it contains nothing but dust. And it may be reasonably inferred that this is the plant spoken of by ancient authors as bearing

The apples on the Dead Sea's shore,

All ashes to the taste.

The terebinth tree, or Pistacia terebinthus, which we have before met with in Southern Europe, and especially in the islands of Greece, is a native of Palestine, and is considered to be the species of tree rendered "oak" in our translation of the Bible. It is from these trees that the Terebinthine Vale, or Valley of Elah, obtained its name: a spot renowned in sacred history as the scene of David's victory over Goliath. “The husks,” which, in the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son, we find mentioned, "that the swine did eat,” are supposed to be those of the carob, or Eastern locust tree, which are still commonly employed in Palestine for feeding cattle. The sycamore tree of Scripture, (into which Zaccheus climbed, and of whose fruit the prophet Amos describes himself as 66 a gatherer,") differs totally from the species of maple commonly known by that name in our country, and is, in fact, a species of fig tree; bearing a sweetish, watery, and somewhat aromatic fruit, which comes to maturity at various seasons of the year. The palm tree of Scripture is the date palm, which in Palestine forms groves of exceeding beauty; and the "palm branches" which the people took, when they went forth to meet our Lord, on his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, were the leaves, or fronds, of this valuable tree.

Ancien and modern writers combine in rendering testimony to the beauty and fertility of this land. Tacitus speaks of the fruitfulness of the soil, exuberant in its produce, like that of Italy, and yielding the palm and balm tree. Justin also speaks of the exuberant produce of Palestine, and its beautiful climate. "Under a wise and beneficial government," says Dr. Clarke, "the produce of the Holy Land would exceed all calculation. Its perennial harvest, the salubrity of its air, its limpid springs, its rivers, lakes, and matchless plains, its hills and vales,-all these,

added to the serenity of its climate, prove this land to be indeed a field which the Lord hath blessed: God hath given it of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine.'"

Beautiful and fertile as was the land of Judea, it was not without some attendant natural evils, which, in the language of prophecy, are often introduced, both as threatenings of punishment to the disobedient, and as types of still greater calamities. Earthquakes, volcanos, drought, whirlwinds, the pestilential simûn, and the devastation of locusts, have all at various periods visited this country. The latter, emphatically termed the "army of the Lord," sometimes appear in countless hosts, occupying a space of two or three miles in length, by a mile and a half in breadth, and in such dense masses as to obscure the light of day.

The lion was anciently common in this territory; but this formidable animal appears to be unknown at the present day in this part of Asia. In a country so anciently, and so populously inhabited, as was Palestine, the native animals become in great measure lost to our view, and superseded by domestic species. Sheep, goats, oxen, camels, and asses, appear to have been included among the latter from the remotest antiquity; whilst among the wild animals, were the roebuck, antelope, hare, coney, jerboa, chamæleon (fig. 146), &c., &c.

To the south of Palestine lies the mountainous and desolate tract of Idumea, or the land of Edom, now included in Arabia Petrea, forming a strong contrast to the fertile regions we have just been considering. And yet, this land appears also to have been highly productive in ancient times. It is not, however, impossible, that its former fertility may, in great measure, have been attributable to the high state of cultivation, in which every part seems to have been maintained, in its days of prosperity. Be this as it may, the whole country is now nearly desolate, and its once flourishing cities laid in ruins, and almost without an inhabitant. This territory is remarkable for its bold and