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PALESTINE.

list of such as Russell met with at Aleppo :

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heard in Palestine. There are a few species of birds, with | rials in this department of natural history; the best is a a gaudy plumage, but their notes are not melodious. The sweet plaintive note of the nightingale is sometimes heard, but oftener the harsh cawing of the crow." Professor Robinson, on the shores of the Dead Sea, likewise remarks, "We were not less surprised than delighted, to hear, (May 11th,) in the midst of the solitude and grandeur of these desolations, the morning song of innumerable birds. The trees, and rocks, and air around were full of the carols of the lark, the cheerful whistle of the quail, the call of the partridge, and the warbling of many other feathered choristers; while birds of prey were soaring and screaming in front of the cliffs above." Reptiles, turtles, or sea-tortoises, are plentiful along the coast of Palestine; fresh-water tortoises occur in the lakes, and there is also the land-tortoise. Frogs and toads abound in the marshy pools, and lizards of different species are very abundant. On the western coast of the Dead Sea, Professor Robinson states that "one of the guides killed an immense lizard, which we had at first taken for a serpent; it measured three feet eight inches from the head to the tip of the tail. The Arabs did not know it; but our Egyptian servants instantly recognised it as the waran of Egypt, the Lacerta Nilotica of Hasselquist and Forskal." The starry lizard, (Lacerta stellio) is that, however, which appears to be most common in Palestine, particularly in Judæa. The chameleon is likewise found here.

The Chameleon.

No serpents of large size are mentioned in Syria, and few of noxious qualities; those of the latter kind are in the hot months found in the open country. The cerastes, or horned snake, is said to be the most venomous reptile of Syria. According to Russell, vipers are not common in Syria. Scorpions, however, infest the houses; their bite

The Scorpion.

is followed by considerable pain for several hours, but the wound is seldom attended with serious consequences.

Fish. Travellers have afforded us very scanty mate

"Of different kinds of fish that I have observed," Russell states, "are carp, (Cyprinus rondeletii,) mystus niloticus, bellonii, barbel, (Barbus rondel.) nasus, tænia cornuta Schonfeldii, eel, (Anguilla rondeletii;) but none are in such abundance as what are called the black fish, with which the markets are plentifully supplied from the entrance of the winter till the beginning of March, when they are esteemed out of season. The sheat-fish is also sometimes to be met with, and is caught in a lake near Marash. The loche (Cobitis fluviatilis barbatula, Gesner,) is the most common; the barbel is less than those brought from abroad. The bleak (Alburnus ausonii) is known by two names; that is, there are two sorts of fish that appear to agree in every characteristic with the bleak, which nevertheless are esteemed different; the first, called mirmeed, seven or eight inches long; the second, teftef, is not above one and a-half or two inches. Chub (Capito sive cephalus) are plenty; roach (Rutilus sive rubellus fluviatilis) seldom large; gudgeons of three sorts (Gobius fluviatilis); the first is much spotted on the back, and called trukle; the second, kureetz, has fewer spots; the third, kalloor, scarce any, and is smaller than the other two. The mugilis (Mugilis vel cephali fluviat.) I am less certain of than the rest, but it agrees tolerably well with the description; doce, (Leuciscus Bellonii,) carassius, the phoxinus, (Phoxinus squamosus major,) also a fish called by the natives simak il inglese, from a corruption, I suppose, of Anguilla, as it has been commonly imagined to be a kind of eel, though upon examination it is found to be a genus hitherto undescribed; and two species of mystus. There are also crabs in abundance." Wilde speaks of flying fish off the coast near Jaffa. Red mullet, sturgeon, and two sorts of cod, have been observed in the bay of Scanderoon. At Tripoli, Burckhardt procured a list of the best fish from a French merchant; they were called dorade (Sparus aurala), rouget, loup, severelle, malaye, maire-noire, maireblanc, vieille; these names, however, appear to be merely local. The naturalists of the French expedition assign the following to the Mediterranean shore:-Three species of sargus, namely, the hoarse sargus (Sargus raucus), the common sargus (Sargus vulgaris), and the ringed sargus (Sargus annularis); the saw-fish (Sciena aquila), two species of perch (Perca punctata, and Perca sinuosa), the brazen serran (Serranus æneus), the salt-water barbel (Mullus barbutus), the sea-camel (Vomer Alexandrinus), three species of the genus Caranx in the mackarel family (Caranx luna, Caranx rhinchus, Caranx fusus), two species of real mackarel (Scomber quadripunctatus, and Scomber unicolor), and six species in the Linnæan genus of rays (Raia).

The inland waters, particularly the lake of Tiberias, are mentioned as containing plenty of excellent fish; thus Burckhardt speaks of the binny, a species of carp, and a fish called by the natives mesht, a foot long and five inches broad, with a flat body like the sole. Hasselquist mentions, among the fish of this lake, the charmuth, silurus, binny, mulsil, and spurus galilæus.

Of Mollusca, beside the more ordinary kinds, are found a species of cuttle-fish (Sepia loligo), and one of murex (Murex trunculus), which furnished the Tyrian dye.

Insects. The following species have been noticed in Palestine, and no doubt the list might be much enlarged by more accurate observation. The common beetle, carob-tree beetle, and Scarabæus sacer of Egypt; three species of cantharis, or blistering flies; two species of wasps, and two of bees; Staphylinus maxillosus, ear-wig, Mantis religiosa, the glow worm, five species of gryllus

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or grasshopper, including the locust (Gryllus migrato- | fond the Syrians in general are of the early fruits, I sent rius), the cricket, the water-scorpion (Nepa linearis), to my friends at Damascus a mule's load of these melons, which, according to Eastern fashion, is a very acceptable and polite present."

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The Water Scorpion.

the silk-worm (Phalana mori). Russell states there are some beautiful varieties of the moth tribe; ants are very numerous, as also the musquito and common fly.

BOTANY.

Most of the botanical notices that we have, have been drawn up rather for Syria than for Palestine; but there is sufficient general resemblance between the two countries to warrant us in applying their main features to Palestine also.

Russell, in his Natural History of Aleppo, mentions the following vegetable productions as cultivated in Syria:-"Besides Turkey wheat, barley, and cotton, they sow in the fields cicers (Cicer sativum flore candido), lentils (Lens vulgaris semina subrufo), beans (Faba rotunda), chickling (Lathyrus sativus), small vetch (Vicia minima), sesamum, ricinus, hemp, a green kidney-bean (Phaseolus minimus), called by the natives mash; musk melon (Melo vulgaris), water melon, a small sort of cucumber called ajour, fennel flower, fænugreek (Fænum græcum sativum), bastard saffron, (Carthamus officinarum), Turkey millet. Near the city, tobacco is planted in the gardens only, but in the villages ten or fifteen miles off, a large quantity is planted in the fields." In addition to these, we may mention, on other authorities, as cultivated in Palestine, the hairy-flowered yellow vetch (Vicia hybrida), and the several species of Lathyrus; as Lathyrus ambieus, Lathyrus sativus (blue chickling vetch), Lathyrus amphicarpos (earth pea), Lathyrus biflorus, and Lathyrus clymenum (variousflowered lathyrus).

The seasons of flowering or ripening of various productions have been incidentally noticed by travellers. The common bean is in blossom in January, the cauliflower (Brassica cauliflora) at the end of the same month. Peas blossom early in March; at the same time beans are full-podded, and continue to the end of spring. Celery sown in July is in March fit to be gathered, and the cauliflower has attained its full size and perfection. In April and May come in lettuce (Lactuca sativa), beans, peas (Pisum sativum), purslain (Portulaca oleracea), and two species of cucumber (Cucumis sativus), all of which continue in season till July. The bean harvest takes place at the end of April in the district of Haouran, where vast tracts are sown with this vegetable, and the product serves as food for cows and sheep. Melons become ripe about the latter end of June in the valley of the Jordan, particularly on the borders of the Lake Tiberias. Burckhardt states, "The heat of the climate would enable them to grow almost any tropical product; but the only produce of their fields are wheat, barley, dhourra, tobacco, melons, grapes, and a few vegetables. The melons are of the finest quality, and are in great demand at Akka (Acre) and Damascus, where that fruit is a month later in ripening. Knowing how

To the same season with the musk melon, Russell informs us, belong also the adder cucumber (Cucumis flexuosus), kidney-bean, Jews' mallow (Corchorus olitarius), esculent mallow, orange-shaped pompion, and several varieties of gourd.

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The same author mentions the potherbs cultivated in the gardens, which are, coriander, fennel, garlic, onions, leeks, parsley, celery, caraway, cress, fænu-greek (Trigonella foenum græcum), mint, and fennel-flower. But besides the vegetables produced by culture, the fields afford capers, borage, common mallow, sorrel, dandelion, watercress, and truffles. Savory, wild as well as cultivated, is much used by the natives to give a relish to bread. They pound it when dry, then mix a certain proportion of salt, and dip their bread in it at breakfast or after meals. Mustard, which is found in abundance growing wild, but is not cultivated, is little used except by Franks. The shikakool (Tordylium Syriacum,) or Syrian hartwort, grows plentifully in the fields; and liquorice is found in abundance towards the desert; and vast quantities of it is consumed in making a decoction, which is drank cold, in the summer, in the manner of sherbet."

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Melons, pumpkins, and cucumbers ripen abundantly in July. In Scripture, the name of the melon occurs but once, as that of an Egyptian fruit for which the Israelites longed in the wilderness, (Numb. 11. 5;) and the extent to which it is still employed gives force to their complaints. "The water-melon," says Hasselquist, serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic. It is eaten in abundance during the season, even by the richer sort of people; but the common people, on whom Providence has bestowed nothing but poverty and patience, scarcely eat anything else, and account this the best time of the year, as they are obliged to put up with worse fare at other seasons. They eat them with bread, and scarcely ever taste them ripe. This fruit likewise serves them for drink, the juice being most refreshing to these poor creatures; and they have less need of water than if they lived on more substantial food in this burning climate. This fruit also affords physic; but it is not every kind of melon that answers to this end. There is a variety softer and more pulpy than the common sort, and not so plentiful. When this is very ripe, and almost putrid, they hollow out a part of it, gather the juice then collected, and mixing it with rose-water and a little sugar, administer it in burning fevers, being the only medicine the common people use in such distempers."

The other species of cucurbita growing in Palestine are, (1,) the bottle-gourd (Cucurbita lagenaria,) so called from the shape of the fruit, as also from the use of its shell as a water vessel. It is much used stuffed with rice and chopped meat, and so boiled as a kind of pudding. (2.) The common pumpkin is too well known in this country to need particular notice; in the East it is said to be considered the most wholesome of all the cucurbita, and as such, is given to sick persons, as being cooling and diuretic. Cucumbers occur in the same passage of Scripture with melons, and only once besides, (Isai. 1. 8,) where the prophet speaks of "a lodge in a garden of cucumbers." They are cultivated abundantly in the same situations as the melon.

Beans may be had in Syria throughout the spring. The stalks are cut down with the scythe, and these are afterwards cut and crushed under the norreg, or corndrag, (a threshing instrument of modern Egypt,) to fit them for the food of cattle, camels, oxen, and goats. Beans,

PALESTINE.

when sent to market, are often deprived of their skins, as is the case also with lentils. Beans were undoubtedly in use among the ancient Hebrews. Basnage reports it as the sentiment of some of the Rabbins, that beans were not lawful to the priests, on account of their being considered the appropriate food of mourning and affliction. Basnage, however, does not refer to the authority; and neither in the sacred books, nor in the Mishna can any traces be found of the notion to which he alludes. So far from attaching any sort of impurity to this vegetable, it is described as among the first-fruit offerings.

From November to March the gardens produce cabbage, rapecole, spinach, beet, endive, radish, red beet, carrot and turnip. See GARDEN.

Fruit and Fruit-trees. The fruit of Palestine seems always to have been highly esteemed, and is early mentioned as a suitable present to a man of exalted rank; thus we read that the patriarch Jacob said to his sons, "Take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds." (Gen. 43. 11.) Yet in the country to which this present was sent, horticulture was sedulously attended to. The culture of the vine, the process of treading out the grapes, and the general operations of the vintage, are elaborately and minutely represented on the paintings and the monuments of Egypt, and we no doubt see in them the modes followed in Palestine also. Next to the vine the date-palm was the fruit-tree most valued by the Egyptians, and to this Solomon compares Pharaoh's daughter. "This thy stature is like to a palm-tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes." (Cant. 7. 7-9.) It was always planted in the driest and most exposed parts of the garden, and the dates are usually represented as growing in very large and rich clusters. Pomegranates were also a favourite fruit, and are particularly mentioned in Solomon's Song: "I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded." (Cant. 6. 11.) The fruit-bearing sycamore was an object of still greater care; its delicious figs were the favourite luxuries of the Egyptian ladies, and we also find them mentioned with regret by the Israelites in their murmuring against Moses: "Wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us unto this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink." (Numb. 20. 5.)

In Solomon's Song the budding of the fig-tree is represented to be simultaneous with the fruitage of the vine, and both are made part of the description of an Eastern spring: "My beloved spake, and said unto me, 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 of 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." (Cant. 2. 10-13.) The figs were not eaten fresh, but were preserved for winter food by pressing them together into a cake; we find these cakes mentioned among the presents which the wife of Nabal sent to David. (1Sam. 25. 18.)

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fruit in great abundance. Buckingham noticed, on the 16th of January, that the orange-trees at Ramla continued to be laden with their golden fruit. Gumpenberg also mentions that on the 1st of February he saw an orange-tree full of fruit and blossoms close to the lake of Tiberias. Oranges and citrons are also produced in the interior; D'Arvieux and Thevenot saw both at Shechem (Nablous.) The citron is supposed to be in the same condition as the orange during the month of January. The prophet Joel reckons the citron (tapuach) with the vine, the fig-tree, the palm, and the pomegranate as among the worthiest trees of Palestine. (1. 12.)

Wherever the citron grows we may expect to find the lemon, which is but a variety of it. The lemon-tree is accordingly found in Palestine, although it would seem to be more rare than either the orange or the citron. It was noticed by Pococke; Egmont and Heyman saw it in Galilee, at Hottein and Safat; Rauwolff saw it, together with the citron and orange, in a valley near Bethlehem. Another of the same family, the lime-tree, grows in the country. Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke and his companions received hospitable entertainment from a party of Arabs in and under the shade of a plantation of lime and lemon-trees.

Some of the winter figs, as they are called, remain in January ripening on the fig-trees, although stripped of their leaves, and such as then continue are gathered as delicious morsels in the early spring. The figs of the winter crop are longer in shape, and of a darker colour than those of the summer produce.

About the middle of February the almond-tree puts forth its blossoms, being soon followed by the apricot, the peach, and the plum. The orange-trees on the plain of the coast are laden with ripe fruit at this time, and no oranges, it is said, can be finer than those of Palestine. The apple and pear-trees are in blossom in March. The Jericho plum-tree, commonly called Zacchoum, because it grew formerly in the plain of Jericho not far from the supposed house of Zaccheus, and imagined by the Eastern Christians to be the tree which Zaccheus climbed to see the Saviour pass, is said "to afford its fruit" towards the end of March or beginning of April. Nau and Maundrell saw some on the trees about this time. Mariti says, "The zacchoum has much resemblance to the plumtree; its leaves are covered with thorns four or five inches long, the bark is knotty and shrivelled, green when it covers the tree, but turns yellow when dry. The wood is of the colour of box; and although not of so firm a texture, it will take the same polish and lustre. The leaves resemble those of the olive, but are straighter, more pointed, of a finer green, and almost prickly. The flower is white and fragrant. The fruit is a sort of large acorn without a calyx, inclosed in a kind of pelliclethis has little pulp, and is reduced almost to nothing when separated from the tree; but it contains a nut, the kernel of which has an abundance of oily matter."

The date-palm blossoms about the end of March or the beginning of April. (See PALM-TREE.) It is not quite clear that the doum-palm grows in Palestine; however as it grows not only in Upper Egypt but in Arabia, and even so near as the Sinai peninsula, it may be supposed that some specimens would be found in the plain of Jericho. Instead of one trunk without branches, the doum throws up two trunks, or perhaps more properly branches, at the same time from the soil. From each of these spring two branches which are frequently bifurcated higher up. The terminal branches are crowned

with bundles of from twenty to thirty palm-leaves from six to nine feet in length. The fruit of the doum, it appears, is not very different from that of the date-palm. The tree is in blossom in Upper Egypt in April.

Hasselquist speaking of dates, and of the value set upon them in Europe as a foreign luxury, says, "I confess they are good to taste once or twice; but though I have got over the age when such things please most, yet I would gladly give two bushels of dates for half a bushel of good Swedish apples, and am persuaded that I could find thousands in Egypt ready to make the same exchange."

Wilde mentions several splendid specimens of the carob-tree (Ceratonia siliqua,) in the plain near Mount Carmel, the fruit of which was perfected by the middle of March. The expressed juice, and also the pulp of the fruit, is much esteemed in the East. This tree has been named St. John's bread, and the locust-tree, from an erroneous notion that it furnished the Baptist with his food in the wilderness. The tree is an evergreen, and grows to a considerable size, affording, in its season, small flowers of a dark purple colour, succeeded by a four-cornered, smooth, fleshy, and many-celled vegetable of a sweetish taste, the shells of which probably formed the husks, which, although the food of swine, were viewed with longing desire by the hungry prodigal. (Luke 15. 16.) The fig-tree blossoms in March, while the winter fig is still on the tree. See FIG-TREE

Fruit and Leaf of the Fig.

The oleaster (Elæagnus Orientalis) gives its fruit in April. In stature and manner of growth it resembles a middle-sized millian. Schulze states that he saw the oleander this month laden with fruit, which differs much in size according to climate and soil, from that of the berry of the barberry to that of a plum.

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with straight spines, set by pairs at each joint. Its small yellow blossoms produce a round, edible, and pleasant fruit about the size of the sloe.

The white mulberry (Morus alba) produces its fruit about the middle of April; it is the source of wealth to the whole country of the Druses, by the quantities of silk which it enables them to produce. It is mentioned in Scripture, (2Sam. 5. 23,24; 1Chron. 14. 14,15,) and there is every reason to suppose it was anciently very common in Palestine. See MULBERRY-TREE.

The terebinth-tree (Pistacia Terebinthus) is in flower at the beginning of April in Palestine. The fruit is of the size of juniper berries, hanging in clusters, and each containing a single seed of the size of a grape stone; they are of a ruddy purple, and remarkably juicy; another fruit, or rather excrescence, is found on the tree scattered among the leaves, of the size of a chestnut, of a purple colour, variegated with green and white: on opening them they appear full of worms. The people of Cyprus believe that this is produced by the puncture of a fly. See OAK; TEREBINTH-TREE.

In May, apricots, which are extensively cultivated in the orchards of Palestine, begin to yield ripened fruits. The attention which is paid to the culture of this tree in Syria, is indicated on approaching Damascus by the nurseries of apricot-trees for the purpose of being transplanted into the gardens of that city.

Adam's apples, or plantains, gooseberries, and currants, are mentioned by Rauwolff, as cultivated in his time in the gardens of Aleppo. In Russell's time,

none of these were found there, but on the other hand cherries had become common; and strawberries had been brought from Europe, and were cultivated in chests upon the terraces. It is quite evident the ancient Hebrews were unacquainted with strawberries, gooseberries, cherries, and currants.

The common early apple ripens towards the end of May; and early this month fine large walnut-trees may be seen bending to the ground under their loads of fruit.

The zaarour-tree grows in considerable profusion in Syria and the southern deserts. It is also found in Palestine, at least beyond Jordan. The people of Damascus call it zaaboub. It bears a fruit like a small apple, very agreeable to the taste, with much of the flavour of the strawberry; it blossoms in May.

Burckhardt mentions the aszef while travelling in the Sinai peninsula. He describes it as a tree which he had already seen in several other wadys. It springs from the fissures in the rocks, and its crooked stem creeps up the mountain side like a parasitical plant. The Arabs say it produces a fruit of the size of a walnut, of a blackish colour, and very sweet to the taste. The bark of the tree is white, and the branches are thickly covered with small thorns, the leaves are heartshaped, and of the same shade of green as those of the

oak.

The nebek shrub (Rhamnus Lotus,) the lotus of the Lotophagi, grows abundantly in the plain of Jericho, and in other warm parts of Palestine. Its fruit is ripe in April, and is still wherever it grows, as much an article of food as in former days. Munro describes it as resembling in size and appearance a Siberian crab, in flavour like a bad mello wapple, but containing a stone like that of a cherry. It is a favourite food of the Bedouins; they grind the dried fruit, together with the stone, and preserve the meal in leathern skins. Lord Lindsay says, that they also make it into small cakes with water or milk. He describes the fruit, of which he ate in Sinai in April, as delicious. There are two other species of rhamnus which grow plentifully in all parts of Palestine. These are Rhamnus paliurus, or common Christ's thorn, and Rhamnus spina Christi, the Syrian Christian's The mandrake yields a ripe fruit in May. In Palesthorn. This Rhamnus paliurus is by some supposed to tine the fruit attains the size, and is of the colour of a be the plant which supplied the crown of thorns that small apple, ruddy, and of a most agreeable odour. was placed on the head of Our Saviour, and from the "Our guide," says Mariti, "thought us fools for suscommonness of this shrub in Palestine, and the pliable-pecting it to be unwholesome. He ate of it freely himness of its thorny branches, there is some probability in the conclusion. But the Rhamnus spina Christi also contests this distinction, for it grows up in several shrubby stalks, divided into slender branches armed

Grapes are gathered from the latter end of May until September, when the vintage commences. Early grapes were accounted great delicacies by the Hebrews, and were doubtless among the "first ripe fruits" which the bride in the Canticles desired.

self, and it is generally valued by the inhabitants as exhilarating their spirits." See MANDRAKE.

The plantain-tree (Musa Paradisiaca) exists in Palestine, but it is not common; it begins to yield its

PALESTINE.

fruit in June. The fruit is sweet, rather hard, between a pear and a date, a little viscid and mealy, melting in the mouth without chewing. It soon turns sour, and cannot in Egypt be kept five days after being separated from the tree. Rauwolff, Russell, and others, mention it under the name of Adam's apple, from a notion of the older naturalists and travellers that it was the forbidden fruit. The banana (Musa sapientum) is also found in the country; the fruit though less luscious than that of the plantain, is of a more delicate taste. Early figs, both black and white, ripen in the month of June. Melons become ripe and fit for use at the latter end of June in the valley of the Jordan, particularly on the borders of Lake Tiberias. See MELON.

At Damascus, in July, Monro states, "The peaches, nectarines, and apricots, hang clustering from trees of timber; the plum, which are of the old stock, whence come our damascenes, and which by the way are well spoken of by Pliny, are more than double the size of those in England. There is also another plum, not known with us, round and very full of juice, containing a stone resembling that of a cherry." The fruit of the plum-tree is ripe in July and August.

In different parts of el-Ghor and to the east of the Dead Sea, occurs the doom theder-tree, which is different from the doum or palm. Burckhardt says, "It bears a small yellow fruit, like the zaarour." Captain Mangles says, the tree "bears a small stone fruit, resembling in taste a dried apple." The tree has a very hard wood, and its bark resembles that of the lemon-tree.

Captain Mangles mentions a shrub which he found beside the brook Dara, which falls into the Dead Sea, that bears a fruit about the size of an almond in its green husk, and not very dissimilar in colour, but having several seams or ribs, like those on the fruit of the green pippin. When it ripens, the skin retains its roughness, but the furitbecomes soft and juicy like a green gage, and has a sort of sweetness mixed with a strong bitter. "By culture it might perhaps be improved to a pleasant fruit. Some said it was eatable, but others asserted that it was poison, and that children were frequently disordered, or even died after eating it."

Melons, pumpkins, and cucumbers, are ripe in abundance in July. The olive ripens in August; the fruit is of a yellowish green turning black as it ripens. See OLIVE-TREE.

Among other trees which yield their fruit in summer is the sycamore fig-tree (Fica sycamorus), the fruit of which much resembles a fig. The Egyptians as well as the Israelites were very partial to this fruit. Pliny and the older historians say that the fruit would not become perfectly ripe until scarified with an iron comb, after which it ripened soon, and Jerome (upon Amos 8. 14,) states, that without this or some analogous operation the fruit could not be eaten from its intolerable bitterness. See SYCAMORE.

The pomegranate-tree grows in Persia, Arabia, Egypt, and Palestine. The fruit it bears is very beautiful to the eye and pleasant to the palate; it is about the size of an orange, and contains within its ruddy brown and hard leathery rind, a number of cells divided by membranous partitions, in which lie closely packed in orderly rows the seeds or grains. The richly flavoured juice of the pomegranate is most refreshing and pleasant in the East; and the extracted grains are not only eaten, but are extensively used in the preparation of summer drinks (sherbets), to which they impart a ruddy or vinous tinge. The fruit is seldom ripe before the end of August, and in September most persons lay in a stock for winter consumption. See POMEGRANATE.

In September the Cordia sebesten produces its fruit,

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the sebesten plum. The fruit is shaped somewhat like an inverted pear, and is the only edible fruit (except that of the Cordia myxa) which the order of Cordiacea affords. The pistachio-tree (Pistacia vera,) is laden with fruit in October. It bears a very rich species of nuts which hang in clusters. They somewhat resemble almonds in appearance, but are of a much better flavour, and are therefore most valued by the Orientals. The tree when laden with clusters of the ripe smooth nuts makes a fine appearance; but at other times is far from being handsome. See NUTS.

The vine, and its produce, are treated of under other heads. See GRAPES; VINEYARD.

Flowers. Wild flowers of great beauty abound in Palestine, and are noticed by most travellers, (see FLOWERS,) but the cultivated kinds are but few. Russell, speaking of the people of Aleppo, says, "In their little gardens they cultivate the Dutch hundred-leaf rose (Rosa centifolia Batavia), monthly rose (Rosa omnium calendarum), which, by proper management, flowers about ten months in the year, a few plants of the passion-flower; and several kinds of jasmin, oleander (Nerium floribus rubescentibus,) and myrtle grow plentifully in all the watered parts of Syria, but here only by culture. Henna (Lawsonia ramis inermibus,) is kept in pots and preserved with great care from the inclemency of the winter, being much esteemed on account of its sweet-scented flowers; Spanish broom (Genista juncea), vervain, mallow, night-shade (Solanum bacciferum fruticosum), winter cherry (Alkekengi officinarum), and abundance of flowers, several of which have been brought there by the Europeans, and of which they are very fond; of these, the chief are the ranunculus and anemony, carnation, hyacinth, narcissus, violet, tuberose, African marigold, lupin, Indian bell-flower, marvel of Peru, columbine, stock gillyflower."

In other towns of Syria or Palestine where there happen to be Europeans, flowers are cultivated by them, and their example has some influence, but in general the natives are content with the beautiful flowers and shrubs which spring up on every side without culture; they usually cultivate only the fruit-bearing kinds.

The following sketch, by Russell, will give an idea of the general appearance and contents of an Oriental garden: "In the inclosures of the gardens at Aleppo, are seen the plane-tree (Platanus Orientalis), white poplar (Populus alba), common white willow (Salix vulgaris), another willow that bears a sweet-scented flower, called by the natives bean, from which they distill a simple cordial water much used. Hornbeam (Carpinus Mathioli), a very few oaks (Quercus latifolia), ash (Fraxinus excelsior), lilac (Lilac Mathioli), bead-tree (Zizipha alba), a very few of the nettle-tree; oleaster (Eleagnus Orientalis), tamarisk (Tamariscus Narbonensis), turpentine-tree (Terebinthus vulgaris), a very few medlars (Mespilus vulgaris), elder (Sambucus fructu in umbella nigro), roses of various kinds, thorns (Rhamnus prim.), balaustine-tree (Punica flore pleno majore), forming on the whole a wild and irregular but agreable prospect. The cypress-trees are generally planted nigh the house; the blackberry (Rubus vulgaris), also grows wild all over the gardens."

The statistics of Palestine have seldom been given except in connexion with those of Syria, nor can they advantageously be separated; accordingly under that head in this work there will be found a statement of the present condition of both countries, as well as an abstract of their history to the most recent period. See SYRIA.

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