on the Red Sea. Vide FRAGMENT, on Ancient Ships.

If this tree yield wood for ship building, it might well yield wood proper for the construction of the ark, tables, &c. Being an Egyptian wood, there could be no want of it in the camp of Israel.

The bringing of wood for ships from India is remarkable.

ALMOND-TREE, called lous, or laus, is cultivated in gardens. F.

The name is the same as the Hebrew lus, and no doubt the tree is the same.

"The new flowers of the year were the renunculus ficaria, of which there was an infinite variety, without reckoning the almond-tree, which was white as snow, with blossoms. Why does the almond-tree expand its flowers before its leaves? Is it not, perhaps, because its fruit being a hard nut it requires longer time to grow in? This tree is the ornament of the hills; and accordingly it cannot fail of producing quantities of fruit, since it blossoms in a season when the weather is constantly serene, and it is not exposed to the rain, or to bad weather," Hasselquist, at Smyrna, Feb. 14. APPLE-TREE, is extremely rare. Is named tyffahh. F.

With every disposition to render the taphuach of the Hebrews by the citron, as now is generally done, we must acknowledge that this testimony of M. Forskall is a very great impediment. The name undoubtedly is the same; and it is a name remarkable in its formation. Celsus thought that the apples of Scripture were quinces, which he shows from ancient authors were golden in colour, delicious in taste, fragrant in smell, and refreshing beyond our quinces in England. I fear, too, that the names of the citron-trees are exotic, and betray their foreign origin, vide CITRON. Nevertheless, the apple-tree is extremely rare: yet in Joel i. 12. it is enumerated among the valuable, but not uncommon, garden trees, the vine, the fig, the pomegranate, the palm; does the citron or the apple best coincide with these companions? or must we adopt the quince? If we depend on M. Forskall we must revert again to the apple: perhaps this was cultivated by Solomon with peculiar care; and, as it grows with difficulty in hot countries, he might bestow even assiduous attention on it. It is now, after many efforts, raised in Bengal. Does its shadow, fragrance, refreshment, glowing colour, exceed those of the citron? or what species of it may best agree with these particulars?

ASH. This word occurs Isai. xliv. 14. The LXX

and Vulgate think it is the pine. As, however, it seems to denote a tree shaking as by the wind, a vibrating tree, perhaps we might look to some of those poplars which now are so common among us; or some of the larches, which tremulate, and whose

OBS. The leaves are ternated; the folioles sessile, and serrated at the apex; the lateral ones are less, oval, and oblique; the middle one is larger, of an inch breadth, inversely oval, narrowed at the base. The seed of the berry is enclosed in a case of a bony substance, almost as hard as a nut; the fruit a drupa, or olive; the berry, supported at the base by a calyx four times dentated, having the side marked with four longitudinal lines. This plant yields a most fragrant smell of balm. pulp of the green berry, on being wounded, distills a white balm.

The

The wood kafal constitutes a great part of commerce; and is brought to Egypt, where earthen vessels for carrying water are impregnated with the smoke of it, in order to contract a flavour of which this nation is very fond. The gum of this tree is a purging medicine.

There are two other trees only known to me by name, as the schadjeret el murr; that is, tree of myrrh; the other chadasch, which resemble those already described, if we may rely on my informers. F.

AMYRIS KATAF, which closely resembles the kafal, is said by the Arabs in the rainy month, called Charif, to swell, and at a proper time to shed a red sweet smelling powder, which the women of the country, Abu Arisch, where it is found in great plenty, sprinkle on their heads, or which they use to wash themselves with.

The fruit of the elcaja, which grows in the mourtains of Yemen, whose flowers resemble those of the citron, is mixed with those fragrant essences with which the Arabian women wash their heads. F.

Nothing is more inexplicable to us than the remark of the bride, Cant. v. 5. who, rising from bed, says, "her hands dropped myrrh, balsam, and her fingers sweet smelling myrrh, on the handles of the lock." But I think this extract may assist our conjectures on the subject. Observe. 1st, the word rendered sweet smelling signifies self flowing, dropping, what comes over, as a chymist would say, freely. Now, as we are not bound, that I know of, to restrain this to a juice, we may take it for this very "red, sweet smelling powder, shed spontaneously by the tree itself." Moreover, as the women of Abu Arisch cannot possibly use a powder, simply to wash themselves with, but must combine it with water, or fluid, or essence of some kind, we

shall, I apprehend, need only to admit, that in such an essence, which the bride calls balsam, she had recently washed herself, i.e. before going to repose; to perceive that this incident, so perplexing to us, because so unlike our customs, is perfectly agreeable to the customs of Eastern countries, and what in Arabia would have been nothing extraordinary. If the bride had only washed her head with such an essence, yet some of it might remain on her hands; but if she had, which nothing forbids, washed her arms and hands also, vide Al HENNA, then it might naturally occur to a person, fancying herself in a dream to be acting, that she should suppose her hands and fingers to shed some of this fluid, whereever and on whatever they touched. It appears that fragrant essences of several kinds are used by the women in Arabia, of which professor Forskall affords sufficient instances.

As the opobalsam grows in Arabia, I see no reason why it may not be the famous balm of Judea, mentioned Gen. xxxvii. 25; xlii. 2. and Jer. xlvi. 11. et al. the tseri. There being several other balmy trees, perhaps may have been the reason that this has any difficulty in it, since certainly we must admit the possibility of its being one of them. BECKA, an obscure tree; venomous. Its berries destructive to sheep.

BECKA, or ebka; djobla.

This tree has leaves rather ovated, smooth, entire; produces milk, and is poisonous. BEHEN, or BEN, a kind of nut from which is extracted an oil, which having neither taste nor smell is extremely proper for composing unguents and odoriferous balsams. For this reason the Orientals infuse in it jasmine flowers, narcissus, &c. and make a perfumed oil of it, with which those who love perfumes anoint the head, the face, and the beard. It is without doubt the same as Aaron was anointed with, and which David valued so highly," Hasselquist. [Compare Levit. viii. 12; Psalm cxxxiii. 2. also Psalm xxiii. 5; cxli. 5, 9. compare also, Psalm civ. 15.]

The tree grows on mount Sinai, and in Upper Egypt. The Arabs call it festuck and ban. May this be the necuth of Gen. xxxvii. 25? Having more than one Arabic name, I partly suspect it. BOX.

CAROB, CERATONIA SILIQUA. Arab. charub, which Alpinus and the shops called sweet pod, is not diœcia, as Linnæus describes the ceratonia, but hermaphrodite, having six stamina and one pistil: it has seldom seven stamina. I once saw it in flower at Alexandria. F.

Fisher says, Travels in Spain, p. 352. Eng. edit. be saw "men knocking down the carob fruit with long perches. These carobs, or algaras, are long black husks, containing a brown sweetish pulp, with which mules and cattle are fed. They are ex

tremely nourishing; and it is said they give the mules more strength to bear fatigue." CAMPHIRE. Vide Al HENNA.

CASSIA. CEDAR.

CITRONS. TURUNDJ BAELEDI. It has elliptical, oblong, serrated, and rather obtuse leaves; alated only at the beginning.

TURUNDJ M'SABBA; has leaves like the former, only shorter, and a more agreeable fruit.

OBS. I chose to enumerate so many species or varieties, eleven, that I might not incur the displeasure of gardeners. They are grown, principally, in the gardens of Cairo. I saw at Rosetta a garden rendered most delightful by the citron-trees: but I observed the ground was bare and destitute of grass; doubtless these plants emit very strong and penetrating exhalations.

The fruit, pomerants, of the narendj citron-tree, still unripe, and no larger than a nut, is cut into two parts, which are hung up by a thread, and dried; they are afterward thrown into oil, and exposed to the heat of the sun for forty days: this becomes a cosmetic, very acceptable to the women, with which they dye white, and even hoary hair of a black colour; and, unless wrinkles on the face prevent, they procrastinate a little the marks of old age. F.

For some observations which might be made here, vide APPLE. CYPRESS.

tivated in plains. Tin.

mulberry leaved. Lower and higher regions of mountains. Balis, Hadie, Kurma. DESCR. The leaves are longer than the petiole, half a span, cordated, oval, pointed, serrate, rough on both sides, alternate; two stipula, membranaceous, linear, lanceolated, erect. The fruit is eatable, but unpleasant.

There are many other kinds of fig-trees.

FICUS SYCAMORE, TRUE, true sycamore fig-tree. It has leaves widely ovated, bowed, or angulated; rather obtuse, smooth, cordated at the base. Arab. djummeiz.

This tree abounds the most of any in Egypt: it is planted on the banks, and along the ways near their villages; and branches out to such a distance, that a full grown tree furnishes a shade for a circle of forty paces in diameter; therefore a

row of trees on only one side of the way is sufficient.

The fruit does not grow from the branches; but shoots bearing fruit, and close together, sprout from the trunk itself, or from the wood of the largest branches. The inhabitants told me that the fruit came to maturity several times in a year, as often as seven times. I give credit to Hasselquist, a botanist and an eye witness, who affirms, that that can only be in the month of June; for this is to be understood of those figs that are eatable, and have the true seeds.

The sycamore figs are called by the Egyptians djumeis badri, that is, præcocious sycamores, because the others are not ripe before the overflowing of the Nile, whereas these are ripe about the end of the month of April. They are mellow, turning yellow, juicy, sweet; not fecundated or pierced by worms: the buds, however, are large and fleshy. The male flowers are closed to the centre point, which has a small aperture in the middle; and round the outside of that is marked a wide shining ring. This ring is not the work of the cynips, as Hasselquist thought, but is an impression of art; for when the fruit is arrived to the size of an inch diameter, the inhabitants pare off a part at the centre point, which place then turns black. They say that without this paring it would not come to maturity. They have knives formed expressly for this work, made round at the point, and only sharp on one side. If any figs are passed by and not cut, they become full of the cynips [insect] about the time of the overflowing of the Nile. However that be, I saw no seeds in those figs ripened by art.

In Arabia the fig-tree and the Indian tamarind are planted to form shades all over the houses. F. The reader will recollect the prophecy of Zechariah, iii. 10. "Ye shall call every man his neighbour under his vine, vide VINE, and under his figtree." Compare 1 Kings, iv. 25; Mic. iv. 4.

This extract furnishes much information connected with Scripture: as, 1st, that the mulberry leaved fig-tree is planted along the sides of the roads. Compare the instance of the barren fig-tree cursed by our Lord, which stood by the road side, Matth. xxi. 19; Mark xi. 13. 2dly, That the fruit comes to maturity several times in a year, so often as seven times. N.B. That this can hardly be restricted to one month, is clear, because seven times is too often for that space of time: but, as M. Forskall refers this to those which are eatable, and have seeds, both opinions may be reconciled, by saying, figs not prolific are produced in other seasons of the year. 3dly, That precocious, or early, figs are produced in the month of April; either, then, these are different from those referred to the month of June only, as we have supposed; or this testi

mony invalidates the former. The barren fig-tree of the evangelists, having leaves, was expected to produce, at least, figs of this inferior kind. 4thly, This seeming contradiction in M. Forskall is exactly similar to that of Mark, who says, March or April "was not a time for figs;" yet Jesus came seeking figs: so M. Forskall says "figs are ripe about the end of April," yet "they come to maturity only in the month of June." I notice this, because it shows that a contradiction so glaring is no contradiction at all: proper restriction regulates it to certainty. 5thly, The forming by art of a white shining ring on the fruit, which is done to cause it to ripen, explains the character which the prophet Amos attributes to himself, chap. vii. 14. "I was a scraper, or cutter, or parer, of sycamore fruit," to forward its maturity. This custom is clear, and full to the passage. 6thly, Those thus cut for ripening have no seeds. One would suppose, too, that they have little hold on the parent tree. So Nahum speaks of "fig-trees with the first ripe figs, which, if they be shaken, shall fall" easily. This disposition of the fig-tree to part with her untimely figs, precocious, as M. Forskall calls them, is noticed Rev. vi. 13. Vide Isai. xxxiv. 4; Hosea ix. 10. "I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig-tree at her first time." The time of the fig-tree putting forth her figs is a sign of spring, Cant. ii. 13.

The Hebrew name taan, agrees with the Arabic name tin, for one kind of fig-tree; sokam, sycamin, or sycamore, is another kind. I suppose this distinction to be correctly maintained in the Hebrew Scriptures.

At Devoulh in the Delta, in the interior part of the palace, was a court, wherein grew a sycamore. "The shade of a sycamore must always be reckoned, in Egypt, as a summer apartment, or lodging for the servants of a party," Denon, Exp. pl. xvi.

Under the sycamore. "Great use is made of the shadow of the sycamore in this hot climate,” Denon, Exp. pl. xxii.

"An Arab council held under the sycamore, the most advantageous shelter of the place," Denon, Exp. pl. lxxiv.

FIR-TREE. The EXPOSITORY INDEX, on 2 Sam. vi. 5. has hinted a doubt whether fir wood was intended by beroshim, rather than a musical instrument. On this article it is but fair to insert the following note from Dr. Burney's History of Music, vol. i. p. 227.

"FIR; this species of wood, so soft in its nature, and sonorous in its effects, seems to have been preferred by the ancients, as well as the moderns, to every other kind, for the construction of musical instruments, particularly the bellies of them, on which their tone chiefly depends. Those of the harp, lute, guitar, harpsichord and violin, in present use, are constantly made of fir wood."

KEURA, ODoriferous.

It is propagated at Hadie from the stocks, as they have no female tree: it was brought from foreign parts, no doubt by the Banjans, by whom it is pronounced keura; by the people of Hadie kadi, which, however, is a general name for different kinds of trees. At Mockha it is called kabua kadi. It is very often brought from Machrasch, a place to the east of the city of Zebib.

It is a very excellent tree, and cultivated on account of its smell, which it sends forth so rich, that one or two spikes are sufficient to perfume a spacious chamber for a long time, if they are kept in a dampish place; and therefore, the inhabitants do not take the trouble to plant them in pots and bring them into their houses, or to cultivate them in little gardens. At Beit-el-fakih, a spike having flowers is sold at the rate of 8 chomase, that is, of an imperial of Hungary.

In form it resembles the palm; but without spatha, long leaves; the boughs dichotomised; it has small white flowers, among which toward the ends of the branches, imbricated at the base, are male panicles, or catkins, amenta, branchy, naked, and extremely fragrant. F.

I have inserted this tree, because it appears to be some such extremely odoriferous tree, to which the bridegroom compares his bride, Cant. vii. 7. "Thy stature is tall, strait, erect, like to a palmtree; and thy breasts to clusters; thy breasts shall be fragrant as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy breath like apples." The flowers of the male palm are odorous, but its fruit I believe is not: may not some more strongly scented shrub be intended, since the comparison refers to perfumes? and is not the palm-tree, 60, 80, 100 feet high, rather too tall for the simile here used? The word tamar, the palm, signifies any thing tall: a heap, Jer. xxxi. 21. and pillars of perfumes, Cant. iii. 6. This is submitted as conjecture merely. LIGN-ALOES. From what we have said on the aloes plant, it is clear, that cannot be the "ahalim which Jehovah had planted," Numb. xxiv. 6. which our translation renders "lign-aloes." As we have thought that this expression together with others referring to the garden of God, Ezek. xxviii. 13; xxxi. 8, 9. and to the cedars of the snowy mountain, Psalm civ. 16; Ezek. xxxi. 3. refer to the original situation of Paradise, we must first ascertain that situation, and the trees which flourish around it, before we can determine this article. M. Forskall was told it was the SANTAL-tree of India.

MULBERRY-TREE.

MORUS, black. Gardens of Constantinople.

white. They are cultivated for their fruit; as they make no account of silkworms here.

Both trees have their leaves cordated; but the black has smaller and yellow leaves; the white larger, and dark green. Scions are ingrafted,

whence the fruit becomes milder; but that of the black mulberry-tree sharper. Bees resort in swarms to the blossoms of the white mulberry-tree.

MORUS, wild. Its fruit has little juice, but yields a greater quantity of seeds: on the contrary, the cultivated mulberry-tree furnishes a much more juicy fruit, and fewer seeds. F.

Whether the mulberry-tree is mentioned in Scripture has been doubted: the becaim of 2 Sam. v. 23. hardly justifies it.

MYRRH. Vide BALSAM-TREES.

Arab. mur. It is brought from Arabia. Bdellium is the name of an imperfect myrrh. NUTS. Vide WALNUTS.

When

OLIVE-TREE, cultivated every where; grows naturally throughout the Archipelago. PALM, DATE-BEARING. The palm-tree is an object of considerable attention in the gardens of Egypt. The trees are planted in spaces, 8 yards distant. They bear fruit the sixth year. young, they are covered with matts, in order that the leaves may coalesce with the trunk. Every year two strata of branches round the trees are cut off; by this their age is easily computed. The sex of the younger palm-tree before it has flowers is known by the lateral leaves, which in the female are triangular to the base of the leaf, the pipe reaching up as far as the base; but not to the apex. PINE. Isai. xli. 19; lx. 13. a tree of Lebanon. We want further information on this tree. POPLAR. The white poplar mentioned Gen. xxx. 37; Hosea iv. 13.

PLATANUS, or PLANE-tree. "Twenty-eight feet is the measure of the circumference of a platanus, growing at Stanchio. This tree has forty-seven branches, each of a fathom in thickness; they are supported by pillars of stone, and cover a terrace, and about a score of houses. I fancied, in beholding it, that I was surveying the most extensive, the most ancient, and the most remarkable tree which the vegetable kingdom has produced," Hasselquist, Letter xviii. May, 1750.

The reader will see how fit this tree, the platane is, by its extent and its shadow, for meetings, conferences, &c. beneath it, as suggested, EXPOSITORY INDEX.

ROSE-TREE.

Gardens of Constantinople. Bavigλ, called by the Turks anmi seriul.

It has a double white flower. The folioles lanceolated and sharp. It rises to the height of the houses.

ephemeron, or day rose. Gardens of Constantinople. Called by the Turks symbadjal: the same by the Greeks. Its folioles are somewhat ovated and obtuse. It has flowers once every year : the flower being expanded, becomes red before noon; in the afternoon it is pale, the next day white.

SYCAMORE. Vide FIG-TREE.

TAMARIX, ORIENTAL. The branches and shoots are articulated, the sheaths of the branches cylindrical, having one point formed in scales; the longest shoots are bare and articulated, having cylindrical sheaths, and one point at the joints.

OBS. The flower has five and even six stamina, three pistils.

It differs from the French tamarisk; the branches of which are scaled, having alternafe, sessile, lanceolated scales; the shoots are short. and imbricated; it has folioles lanceolated, and close together. Arab. atl; Hebrew N. Alpinus has lately delineated the tree, not, however, very accurately.

The galls of the tamarisk are used in the shops instead of the fruit. A peculiar horned CICADA, cricket, resides in this tree. TAMARISK, the wood is employed to make nails. TEIL.

TEREBINTHUS, PISTACIA. It has leaves unequally pinnated, and somewhat ovated.

OBS. The folioles are ovated, lanceolated, running down. It is called by the Europeans terebinth, but I saw no flowers. It is planted along the ways, and in gardens every where in Natolia: Greek, Exivos.

VINE, wine-bearing. Borghas fountain, TрEVEλα. It grows spontaneously, is full of branches, and runs up the highest trees, twisting round them in a wonderful manner, and following them with its branches. Its fruit is oval-globose.

WALNUT. Supposed to be the nuts of Canticles vi. 11.

WILLOW, SALIX, of Babylon. Gardens of Constantinople. It has its boughs hanging down. frail. Ibid. Its boughs are erect. white. Ibid. Γελιγια.

The leaves above are not very rough, underneath they are whitish.

smooth. At the Dardanelles. The leaves serrated-lanceolated, and smooth. The willow is called ran and chalaf.

1. Apparently without wings.
ANTS.

ANT of Solomon. Like to our common ants, but larger. It makes burrows under the earth. Not infrequent at Alexandria.

the devourer.

Is among the smallest. Its body hairy.

Camphire expels them.

malignant, kaamus. Is venomous; the pain it occasions is like the bite of a scorpion; which is removed by washing it with the recent juice of the basilicus. F. Vide on Ezek. ii. 6. and Hosea iv. 16. EXPOSITORY INDEX.

the red, kaas. Less than the former. Inhabits wood; is in reputation among the husbandmen for the useful hatred with which it pursues the dharr, ant, which greatly infests the date-trees. To this labour, the price of heml, a heap, a pile, acervatim (a camel's load,) further conduces; which is worth an imperial.

the black, maintains a continual war with the red; but is inferior in strength. F.

I cannot let this article pass without observing the phraseology used in it: "a pile, acervatim, is worth an imperial :" this pile is called heml: but, we should not have known what this heml might be, or its application to the subject, had it not been explained in a parenthesis, as "a camel's

load." I infer, that the manner of calculating quantities by heaps, is yet extant in the East; and therefore, that what we have said on this subject, in EXPOSITORY INDEX, on Samson and Abigail, &c. 2 Kings, vi. 25. is not undeserving notice. If small subjects, such as ants, frogs, figs, &c. were heaped in piles, then we may understand Samson as saying that he beat his enemies into such small particles otherwise, that his enemies were beaten in so great numbers, that they lay heaped on one another into piles: this agrees with the piles of frogs in Egypt; and with the pile of ants before us, and it shows, at least, the possibility that the "ass's head" of our translation, was a pile, of such small seed as chickpeas, or tares, &c. Moreover, if we may venture to take the Hebrew word for pile, [ass, q. ass-LOAD] as analogous in quantity to the Arabic heml, "camel's load," we may estimate its contents accordingly; and this, in all probability, was not so much as an ass could carry, as an extraordinary burden, but a determinate quantity: for as our own expression of an ass load, or a horse load, does not imply the whole weight which either of those animals can carry, but a fit load for a horse, or an ass, i.e. somewhat more than is proper to be carried by a man; so, perhaps, the pile or heap might not exceed two or three bushels, and possibly, in the instance of Abigail, not so much, as the word is plural there.

FLEA, needs no description or enlargement.