of the introduction of letters into Greece by the Phoe
nicians, that the lonians, who were the Greeks most contiguous to the
Phoenicians, learned those letters, and by an ancient custom called their
books Dipthera or skins, because, at a time when the plant Biblos was
scarce, they used instead of it the skins of sheep and goats. Skins of small
animals were, in like manner, used by the Mexicans at the period of the
Spanish conquest.
f Now the lake of Perugia.
380 PAPER HEED.
situations ; but Bruce says it is seldom found so tall.
The roots and tender shoots appear to have been
used as food by the ancient Egyptians ; but those who
speak of its being chewed as a luxury, when raw,
doubtless mistook the sugar-cane for it, as the stem
is neither juicy nor agreeable in taste.
Of the various substances used for writing upon
among ancient nations, the most ingeniously contrived
was certainly the sheets of Papyrus, which have been
succeeded by modern paper, the best of all.* The
most ancient Italians appear, like some of the East
Indian nations, to have used linen cloth so prepared
as to retain the marks of the pen. There are some
ancient books written on the folds of palm leaves.
Tablets of different kinds of wood, particularly box
woodf, and the bark of various trees, have also been
employed for the same purpose.
This latter substance has given the Latin word liber.
* Lucan says that
" Memphis, ere the reedy leaf was known,
Engraved her precepts and her arts in stone."
Most nations have occasionally used stone where they wished to per
petuate their writing : the priority of stone or paper, however, is a question
for the antiquary, but not for the herbalist.
j" Esdras, xiv. 24.
PAPER REED. 381
and consequently the name for book in the southern
languages of Europe ; while we Gothic nations de
rive our book from the beech tree, which was doubt
less cut into thin tablets, whence a verse is often
called a stave or staff, as if each verse of a legend
or song had been written on a separate tablet.
With regard to Egyptian rope, the fibres at the
bottom of the palm leaves furnish a very large pro
portion of it; but it was probably the finer cord
twisted from the Papyrus, that was employed in the
curious lacing of those mummy cases, where the body
was introduced after the case had been ornamented.
This, it may be supposed, was the ordinary practice ;
for only the very rich could afford the expensive
method of embalming, which would allow time to
have cases ornamented expressly for their use.
Poorer persons bought their coffins or cases ready
made; and hence the convenience of the opening in
the back of the case, which might be laced up
securely at any period.*
* The following extract from a letter addressed to me by Mr. Clift, the
Conservator of the College of Surgeons, will explain the method of lacing
the mummy cases. " The (inner) case is composed of at least ten or a
dozen layers of linen, of the same quality as that which envelopes the
382
PAPER REED.
body. These laminse are very firmly cemented together by a material,
apparently glue and lime, or plaster. This case is originally moulded
upon a rude mass or mould of clay and straw, of the size and form of the
swathed body intended to be afterwards contained in it ; and, when suf
ficiently dry to retain its form, the clay and straw are scraped or scooped
out from the back, which is left open, or rather apparently cut open,
for that purpose, and then the body is introduced, and the edges of the
aperture brought together by a very simple and ingenious method of
drum-like bracing; thus,
\CTXG.
and the seam and lining covered afterwards with a strip of cloth,
or cemented over them."
dued
PINE.
1. Pinus sylvestris, Common Siviss Pine.
2. Pinus sativa, Larger female Pine.
3. Pinus Cembra, Smaller., or wild, female Pine.
Linnaean class and order, MONCECIA MONADELPHIA.
Natural order, CONIFERS.
384 PINE.
PINE.
Nehemiah, viii. 15. Isaiah, xli. 19.; Ix. 13.
THE Arabian botanists give these three Pines, as the
trees properly meant by both the Hebrew and Arab
word JEres, or Ers. The Rabbins use the plural
^Erasim, for all mountain and forest trees, and enu
merate seventy species. The great beauty of the
Pine is compared with that of the cedar ; and, like it,
the Pine grows luxuriantly on Mount Lebanon.
From the larger female Pine, sometimes called the
Siberian Stone Pine, nuts nearly as good as those of
the sea-side Pine of Italy are procured.*
The great family of Pines is distributed all over
the earth. Even Africa has its cone-bearing thuja,
which is nearly akin to it, so far south as the temple
of Ammon; and the forests of Mount Atlas have
their Pines, firs, and larches. But real Pines and
firs clothe not only the mountains of Europe and
Northern Asia and Africa, but are found both in
* It is perhaps unnecessary to say that what are called Pine nuts are
only the seeds, either shed naturally from the fully ripe cone, or forced
out by laying the cone near a fire till it bursts.
PINE. 385
South America, and in the great newly discovered
islands of the Pacific.
The timber afforded by the Genus Pinus is, upon
the whole, the most useful of any to man. It is easily
wrought, close-grained, tough, and light. Containing
much oil and resin, it is less subject to the attacks of
insects than most other kinds of wood ; and, the boles
of the trees being tall and straight, beams, rafters, and
planks, of the best kind for buildings on land or ships
on the sea, are hewn from them.
The wood of all the Pines, including the firs and
larches, is capable of being split into very thin lamina?.
Hence its utility for domestic purposes, and in manu
factures of various kinds, especially that of musical
instruments. The common Swiss Pine, the tree men
tioned in my texts, furnishes the modern musical
instrument makers with the most important of their
materials. The backs of violins and guitars, and all
instruments resembling them, are usually made of
maple, or some other light ornamental wood; but
the bellies, or sound-boards, are invariably of Swiss
deal*, and so are the sound-boards of all the best
* Deal is a Gothic word, meaning a division. We have the verb to
deal, that is, to divide, to deal out provisions, to deal cards, &c. A deal,
386 PINE.
pianofortes. It is therefore probable that the harps
and psalteries made of fir-wood, mentioned in the
second book of Samuel, were really framed of the
Pinus sylvestris.
Celsius is of opinion, that, where the oil tree is
mentioned by Isaiah (xli. 19.), some kind of Pine is
intended. The original calls it the fat, or unctuous,
tree ; and he supposes that such a designation best
suits the Pines and firs, as they produce rosin, pitch,
tar, and other unctuous substances.* Pitch is men
tioned in the account of the building of the ark,
Genesis, c. vi. v. 14. ; also in the description of the
ark of bulrushes, wherein Moses was laid, Exodus, ii.
3. Rosin and pitch are both mentioned in the Song
of the Three Holy Children, and pitch in the History
of Bel and the Dragon. Thus it appears that, from
the earliest times, the precious products of the Pine
have been known and used, as well as the timber
itself.
The first mention, in our version of the Bible, of
therefore, is a division of the trunk of any tree of the Pine kind ; for to
that kind is the word restricted.
* He quotes here, as elsewhere, many authorities, but his own is worth
them all.
PINE. 387
the Pine, as separate from the fir, is in the book
of Nehemiah, when the people returning from the
Babylonian captivity are commanded to keep the
feast of Tabernacles ; and, in order to erect their
booths, to "Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive
branches, and Pine branches, and myrtle branches,
and palm branches, and branches of thick trees."
Isaiah, whose sublime poetry is always embellished
by images fresh from nature, says : "I will plant in
the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the
myrtle, and the oil tree ; I will set in the desert the
fir tree, and the Pine, and the box tree together."
And again : " The glory of Lebanon shall come unto
thee, the fir tree, the Pine tree, and the box together,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary."
PLANE TREE.
Platanus Orientalis, Oriental Plane.
Linnaean class and order, MONCECIA POLYANDKIA.
Natural order, PLATANACE^E.
PLANE TREE. 389
PLANE TREE.
Gen. xxx. 37. Ezekiel, xxxi. 8. Ecclus. xxiv. 14.
OUR own version reads chesnut in Genesis and Eze
kiel instead of Plane, which, according to Celsius,
who cites various authorities, is the real meaning
of Armon, the Hebrew word in these texts. Some
versions have substituted beech, and some maple ; but
these are equally erroneous with chesnut.
In the 30th chapter of Genesis, Jacob says, he
took wands of the willow, and the green poplar, and
the chesnut, to lay in the water courses for the cattle.
Now the chesnut delights in a dry hilly situation,
while the willow and poplar are of the low ground,
and the Plane tree, like them, loves to grow by the
water. Hence the Plane tree is mentioned in this
place with the utmost propriety.
The passage in Ezekiel where the Plane is named
is in the description of the kingdom of Assyria, while
still enjoying the favour of God. " The fir trees were
not like his boughs, and the Plane trees were not like
390 PLANE TREE.
his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God
was like unto him for beauty."
There is perhaps no tree more beautiful than the
Oriental Plane, even when transplanted to our
northern regions.* The smoothness of the trunk, the
elegance of its growth, and the beautiful hue of its
broad palmate leaves, casting a deep, but not a gloomy,
shadow around, justly entitle it to the preference
which the Syrians have from time immemorial given
it, as the principal ornament of their gardens.
In our time, the luxurious Persian loves to spread
his carpet by the pool or stream overshadowed by
the Plane tree ; and to sit listening there to the song
of the minstrel, or gathering instruction from the
wisdom of the moral story-teller.
Even the Romans, when their conquests had ex
tended to " far Euphrates bank " partook of the
native admiration and love of the Plane tree. Pliny
* We owe the introduction of the Oriental Plane into England to Tra-
descant, who had seven fine growing plants at the time when the herbalist
Gerard had sent his servant in a Levant ship to collect seeds and plants.
This servant, among other seeds, brought those of two magnificent Planes
which adorned the entrance to the harbour of Lepanto. It is believed
that at least two of Tradescant s trees were planted in the Earl of Essex s
garden at Nine Elms.
PLANE TREE. 391
tells us of a Roman consul, who, being governor
of the Asiatic provinces, chose an ancient Plane tree
in Lycia, which overhung a fountain of pure water,
sometimes for his banqueting-room, and sometimes
for his bed-chamber. The trunk was hollow with age,
while its numerous branches, like so many young
trees, overshadowed the neighbouring meadow; and
he loved to hear the rain dropping upon the leaves
above, while he sat securely sheltered in the heart of
the tree.*
Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor still abound in
Plane trees: but they no longer adorn the gardens
of Jerusalem ; for there the pools are dried up and the
streams are cut off, and the Platanus must now be
sought in the distant valleys, where the well heads
are yet moist.
The new world can boast of a Platanus almost as
beautiful as that of the East. The timber of all the
Planes is valuable, and near the root extremely beau
tiful, scarcely yielding in variety of tints to the bird s
* Pliny, b. xii. c. 1 . In this book there are accounts of a variety of
very aged trees as remarkable as this, well worth reading for those who
love the forests.
392 PLANE TREE.
eye maple, to which it is even preferable for frames
for prints, and some other ornamental purposes.
The son of Sirach justly appreciated the Plane tree,
when he put into the mouth of Wisdom, declaring
her own excellency, the following beautiful compa
rison : " I grew up as a Plane tree by the water."*
One might also fancy he described the trees of that
venerable avenue on the banks of the Ilyssus, set with
Plane trees and skirted with olives, which formed
" Plato s retirement, where the Attic bird
Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer Ions."
Ecclus, xxiv. 14.
POMEGRANATE.
Punica Granatum, Pomegranate.
Linnaean class and order, ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, MYRTACE.E.
394 POMEGRANATE.
POMEGRANATE.
Exod. xxviii. 33, 34.; xxxix. Nehemiah, xi. 29.
24. Song of Solomon, iv. 3. 13.; vi.
Numb. xiii. 23.; xx, 5. 7.; vii. 12.; viii. 2.
Deut. viii. 8. Jeremiah, lii. 22, 23.
1 Sam. xiv. 2. Joel..i. 12.
1 Kings, vii. 18. 20. 42. Haggai, ii. 19.
2 Kings, v. 18.; xxv. 17. Zech. xiv. 10.
2 Chron. iii. 16.; iv. 13. Ecclus. xiv. 9.
THE name Punica points out the country from
which the Romans, and consequently all the Western
world, first received the Pomegranate. Pliny says
that the North of Africa, and especially the neigh
bourhood of Carthage, were celebrated for three kinds
of Pomegranate, the red, the white, and a larger
kind much more astringent than either, the grains of
which were little used except in medicine; but the
rind was much preferred to any other substance, for
tanning and preparing the finer kinds of leather. The
manufacture of leather, if it may be so called, was, a
few ages after Pliny s time, introduced by the Moors
from Africa into Spain ; and the great quantity of fine
leather prepared at Cordova, and which was thence
POMEGRANATE. 395
called Cordovan, was sufficient to supply all Europe.*
The Morocco leather still retains its superiority,
especially for binding books ; though Spain, after the
expulsion of the Moors, no longer vied with the
North of Africa in its manufacture.
The Pomegranate was certainly cultivated in Egypt
before the exode of the children of Israel ; for in the
wilderness of Zin, when the people murmured against
Moses, they numbered the want of the Pomegranates
of Egypt as among the causes of their discontent.
Yet Caleb had brought to Eshcol, from the land of
promise, fair fruits, grapes, figs, and Pomegranates,
when he went to examine the country. f
But the Pomegranate is not confined to Africa as
its native soil ; Syria, Persia, and India possess it in a
wild state. The Pomegranate forests of Mazenderan
furnish great part of the dried seeds, so favourite a
medicine in the East; the rinds being, as elsewhere,
applied to the tanning of leather. On the river Cabul,
just under the Snowy Mountains, lie the famous
* Hence the old English word Cordwainer, or worker in Cordovan,
for a boot and shoe maker.
f Besides the three kinds of Pomegranate mentioned by Pliny, Hassel-
quist found a small barren kind in Egypt.
396 POMEGRANATE.
gardens of Balabugh, where the Pomegranates are
without seeds : and on the Himalaya Mountains there
is a small wild sort whose root is especially esteemed
in medicine, and which, on account of its great
astringency, is much sought after by the dyer and
tanner.*
Whoever has seen the Pomegranate in a favour
able soil and climate, whether as a single shrub or
grouped many together, has seen one of the most
beautiful of green trees; its spiry shape and thick
tufted foliage of vigorous green, each growing shoot
shaded into tenderer verdure and bordered with
crimson, and adorned with the loveliest flowers.
Filmy petals of scarlet lustre are put forth from the
solid crimson cup; and the ripe fruit, of richest hue
and most admirable shape, all proclaim the goodness
of that Almighty hand, which
" Does in the Pomegranate close
Jewels more rich than Ormus shows." t
* See Royle s Himalaya Mountains, p. vi.; and also Dr. Flemming on
Indian Medicinal Plants and Shrubs.
t I am tempted to copy the whole of Andrew Marvel s " Pilgrim
Fathers ;" it would require but little change to render it a description of
Palestine :
POME GR ANATE . 397
This charming fruit was most prosperous in ancient
Jewry, and grew to such a height, that we are told,
" THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
" Where the remote Bermudas ride
In the ocean s bosom, unespied ;
From a small boat that row d along,
The list iiing winds received this song.
What should we do but sing his praise,
That led us through the watery maze
Unto an isle so long unknown,
And yet far kinder than our own ?
Where he the huge sea monsters wracks
That lift the deep upon their backs,
He lands us on a grassy stage,
Safe from the storms and prelates rage.
He gave us this eternal spring,
Which here enamels every thing ;
And sends the fowls to us in care,
On daily visits through the air.
He hangs in shades the orange bright,
Like golden lamps in a green night ;
And does in the Pomegranate close
Jewels more rich than Ormus shows.
He makes the figs our mouths to meet,
And throws the melons at our feet :
But apples plants of such a price,
No tree could ever bear them twice.
With cedars, chosen by his hand
From Lebanon, he stores the land ;
And makes the hollow seas that roar
Proclaim the ambergris on shore.
He cast (of which we rather boast)
The Gospel s peace upon our coast,
398 POME GRAN ATE .
in the first book of Samuel, that Saul was in his tent
under a Pomegranate tree, at the time when his son
Jonathan, with only his armour-bearer, heedless of
the shock of an earthquake, made his gallant and suc
cessful attack on the Philistine fortress of Mickmash.
There is scarcely a part of the Pomegranate tree
that is not useful or agreeable to man. It was, and
still is, the custom in the East to mingle the grains of
the Pomegranate with wine ; and indeed its own fresh
juice has often been compared with wine.
The wine of the Pomegranate, of which Solomon
speaks in the Canticles, was, however, we may be
assured, real wine, the art of making which from
Pomegranates is still practised in Persia ; and Char-
din says that great quantities of it were made in that
And in these rocks for us did frame
A temple, where to sound his name.
Oh ! let our voice his praise exalt,
Till it arrive at Heaven s vault ;
Which thence (perhaps) rebounding may
Echo beyond the Mexique Bay.
Thus sang they, in the English boat,
A holy and a cheerful note ;
And all their way, to guide their chime,
With falling oars they kept the time."
POMEGRANATE. 399
kingdom, both for home consumption and for export
ation, in his time.
Several places in Palestine were named after the
Pomegranate. Nehemiah and Zechariah* both men
tion En-Rimmon, or Ayn-Rimmon, the fountain of
the Pomegranate.
We find, in the second book of Kings f, that one
of the Syrian gods was Rimmon, which is the Hebrew
name for Pomegranate: and many of the Greek
deities were occasionally represented holding a Pome
granate. Jove, Juno, and Venus were often so dis
tinguished : but it was to Proserpine that this fruit
was especially dedicated; and hence Hercules has
that fruit in his hand, when figured as returning
from Hades.
Among the Ionian Greeks much honour was
rendered to the Pomegranate, for their poet-priests
feigned that it first sprung from drops of the blood of
Bacchus; wherefore it is not unlikely that the name
of the Syrian god Rimmon was one of the appellations
of Bacchus himself. Plutarch, in describing the
feasts of the Jews, imagines that they were celebrated
* Nehemiah, xi. 29. Zechariah, xiv. 10.
t 2 Kings, v. 18.
400 POME GR ANATE .
in honour of Bacchus, and that the palm branches
carried in procession to the Temple, at the feast of
Tabernacles, Avere to do him honour; an opinion pro
bably strengthened by the offerings of Pomegranates
and other lasting fruits. Tacitus, also, fancied the
golden vine found in the Temple proved that the Jews
worshipped Bacchus; and this -error probably arose
from finding Bacchus Kimmon really a Syrian deity.
The remarkable beauty of the Pomegranate very
early attracted the attention of sculptors and archi
tects. In the book of Exodus* we find that Bezaleel
and Aholiab, the irise in heart, as men of genius are
called in Scripture, who were employed in framing
the ark of the covenant, used the Pomegranate pro
fusely as an ornament; and that it also adorned the
vestments of the sons of Aaron. In later and more
refined times, Hiram, the Tyrian architect, whose
mother, however, was a Jewess, employed the Pome
granate in the rich capitals of the pillars of Solomon s
Temple; an example followed by the builders of the
second house of God, on the restoration of the Jewish
nation from the Babylonian captivity.
* Exod. xxviii. 33.
POMEGRANATE . 401
Poets, ancient and modern, Oriental and classical,
have vied with each other in praising the Pome
granate ; but none has exceeded Solomon, who com
pares the graces of Christ s spouse to the opening
Pomegranate, and says figuratively to her : " Come,
my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us
lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the
vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish; whether
the tender Grape appear, and the Pomegranates bud
forth."
POPLAR.
Populus alba, White Poplar.
Linnaean class and order, DICECIA OCTANDRIA.
Natural order, SALINACEJE.
POPLAR. 403
POPLAR.
Genesis, xxx. 37. Hosea, iv. 13.
BOTH the Black and the White Poplar are indigenous
in Palestine, but the Hebrew word used in these
texts signifies whiteness, and therefore Celsius and
his followers have decided that the White Poplar is
intended.
The roads and public walks about Damascus are
bordered with both kinds of Poplar; and nothing
can be more agreeable than their shade, especially
where, enclosing gardens and vineyards, they serve
as props to the vines, and are hung about with
clustering grapes.
Rauwolf speaks of the number of White Poplars
that adorn all parts of Syria and Palestine, where the
intense heats are mitigated not only by their shade,
but by the constant rustling of their delicately hung
leaves.
The timber of this beautiful tree makes good
flooring ; and, being light, tough, and close, serves
well for furniture and household utensils. The dry
404 POPLAK.
leaves are used as winter fodder for sheep, but the
shade injures the summer grass.
The tender buds, when crushed, are highly aromatic,
and are used by the apothecary and surgeon ; and the
balsam that exudes from the bark mitigates pains in
the head.
It is probably on account of the medicinal qualities
of the White Poplar, that the ancient poets feign that
Hercules received a branch or a young plant of it
from Proserpine when he visited Hades. He is often
represented with a garland of White Poplar on his
head ; and the Greeks attribute to him the introduc
tion of this beautiful tree into Greece.* To encou
rage the planting of the White Poplar, the burning
any other wood with sacrifice on the altar of Jupiter
in Elis was prohibited; and the wood-carrier of the
temple enjoyed a monopoly of the White Poplars in
the neighbourhood.
On considering this sacred character of the tree in
Greece, it appears remarkable that the prophet Ho-
seaf should name the White Poplar among the trees
* Pausanias, Elliaes, c. xiii. The same writer says that the Black
Poplar is sacred to Hermes,
t iv. 13.
POPLAE. 405
under the shadow of which Israel provoked the
wrath of the Almighty, by sacrificing to the gods of
the heathen.
The first, indeed the only other, mention of the
Poplar in Scripture is in the history of Jacob, when
he kept his father-in-law Laban s flocks,
" by spring and vale,
Edged with Poplar pale ;"
and used the young branches of trees, so as to
circumvent the repeated frauds of Laban, ere he
withdrew to his own land, with his wives, and his
children, and his hard-earned substance, guided and
protected by the God of Abraham.
QUINCE.
Mains Cydonia, Quince.
Linnsean class and order, ICOSANDRIA PENTAGYNIA.
Natural order, ROSACEJB.
QUINCE. 407
QUINCE.
Proverbs, xxv. 11. Song of Solomon, ii. 3. 5.; vii. 8.; viii. 5.
Joel, i. 12.
THE texts above have been already quoted at the
head of the notice on apples : but in these passages,
though rendered apple in our version, the Hebrew
word is Tappuach) Quince. How early it was known
and esteemed in Palestine appears from the fact, that,
before the Israelites arrived from Egypt under Joshua
to take possession of the promised land, three places
were named after it : Tappuah, Quince; En-Tappuah,
the fountain, or spring head, of the Quince ; and Beth-
Tappuah, the well of the Quince.*
The Quince of the East is as much superior to the
harsh Quince of our orchards, as our cultivated apples
are to the hard crude apples of hot climates. Of
those known to the ancients, three were particularly
esteemed ; and the best of all was the Chrysomela, or
golden apple, of Judea. When Tavernier travelled,
* Joshua, xv. 34. 53.; xvii. 7.
408 QUINCE.
lie found the best Quinces, however, in Vardana, a
district of Arabia Felix; and he says they were not
rough like ours, but rather to be compared with
apples.
The Quince conveyed from the gardens of Europe
to Brazil seems to have recovered most of its Oriental
delicacy; and the various confections prepared from
it are not only valued as dainties, but as medicines
of great efficacy in that scourge of warm climates,
dysentery.
Several of the antique poets, and Theocritus among
the chief, have expatiated on the beauty and flavour
of the Quince. But none has surpassed the Canticle
of Canticles, which, rightly given, says: "As the
Quince among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved
among the sons." *
Already, in the book of Proverbs, Solomon had
drawn an exquisite simile from this fruit. " A word
fitly spoken is like golden Quinces in baskets of
silver ; " f alluding to the offering of summer fruits in
the Temple, which the poor brought in white osier
* Song of Solomon, ii. 3.
f Proverbs, xxv. 11.
QUINCE. 409
baskets, and the rich presented in baskets of silver.
And certainly, for elegance and truth, we may seek
long and wide ere we find a comparison so complete
and beautiful.
EEED.
Arundo Donax, Reed.
Linnaean class and order, TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, GRAMINACE^:.
REED. 41 1
REED.
1 Kings, xiv. 15. Ezekiel, xxix. 6.; xl. 3. 8.; xlii. 16,
2 Kings, xviii. 21. 17, 18, 19.; xlv. 1.
Job, xl. 21. St. Matthew, xi. 7.; xii.20.; xxvii.
Psalm xlviii. 31. 29, 30. 48.
Isaiah, xix. 6.; xxxv. 7.; xxxvi. St. Mark, xv. 19. 36.
6.; xlii. 3. St. Luke, vii. 24.
Jeremiah, li. 32. 3 Epistle of John, v. 13.
Revelation, xi. 1.; xxi. 15, 16.
THE Hebrew word Kaneh, in our version Reed,
comprehends a variety of kinds of Reed and cane, to
which we may add one or two of which the name in
the original language of Scripture is Agmon: Job,
xli. 2. ; Isaiah, ix. 14. ; xix. 5. ; Iviii. 5. The criti
cisms on the word Agmon alone occupy the whole of
a dissertation of twelve pages in the Hierobotanicon;
and those on Kaneh, exclusive of the Kaneh Bosem or
sweet calamus, as many more.
Sprengel names the following kinds of Reed and
rush as most probably those of Scripture, because
they grow naturally either in the Nile or on the
shores of the Red Sea, or by the brooks and rivers of
Syria and Palestine: Cyperus Nilotica, or greater
412 REED.
galangale, two species ; Arundo Donax, common
reed, used for arrows; Saccharum cylindricum, or
Egyptian sugar-cane ; and Andropogon arundinacea,
beard grass: to which we should add the Arundo
vulgaris of Bauhin, or Canna palustris, common
reed. *
In all likelihood, the sugar-cane was the Reed
anciently known, both in Egypt and Judea, as a
delicacy ; being chewed and held in the mouth, for the
sake of its sweet cool juice. The custom of carrying
about for sale pieces of sugar-cane, ready peeled, and
of convenient size for this purpose, is common to
Egypt and India, and has been carried along with
the cane to the Western World.
The Arundo Donax, being long, straight, and light,
* LINN^AN CLASSES AND ORDERS.
Cyperus Nilotica, |
( Tnandria Monogvma.
Scirpus articulata and mantima, J
Arundo Donax, 1
c, , .. , . ( - Tnandria Digvnia.
Saccharum cylindricum, j
Andropogon arundinacea, Polygamia Moncecia.
Arundo vulgaris, or Canna palustris, Tnandria Digynia.
NATURAL ORDERS.
CyperacecK. Graminacece.
Cyperus Nilotica. Arundo Donax.
Scirpus articulata and maritima. Arundo vulgaris.
Saccharum cylindricum.
Andropogon arundinacea.
REED. 413
makes admirable fishing-rods, and most excellent
arrows.*
The latter quality was of the greatest importance
to the warlike Jews, who, as a nation, appear not to
have practised archery with much effect however
until the time of David, who caused the people to be
taught the use of the bow; and from that time we
read often of companies of archers.
We find the word Reed for the first time, in our
version of the Bible, in the first book of Kingsf , where
Israel, chastised by the Almighty, is compared to a
Reed shaken in the waters. We next meet with it in
the second book of Kings J : Egypt is called a bruised
Reed, and therefore unfit for Israel to depend upon.
And the third place where the word Reed occurs
is in Job s description of Behemoth : " He lieth un
der the shady trees, in the covert of the Reeds and
fens."
These three texts have all the word Kaneh in the
original; but in Job, chap, xli., Agmon occurs in the
* Arundo Donax. The heroes of Homer made their arrows of this
reed. (Iliad, xi.) The tent of Achilles was thatched with the leaves.
f xiv. 15. \ xviii. 21.
Behemoth, the hippopotamos. xl. 21.
414 REED.
Hebrew twice, and is each time rendered by a
word having no reference to Reeds or rushes. Yet
critics and commentators, for the most part, agree
that we should read, instead of " Canst thou draw out
Leviathan with a hook?" it should be " with a rush
rope^ " Canst thou put a hook into his nose?" should
be u a rush* into his nose."
Of six passages in Isaiah in which the Reed or
some kind of rush is mentioned, one half has in
the original Ranch, and the other Agmon. " The
Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch
and rush;" i. e. things living on land and in water. f
" The brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried
up, the Reeds and flags shall wither." Here we have
both the Hebrew words diversely translated. Again,
in that most beautiful passage which ends with " in
the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be
grass, with Reeds and rushes ; " and in the next
chapter, the prophet warns Hezekiah not to lean upon
that " broken Reed, " the King of Egypt, we have
Raneh; as also in that tender and touching prophe
tical description of Christ, " A bruised Reed shall
* Job, xli. 1.2. The Swedish version reads " ring." Leviathan, crocodile,
f Isaiah, ix. 14. Ao^mon.
REED. 415
he not break."* But in the bitter denunciation of
hypocrisy in the fifty-eighth chapter, when the pro
phet asks ironically, if the fast chosen by the Lord is
for a man to " bow down his head like a bulrush"
the original is Agmon."f
The remainder of the passages in which we have
the word Keed are all, in the original, either Kaneh,
or its Greek synonyme Calamus.
Jeremy the prophet, foretelling the fall of Babylon,
says : " One post shall run to meet another, and one
messenger to meet another, to tell the King of Ba
bylon that his city is taken at one end, and that the
passages are stopped, and the Reeds they have burned
with fire." This last circumstance shows at once
the hopeless state of Babylon. Surrounded by low
grounds, and defended by canals and ditches cut from
the great river, the Reeds of the marshy banks could
not have been burnt until an enemy had drained the
sluices, and dried up the water passages, and an easy
entrance thus secured to one end of the city. J
Ezekiel, in his grievous prophecies, again upbraids
Israel for dependence upon Egypt, who had been no
* xxxv. 7., and xxxvi. 5. f Iviii. 5.
J Jeremiah, li. 32.
416 KEED.
more than a staff of Reed in the hand * : but, in the
latter part of the book of the same prophet, the Reed
is only mentioned as a measuring-rod, f
The Reed is first spoken of in the New Testament
by our Lord himself. Teaching the multitude the
true character of John the Baptist as his precursor,
he first asks, " What went ye ou*fc for to see? A Reed
shaken by the wind?" and then shows clearly the
heavenly mission of John. In the next chapter, the
evangelist, summing up the character of the Messiah,
repeats the beautiful words of Isaiah, " A bruised
Reed shall he not break." But, in the twenty-seventh
chapter, the Reed is an implement in the suffering of
Christ. It was put by his tormentors into his hand
as a mock sceptre, they little thinking that at that
moment it became the symbol of an ever-living king
dom. They smote him with it, unknowing that by
HIS stripes we were healed, and a way for mercy
opened even to themselves. They put upon a Reed
the last bitter drop Christ was to taste on earth,
ignorant that all things were now accomplished, the
* Ezekiel, xxix. 6.
f xl. 3.; xlv. 1. The Italians now measure by the Reed, canna, differ
ing little from our yard.
KEED. 417
sacrifice consummated, and Christ prepared to return
to the Father in the fulness of glory.
In the fifteenth chapter of St. Mark, the affecting
circumstances of the passion are repeated.
Saint Luke omits these particulars; but, in the
early part of his gospel, repeats the question concern
ing John the Baptist.
In the third epistle of John, our version renders
Reed by the modern word pen, as it does in the forty-
fifth Psalm. The truth is, that the pen made of a
quill is never mentioned until the third century ; and
before that time all writing was done, as it is now by
the Orientals, with a reed. These grow every where
in Syria and Palestine : but the very best are said to
come from Hillah, a small town which has sprung up
in one of the deserted nooks of the great Babylon.
The writing Reeds of commerce are of two sorts, the
largest are white and not very hard, adapted for
writing with despatch. The smaller pen Reed is the
produce of the same plant. To prepare these, the
small and perfect stems are collected and laid for a
time to soak ; after which they are carefully laid out
to dry and regularly turned, during which process
they acquire a fine brown colour : the pith is nearly
418 REED.
absorbed, and the outer skin is hardened so as to bear
being cut to a very fine point. And it is with such a
Reed, or pen, that the most beautiful Eastern manu
scripts are executed.
But I am at the last mention of the Reed. After
the sea had given up the dead that were in it, and
death and hell had given up the dead that were in
them, John saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of Heaven. And he who
talked with him had a golden Reed to measure that
city therewith : that city which had no need of the
sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory
of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light
thereof.
ROSE.
Rosa centifolia rubra, Damask Rose.
Linna?an class and order, ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA.
Natural order, EOSACE^:.
4.
Song of Solomon, ii. 1. 2 Esdras, ii. 19.
Isaiah, xxxv. 1. Wisdom, ii. 8.
Ecclus. xxiv. 14.; xxxix. 13.
HASSELQUIST, during his short time and limited tra
vels in the East, saw the Damask Rose, double White
420 ROSE.
Rose, Cinnamon Rose, common Red Rose, and says
almost all varieties may be had.*
Syria derives its name from the abundance of its
native Roses. The rugged sides of Caucasus are
clothed with them; they perfume the forests that
surround the mountain, and stretch over the lands
to Circassia and to Persia, whose poets feign their
Gulistan, or Rose garden, to equal the bowers of Para
dise. The luxurious inhabitant of Cashmere weaves
his delicate web under the shade of clustering Roses ;
and the palace of the Hindoo rajah and the Mussul
man viceroy are refreshed alike by the sprinkled
Rose water, and scented with the fragrant attar of
the Rose.
All poets, from the days of Anacreon to our own,
have celebrated the beauty, grace, and fragrance of
the Rose ; and it furnishes the moral Sadi with the
following beautiful apologue. " One day, as I was
going to the bath, my friend put into my hand a
piece of scented clay.f The fragrance was so deli-
* That is, every natural variety. The varieties produced by culture,
since Ilasselquist s time, are scarcely to be numbered.
f The Persians are accustomed to use a kind of unctuous perfumed
earth, instead of soap, when in the bath.
ROSE. 421
cious that I addressed it, saying : What art thou,
and whence is thy sweetness ? Art thou of musk, or
is thy substance ambergris ? It answered : Alas !
of myself I am but a piece of worthless clay; but
I was long the companion of the Rose, who hath
breathed her sweetness into me. "
Nor have the inspired writers neglected this fairest
type of excellence.
In the Song of Solomon, the mystical church, as
foretold in that wonderful pastoral, is called "the
Rose of Sharon."
Isaiah prophesies the exulting of the earth at the
coming of Christ, saying: " The desert shall rejoice,
and blossom as the Rose."
When Esdras, in obedience to the divine command,
comforted the chosen people in their affliction, he bade
them hope to be " filled with joy by the Roses of the
mountain of the Lord."
The son of Sirach makes Wisdom to compare her
self with a u Rose plant in Jericho," * and to call upon
* Some writers have fancied that this expression refers to a little shabby
salt plant of the desert, which the monks of Palestine have called the
Rose of Jericho, and of which they make a little money. It is the Ana-
statica Hierochunta, which the poor priests dry, and sell to travellers and
pilgrims as possessing I know not what miraculous powers. The truth is,
422 ROSE.
the children of men to come to her, and to bud forth
as a Rose growing by the brook of the field, and to
sing a song of praise, and bless the Lord in all his
works.
But, beautiful as this last image, the " Rose grow
ing by the brook of the field," may be, how far it is
surpassed, not only as a figure, but as suggesting sub
lime reflections, in the second chapter of the Book of
Wisdom ! The author introduces the men of the world
saying: " Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and
ointments, and let no flower of the Spring pass by us.
Let us crown ourselves with Rose-buds, before they
be withered Such things they did imagine, and
were deceived, for their own wickedness hath blinded
them. As for the mysteries of God, they knew them
not, neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness,
nor discerned a reward for blameless souls. For God
created man to be immortal, and made him to be an
image of his own Eternity."
There are ICAV countries in the old world where
that it is a natural hygrometer, and is damp on the approach of rain, and
dry in fair weather, and this unusual property is converted into a marvel.
The Anastatica is one of the cruciferous plants ; Linnsean class and order,
Tetrandria Siliquosa.
ROSE. 423
some kind of Rose is not found, though America
cannot boast of one. Maupertuis gathered Roses of
bright red on the banks of the Tenglio, a stream that
descends straight from the Lapland hills to the Gulf
of Bothnia ; and Britain is possessed of a great variety
of these charming flowers. We owe the introduction
of the double scented flower to Linacre, the founder
of the College of Physicians ; who brought it and other
plants to England, when he returned from his resi
dence in the family of Cosmo de Medici at Florence,
and became first the physician to Henry VII., and
afterwards tutor to the children of Henry VIII.*
* Linacre was a pupil of Hermolaus Barbarus, who was among the
first to restore something like a science of botany from the ancients. In
Queen Elizabeth s directions to the first merchants of the Turkey com
pany, in which she desires them to bring to England whatever can grow
and profit here, urging them by the example of Linacre, who brought
the Damask Rose and other precious plants to England.
RUE.
liuta graveolens, Common Rue.
Linnaean class and order, DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA
Natural order, RUTVE.
St. Luke, xi. 42.
THE only time Rue is mentioned in Scripture is in
the above text: " Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye
RUE. 425
tithe mint and Rue, and all manner of herbs, and
pass over judgement and the love of God."
Strong and coarse as are the smell and taste of
Rue, many of the ancients used it as a potherb, and
it was generally valued for its medicinal properties.
Among other merits, it is believed to possess that of
dispelling infection; hence it is strewed plentifully
about the dock, where criminals are placed during
trial in our halls of justice, lest the prisoners should
bring contagion from their cells, and spread it among
the members and officers of the courts.
The only place where Hasselquist notices having
seen Rue in Palestine is Mount Tabor, which he
characterises as beautiful and fertile. He says that
in his days there was a fair held for sheep and cattle
of all kinds, in the little plain immediately beneath ;
but that the great plain of Esdraelon, beyond it, was
kept uncultivated, by the continual battles fought
upon it by the different Arab tribes, for now
" How sad the scenes Judaea s plains disclose,
A dreary waste of undistinguish d woes ! " *
* Heber s Palestine.
RUSH.
Juncus effusus, Common Rush.
Liimaean class and order, HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, JUN
KUSH. 427
KUSH.
Job, viii. 11. Isaiah, ix. 14.; xix. 15.; xxxv. 7.
THERE is some doubt about the literal translation of
the foregoing texts : but the Rush has been seen, by
modern travellers, in the deserts near the borders of
the Dead Sea, and in other parts of Palestine. It is
chiefly a native of very cold climates, but a few
species have been found even between the tropics.
The Rush was known to, and used by, the ancients,
for the same purposes as those to which it is applied
now-a-days. It was esteemed for soft mats by the
Romans ; and, at this time, the Juncus eflusus is cul
tivated in Japan by mat-makers. Rushes were, in
Pliny s time, used for making fishermen s floats, such
as may still be seen in the Mediterranean. Among
the Romans, the pith of Rushes served for candle
wicks; and these rush-lights were especially placed
in the chamber where a dead body lay. With us,
the rush-light spreads its dim rays in the cabins of
the poor, and it is the constant watcher in the cham
ber of the sick, and by the cradle of the infant.
428 RUSH.
The soft elastic nature of the Rush renders it,
where it can be procured, preferable to straw, for the
coarse bedding of the poor; and, but two centuries
ago, the floors of all apartments, even those of kings
and queens, were strewed with Rushes in England,
carpets not being thought of. There is, even at this
day, more than one manor in -England held of the
crown on condition of the owner finding Rushes to
strew the sovereign s bed-chamber, when he shall
visit the neighbouring castles or hunting-seats.*
* See p. 414. for RUSH, where our version gives different words.
RYE.
Secale cereale, Common Rye.
Linnoean class and order, TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, GRAMINACE.E.
430 RYE.
EYE.
Exodus, ix. 32. Isaiah, xxviii. 25.
THE commentators are by no means agreed whe
ther this grain or the Triticum Spelta is the Rye of
Scripture.
The Rye of Isaiah is probably the grain we know
under that name, as it is found wild at the foot of
Mount Caucasus and in Syria; for it is remarkable
that most of the trees and plants mentioned by
that great prophet belong to the northern parts of
Palestine.
The Rye of Exodus, on the contrary, is the Rye
of Egypt, where it is and was scarce. But spelt, a
kind of bearded wheat, was much cultivated there in
the most ancient times. Herodotus says that the
Egyptians despised wheat and barley, and made a
kind of bread, which they called Cyllestis, of spelt,
which some call zea or farr.
The Rye, or spelt, of Egypt ripened at the same
time with wheat; for, in the plague of hailstones,
though the barley and the flax were smitten, the
wheat and the Rye were not smitten.
SAFFRON.
Crocus sativus, Common Crocus.
Linnaean class and order, TRIANDRIA MOIN OGYNIA.
Natural order, LILIACE^E.
Song of Solomon, iv. 14.
THE ancients looked upon Saffron as a powerful
medicine, and were fond of its perfume : but stronger
drugs have almost driven it from the Materia Medica ;
432 SAFFllON.
and the smell, however agreeable, is too faint for
modern taste.
Great quantities of Saffron are imported into
England from the Levant, for the dyer s use; and a
good deal is grown in Suffolk, for the same purpose.
Those who use Saffron as a medicine consider the
Oriental kind as the most powerful; it is prepared
from crocuses of various colours, but the English
Saffron is obtained only from a native purple kind.
Hasselquist, who seems to have paid great attention
to this subject, found the ground between Smyrna
and Magnesia in some places covered with Saffron,
and praises the beauty of the woods and valleys and
shady places, where he found deep yellow and lighter
crocuses in full blossom in the early spring.
Russel mentions gardens and fields of crocuses in
the neighbourhood of Aleppo, and particularises a
very fragrant kind common in Syria. Possibly a
mixture of the filaments of this with the ordinary
drug may have imparted the perfume which induced
the ancients to strew the benches of the public
theatres with it, as Pliny tells us they did, for the
sake of its fragrance.
This sweet-scented Syrian saffron must also surely
SAFFRON. 433
have been that which Solomon places in his garden of
sweets, thus: " With spikenard and Saffron; calamus
and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense
Awake, oh north wind; and come thou, south ;
blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may
flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden."
SCAELET.
Quercus coccifera, Scarlet-bearing Oah.
Linnsean class and order, MONCECIA FOLYANDRIA.
Natural order, CU
Exodus, xxvi. 1.; xxvii. 16.; xxviii. Leviticus, xiv. 4. 6. 49. 57.
5, 6. 8. 15. 33.; xxxv. 6. 23. 25. Numbers, iv. 8.; xix. 6.
35.; xxxvi. 8. 35.; xxxviii. 18.; Joshua, ii. 18. 21.
xxxix. 1, 2, 3. 5. 8. 24. 29. Revelation, xvii. 34.
BEFORE the discovery of America, the Scarlet of the
oak was the most brilliant red dye known, and almost
SCARLET. 435
vied in esteem with the Tyrian purple ; and now,
though the cochineal has superseded it in a great
degree, the Scarlet of Asia Minor, Syria, and Pales
tine is still among the most beautiful and durable of
dye-stuffs.
Pliny speaks of it as a " verie excrement or super
fluity arising about the stem of the small shrub Ilex
Aquifolia,"* and mentions it as abundant in Spain,
various parts of Asia Minor, and Africa. The finest
Tyrian purple cloths were, it appears by the state
ment of the old Roman naturalist, first dyed with the
Scarlet grain, and then with the juice of the purple
shell ; and thus had the name of dibapha, or twice
dyed.
In most of the texts of Scripture in which the
word Scarlet occurs, the colour alone is intended;
but, as a colour, it is equally precious with the fine
Egyptian blue, the Tyrian purple, and the pure white
twined linen of the priests garments. It is particu
larly distinguished from the red (a dye from ochre)
of the skins that covered the tabernacle ; for it was
only used in the curtains of the inner tabernacle, the
* Holland s translation, b. xvi. c. 8.
436 SCARLET.
most holy court, and in covering the vessels of sacri
fice when the nation journeyed.*
The Scarlet was so unusual, so distinguished, that
a band or list of it was given by the spies of the
Hebrew people, as a token, to Rahab of Jericho, by
whose ministry they had achieved their difficult
mission, to bind in her window, that she and her
house might be saved when Joshua should take the
city.
The 6th verse of the nineteenth chapter of Num
bers is the ground on which I have placed the
Scarlet among the plants of the Scripture Herbal.
" And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop,
and Scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the
burning." This burning was that of the heifer,
whose ashes, along with those of the cedar, hyssop,
and Scarlet, were to be the cleansing part of the
water of separation, which, on all occasions, was to be
used as a purification by the congregation of Israel.
Now the Scarlet here is certainly some tangible sub
stance, and not merely the name of a colour; and it
seems more probable that portions of the tree or shrub
* Numbers, iv. 8.
SCARLET. 437
on whose leaves and branches the Scarlet grains were
found should be used in the burning, than even the
Scarlet grains themselves. *
The climate of the countries bordering on the
Levant seems to be favourable to the insects which
infest different kinds of oak. Travellers have found
districts in which honey dew is so frequent on a
peculiar kind of oak, that they have fancied that the
honey with which Jonathan refreshed himself after a
hard-fought battle f was the honey dew of the oak
wood through which he passed; and it is notorious
that the greater part of the oak galls used in dyeing
cloths black is imported from the ports of Syria and
Palestine.
These galls, however, are produced in the northern
parts of the Holy Land, whereas the Scarlet-bearing
Oak spreads itself far to the south, and grows even in
Africa ; so that its wood might without difficulty have
been procured to burn on occasions of solemn sacrifice,
* " Scarlet grains," " substances dyed red in grain," are expressions taken
from the opinion of most of the ancients, that the Scarlet was a vegetable
grain formed on the shrub. The old Arab name Kermes or Alkermes,
which means a worm, shows that in Arabia the real nature of the Scarlet
was understood.
t 1 Samuel, xiv. 27.
438 SCAKLET.
and sucli in every sense was the burning of the red
heifer with the adjuncts, whose ashes were to serve
for the purification of the people of the Lord, even
while journeying in the wilderness.
SHITTIM WOOD.
Acacia vera, or Acacia Arabica, or Mimosa Nilotica,-
Shittim, or Gum-Arabic Tree.
Linnaean class and order, POLYGAMIA MONCECIA.
Natural order, LEGUMIKOSJS.
440 SHITTIM WOOD.
SHITTIM WOOD.
Exodus, xxv. 10. 23.; xxvi. 26. 32. 37.; Numbers, xxxiii. 49.
xxvii. 1.; xxviii. 1.; xxx. 1. 5.; xxxv. Deuteronomy, x. 3.
24.; xxxvi. 20. 31. 36.; xxxvii. 1. 4. Isaiah, xli. 19.
10. 15. 25. 28.; xxxviii. 1.6. Micah, vi. 5.
THIS tree is of the middle size ; .the young branches
are armed with twin thorns, and the leaves are
doubly pinnate. The elegant flowers hang among
the leaves like minute golden balls, spreading around
a delicious odour.
From the bark exudes the Gum- Arabic, so im
portant in medicine, to the arts, and to our manufac
tures.*
This tree, with very trifling variety, is found from
Upper Egypt, where Bruce saw it and calls it Acacia
Lobbek, to India. Hasselquist says the Arabs call
the Lobbek Shittah. Shaw met with it in the district
of Mount Sinai under the same name ; and says that,
both there and in the neighbourhood of the Eed Sea,
the traveller finds little provender for his camels
besides the leaves of the Acacia vera.
* The quantity of Gum- Arabic imported in 1841 yielded a net produce
to the revenue of 5,454/.
SHITTIM WOOD. 441
From the time of Theophrastus to our latest
botanists the wood of the Acacia vera has been con-
sidered as uncorruptible. Hence it was a peculiarly
fit material for the construction of the ark of the
covenant; having, besides, the recommendations of
being hard and close-grained, so as to take an excel
lent polish, and that it was to be found on the very
spot where the Israelites encamped while the work
men and workwomen were employed under Moses
in framing it.
The passages in the book of Exodus where it is
mentioned refer solely to its use as the material for
the ark of the covenant. In Numbers we find it
forms the distinguishing part of the name of a place
in the plains of Moab, the inhabitants of which ap
pear from the context to have been highly civilised * ;
and the prophet Micah writes of the same place, f
But Isaiah, in his prophesying of the glorious
changes that should take place when God should
restore Israel, says: " I will plant the cedar and the
Shittah tree and the myrtle ;" thus reckoning it among
the choicest trees, for beauty, strength, and fragrance.
* Numbers, xxxiii. 49. 52. f Micah, vi. 5.
SOAP.
tfalsola Kali, called Borith, or Herb of the Washers.
Linnccan class and order, PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, CHENOPODE^E.
Jeremiah, ii. 22. Malachi, iii. 2.
OUR version gives the word Soap for Borith) Prosper
Alpinus translates it kali, and most of the early
writers eall it the fuller s herb or the washer s herb.
SOAP. 443
One unnamed friend of Celsius suggests the teasel,
because it is used by the fullers in raising the nap of
woollen cloths after cleansing; but this, from the
sense of the texts, is inadmissible.
Rauwolf, in his travels, met with two plants which
the natives of the country called kali, and gives
descriptions and wood-cuts, which last, though rude
and coarse, show clearly that his first kali is the
Salsola Kali, and, as far as his print goes, the other
is probably a Salicornia. He says that both these
plants abound in Arabia; where the various tribes
gather and burn them for the sake of the ashes, which
they sell in the cities of Syria for the purpose of
making soap and glass.
Like many others of the most useful articles of
domestic consumption, bread for instance, the origin
of the manufacture of soap is unknown. From time
immemorial it has been made in Syria and Palestine
in large quantities, and forms a main article of their
trading exports. Russel and others mention the pro
fusion of kali, or ashes, brought in to the cities by the
Arabs of the Desert ; and the moors about Joppa fur
nish a quantity of an inferior kind, from the burning
of the heath which covers them. The large measure of
444 SOAP.
vegetable oils furnished by the olives, nuts, and seeds,
especially those of the sesamum, which abound in
Syria, facilitate the soap manufacture, which to this
day is so profitable in the Levant; most of that used
in Greece and Egypt, and some of the Greek islands,
being the produce of Palestine.
Now, though this is not a positive proof that Soap,
as we understand it, was intended by the prophets,
yet it bears so close upon the matter, especially if we
take into consideration the uninterrupted custom of
soap-making, for as many centuries as we can go
back, in the East, I think we may conclude fairly
that the materials for soap, the Salsola of the Arab
sands, and perhaps also the Salicornia, must be the
Borith of the Hebrew prophets.
Jeremiah says : " Though tliou wash thee with
nitre, and take thee much Soap, yet thine iniquity is
marked before me, saith the Lord."
Malachi, alluding to the searching mission of St.
John the Baptist, says: " Who shall stand when he
appeareth? for he is like a refiner s fire and like
fuller s Soap." Both of which texts evidently mean
some cleansing substance, powerful to remove stains
and blemishes, and to restore beauty and purity to the
SOAP. 445
garment submitted to it; objects which would be
best, if not solely, obtained by the use of Soap com
pounded of some kind of ashes with oil or fat,
though the use of ashes alone, for woollen cloths,
probably prevailed in the most ancient times.
SPIKENARD.
Nardostachys Jatamansi, or Valeriana Jatamansi.
Linnsean class and order, TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order,
[
SPIKENARD. 447
SPIKENAED.
Song of Solomon, i. 12.; iv. 13. 14. St. Mark, xiv. 3. St. John, xii. 3.
THE Spikenard of the Scriptures, and of the Greek
and Roman writers, had long been forgotten as a
living plant, if indeed it was ever known excepting
as an Indian drug until our own days.
Clusius first figured the dried Spikenard of the
shops, and the figure was copied by Gerard in his
Herbal.* This cut so exactly corresponds with the
description given of the Spikenard by the Arabian
and Indian writers on medicine, as to afford a strong
presumption that the drug described, and the figure
given, belong to one and the same plant. The ap
pearance of the drug is compared to a bundle of the
tails of ermines, but not so dark in colour; and
such, it appears, is the figure.
* It was not uncommon for the printers of one country to lend their
wood-blocks to those of another, and it is therefore likely that the figures
of Clusius and of Gerard are identical. A similar cut, though evidently
taken from a different specimen, is in Camerarius s edition of Mathiolus s
Epitome.
448
SPIKENARD.
When Sir William Jones went to India, he was
naturally anxious to promote whatever science and
whatever learning could throw light on that interest
ing, and then comparatively unknown, country. The
books of the ancient classical writers were full of
references to Indian odours, and spices, and drugs :
but what trees produced them, what plants or roots
might contribute to their number or efficacy, were
SPIKENARD. 449
questions to which few plausible, and fewer true,
answers could be returned.
One of the first botanical enquiries of Sir William
was concerning the Spikenard of the ancients. From
both Hindoo and Mussulman physicians, he received
descriptions agreeing remarkably with the figure
of Clusius ; and was told that in the Indian bazaars
it was commonly sold by the name of Jatamansi,
which means a lock of hair, to which the dried
Spikenard has a stronger resemblance than even to
a bundle of ermines tails. Sir William applied his
philological skill in tracing the various names of
Spikenard through the Greek, Arabian, Persian, Sans
crit, and several vernacular dialects, so as to satisfy
himself and others that Spikenard and Jatamansi
were one. In consequence of his conviction, he pub
lished the following opinion in the Asiatic Researches,
vol. iv. p. 117.
" I am persuaded that the true Nard is a species of
valerian produced in the most remote and hilly parts
of India, such as Nepal, Morang, and Butan, near
which Ptolemy fixes its native soil. The commercial
agents of the Deva Rajah call it also Pampi; and by
their account the dried specimens, which look like the
450 SPIKENARD.
tails of ermines, rise from the ground resembling ears
of green wheat, both inform and colour; a fact which
perfectly accounts for the names, Stachys, Spica,
Sumbul, and Khushah, which the Greeks, Romans,
Arabs, and Persians have given to the drug, though
it is not properly a spike, and not merely a root, but
the u hole plant, which the natives gather for sale,
before the radical leaves, of which the fibres only
remain after a few months, have unfolded themselves
from the base of the stem."
The question now arose as to what the Jatamansi
could be, and what part of India produced it, as it
certainly was not brought to the market from any
part of the country at that time under the dominion
of the British.
Taking Dioscorides for his guide, Sir William
caused enquiries to be made in the neighbourhood of
Butan, and accordingly found that great quantities
of the Jatamansi were imported from that country,
that the native government was so sensible of its
importance that it did not allow any plant of it
to be carried out of its boundaries without especial
permission from the Maharaja, and that it grew
in a mountainous district. After some delay, and
SPIKENARD. 451
incurring considerable expense, the chief of Butan
permitted several baskets of roots to be sent to Cal
cutta; but they died by the way, nothing remaining
but the little spikes like ermines tails, which re
sembled the drugs of the shops. Some plants, how
ever, believed to be the same, had been procured
and saved by Mr. Burt, English resident at Gaya;
and he made a drawing, and sent it with a description
to Sir William which showed that it was a valerian,
not the same with the valerian known in Europe as
Nardus Celtica, but of the same family.
The drawing was engraved to accompany Sir W.
Jones s dissertation on the Spikenard of the ancients,
in the second volume of the Asiatic Researches; and
copied and embellished from a description by Haynes
in his Arzney Gewachse*
It might have been objected that the scent of the
valerians is in general not very agreeable, and there
fore the rich perfume whose fragrance filled the whole
house could not proceed from one of these : but, in
the first place, we cannot judge of what perfumes
were most agreeable to the ancients; and, in the
* Vol. ix. tab. 27. Berlin, 1805. Geiger has also adopted this figure.
452 SPIKENARD.
second place, the odour of the Spikenard is no where
said to have been used alone. It was certainly, among
the ancients, used as the modern Hindoos use it,
mingled with fragrant oils and spices, " according to
the art of the apothecary;" and those of Laodicea
and of Tarsus had the reputation of making the best.
All the spices of the Eastern isles, the oils of reeds
and grass, those of sarital and of lign aloes, made
part of the precious compound which was sold in
boxes of onyx and of alabaster.
When Horace invites Virgil to a feast, he tells him
his share of the contribution is to be the perfume,
while he gives the wine :
" Thy little box of Spikenard shall produce
A mighty cask that in the cellar lies." *
And such, as I shall by and by show, had been the
use of Spikenard in Judea from remote antiquity.
It is curious that an ointment into which Spike
nard enters, should be still used in Upper Egypt and
Abyssinia to anoint the face and preserve the skin
from the effects of the burning sun ; and it is still
more curious, that, when Hasselquist travelled in
* Francis s Horace, b. iv. ode 12.
SPIKENAKD. 453
Egypt,, he found that the Venetian merchants an
nually brought sixty tons of Celtic Spikenard, which
is certainly a valerian, to Cairo, where the Nubians
and Abyssinians bought it at the great price of one
hundred rix-dollars a ton, because the Indian Spike
nard was so scarce as to be hardly procurable.
It happened, by a curious coincidence, that just at
the time when Sir William Jones had thus supposed
he had traced the true Spikenard to its native country,
and published his account of the Valerian Jatamansi,
that the late Sir Gilbert Blane imagined he had found
it in a very different plant, which had been sent him
by his brother from Lucknow, and of which he gave
specimens to Sir Joseph Banks. On examination, it
proved to be a grass of the genus Andropogon, dif
fering, however, from any before described. Thus
Linnseus s conjecture, that the Spikenard is a grass,
appeared to be confirmed.
The manner in which Mr. Blane discovered this
grass is worthy of notice. In 1786 he was out on a
hunting expedition with the Nabob Vizier of Luck-
now, when one day the air became suddenly per
fumed with a most agreeable odour. On enquiry,
he found that it proceeded from the grass which the
454 SriKENARI).
elephants were bruising under foot ; upon which he
immediately collected some of the plants, and set part
in his garden at Lucknow, and part he sent to his
brother in England. This adventure of Mr. Blanc s
resembled closely a story related by Arrian, in his
account of the march of Alexander to India. He
says that, when the Macedonian army was passing
through Gedrosia near the Indus, the air was per
fumed by the Spikenard trodden under foot by the
soldiers, and that the Phoenicians who accompanied
the expedition collected large quantities of it to
carry to their own country as merchandise. The
fact of Mr. Blanc s discovery of the scented andro-
pogon, and the story from Arrian, formed the subject
of a paper read before the Eoyal Society ; and, by
most persons, the Andropogon Nardus Indica was at
the time received as the Spikenard of the ancients.
The paper was sent by Blane to Sir W. Jones,
who read it, as he says, with great pleasure, but with
out conviction ; and he easily overturned whatever
evidence might be supposed to be afforded by Ar
rian, showing that that author was little trustworthy,
especially in matters concerning natural history, as
he asserted that cinnamon, myrrh, and other spices
SPIKENARD. 455
and gums, all grew abundantly in Arabia, where it
is certain they never could have been found. Sir
William s essay, in the fourth volume of the Asiatic
Researches, also shows that the geography of Arrian
will not tally with Mr. Blane s discovery; and proves
pretty clearly that the andropogon in question cannot
be the true Spikenard.
He goes on then, with as much good sense as
learning, to show that the Valeriana Jatamansi of
Butan had the best claim to the venerable name of
Spikenard. And this was one of the last botanical
essays that accomplished gentleman and Christian
scholar lived to write.
Dr. Roxburgh, in the same volume of the Researches,
makes some valuable remarks, and gives a scientific
description of the plant. Time, however, and the
advance made by the English in the North of India,
showed that, either by accident or design, proceeding
from the commercial jealousy of the government of
Butan, a wrong species of the plant had been re
ceived by Mr. Burn at Gaya : but Dr. Wallich was
fortunate enough to find the true Jatamansi growing
in the mountains of the northern provinces; and his
and Dr. Roxburgh s descriptions were received in
456 SPIKENARD.
Europe as belonging to the true Spikenard of the
ancients, and De Candolle named it Nardostachys
Jatamansi.
But in the year 1830 the claims of the andropogon
of Blane were revived; and an elegant paper drawn
up by Charles Hatchett, Esq., and read before the
Royal Society, after recapitulating Mr. Blane s dis
covery of the plant, and the historical proofs from
Arrian, gives the following account of what he
believes to be an unanswerable confirmation of the
opinion originally entertained by Sir Gilbert Blane,
that his brother had really discovered the ancient
Spikenard.
Mr. Swinton of Swinton, who had been thirty
years resident in India, had passed some of that time
in Malwah, where, being attacked by acute rheu
matism, after suffering a great deal, he was persuaded
by some of the native chiefs to try as a remedy the
rhoonsee ka tiel, or oil of grass. Having experienced
great benefit from it applied as an embrocation, he
sent some to Dr. (afterwards Sir William) Russell at
Calcutta, who recommended it with good success to
several patients.
Mr. Swinton learned that the oil had been prepared
SPIKENARD. 457
time immemorial in and around Malwa, the method
being kept profoundly secret, though it is certain
that it is obtained from the spike of the grass.
The Parsees appear at one time to have enjoyed a
monopoly of this oil ; but it is now in the hands of
the Mahommedan Borahs, who sell a small quantity at
a very high price to the chiefs, and the rest to the
Arab merchants, who carry it westward, where the
greater part finds its way to the Turks and Egyp
tians and a small portion to the Arabs of the Desert,
who have a high opinion of its virtues.
But, though this account of the rhoonsee ka tiel,
when added to Sir Gilbert Blane s former statement,
might form a strong presumption of the probability
that the andropogon was the Spikenard, there was
no proof of its being so; and, moreover, there was
much that told against it, although Linnaeus, gather
ing the fragments of ancient description, had ex
pressed his belief that the Spikenard was a grass. In
the first place, the description of the drug Spikenard,
like a bundle of ermines tails, was inapplicable. Then
the constant assertion that Spikenard came from the
far East, the custom of the Nubians and Abyssinians,
kept up without interruption, of compounding their
458 SPIKENARD.
ointment of Spikenard with a valerian of inferior
quality as the best substitute for the true Spikenard,
are almost proofs that a grass growing to the west of
India, and the like of which is to be found in Arabia
and in many parts of Syria, instead of being brought
from the Gangetic provinces, is not the ancient Spike
nard.
The number and variety of the grasses yielding
fragrant oil, precious medicine, and admirable as per
fumes, in both the continent and islands of India, is
very great; and they are probably not all perfectly
known yet, notwithstanding the zealous search of
modern botanists. One, at least, of these oils is
called Nardin ; and it appears that the word or rather
syllable, nard, in the name of a plant, implies sweet-
scented, in some of the old southern dialects of India,
and also in Persian.
Among these I have already mentioned that Dr.
Royle believes he has found the Calamus aroma-
ticus of the ancients, the Kaneh bosem or sweet cane
of Scripture, which Clusius sought for so diligently,
but in vain.
But it is time to return to the Jatamansi, which
certainly is the drug sold for the Spikenard, and
SPIKENARD . 459
described by the Greek, Arabian, and Hindoo phy
sicians.
Dr. Royle, finding that a quantity of the root was
brought down from the mountains, year by year, pro
cured several pounds of it newly dug, at the end of
the rainy season, at Nagul, a village five miles from
Deyra, and one of the commercial store places at the
foot of the mountains. These he planted in two
different botanic gardens belonging to government,
where they germinated; and he has figured them in
his elegant work on the natural history, particularly
the botany, of the Himalaya Mountains. This shows
that the plant is identical with that of which a
drawing was sent home by Dr. Wallich, and which
was published by Lambert, and described in the Flora
of Nepal by Don.*
Having, as I trust, given a faithful account of what
is now known of the Spikenard, I must consider it
as belonging to my Scripture Herbal. But, first, I
may mention that our old English herbalists had, in
* My wood-cut is from a part of Dr. Royle s figure, the whole being
too large to reduce to any intelligible scale. I have also given a cut, copied
from Gerard, of the drug Spikenard, as known to the apothecaries of his
time.
460 SPIKENARD.
different parts of the kingdom, given the name of
Ploughman s Spikenard to a Baccharis and to a
Conyza. The latter, indeed, still retains the name.
It is remarkable for the agreeable perfume, resembling
cinnamon, given out by its root in burning ; and is, no
doubt, the Nard that Ben Jonson alludes to in his
beautiful song:
" Have you smelt of the bud of the briar,
Or the Nard in the fire ? "
The use of perfumes at the feasts of the ancients
was by no means confined to what we look upon as
the classical ancients, who, in all probability, borrowed
it from their Eastern neighbours, whose descendants
continue the practice; and with them, in Nubia,
Ethiopia, and Arabia, the real Spikenard is used
as a perfume, and in various medicinal unguents;
but always with other fragrant substances, the
scent and power of which it is thought to increase,
and, as a valerian, to have a salutary effect on the
nerves. I have already noticed that these precious
medicinal unguents were kept in boxes of alabaster
or onyx by the ancients; and one of these it was
that the pious woman in the gospel brought to Jesus s
feet,
SPIKENARD. 461
How precious this ointment of Spikenard was in
Jewry, and on what occasions it was used in most
ancient days, we are taught by Solomon, who says :
" While the King sitteth at his table, my Spikenard
sendeth forth the smell thereof." *
Mary, therefore, as at a royal feast, took the ala
baster box of Spikenard, very precious, and brake it,
and poured it upon Jesus s feet.f " She anointed his
feet, and wiped them with her hair, and the house was
filled with the odour of the ointment."
One hypocrite was present, the betrayer of the
innocent person. He exclaimed against the waste of
the precious ointment, saying the price might have
been given to the poor. But Jesus defended the
pious act; and promised that, " wheresoever this gos
pel shall be preached throughout the whole world,
this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a
memorial of her." J
* Song of Solomon, i. 12.
| St. Mark, xiv. 3. St. John, xii. 13. } St. Mark, xiv. 9.
STACTE.
Balsamodendron Kataf, or Amyris Kataf, Stacte, or Myrrh
Tree.
Linnasan class and order, OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, TEREBINTACE^ZE.
STACTE. 463
STACTE.
Exodus, xxx. 24.
WE learn from Pliny that this gum was very
precious ; it was the spontaneous exudation from the
tree producing myrrh, whereas that drug was pro
cured by making incisions in the bark.
It was used, even in preference to frankincense, on
the altars of the higher Pagan gods.*
Dioscorides and other ancient writers praise the
excellent sweet perfume of the Stacte. This agrees
with the verse in Exodus : " Take unto thee sweet
spices ; Stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, these
sweet spices with pure frankincense." Dr. Ehrenberg
found two species of Amyris growing on the con
fines of Arabia Felix, among acacias, moringas, and
euphorbias ; one he called Balsamodendron Myrrha,
and the other Balsamodendron Kataf. They both
produce myrrh. The bark of both is ashen grey
and smooth ; the wood a yellow white, leaves ternate,
* Dr. Harris mentions Euripides as the authority for this, but does
not quote the passage.
464 STACTE.
the flowers insignificant. The gum is usually
in a very dirty state, being mixed with others less
precious from other trees. Dr. Eberhart gave the
specimens to Nees v. Esenbeck, from whom I copy
the figure of the Balsamodendron Kataf here, having
given the Balsamodendron Myrrha already.
STORAX.
Styrax officinalis, Common Storax.
Linnfean class and order, DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order, STYRACE^E.
466 STORAX.
STORAX.
Eeclus. xxiv 15.
THIS is a small tree with a smooth bark. The shoots
are downy, and the deep green leaves are lined with
white down. It bears a white flower, and is alto
gether pleasing to the eye. It is very common in
Syria and Palestine, and grows all over the Levant,
and in Greece and the Peloponnesus.
The fragrant resinous balsamic substance called
Storax is obtained from the branches of the Styrax
by incision. It is of a brownish red colour, and
crumbles like half-dry clay between the fingers, leav
ing an unctuous feeling behind. The Styrax will
grow in England, but does not produce the drug.
The medicinal preparations of Storax are various ;
but it is chiefly used for asthma, cough, and other
similar disorders. Some have supposed that the first
distillation of the Styrax, not the myrrh, is the true
stacte.
SYCAMORE.
Ficus Sycomorus, Pharaoh s Fig, Sycamore Fi<j.
Linnaean class and order, POLYGYNIA DKECIA.
Natural order, URTACEJE..
468 SYCAMORE.
SYCAMORE.
1 Kings, x. 27. ; Psalm Ixxviii. 47.
1 Chron. xxvii. 28. Isaiah, ix. 10.
2 Chron. i. 15.; ix. 27. Amos, vii. 14.
St. Luke, xix. 4.
IT is a pity that a misapplication of the name of Syca
more to the greater maple or Acer Pseudo-Platanus,
instead of the wild fig, should have given a notion to
all English Bible readers so opposite to the truth, as
that our northern tree stood the heats of an Egyptian,
or even of a Syrian, summer.
It is believed by some naturalists, that the Ficus
Sycomorus, or Pharaoh s fig, is the only tree really
indigenous in Lower Egypt. It abounded in that
country, in Syria, and the larger islands of the Le
vant, in ancient times ; but, Pliny says, was too
delicate to bear the winters of Greece or Italy. It is
still cultivated in the neighbourhood of Cairo, on
account of the delicious shade it affords, rather than
for the fruit, although that is of considerable value
and importance in the country.
The Ficus Sycomorus is an enormous tree, often
SYCAMORE. 469
measuring fifty feet in girth. The leaves have the
glossy green of those of the pear tree, and are some
thing larger. The fruit grows upon the main
branches of the tree, and on the trunk itself, in clus
ters. It is very abundant, and yields its harvest
several times in the year. The fresh fruit is rather
insipid; it is soft, watery, and sweetish, with a
slightly aromatic taste. When dry, it is greatly infe
rior in flavour to the garden fig; nevertheless it is
highly prized in the Levant, and furnishes an agree
able and very considerable portion of the food of the
field labourers in Rhodes, Cyprus, and Egypt. The
ancient Egyptians and Cretans used a sort of iron
rake, wherewith they scratched the young fruit, in
order to wound the skin sufficiently to permit the
entrance of a small black fly into the figs, which, it
appears, secured and hastened their ripening; and
something of the same kind, as we learn from Tourne-
fort, is practised by the moderns.
The wood of the Sycamore fig, or, as it is often
called, Pharaoh s fig, is light, tough, and durable ; fit
for furniture and agricultural tools, and therefore
invaluable in Egypt, where timber trees are almost
unknown.
470 SYCAMORE.
Joseplms tells us that the greater number of coffins
and mummy cases were made of Sycamore, because
it resisted the clamp; but more probably because it
was almost the only material to be had in sufficient
quantity.*
The fig most resembling Pharaoh s fig in external
appearance is perhaps the pippala of India, of the
leaves of which a curious use is sometimes made by
the Chinese. They strip off the fleshy sheathing of
the leaf, leaving the vessels, which are tough and
form a very close white network, entire. Upon these
they stamp the figures of the Indian gods, and co
lour them for sale. Dr. Roxburgh has described at
* Norden s description of the Sycamore fig. " This Sycamore is of the
height of a beech, and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from other
trees. It has them on the trunk itself, which shoots out little twigs, in the
manner of grape-stalks, at the end of which grow the fruits, close to one
another, almost like bunches of grapes. The tree is always green, and
bears fruit several times in the year, without observing any certain seasons,
for I have seen some Sycamores that have given fruit two months after
others. The fruit has the figure and smell of real figs, but is inferior to
them in taste, having a disgustful sweetness. Its colour is yellow inclining
to an ochre, and shadowed by a flesh colour. In the inside it resembles
common figs, except that it has a blackish colouring, with yellow spots.
This sort of tree is very common in Egypt. The people, for the greater
part, live upon its fruit; and think themselves well regaled, when they have
a piece of bread, a couple of Sycamore figs, and a pitcher filled with water
from the Nile."
SYCAMORE. 471
least a hundred kinds of fig, including the banyan,
or Ficus religiosa, as natives of India, and Dr.
Wallich as many more. Among them are many
considered by the native physicians as highly medi
cinal.
I do not know a more venerable object than an
ancient banyan tree, surrounded and supported by its
numerous young stems; while pendent roots from
every heavy branch promise new props to the parent
trunk. Under its numerous bowers, not only the
cattle of the plain take shelter from the noon-tide heat,
but the palm- wove dwelling of the Brahmin, and the
huts of the Soodras, there find protection ; the temple
and the tank being never far distant : and, when I
visited India, the rude tablets carved with the figures
of Hoomayun and Ganesa were suffered to lean
against some of the many trunks, that the very
Pariah might not feel himself without a God.
In the new world, the fig trees are among the
largest of the forest; and I have often admired the
huge buttresses which some that I have seen near
Bahia push out, shaped like those of some ancient
cathedral, to support their enormous height. The fig
trees of Brazil appeared to me to be the choice habi-
472 SYCAMOKE.
tation of the numerous and beautiful parasite tribes
that seem to form an airy garden over the travellers
heads.
But to return to the Sycamore -fig. That it grew
abundantly in ancient Judea, we know from the re
peated expression used to designate great prosperity,
" that the cedar trees should bo as plenty as Syca
mores. 7
That the Sycamore was of importance, as well as
abundant, in Jewry, appears from the fact, that, when
on David s resignation of the kingdom to Solomon
the various officers of the state and the royal house
were appointed, one was especially set over the " Sy
camore trees that were in the low plains." And in
the forty-seventh psalm, where David describes the
evils brought upon a rebellious people, he says that
the Lord "destroyed their Sycamore trees with frost."
The prophet Amos says of himself, that he was by
trade a gatherer of Sycamore fruit, and a herdsman
of Tekoa. Therefore we know that the tree con
tinued to be cultivated in the plains, and its fruit
preserved, to late times in the kingdom of Judah.
The last time the Sycamore is mentioned in Scrip
ture is in St. Luke s account of Christ s going to
SYCAMORE. 473
Jerusalem riding on an ass, the people meeting him
and shouting Hosannah ; when Zaccheus, being short
of stature, climbed into a Sycamore to see the Lord
goby.
That favoured Sycamore has long been dead, but
the poor Christians of Palestine, who are fain to turn
every thing to account, have pitched upon a flourish
ing wild olive, or ela3agnus, growing somewhere near
the road, and show it to travellers and pilgrims as
the tree of Zaccheus, and have even named it after
him Zaccoom.*
But the Sycamore fig belongs to the apocryphal
histories of the New Testament, as well as to the real
Scripture.
There was, not long since, and perhaps there still
may be, the ruin of a venerable Sycamore tree at Ma-
tarieh in Egypt. It is close by a fine spring of water,
the last that travellers meet with, who cross the Desert
in going from Alexandria into Syria. Near it are a
heap of rubbish and a few stones, which mark the
site of a very ancient Christian church, built to com
memorate the flight of Joseph and Mary with the
* See p. 330. under EL^EAGNUS.
474 SYCAMORE.
young child into Egypt. It is said that, having
reached that spot, Mary sat down to refresh herself
at the foot of the tree by the spring, when suddenly
the emissaries of Herod, who were in search of the
small party, appeared in the neighbourhood. Wearied
and worn out, they could only pray to be saved;
when suddenly the tree opened, - received, them into
its body, and fed them with its fruits until the perse
cution was over.
This tree, which was prodigiously large, was partly
destroyed in a storm in the year 1656, before which
time the poor monks of the church used to show
what they called the very cleft that had received and
saved the holy fugitives.* But their occupation is
gone; and, like the balsam said to have sprung up
in the same place from the sweat of the divine infant,
the Sycamore has perished, and " the place thereof
knoweth it no more."
* First apocryphal Gospel of the Infancy, viii. 9., and also Celsius.
TARE.
Ervum tetraspermum, Smooth Tare.
Ervum hirsutum, Rough Tare.
Linnaean class and order, DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.
Natural order, LEGTJMINOS^E.
476 TARE.
TAEE.
St. Matthew, xiii. 25. 27. 29, 30.
THESE are equally hurtful in corn fields. In wet
seasons the Hairy Tare has been known to overgrow
and altogether destroy the wheat crop, and the
Smooth Tare is not much less mischievous.
The beautiful parable of the sower who sowed
good seed, but whose field was spoiled by the intro
duction of evil seed, contains a description of the
manner of gathering in the harvest practised in some
parts of Syria and Palestine even to the present day.
When the corn is ripe the reapers pull it up by
hand, and with it the weeds that have grown up
along with it, and then separate them. Sometimes
the separation does not take place till after the grain
is threshed and winnowed.
Dr. Russel speaks with delight of the beauty of
the wheat fields about Aleppo, where the greatest
variety of variously coloured flowers grow up along
with the ear.
Our farmers would think this but a sorry compli-
TAEE.
477
ment to their fields, whence they would rightly
banish, if possible, every blade but what belongs to
the harvest.
All cattle are fond of Tares, hence they are among
the artificial green crops cultivated to a considerable
extent for fodder.
UM;:!!, TART
There are some weighty authorities for reading
darnel instead of Tares in this passage ; darnel, or
Lollium temulentum, being not only mischievous in
choking up the crops, but having the character of
being positively poisonous, so that many who have
478 TARE.
eaten of bread in which the darnel is mixed with the
wheat have died in consequence. This, however, is
doubtful, and it is certain that a considerable mix
ture of the remains of darnel was found by Dr.
Brown in the bread discovered in the ancient Egyp
tian sepulchral chambers; therefore, it is more pro
bable, according to Mr. Brown, that, where the darnel
has been found poisonous, the effect is produced by
some kind of ergot, as we know the ergot of wheat, rye,
and maize to be peculiarly so. Indeed the ergot of
maize causes the hair to fall off, and occasions mules
who eat much of it to lose their teeth and hoofs.
The Lollium perenne, so far from having the bad
qualities of the Lollium temulentum, is our admirable
ray grass or rye grass, one of the most beautiful and
valuable of our cultivated grasses. There is a beau
tiful variety of Lollium, a native of Italy, which has
been cultivated with success by a gentleman on his
farm near Aberdeen. It does not seem to possess
any advantage over our rye grass, and is less hardy.
Doubtless, this is one of the grasses of Palestine,
though I have not found it named by travellers.
THISTLE.
Carduus Arabicus, Arabian Thistle.
Linnaean class and order, SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA
Natural order, CYNARACE^E.
Genesis, iii. 18.
2 Kings, xiv. 9.
2 Chron. xxv. 18.
Job, xxxi. 40.
Hosea, x. 8.
Matthew, vii. 16.
IT would be difficult to pronounce which of the
various species of Thistle indigenous in Palestine is
480 THISTLE.
the precise Thistle of Scripture. Nay, it is probable
that the writers of the different books may allude to
more than one. The texts in Genesis and in Job
refer probably to the natives of Arabia or the very
warmest parts of Palestine, and the others to the
Thistles of Judea and the North.
During Hasselquist s short visit to Judea, he
observed eight or ten different Thistles on the road
from Jerusalem to Rama, and one on Mount Tabor. *
Tournefort found several Thistles in the Levant
which do not grow in the West of Europe; and it
would seem that there is no land free from this part
of the curse which the disobedience of Adam entailed
upon the ground.
The passages from the books of Kings and of
Chronicles where the Thistle is named relate the
apologue employed by Joash, the insolent King of
Israel, as a threat to Amaziah, King of Judah, are
the same, word for word. " The Thistle that was
in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon,
* Among the Thistles of Palestine is the cynara, or artichoke, which
grows wild upon Mount Tabor. It was brought to England in the time
of Henry VIII., probably by his gardener, who was a French priest of
the name of Wolf. He certainly introduced the apricot, and other delicate
plums, from Syria and Palestine.
THISTLE. 481
saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife : and
there came by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and
trod down the Thistle." On this occasion the beast
did indeed tread down Judah, for the wickedness of
the king, who survived the conquest of Joash only to
die by the hands of conspirators.
The patriarch of Uz, bearing in mind the original
punishment of Adam, says : " If my land cry against
me, or that the furrows thereof likewise complain;
if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or
have caused the owners thereof to lose their life ; let
Thistles grow instead of wheat." - Hosea mentions the
Thistle as an emblem of desolation ; and in St. Mat
thew we read that, in the sermon on the Mount, our
Saviour, when reprehending the wicked, says : " Ye
shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather
grapes of thorns, or figs of Thistles?"
Yet, though despised, and both the emblem and
the partial instrument of the punishment of man s
first disobedience, the Thistle, like every other work
of God, has its use. In Spain and other hot and
dry countries, when the summer s sun has dried up
every blade of grass, the numerous herds of cattle
which cover the mountain s side in winter would
482 THISTLE.
perish, but for the large fields of Giant Thistle which
are fenced in, while any grass remains ; but, as soon
as that is exhausted, the cattle are permitted to enter,
and the juicy cups and stalks of the plant not only
sustain but fatten them.
The seeds of the Thistle are the favourite food of
that pretty family of singing -birds, the finches ; one
of which, the goldfinch, has its name, both in Latin
and French, from the plant it loves to feed upon.*
Thus does the meanest plant join in the great
offering of nature s daily incense to the Almighty
Maker.
* Carduelis from carduus, and Chardonneret from chardon, a Thistle.
FLOWERING BRANCH OF PALIURUS NAPE:". A.
SEED-VESSEL OF PALIURUS NAPECA.
THOKN.
Of the many thorny plants whose Hebrew names are rendered by the
general word Thorn in our version of the Bible, I select the following,
because they appear to be those concerning which there are the most and
best authorities.
Paliurus Napeca, Christ s Thorn.
Rhamnus Spinet Christi, Buckthorn.
Lycium horridum, Box Thorn.
Solanum spinosum, Thorny Nightshade.
Eglantine Rosa rubiginosa, Siveet-Briar.
Ononis spinosa, Rest-Harrow.
Ruscus aculeatus, Butcher s Broom, or Knee Holly.
Prunus sylvestrisy Sloe, or Black Thorn.
484 THORN.
Linncean Classes and Orders.
Paliurus Napeca, ~j
Rhamnus Spina Christ!,
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Lycmm norridum,
Solanum spinosum,
Eglantine Rosa rubiginosa, ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA.
Ononis spinosa, - DIADELPHIA SYNGENESIA.
Ruscus aculeatus, - DICECIA DIANDRIA.
Prunus sylvestris, - ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural Orders.
Paliurus Napeca, ^
Rhamnus Spina Christi, L - RHAMHE^E.
Lycium horridum,
Solanum spinosum, - SOLANEJE.
Eglantine Rosa rubiginosa, ROSACEJE.
Ononis spinosa, LEGUMINOS^E.
Ruscus aculeatus, - - SMILACEJE.
Prunus sylvestris,* - ROSACE^E.
* I did not at first mean to notice a singular mistake that has found
its way into some admirable recent publications, illustrative of Scripture,
concerning the Thorns named in the Bible. Dr. Clarke, the accomplished
traveller, finding the Cactus Ficus Indicus common in Syria and Palestine,
imagined that it was indigenous there ; and accordingly supposes that the
hedge of Thorns of Scripture must allude to the cactus. He might have
been partly misled by Ursini, who, in his Arboretum Biblicum (1699),
gives a tolerable figure of the cactus, as the Thorn of the sacred writings.
But the truth is, that the cactus never was known until after the dis
covery of America, when the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch traders,
having failed in bringing the valuable cochineal" plant into their settlements
in all parts of the Mediterranean, the East Indies, and the Cape of Good
Hope, introduced the thorny Cactus Ficus Indicus, in the vain hope that
the cochineal insect would feed upon it. Finding a congenial climate, the
cactus soon took possession of the soil, and now passes for indigenous.
THORN. 485
THORN.
Genesis, iii. 18. Isaiah, x. 17. ; xxvii. 4. ; xxxiii. 12. ;
Exodus, xxii. 6. xxxiv. 13.; Iv. 13.
Numbers, xxxiii. 55. Jeremiah, iv. 3. ; xii. 13.
Joshua, xxiii. 13. Ezekiel, ii. 6.; xxviii. 24.
Judges, ii. 3.; viii. 7. Hosea, x. 8.; xi. 6.
2 Sam. xxiii. 6. Micah, vii. 4.
2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. Nahum, i. 10.
Job, v. 5.; xli. 2. Ecclus. xxviii. 24.
Psalm Iviii. 9.; cxviii. 12. Baruch, vi. 71.
Proverbs, xv. 19.; xxii. 5.; Matthew, vii. 16.; xiii. 7.; xxvii. 29.
xxiv. 31.; xxvi. 9. Mark, xv. 17.
Eccles. vii. 6. Luke, viii. 7.
Song of Solomon, ii. 2. John, xix. 2. 5.
Isaiah, v. 6. ; vii. 19. 25. ; ix. 18. 2 Corinthians, xii. 7.
Hebrews, vi. 8.
NOTWITHSTANDING the numerous texts set down
above, the list of passages in which some thorny or
prickly plant is either mentioned or alluded to
might be much lengthened, as I shall have occasion
to observe presently.
According to the Rabbins, there are twenty-two
different Hebrew words signifying thorns or prickles
in the Bible. Celsius has given dissertations upon
sixteen; only one of which, Kotz, appears to have
the meaning of any thorny plant in general, whether
large or small, woody or herbaceous.
486 THORN.
1. The Paliurus Napeca, in Hebrew Shamir, is be
lieved by most modern authors to be the real Thorn
of which the painful crown of our Lord was platted ;
it is singularly elegant, whether in flower or in fruit,
and I cannot do better than copy Hasselquist s account
of it. " Nabca Paliurus Athenai of Alpinus. Nabca
of the Arabians. In all probability, this is the tree
which afforded the crown of thorns, put upon the
head of Christ. It grows very common in the East.
This plant is very fit for the purpose, for it has many
small and sharp spines which are well adapted to give
pain : the crown might be easily made of these soft,
round, and pliant branches ; and what in my opinion
seems to be the greater proof is, that the leaves very
much resemble those of ivy, as they are of a very
deep glossy green. Perhaps the enemies of Christ
would have a plant somewhat resembling that with
which emperors and generals were crowned, that there
might be a calumny even in the punishment."
2. Next after the pretensions of the paliurus to the
honour of forming the crown of thorns stand those
of the Buckthorn, or Rhamnus Spina Christi. The
monks of Jerusalem show, or lately did show, an aged
Buckthorn shrub near the holy city, from which they
THORN. 487
say the crown was originally cut in such a manner,
that, in wearing it, the thorns showed themselves
so as to present something like the appearance of the
radiate crown with which the kings of the East used
to adorn themselves.
3. A third sharp Thorn, native to Palestine, is some
times considered as the material of the crown of
thorns. This is the Lycium horridum, or Box Thorn,
whose prickles are of the most stinging sharpness,
though the plant itself has a graceful appearance.
BOX THORN, OR LYCIUM HORRIDUM.
4. The Solanum spinosum, or Mad- Apple, in
488 THORN.
Hebrew Chedek, is the Thorn of Proverbs, xv. 19.
" The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of
Thorns." It is, also, this Solanum which is the
Thorn of the prophet Micah.
5. Sweet-Briar. I have anticipated some of the
remarks I might have made on this sweet Thorn, in
what I have written concerning the briar, and the use
made of it as a scourge of the sharpest nature.
6. When Hasselquist travelled, he found the uncul
tivated ground in Egypt and Palestine every where
encumbered with the beautiful but troublesome Rest-
Harrow, or Ononis spinosa; and, from this and some
other circumstances, he was inclined to think it the
Thorn of the original curse. " Thorns also and thistles
shall it [the earth] bring forth unto thee." Most
late writers have adopted this notion of the Swe
dish traveller. Where the Rest-Harrow appears, the
spade, plough, and harrow have done their work ;
and it is not without excessive toil that the ground
is reclaimed. Our vernacular name is sufficiently
expressive. With us it adorns heaths and hedges,
and grows in tufts on the headland of the corn
field. There are several varieties, and all of them
pretty.
THORN.
489
REST-HARROW, OK O.;ONI3.
7. Butcher s Broom, Ruscus aculeatus, often called
Knee Holly or Skewer-wood, is, according to the
Rabbins, the real translation of Atad* This word
first occurs in the book of Genesis, where it is given
as a proper name in our version. In the history of
the burial of Jacob and the bringing up of his body
out of Egypt, our text says: "And they came to the
threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and
* Our version gives Atad as a proper name, Genesis,!. 10. In Judges,
ix. 14, 15., it is rendered bramble ; in Psalm Iviii. 9., thorns.
490
THORN.
BUTCHER S BROOM.
they mourned with a very sore lamentation." And
when the people of Canaan saw it, " they said, This is
a grievous mourning to the Egyptians."
The Arabs have a tradition, that, on that occasion,
not only the sons of Esau came to mourn for their
father s brother along with his own children, but
that the descendants of Ishmael, and those of the
sons of Ketura, met, and joined in the solemn rites,
planting boughs round the field of the Thorns, and
hanging crowns of leaves and flowers upon the
Thorns themselves.
This threshing-floor was probably one of those
prepared for the common use of a district, to which
THORN. 491
each man brought his sheaves and the cattle that were
to tread the corn. I have seen such in Italy; and,
as the threshing-floor is generally the scene of the
harvest-home supper, some little care is commonly
taken to shelter it under a bank, or to plant the edge
of one side at least, so as to afford a partial skreen
from the wind.* And such, most probably, was the
threshing-floor of the Knee Holly; near to shelter,
and the floor itself offering a wide space for the
mourning ceremonies.
This beautiful shrub grows in many parts of
England. In Devonshire it forms, together with the
true Holly, the undergrowth of the charming woods
in the north of the county. Owing to the peculiar
growth of the Ruscus, the wood never splinters, nor
does it become rough when rubbed in either direc
tion; hence its chief value: for, I believe, all the
skewers used for butcher s meat in Britain, and in
* In the Works and Days the husbandman is thus instructed :
" Smooth be the level floor or breezy ground,
Where winnowing gales may sweep in eddies round."
Elton s Hesiod, W. and D. 1. 833.
This does not contradict the description in the text. One portion was
sheltered for the convenience of the labourers and cattle, the rest open to
the summer winds.
492 THOEN.
some other countries, are made of it; hence its name
of skewer- wood.
I must not forget a quality lately discovered,
peculiar to the Butcher s Broom; namely, that of
being, of all kinds of wood, the best conductor of
lightning. The result of experiments on different
kinds of wood, deciding in favour of the Ruscus
aculeatus, were read at one of the great national sci
entific meetings lately, leaving apparently no doubt
of the fact.
8. Choacli, Prunus sylvestris, Sloe, or Black
Thorn, one of the commonest wild shrubs of Jewry,
is translated thickets in the first book of Samuel. In
the second books of Kings and of Chronicles it is
rendered thistles. In one place of Job we find
thistles, in another covert, for the same word ; but in
all the other texts, and they are not few, Choach is
translated Thorns, and should be Black Thorn.
THORN. 493
These are the principal plants which I have been
able to choose with any certainty of the truth of the
interpretation, though, doubtless, a better scholar or
a better botanist might add to their number. As to
the word Kotz, which, as I have already said, is
applied to all kinds of Thorns indiscriminately, it is
very frequently used figuratively to denote refractory
persons ; and it appears, from the various names of
two or three other Thorns so applied, to have been
almost a proverbial application of the word among the
Jews, reminding us of the phrase, in the history of
the conversion of St. Paul, "It is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks," i. e. Thorns.
Were it allowable to indulge in fanciful interpreta
tions, much might be said about the Thorns of Scrip
ture. But it is enough for solemn consideration, that
the Thorn formed part of the original curse where
with the earth was cursed for the sake of Adam s
disobedience ; and that he who redeemed us from the
consequences of Adam s sin wore on his brow a crown
of Thorns, when he bowed his head and pronounced
that the great work of salvation was FINISHED.
TIEL.
Tilia Europcea, Tiel Tree ; called also Tiln Tree, and Lime
or Linden Tree.
Linnaean class and order, POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order,
TIEL. 495
TIEL.
Isaiah, vi. 13.
THE Tiel tree is named but once in Scripture ; but it
is by that diligent observer of nature, the prophet
Isaiah.
In shadowing forth the final restoration of the
remnant of the people of God, he uses the following
beautiful figure. "As a Tiel tree, and as an oak,
whose substance is in them, though they cast their
leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance
thereof," i. e. of the renewed nation of the Lord.
I have before observed that the greater number of
trees, shrubs, and herbs spoken of by Isaiah are such
as flourish in the northern part of the ancient king
dom of Israel.
The Lime is among the most beautiful of these. It
grows in the forests of Lebanon, and extends to
Bashan along with the oak. It is found on Caucasus
and all the hill country, to the Himalaya Mountains,
and to China.
The great beauty and longevity of the Tiel, or
496 TIEL.
Linden, have procured for it the honour of sharing
with the oak in something like religious honours. In
many places it was under the great Linden, instead
of the oak, that the councils of the tribes of half-civi
lised men took place : there were held their markets
and their feasts, and many a legend and ancient story
tells of the trystings under the Linden, for council or
for war. Even now, in some old undisturbed com
munities, the traveller in Germany will find the
Linden of the village green the resort of the old for
gossip, and of the young for sport.
Every part of the Linden is valuable to man. An
infusion of the flowers, separated from the bracts, is
considered to be a sovereign remedy for headache, in
Switzerland and Germany. But it is as pasture for
bees that the Tiel tree is most to be desired; and,
in a country such as Jewry, one of whose temporal
blessings it was to be a land of milk and of honey,
the Tiel must have been a most welcome in dweller.
One of the poets of the Hebrews sings that, though
the bee " is little among such as fly, yet is her fruit
the chief of sweet things."
The bee-hives of Palestine were curious things,
imitated indeed from nature. The modern shape
TIEL. 497
(and no doubt the ancient form was the same) is a
hollow earthen tube from two to three feet long, and
six or eight inches in diameter, entirely closed at one
end, and nearly so at the other. Eight or ten of these
tubes are laid pyramidically over each other, and
thatched; so that the piles reminded Hasselquist of
Swedish pig-sties. These pyramids are found some
times near an Arab s hut, oftener under a tree ; and
when, as is the case with the Tiel tree, the blossom
affords pasture for the bees, the honey, that great
luxury of the East, may be gathered frequently, with
out destroying the insects, during the flowery season.
At some of the sugar farms in South America, I
was surprised to see clusters of hollow trunks of trees
generally placed under shelter of the verandas about
the house. On enquiry I found they were natural
bee-hives, brought in from the forests. As soon as a
bee tree in a convenient situation is found, if the tree
is of moderate size, the trunk is sawed off above and
below the nest, which is then brought home and
fresh swarms raised, as we raise them from our straw
hives. And such hives in hollow trees appear most
probably to have furnished the model for the Jewish,
Arab, and Syrian earthen tubes.
498 TIEL.
But to return to the Tiel tree. The timber is
remarkable for softness, lightness, toughness, and
durability; so that the turner and the carver are
equally its debtors.* One species of Tiliaceous tree
is called shoe wood in Brazil, because the soles of the
clogs worn universally by the Portuguese in the
rainy season are made of it. f Another of the same
family furnishes the light timber of which the
inassoolla or surf boats at Madras arc built. J
But perhaps, after all, the bark is the most import
ant part of the Linden. From it cordage, sacking,
and other things of the kind are manufactured; and
it is from the soft inner part that, from time immemo
rial, the warm pliable garden mat has been woven.
We formerly imported these mats from Holland,
whence they were called Dutch or Bass mats; but
now they have the proper name of Russian mats,
because, by a direct commerce, we have them from
the country where they are made. The Linden
flourishes in all the provinces, both European and
Asiatic, of that huge empire ; and these mats often
* Most of the fine carvings of Gibbon are executed in lime-tree Avood.
f Corchorus capsularis. j Berrya ainmonilla.
TIEL. 499
serve for clothing and bedding, as they formerly did
for sails, even to vessels of considerable size.*
The ravelled strips of bark from the garden mat
are much used for tying up delicate or trailing plants,
and for knotting together bunches of cut flowers.
The ancients appear to have done the same; and,
moreover, from some fancied virtue possessed by the
bark itself, it was used to tie up the flowers for coro
nals at feasts, in order that its refreshing qualities
might prevent headach. The Eoman poet says,
" I detest
The grandeur of a Persian feast ;
Nor for me the Linden rind
Shall the flow ry chaplet bind."f
* It is curious that some of the ancient Italian painters represent Mary
Magdalene clothed from the waist downwards in a bass mat. St. Rock
is also sometimes wrapped in one ; and the vessels in which saints and
martyrs, whose adventures lead them to cross the sea, are often in old
pictures, rigged with sails of bass mat.
f Horace, i. ode 38.
TURPENTINE TEEE.
Pifttada Terebinthus, Turpentine or Terebinth Tree.
Linngean class and order, DKECIA PENTANDBIA.
Natural order, TEKEBIXTACE^E.
TURPENTINE TEEE. 501
TURPENTINE TREE.
Eccles. xxiv. 16.
THIS is the only text in our version of the Scriptures
in which this beautiful tree is mentioned directly.
Here it is numbered up among the choicest of trees
and shrubs : the palm, the cedar, the cypress, the vine,
the olive, the plane, the cinnamon, and the rose. Its
comeliness alone might have obtained this distinction
for it ; but the precious liquid flowing from it, which
was only inferior in value to balsam, rendered it still
more deserving the place it holds in the passage
where the son of Sirach speaks of it.
In my account of the oak, I have already mentioned
that in very numerous passages in which the English
translators have read oak, the word should be Tere
binth, as well as where the general expressions thick
tree, shady tree, are used.*
There are, besides these passages, others where
Elah Elath, or Terebinth, is used as a proper name.
* It would be useless to repeat any part of the explanation of the
mistakes on this subject, and of their causes. See p. 316. (note).
502 TURPENTINE TREE.
Such as the port of Elath on the Red Sea, so named
on account of the Terebinth trees that grew there.
And the vale of Elah, where David slew Goliath, was
the vale of Terebinths lately enough to have been
noticed as such by some modern travellers, though
it is now but a stony hollow, through which a small
rivulet makes its way among the rocks ; the brook, no
doubt, from whose bed David chose the smooth stones
for his sling.
Among the various observations of Celsius on the
words oak and Terebinth, he says that the bodies of
Saul and his sons were buried under a Terebinth
tree, and not, according to some traditions, under the
oak named Allon Bachuch; and he takes occasion to
mention the Terebinth of Saul and the oak of Deborah
as proofs of a very general and ancient practice of
interment under trees, instancing the burial-place
of the great Scandinavian hero Angantyr, as a proof
of the universality of the custom. The Hervorar Saga,
where the fact is recorded, relates that Angantyr and
his numerous brethren met their foe Hialmar on the
island of Samsoe ; and that, after a desperate fight,
Angantyr, having lost all his kin, slew Hialmar,
whose body was conveyed to Upsal for interment ;
TURPENTINE TREE. 503
but Angantyr and his brethren were buried, each
with his sword at his head, under the trees on
Samsoe.* Now, soon after Angantyr s death, his
only child the heroine Hervora was born ; and when
she arrived at woman s estate, she went to Samsoe to
procure the sword of her father from his grave. Part
of her chant as she seeks it runs thus : -
" Herward and Hiorward,
Hrani and Angantyr,
I call you tip from under
The tree root."t
And, in truth, nothing appears to have been more
common in the ancient world than the planting of
trees those emblems of humanity, which die but to
renew their being on the graves of those who were
once famous or beloved.
I have seen in India, near many Hindoo cottage
doors, what I took at first for an altar. It was a
square pillar, upon which a common jar, containing
a shrub, was placed; and I looked upon it, if not
* Ezekiel, xxxii. 27., speaks of the uncircumcised which are gone down
to hell with their weapons of war ; and they have laid their swords under
their heads. This coincidence of the Saga with the prophet seems to me
remarkable.
f Hervorar Saga, vii. 91.
504 TURPENTINE TREE.
erected for some religious purpose, as a matter of
taste. But I soon learned that, for the most part,
it was a custom of affection : the mother had gathered
the ashes of her child after the burning, and, placing
them at the bottom of the vase, had laid earth over it,
and planted therein a shrub, which had become to her
as a child growing under her care, being diligently
watered, and guarded from blight and from acci
dent.*
I have already mentioned that in Turkey, and
Turkish Asia, the burial grounds of the Christians,
particularly the Armenians, are planted with Tere
binth trees, the cypress being reserved for the
Mahommedans. It is in one sense fitter than that
graceful tree for the purpose; namely, on account of
its extraordinary longevity.
The fruit of the Terebinth is a green nut, and
very like that of the real pistacia, but smaller, and of
inferior flavour. It is, however, much used in the
Levant.
The Terebinth grows freely at present on the road
* The plant I most frequently saw so placed was the sensitive mimosa,
called in India, SamL
TURPENTINE TREE. 505
between Jerusalem and Rama, and on the rocks about
Mount Tabor; also at Jaffa, and probably throughout
the greater part of Palestine.
YOUNG GRAPE.
VINE.
Vitis Vinifera, Grape Vine.
Linnaean class and order, PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
Natural order,
VINE.
VINE.
507
Texts in the Old Testament.
Genesis, ix. 20, 21.; xiv. 18.;
xxvii. 28. 37.; xl. 9, 10, 11.;
xlix. 11.
Leviticus, xix. 10.; xxv. 5.
Numbers, vi. 3, 4. ; xiii. 20. 23.
Deut. viii. 8.; xxiii. 24.; xxiv. 21,
22,23.; xxviii. 39.; xxxii. 14.32.
Judges, viii. 2.; ix. 12, 13. 27.;
xiii. 14.; xv. 5.
I Sam. xxv. 18.
1 Kings, iv. 25.
2 Kings, iv. 39.; xviii. 31.
2 Chron. ii. 10.; xxvi. 10.
Ezra, vii. 22.
Nehemiah, v. 3, 4, 5.; xiii. 5.
Esther, i. 7.; v. 6.; vii. 7, 8.
Job, xv. 33.
Psalm Ixxviii. 47.; Ixxx. 8.; cv.
33. ; cxxviii. 3.
Song of Solomon, ii. 13. 15.; vi.
11.; vii. 7. 12.
Isaiah, v. 2. 5. 7. 10.; vii. 23.; xvi.
8, 9, 10.; xvii. 6.; xviii. 5.
Isaiah, xxiv. 7. 9. 11. 13.; xxvii. 2.;
xxxii. 10.12.; xxxiv. 4.; xxxvi-
16, 17.; xxxvii. 30.; Ixi. 5.;
Ixiii. 2, 3.; Ixv. 8.
Jeremiah, ii. 21.; v. 17.; vi. 9.; viii.
13.; xxv. 30.; xxxi.5. 29.; xlviii.
32.; xlix. 9.
Ezekiel, xv. 2 6. ; xvii. 6, 7. ; xviii.
2.; xix. 10. 13.
Hosea, ii. 8. 12.; ix. 10.; x. 1.;
xiv. 7.
Joel, i. 7. 12.; ii. 22.
Amos, iv. 9.; v. 17.; ix. 13.
Obadiah, 5.
Micah, iv. 4.; vii. 1.
Habakkuk, iii. 17.
Zechariah, iii. 10.
Malachi, iii. 10, 11.
2 Esdras, v. 23.; xvi. 26. 30. 43.
Judith, xii. 13.; xiii. 2.
Wisdom, ii. 7.
Ecclus. xxiv. 17.; xxxix. 26.
1 Maccabees, vi. 34.
Texts in the New Testament.
St. Matthew, vii. 16.; ix. 17.; xx. St. John, ii. 3.; xv. 1. 4, 5.
1, 2. 4. 11.; xxi. 33. 39.; xxvi. Acts, ii. 13.
29. Ephesians, v. 18.
St. Mark, ii. 22.; xii. 1. 1 Timothy, iii. 3. 8.; v. 23.
St. Luke, i. 15.; vi. 44.; xx. 9, Titus, i. 7.
10. 13. 16.; xxii. 18. Epistle of St. James, iii. 12.
Revelation, xiv. 19.
NOTWITHSTANDING the long list of texts quoted, the
passages in which the Vine and vineyard, with their
508 VINE.
various products, are mentioned are by no means all
set down.
The Grape Vine is found wild at this day in the
neighbourhood of Noah s first vineyard, at the foot
of Mount Ararat. Humboldt found it on the shores
of the Caspian, in Caramania, and in Armenia. It is
also a native of Georgia, and of the northern parts
of Persia; but does not extend to India, though
several plants of the same family are common among
the mountains of the northern parts of that rich
country.
Some writers have imagined that Noah had been
accustomed to cultivate the Vine before the flood,
and that the antediluvian patriarchs were not without
wine. But this is a question of mere curiosity.
It is certain that the culture of the Vine, and the
art of making wine, spread early all over Syria and
Asia Minor, to Persia on the east, and to Greece and
its islands on the west; for we find Hesiod and
Homer both familiar with them. The latter mentions
several kinds of wine, such as the Samnian*, and
the sweet wine made from the grapes of Alcinous s
* Iliad, xi.
VINE. 509
gardens.* He also delineates a vintage scene as one
of the compartments of the shield of Achilles; and
Hesiod introduces another in his description of the
shield of Hercules.f
* Odyssey, vii.
f I cannot resist copying here the rival description of the vintage by
these venerable poets, giving the precedence to that of Homer, in Cow-
per s version.
" There also, laden with its fruit, he form d
A vineyard all of gold ; purple he made
The clusters, and the Vines supported stood
By poles of silver, set in even rows.
The trench he colour d sable, and around
Fenced it with tin. One only path it show d,
By which the gatherers, when they stripp d the Vine,
Pass d and repass d. There youths and maidens blithe
In frails of wicker bore the luscious fruit ;
While in the midst a boy on his shrill harp
Harmonious play d, and ever as he struck
The chord sang to it with a slender voice.
They smote the ground together, and with song
And sprightly reed came dancing on behind."
I do not know which to prefer, the foregoing very beautiful description,
or the following, in which one or two touches are added to perfect the
picture :
" And some again hard by were seen
Holding the Vine-sickle, who clusters cut
From the ripe Vine, which from the vintagers
Others in frails received, or bore away
In baskets thus up-piled the cluster d grapes,
Or black, or pearly white, cut from deep ranks
Of spreading vines, whose tendrils curling twined
In silver, heavy foliaged : near them rose
The ranks of Vines, by Vulcan s envious craft
510 VINE.
But the cultivated Vines of Palestine have always
been among the finest of the world, though now,
under the Mahommedan law, " the shouting for the
vintage" of Judea has ceased. Yet so lately as when
the English Turkey Company was chartered, or rather
before the charter was actually granted, and while
the trade was carried on by merchants recommended
by Queen Elizabeth individually to the Sultan, great
quantities of Muscadel wines from Judea were shipped
from the ports of Palestine, and among the most
costly was the fine wine of Ascalon.* From these
places, however, the wine-press has long been dis
missed; and the direct trade in the fruit of the Sy
rian Vines is carried on by the French, who bring
into Europe immense quantities of raisins from the
Levant.f
The Jews about Jerusalem make some wine for
Figured in gold. The Vines leaf-shaking cmTd
Round silver props. They therefore on their way
Pass d jocund to one minstrel s flageolet,
Burthen d with grapes that blacken d in the sun.
Some also trod the wine-press, and some quaff d
The foaming must."
* See Hakluyt s Voyages.
f The net product of the duty paid on raisins imported into England,
in 1841, amounted to 138,174/.
VINE. 511
their own use, and for the consumption of their foreign
brethren, who dread the Spanish and Portuguese wines,
as being often put into vessels made of the skins of
unclean animals.
The Vine was not a native of Egypt ; nor does the
climate favour it. In very ancient times, indeed, it had
been introduced there ; but its produce was reserved
for the rich and powerful, while the people used
nothing but their barley drink, or beer.
Some wine, indeed, has been made in Lower Egypt
in different ages ; but it was never celebrated either
for quality or quantity. From the fortieth chapter of
Genesis, where the dream of Pharaoh s chief butler is
related, it would appear that the juice of the grape
fresh-pressed was drunk by the king, and possibly the
Egyptian grape-juice at that time was used in the
state of must. But though the Pharaohs drank of
the "blood of the grape" in this imperfect state, the
Ptolemies revelled in the maturer wines of Palestine,
Cyprus, and Greece; and one of them, as Josephus
tells us, among some magnificent gifts sent to the
Temple of Jerusalem, renewed the Golden Vine, the
symbol of the Jewish nation, of which the treasury
had been robbed.
512 VINE.
This Golden Vine was afterwards carried to Rome,
where, along with the golden candlestick and other
rich ornaments of the Temple, it made part of the show
in Vespasian s and Titus s triumph for the taking of
Jerusalem.
Tacitus mentions this Vine as one proof that the
Jews worshipped Bacchus at the feast of the Taber
nacles, which took place about the time of the celebra
tion of the orgies. The truth is, that when the
Jewish princes began, in conformity with the customs
of other nations, to use coined money instead of lumps
of metal of certain weight, the Vine was their common
device. Some of their pieces have on them a single
Vine leaf ; others a bunch of grapes, or a Vine branch
with leaves, fruit, and tendrils. Yet these, like the
Golden Vine, were only symbolical of the nation,
though they were, like it, taken for the signs of
idolatry.
The book of Genesis informs us that the culture of
the Vine, and the art of making wine, were very
ancient in the land of Canaan. It relates that, when
Abraham and his followers were returning with their
captives from the open country, where they had
overcome Chedorlaomer and the kings of the plain,
VINE. 513
Melchisedeck, King of Salem, brought forth bread
and wine to refresh them.*
In the scriptural summing up of the riches and
temporal blessings of the land promised to the de
scendants of Abraham, the Vine is always prominent
among the number, and, together with corn and oil, is
peculiarly noticed in the laws of Moses. Thus :
" When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field,
and hast forgot a sheaf in thy field, thou shalt not go
again to fetch it : it shall be for the stranger, for the
fatherless, and for the widow.
" When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not
go over the boughs again : it shall be for the stranger,
for the fatherless, and for the widow.
" When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vine
yard, thou shalt not glean it afterwards : it shall be
for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the
widow."
Thus of the chief and most necessary things a
portion was secured to him who had no inheritance in
* Genesis, xiv. 18. "And Melchisedeck, king of Salem, brought forth
bread and wine : and he was the priest of the most high God." A type,
we are taught to believe, of the bread and wine of the new covenant ;
given to us, as to Abraham, with whom the old covenant began, by the
priest of the most high God. (Hebrews, v. 6.)
514 VINE.
the land, and to those whom weakness or tender age
rendered incapable of cultivating, perhaps even of
claiming, their own fields. So were God and man
cheered and honoured by the fruits of the earth.
The fruitful Vine is the favourite emblem by Avhich
the inspired writers love to figure the Hebrew nation.
When obedient, the Vine flourisheth, and extendeth
her branches to the farthermost parts of the earth;
but when rebellious, God hideth his face, the Vine
is neglected, the wild beasts break clown the fences,
trample the vineyard, and devour its clusters, till all
is waste. Again, on repentance, the Lord of mercy
turneth and visiteth his Vine*; and the vineyard is
restored, the wine-press is full, and every man may
rejoice under his Vine, and under his fig tree.
The first time the Vine is introduced in symbol or
parable is in the beautiful fable of Jotham, saying,
" Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and
man, and go to be promoted over the trees ?"f
But it is in the poetry of David and the prophets
that the Vine appears as a most glorious image.
" The Vine that was brought out of Egypt filled the
* Psalm Lxxx. f Judges, ix. 13.
VINE. 515
land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it,
and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her
branches unto the river. Why hast thou then broken
down her hedges, so that they which pass by do
pluck her ? The boar out of the wood doth waste it,
and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Re
turn, we beseech thee,* O God of hosts : look down
from heaven, and visit this vine!"
What can be more cheering, more exultingly beau
tiful, than the first part of this fine passage from the
psalmist ? What more touching than the last ?
In one of the early chapters of Isaiah he almost
repeats the words of his royal predecessor, in his
melancholy denouncement of the people of Israel.*
But far more sad is the prophecy against Moab.f " I
will wail with the wailing of Jazer the Vine of Sibmah ;
I will water thee with my tears, oh Heshbon and
Elealeh : for the shouting for thy summer fruits, and
for thy harvest is fallen. And gladness is taken
away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the
vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall
Isaiah, v.
516 VINE.
there be shouting : the treaders shall tread out no
wine in their presses; I have made their vintage
shouting to cease."
Jeremiah almost repeats this lament. " O Vine of
Sibmah, I will weep for tliee with the weeping of
Jazer : thy plants are gone over the sea : they reach
even to the sea of Jazer. The spoiler is come upon
thy summer fruits, and upon thy vintage."
In the words of the vehement Ezekiel, how worth
less would the Vine branch be in itself for any kind
of work, or to fill the meanest office, much less to
bear leaves and fruit, without the protection and
nurture of the Vine-dresser; and how, if he cast it
into the fire, shall it be for any good? Even so
Israel in himself was a small nation, and only as his
chosen people could the Vine of Jacob flourish, and
his branches overspread the land.*
Yet, though the Vine flourish, and the grape
appear, if the root turn to another lord, "it shall
wither in all the leaves of her spring, "f
Reproving the common saying in Israel, " The
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children s
* The whole of the fifteenth chapter of Ezekiel.
f Ezekiel, xvii. 610.
VINE. 517
teeth are set on edge," with what majesty does the
prophet take occasion to vindicate the justice of God!
" Behold as I live, saith the Lord ! Behold all
souls are mine. As the soul of the father, so also the
soul of the son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it
shall die. But if a man be just, and doeth that which
is lawful and right, he shall live." And so through
the whole chapter, proclaiming justice, and preferring
mercy.
The minor prophets are not behind their great
examples in the beauty and exquisite propriety of the
imagery they have drawn from the Vine. But I have
already quoted examples enough. In reviewing the
various texts wherein the vineyard or its produce is
spoken of in Scripture, especially the Old Testament,
the curious antiquary may learn many particulars of
the manners and customs of the ancient nations of
the East; and there are also curious facts to prove
the unchanging nature of traditional custom, but these
do not concern iny present purpose.
In the New Testament the Vine shares with the lily
and the wheat field, the fig and the olive, the honour
of illustrating the parables of our Divine Teacher.
In the sermon on the Mount, he asks, in illustra-
518 VINE.
tion of the sentence concerning bad men, " by their
works shall ye know them/ "Do men gather
grapes of thorns?" And, in speaking the two para
bles, the first of the labourers, who, though entering
the vineyard at different hours of the day, received
each his just reward ; and the second of the rebellious
labourers, who first turned out their lord s appointed
messengers, and finally abused and slew his son,
how beautifully has the Preacher chosen scenes familiar
to the minds and senses of his hearers !
But beyond all the fruits of the earth is the fruit
of the Vine honoured and hallowed: Jesus himself
hath consecrated it.
The beginning of miracles which Jesus did, says
the disciple whom he loved, was to turn water into
wine, and to bestow it upon new-married persons;
sanctifying thus the first natural institution that holds
human society together, and that pre-eminently dis
tinguishes man from the rest of the animated creation.*
* " Hail, wedded love ! mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring !
By thee,
Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure,
Relations dear, and all the charities
Of father, son, and brother first were known."
VINE. 519
The last blessing bestowed on man, before his final
suffering, and after he had declared himself the true
Vine, was, in his character of a priest for ever, after
the order of Melchizedeck, to deliver through his
apostles unto all mankind bread and wine, saying, as
" he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to
them, Drink ye ALL of it ; for this is my blood of the
New Testament which is shed for the remission of
WILD VINE.*
Vitis Labrusca, Wild Vine, or Fox Grape.
Isaiah, v. 2. 4.
* The Wild Vine, the sour grape mentioned occasionally by the prophets
in Scripture, may be merely the Grape Vine left to grow wild and un-
trimmed. But it is more probably the Labrusca, which grows plenti
fully in Palestine, and in all the warmer parts of the temperate zone in
Asia. Its berries are smaller than those of the Wine Grape, and are never
equal to the fruit of the real Vine in flavour or sweetness. They were
chiefly used for making verjuice.
The Fox Grape, also Vitis Labrusca, is found in the virgin forests
of North America, along with the Vitis Cordifolia or Winter Grape, and
Vitis .ZEstivalis or Summer Grape. These are doubtless the Grape Vines
found by the old Northmen, whose adventurous voyages from Scandina
via and Iceland had carried them to several parts of the coast of America
centuries before the bold speculations of Columbus had led him across
the Atlantic.
WHEAT.
Triticum ^Estivum et Triticum Hybernum, Summer and
Winter Wlieat.
Linnsean class and order, TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA.
Natural order, GRAMINE^E.
WHEAT,
521
WHEAT.
Genesis, xxx. 14.
Exodus, ix. 32.; xxix. 2.; xxxiv.
22.
Numbers, xviii. 12.
Deut. viii. 8.; xxxii. 14.
Judges, vi. 11. 19.; xv. 1.
Ruth, ii, 23.
1 Sam. vi. 13.; xii. 17.
2 Sam. iv. 6.
1 Kings, v. 11.
1 Chron. xxi. 23.
2 Chron. ii. 10. 15.; xxvii. 5.
Ezra, vi. 9. ; vii. 22.
Job, xxxi. 40.
Proverbs, xxvii. 22.
Song of Solomon, vii. 2.
Isaiah, xxviii. 25.
Jerem. xxiii. 28. ; xxxi. 12.; xli. 8.
Ezekiel, iv. 9.; xxvii. 17.; xlv. 13.
Joel, i. 11.; ii. 24.
Amos, v. 12.; viii. 5, 6.
Judith, ii. 27.; iii. 3.
Eccles. xxxix. 2. 6.
St. Matthew, iii. 12. 17.; xiii. 25.
29, 30.
St. Luke, iii. 17.; xvi. 7.
St. John, xii. 24.
Acts, xxvii. 38.
1 Cor. xv. 37.
Revelation, vii. 6.; xviii. 13.
BESIDES those passages in Scripture where the spe
cific word Wheat * is used, Celsius and others would
fain consider all those where corn*)* is named as
implying Wheat, and also those in which parched or
dried corn J is found. The long and learned disser
tation in the Hierobotanicon on the general word
* Called Chittah.
f Called Bad. % Called Kali.
522 WHEAT.
Corn"* goes to prove from ancient writers, sacred and
profane, that it always meant bread corn, that is,
Wheat. But we must remember that the Jews used
a great deal of barley bread. We find, for instance,
that barley bread was presented to David for his own
use, and that of his army; and who can forget the
barley loaves of the New Testament? Bread was
also made of rye and of spelt or zea; especially in
Egypt, as we may infer from Scripture, and as
Herodotus positively asserts it. Therefore, perhaps
the general name Corn is the best possible translation
of the passages in question.
With regard to the parched corn, if the traditional
use of any species of grain goes for any thing, there
are few modes of eating the fresh ears more common
in the East, even now, than roasting or parching it
before the fire.f
* Gen.xli.35. 40.; xlii. 3.25.; xlv.23. Matthew, iii. 12.; xiii. 25. 29, 30.
Job, xxxix. 7. Mark, iv. 28.
Psalm Ixvi. 14.; Ixxii. 16. Luke, iii. 17.; xvi. 7.; xxii. 31.
Proverbs, xi. 26. John, xii. 24.
Jeremiah, xxiii. 28. Acts, vii. 12.; xxvii. 38.
Joel, ii. 24. 1 Cor. xv. 37.
Amos, viii. 5, 6. Revelation, vi. 6.; xviii. 13.
f I remember seeing a poor Hindoo, who, for some reason, was obliged to
make a short passage by sea. Cooking in the ship would to him have been
pollution : his whole provision was, therefore, a little bag of parched rice.
.
WHEAT. 523
Wheat would seem to have been native to the
western and central parts of Asia, whence it was
early spread over the greater part of the old world
by the migratory habits of the patriarchs of mankind.
It is first mentioned in Scripture in the account of
Jacob s sojourn with his father-in-law Laban. The
country of Laban, Padan Aram, was the northern
portion of Mesopotamia ; one of those elevated plains
to the southward of Caucasus whence the Tigris and
Euphrates take their sources, and where cities were
already built*, nations had become stationary, and
the plains were covered with cultivated grain. To
this day it is in those lands that bread corn is found
wild, though the cities are decayed, and only serve as
strong places for the fierce tribes who have long
spoiled the land.
Whithersoever the first who departed from the
original hive of man to form fixed settlements wan
dered, they doubtless carried bread corn ; seating
themselves first in the most favourable climates. A
few months sufficed the yet virgin earth to produce
the crops ; and even the tribes who followed a pasto-
Three of these cities were, Edessa, Harran or Charran, Carrhse, and
Archad or Nisibis. Harran was the birthplace of Abraham.
524 WHEAT.
ral life, and removed from time to time for the con
venience of their flocks and herds, rested while they
sowed their grain and gathered in their sheaves. And
many of the wandering tribes of the deserts, both of
Asia and Africa, still continue the practice.
Wherever any traces of the ancient patriarchal
government and priesthood were found, there was
Wheat cultivated. It was not to the Roman invaders
that Britain owed its bread corn : one of Csesar s first
acts on our shores was to rob the Wheat fields of
Kent, which had grown under the druid government.
Other grains were also cultivated here; and the
Gothic tribes, who had made their way from the base
of Caucasus to Scandinavia, had not been behind the
settlers of the South in spreading the blessing of
corn wherever they had raised a Runic stone.
The oldest sacred and profane books describe Egypt
as a country abounding in Wheat; and, to some of
the Egyptian colonies, certainly Greece, and probably
Sicily and Italy, owed their bread corn.*
* In very early times it appears that Wheat was by no means reserved
exclusively for the food of man. In the eighth Iliad, Homer tells us that
the horses of Hector were fed with Wheat, and the geese of Penelope were
fattened upon boiled Wheat. (Odyssey, xix. 667. Cowper s translation.)
WHEAT. 525
The Israelites, while wandering in the Desert, were
not without Wheat. Though suffering from occa
sional scarcity, yet when the tabernacle was erected,
and the ark of the covenant framed, fine wheaten
flour was produced in abundance for the sacred ser
vices ; the offering of righteous Abel, the first fruits
of the earth, being thus continued for a memorial.
How often, when the heart of Israel was ready to
faint, did Moses renew the spirit of the people by
reminding them of the land of corn, and wine, and oil
that they were to inherit ! How did the seer s dying
eyes rejoice, when on Pisga s topmost ridge he turned
from the glories of the city of the palm trees to the
nearer scene of the fields of Elealeh, the vineyards of
Sibmah, and the Wheat-covered plains of Minnith ! *
Instead of single spikes, such as we are familiar
with, the fruitful Wheat of Egypt and of Heshbon f
appears rather to be a cluster of spikes, numbering
many more grains than our best ears, but having no
other perceptible difference beyond the length and
* These, with the fruitful Heshbon, lay within a circuit of twenty
miles to the north-east of Pisga. For the Wheat of Minnith, see Ezekiel,
xxvii. 17. That of Heshbon is to this day the finest perhaps in the
world.
f Triticum compositum.
526 WHEAT.
quality of the straw. This, however, seems to depend
entirely on climate.
In the magnificent corn fields of Guzerat a horse
man may pass along unseen between the furrows,
so tall is the Wheat stalk. Throughout both tempe
rate zones Wheat is daily spreading over the earth.
The red man of America, the black African, and the
dusky native of Australia are already less dependent
on the chances of the hunting grounds, and the crude
productions of the boughs and roots of the forest.
The Wheat field, and the certain civilisation that
attends it, are encroaching on the mid prairies and
jungles; and where the savage yells of the hunter or
the howling of the monsters of the desert were alone
heard, the shouting of the treaders of the wine-press
and the gatherers-iii of the harvest is beginning to
make music like the shouting of Sibmahand of Minnith.
Christian piety, which received its faith and doc
trines from the sacred lands of Palestine, first con
veyed the temporal goods the corn, and wine, arid
oil of the promised land across the Atlantic, to feed
the countless numbers of generations to come; and
Christian commerce is now spreading them to every
land trodden by the foot of man.
WHEAT. 527
Wheat, and the bread made from it, accompanied
by salt, were offered before the Lord in acknowledg
ment of their first of temporal blessings, by express
injunctions of the law of Moses. Nor did even the
heathen neglect a like expression of gratitude. Whe
ther the religion were founded on the mystic dreams
of Bhoods or Bramah, the allegories of Egypt, or the
poetry of Greece, corn was indispensable in all sacri
fices to the gods, or to the spirits of the ancestors.
A Hindoo of our time lays apart the few first grains
of his scanty meal for his gods. The Greeks of
Homer offered no bullock without the salted barley.
Even in modern times the first sheaf from the Wheat
field, the first handful gathered by the reapers, are
consecrated to the feeling, if not the formal avowal, of
gratitude.
I never saw a prettier country festival than at a
mountain village overlooking the Campagna of Rome;
when the first sheaf of Wheat reaped in the valley was
brought, decorated with flowers and ribands, to the
chapel of the protecting saint, and placed before the
altar as the poor priest s share of the harvest.
In our Protestant country, the harvest home has
been quite a secular feast ; but many of its traditionary
528 WHEAT.
observances point to the heathen gratitude of our
ancestors as their origin. The first handful reaped
was called the maiden ; and this was saved, and was
carried in triumph with the last wain-load to the
barns, while the u shouting for the summer fruits
and the harvest " * filled the air with sounds of
grateful rejoicing.
I think we may infer from Scripture that barley
formed the chief bread of the labourers, mixed, pro
bably, with rye or spelt. But Wheat was in use among
the rich, and was furnished to Tyre as a regular article
of merchandise, according to Ezekiel.f Solomon sent
by treaty to Hiram a certain proportion of Wheat as
well as barley, for the sustenance of the woodmen em
ployed in cutting cedar in Lebanon ; and many texts
show how largely it was cultivated all over Palestine.
An expression in Proverbs informs us that Wheat
was sometimes mixed with inferior grain. " Though
thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among Wheat
with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from
him ;" a comparison taken, no doubt, from the com
mon custom.
* Isaiah, xvi. 8, 9. f xxvii. 17.
WHEAT. 529
We know from Pliny that both the Greeks and
Italians of his day mixed many varieties of grain
with their Wheat ; some with the idea of increasing
its wholesomeness, and others for the sake of their
flavour. Their bread was usually leavened; only in
Gaul and Spain, we are told, it was lighter than in
Italy, because it was raised with the scum of the liquor
made by the Gauls from grain. In fact, it was raised,
like our own, with yeast.
The Wheat usually grown in Palestine was pre
cisely that we see covering our own corn lands for the
most part ; but it would seem that in the southern
part of Jewry, as in Egypt, the Triticum compositum,
or many-headed Wheat, was, and is still, cultivated.
The fine Polish Wheat is large and productive, but
grows on too high a stalk to stand well in our summer
storms. In Naples and Apulia the Egyptian Wheat
succeeds well; but the best of all is the red spring
Wheat of Sicily.*
The leavened bread of the ancients seems to have
borne a great resemblance to our household bread;
but it must have been much coarser, if we are to take
* Sir Humphrey Davy found that it contained a larger proportion of
gluten than the rest
530 WHEAT.
as evidence that found in the ancient Egyptian tombs,
or in the ruins of Pompeii, and the descriptions left us.
The unleavened bread, of the East at least, must have
been like the soft Arab cakes, eaten hot the moment
they are prepared, or in the form of biscuit like that
with which the modern Jews celebrate the Passover.
Cakes of various kinds, mixed- with honey, nuts,
almonds, spices, poppy, and other seeds, were also
common ; and we are told that even lintseed went into
the composition of some of them.*
I have already mentioned, in speaking of the vine,
the merciful law that forbade the Jewish farmer to go
back for a forgotten sheaf, or to collect the scattered
ears of corn ; but to leave them for the stranger, and
the widow, and the fatherless. Perhaps there is not,
even in Scripture, a more touching tale than that of
Ruth the Moabitess, who followed her mother-in-law
back to the land of her fathers, and there reaped the
reward of her virtuous affection, while gleaning in the
fields of Boaz, in a marriage from which sprang, in
direct descent, and in the fulness of time, the Messiah !
the Christ ! Jesus ! who gave up his body to the tor-
* Pliny s Natural History.
WHEAT. 531
mentors for our redemption, and left, for a continual
remembrance of that sacrifice, the command to his
followers that they eat bread, man s daily sustenance
and the staff of his earthly life, as a symbol of Christ s
own body, thenceforth to be his spiritual food, while
they drank of the cup, the token of the blood which
was shed for the remission of sins.
\VHTTF, W1LLOAV
WILLOW.
Salix alba, White Willow.
Salix viminaliS) Osier.
Salix Babylonica, Weeping Willow.
Salix Safsaf?
Linnasan class and order, DKECIA DIANDRIA.
Natural order,
WILLOW. 533
WILLOW.
Leviticus, xxiii. 40. Psalm cxxxvii. 2,
Job, xl. 22. Isaiah, xv. 7. ; xliv. 4.
Ezekiel, xvii. 5.
THE White Willow is preeminently the Willow of the
brook ; and its large branches are well adapted for the
purpose enjoined in Leviticus, where, along with the
boughs of other thick trees, the Israelites are com
manded to make of them tabernacles in which they
were to celebrate one of their most solemn feasts.
The children of Israel still present Willows annually
in their synagoges, bound up with palm and myrtle,
and accompanied with a citron. And it is a curious
fact, that during the Commonwealth of England,
when Cromwell*, like a wise politician, allowed them
to settle in London and to have synagogues, the
Jews came hither in sufficient numbers to celebrate
the feast of Tabernacles in booths, among the Wil
lows on the borders of the Thames. The disturbance
* The old act of banishment passed in the reign of Edward I. was still
in force, though it would be easy to show that there were Jews in England
under both Tudors and Stuarts.
534 WILLOW.
of their comfort from the innumerable spectators,
chiefly London apprentices, called for some protec
tion from the local magistrates. Not that any
insult was offered to their persons, but a natural
curiosity, excited by so new and extraordinary a
spectacle, induced many to press too closely round
their camp, and perhaps intrude .upon their privacy.
This public celebration of the feast of Tabernacles
has never been renewed : and, in our time, the
London Jews of rank and education content them
selves with their own houses; while the Jews who
hold more to the letter of the law construct a taber
nacle either in a garden or court-yard, or on a house
top, with planks covered with trellis, so as not to
shut out the stars, and decorated with boughs of
Willows of the brook, and other thick trees, to which
are hung citrons, apples, pears, and other dried fruits,
gilt over and intermixed with artificial flowers.
Those who have no space to erect a tabernacle are
generally invited by some hospitable neighbour to eat,
at least once during the feast, in an open dwelling.
Of the Willows on the banks of the Jordan, a sin
gular use has been, and still is, made. A divining rod
was in ancient times a necessary implement of both
WILLOW. 535
priest and physician, nay, of every head of a house,
and these rods were generally of Willow.
It is difficult to say at what period the custom
began among the Jews, whether they carried it with
them from the land of Canaan, or whether they
adopted it in Egypt.* The present customs of those
Jews who profess to adhere the most closely to their
ancient traditions show the Willow staff to have been
a divining wand in truth. At the feast of Tabernacles
each person has a bundle of Willow branches in full
leaf, one of which he strikes against some part of the
house, so as to shake off the leaves; if they all, or
nearly all, fall at once, he augurs that his sins are
forgiven; if not, he lives in fear of misfortunes, or
even death, until another year brings a fresh divining
season. Some use the Willows to enquire whether
such or such an event as they wish shall come to pass ;
and some preserve them carefully, and, by the falling
off of the leaves, divine concerning the duration of
* The rods of Moses and Aaron, and of the Egyptian soothsayers, were
certainly divining rods ; and, as traditional customs are apt to outlive even
written history, the divining rods wherewith the miners of France and
Cornwall detect the existence of metals under ground, and the German
adept finds out the water-springs in the barren field, are indisputably
descended from the divining rods of Egypt and Arabia.
536 WILLOW.
the lives of those who are dear to them. In the pre
face to Sale s Koran, some curious facts are stated
concerning the customs of the Arabs, who, like the
Jews, cut Willows with which they divined, and
which they kept for a year, drawing various prog
nostics from the state in which the rods continued.
This practice is spoken of in the apocryphal gospels ;
where we are told that, when the virgins brought up
in the Temple were marriageable, the unmarried men
of the tribe they belonged to were commanded to
bring their Willow rods to the high priest, and lay
them on the altar, where a prayer of consecration was
said over them, and the rod which appeared freshest
after the prayer entitled the owner to the principal
virgin. Now when the Virgin Mary was of age, and
the rods of the young men of the tribe of Judah had
been offered, that of Joseph, the most advanced in
years, appeared to have budded and broken into leaf,
upon which the priest performed the ceremony of
marriage ; and Joseph received Mary, while the other
men of the tribe broke their rods for spite and envy.*
* Christian painters, down to the time of Raffael, attended to this point
of what we may call costume. In his beautiful early picture of the marriage
of the Virgin a young man is breaking his staif over his knee.
WILLOW. 537
The Salix viminalis, or Osier, is most probably the
Willow of the book of Job, wherewith he says behe
moth is compassed about. The Osier, as well as the
White Willow, is common on the banks of Jordan ;
and it must have been of considerable importance,
while the offerings of first-fruits were yearly carried
to the Temple, because the lawful vessels for such
offerings were baskets*, which the people generally
wove of peeled Osiers, while the rich and ostentatious
conveyed their offerings in baskets of silver.
The beautiful Salix Babylonica, or Weeping Willow,
was surely that on which the people of the captivity
hanged their harps, as the psalmist sings in the most
touching elegy that was ever indited.
As to the Safsaf f , it is mentioned as common in
Syria and Palestine, by Bruce and other travellers,
particularly Hasselquist, who says that, like our sal
low J, it grows in dry and sandy places, as well as
by the water.
Maundrel says that the flat ground on both sides
of Jordan, which probably formed the ancient bed of
* Deut. xvi. 2.
f Ezekiel, xvii. 5. The word translated Willow is Tzafzafa.
j Salix caprea. The modern English Jews prefer the sallow to all
other Willows for their ceremonies.
538 WILLOW.
the river, is so covered with thickets of oleander,
tamarisk, and Willow, that you do not discover the
river itself until close upon it. Pocock and Hassel-
quist also talk of the Willows of Jordan, and mention
that, at the annual pilgrimage made to the banks of
the Jordan, the pilgrims cut staffs of them.
Two places on the river are yearly visited, one by
the Latin, the other by the Greek, Christians, both
caravans being protected by Mahominedan soldiers.
The Latin Christians have pitched upon a spot as
being that where St. John baptised Christ, where the
river is so rapid that those who bathe in it are obliged
to hold fast by the Willows that they may not be
carried away, while the weaker sort content them
selves with standing on the bank, and procuring
pitchers of water to be poured over their heads.
The Greeks have chosen a place four or five miles
nearer the Dead Sea, where the river is less rapid, and
a good deal wider. Both parties are accompanied by
numbers of Jews, who gladly avail themselves of the
opportunity to visit Jordan in safety ; and it is curious
that Jews, Christians, and Mahommedans, are alike
eager to provide themselves with staffs from the
Willows of the holy river.
WILLOW. 539
The Willow, in all countries and in all times, has
been most useful to man. Its tough yet pliable nature
renders it fit for wattling the hut of the savage.
Baskets to carry and contain his food and other pos
sessions were indispensable. The ancient people on
the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates framed wicker
boats and covered them with skins ; such are even
now occasionally found at the ferries on those rivers;
and such were the first boats employed by our own
ancestors, whose coracles, for so these boats were
named, are now and then occasionally dug up from
the mud at the bottoms of our rivers, and show one
of the ingenious uses to which our forefathers applied
the Willow.
The bark of the Willow contains a good deal of
tannin, and is used in dressing some kinds of leather :
the delicate white wood is invaluable to the cabinet
maker, not only in its natural state, but dyed. It
takes any artificial colouring ; and is much used, where
ebony would be too expensive, for inlaying. The
charcoal of Willow is said to be the best to employ in
making gunpowder ; and the whole plant yields a salt
called salicine, which is said to be equally efficacious
with quinine for the cure of fevers and agues.
540
WILLOW.
But it is not only for its domestic uses that this
beautiful tree has been celebrated. The poets in all
times and nations have done it honour. It appeared
among the coronals of the heathen deities; and with
us it garlands the despairing lover. So Shakspeare s
Desdemona died singing of it; and so the Willow
growing " across the brook" helped. on poor Ophelia s
fate.
fc * " V
WILLOW KLOWKR.
But I will not dwell upon the Willow of the heathen
WILLOW. 541
farther, but refer again to the poetical passages in
the book of Job and the prophets, which I have al
ready quoted.
In more than one page of a former part of my little
book I have mentioned that, as the palm is not at
tainable in this country to celebrate the entrance of
Christ into Jerusalem, in Romish times the flowering
branches of various Willows, especially the sallow,
were used for that purpose ; and that the Jews, also,
present them in their ceremonies. English boys still
parade their sallow flowers, either in their hats or
hands, on Palm Sunday.
WORMWOOD.
Absinthium Santonicum Judaicum,
Artemisia Judaicum,
f Wormwood of Judcea.
Linnsean class and order, SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA SUPERFLUA.
Natural order, ASTERACE^E.
WORMWOOD. 543
WORMWOOD.
Deut. xxix. 18. Lamentations, iii. 15. 19.
Proverbs, v. 3, 4. Amos, v. 7.
Jeremiah, ix. 15.; xxiii. 15. Revelation, viii. 10, 11.
WORMWOOD of some kind is found wild in all parts
of Europe. The Artemisia Judaica, as its name
implies, is a native of Palestine, and was found by
Hasselquist on Mount Tabor. Some have supposed,
erroneously, that the Wormwood of Scripture is our
southernwood, a plant more fragrant, but less bitter,
therefore less fit for the use to which the sacred
writers have put it, namely, the comparison of its
bitterness with sin and its consequences.
How solemnly Moses invites the people to assemble
and take an oath to keep the law, while he is still
with them, " lest there should be among you a root
that beareth gall and Wormwood ! " *
Solomon warns the young man that the strange
woman, whose lips are as the droppings of the honey
comb, will have an end bitter as Wormwood. f
Jeremiah, denouncing the disobedience of the Jews,
* Deut. xxix. 18. f Proverbs, v. 3, 4.
544 WORMWOOD.
threatens them with being condemned to eat Worm
wood; and in his Lamentations he makes the faithful
to say, " He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath
made me drunken with Wormwood."
The prophet Amos, in one of his finest chapters,
exhorting the wicked to repentance, especially ad
dresses the corrupt judge who turns "judgement to
Wormwood." And who has not in mind the sound
of the . third trumpet in the Apocalypse, when the
star whose name was Wormwood fell and mingled
with the waters, so that many men died?
Such are the remarkable passages in which the
qualities of Wormwood, rather than the plant itself,
are named.
Among the ancients, Wormwood was esteemed as
a valuable medicine peculiarly efficacious in epilepsy,
and it continued in repute till of late years. The mo
dern Italians indeed still continue to distil a pleasant
bitter spirit from it, which they consider an excellent
stomachic.
With us it is mostly burnt, on account of the
quantity of potash it yields, from which the salt of
Wormwood is prepared.
THE END.
CORRIGENDA.
Page iv. line 5. of note, for " Scheutzer s " read " Scheuchzer s."
30. line 2. for " Gileadensis" read " Gileadense"
61. line 3. for " MONOGYNIA" read " POLYGYNIA."
68. line 3. for " TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA" read " MONCECIA TRIANDRIA."
line 4. for " CYPERACE^E" read " TYPHACE^E."
78. line 6. for " DIPTERACE^E" read " DIPTEROCARPE^E."
87. line 5. for " DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA" read " DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA."
105. line 3. for " MONANDRIA" read " ENNEANDRIA."
108. line 3. for " POLYANDRIA ICOSANDHIA" read " POLYADELPHIA POLYANDRIA."
112. line 4. for " CAROPHYLLE^E" read " CARYOPHYLLE^E."
123. line 3. for " MONOGYNIA" read " DIGYNIA."
147. line 3. for " DIADELFHIA" read " MONADELPHIA."
152. line 3. for " DODECANDRIA" read DECANDRIA."
192. line 2. for " AVELANUS" read " AVELLANA."
228. line 4. for " LILACEA" read " LILIACE^E."
249. line 3. for " POLYGYNIA" read " POLYGAMIA."
254. line 3. for <k MONADELPHIA POLYANDRIA" read " POLYANDKIA MONOGYNIA,"
269. line 4. for " ANACARDI^K" read " TEREBINTACE-IE."
287. line 3. for " TETRANDRIA " read " TETRADYNAMIA."
296. line 3. for " MONADELPHIA" read " MONOGYNIA."
306. line 4. for " RANUNCULA" read " RANUNCULACE^:."
344. line 4. for " LILACEA" read " LILIACE-*;."
375. line 3. for " TETRANDRIA" read " TRIANDRIA."
402. line 4. for " SALINACE^E " read " SALICE^K."
406. line 2. for " MALUS" read " PYRUS."
431. line 4. for " LILIACE^E" read " IRIDE^K."
467. line 3. for " POLYGYNIA" read " POLYGAMIA."
line 4. for " URTACEJE" read " URTICE^-."
483. line 1. bis, and line 7. ") ,,
484. line 2. and line 11. ] for Na P eca read "
line 7. for " SYNGENESIA " read " DECANDRIA."
line 8. for " DIANDRIA" read " TRIANDRIA."
line 11 14. connect " Paliurus aculeatus ~)
Hhamnus Spina Christi ] as ^longing to RHAM ?
" Lycium horridum T
01 - as be on<nnsj to " SOLANE^K.
Solanum spinosum J
532. last line, for " SALICAC^:A " read " SALICE^E."
542. line 3. for " Judaicum" read " Judnica."
line 4. dele the rule.
BS
665
Callcott
.03
A Scripture herbal
93572
