rivers, Naiades; those of the air, Auræ; and those of the sea, Nereids. Procopius says', that the people of Thule worshipped beings, that dwelt in springs and rivers; and that the Saxons originally venerated spirits of the downs and fields is sufficiently proved by Junius, who enters largely into that subject. The Abbé Barthelemy supposes2, and with a probability confirmed by Dr. Blair3, that the ancient poets, enchanted with nature, and yielding to that prevailing taste for allegory, which distinguished their age and country, gave names to the several rural and marine nymphs, significative of the influence, they were supposed to possess over the productions of the mind. III. The temples of the Greeks and Japanese were mostly situated in groves; and the Persians, who esteemed woods and forests the most proper for religious sacrifices, ridiculed their more accomplished neighbours, for building temples to their gods, who had the whole universe for their residence. The Athenians, much after the same manner of reasoning, would never build a temple to Clemency, because they thought her best temples were the hearts of men. Many circumstances recorded in Scripture occurred under the shade of trees. Thus the angel appeared to Gideon under an oak, in Ophrah; when he selected him, Gothic. lib. ii. 3 Lect. xvi. 2 Vol. iii. 261. 5 Cicero de Leg. ii. 26. to deliver the House of Israel from the army of the Midianites': and Saul lived for some time under a pomegranate, in Migron. The early Christians being reproached for having erected no temples, Arnobius inquired, whether it was not an insult to the Deity, to suppose that he could not be worshipped without confining him to an habitation ?— "Thou, O Spirit, who dost prefer, Before all temples, the upright heart and pure!" 4 66 Genghis khan could not conceive the propriety of erecting temples; nor could he imagine why God might not be every where adored. The same may be said of the ancient Spaniards, Scythians, and Numidians." Si templum Dei factus est," says Cyprian, quæro cujus Dei? Si Creatoris, non potuit, qui in eum non credidit; si Christi, nec hujus fieri potest templum, qui negat Deum Christum; si Spiritus Sancti, cum tres unum sint, quomodo Spiritus Sanctus placatus esse ei potest, qui aut Patris, aut Filii, inimicus est 5?" The Germans are said to have esteemed sacred even the leaves of the Hyrcinian forest. The natives of New Spain were accustomed to assemble under a tree, sixteen fathoms in circumference, to perform religious sacrifices and Smith assures us, that the Whidah Negroes, inhabiting a country, beautiful even to poetry, have a grove in almost every village; to which they retire, on : certain days, to make offerings. In the Philippine Islands, also, there are trees, which the natives regard with equal veneration. Most families have one or more growing near their habitations; these they never cut down; since they are not certain but that the souls of their departed friends may reside in them. As Antigua is without rivers, so is Morocco almost destitute of woods: hence it arises, that in that empire, as in other hot climates, shade has the most powerful charm in every landscape. The inconveniences, arising from the want of it, gave occasion to Girolamo Fracastoro to write his curious poem of Syphilus. The shepherd Syphilus was employed in watching the herds, belonging to Alcithous, king of Atlantis. One season, the rays of summer were so intense, that the angry shepherd, impatient under their influence, with many impieties refused to offer up sacrifices to the Sun; and, in revenge, erected an altar to his master, Alcithous. Stung with the indignity, Apollo infected the air with such noxious vapours, that the shepherd contracted a dangerous and nauseous disease, which affected his whole body. His various attempts to conquer his malady constitute the principal argument of the poem. The custom of adoring trees seems to have pervaded almost every nation, civilized as well as savage1. For the manner in which trees were respected in Persia and the East, the reader may consult Della Valle, Chardin, Maurice's Antiquities, Colonel Little's Narrative, and Lord Valentia's Travels. It was equally prevalent in 1 The Ashantees and Laplanders, however, people the woods with evil spirits. Vide Bowdich, p. 22. 4to. and Clarke's Scandinavia, p. 418. 4to. Surat', Nepaul, Java, Siam, Ceylon, Celebes, and Congo. The Galla shepherds of Abyssinia adore, in common with the sun, moon, and stars, the tree called wansey. When they choose a king, they put a staff, made of its arms, into his hand; and a chaplet of flowers upon his head. These shepherds, when engaged in war, fight not in regiments, but in families. 8 The Negroes of the Guinea coast have groves in almost all their villages; and a universal malediction R from every tribe would visit any one, who should be guilty of plucking, cutting, or breaking any of their branches. Greece9, and Eastern Asia1o, and most provinces of Italy", were equally distinguished by this habit of veneration. Nor are we to wonder at the esteem with which trees have been regarded. The vegetable world is of far more use to man than the animal: and, if we except the natives of the Arctic regions, who never saw a tree, and who never tasted vegetable food of any kind, not even bread, nor any thing allied to it, but the flesh of seals and sea unicorns, there is not a people upon the globe to whom the vegetable world is not of the most essential benefit. The Caffrees 12 make bread of the palm * Plucking a leaf from the kastuba-tree, and paying adoration to it, the leaf assumed the form of a beautiful woman; by whom Sàng-Yàng-Túnggal had four sons, &c. Raffles' Java, i. 373. * Knox, Hist. Relat. of Ceylon, Part i. c. 4. 5 Asiat. Journ. v. p. 248. 7 Bosman, p. 277. Ed. 1721. Archaelogia 10 De Idolatria. c. i. sect. 3. Græca, i. B. 2. c. 2. 11 Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. c. 1. 12 Patterson's Travels in Africa, 4to. p. 92. 1794. tree, from which they extract the pith, which they keep till it is sour, and then bake it in an oven. In respect to the use of the banana, a striking fact is recorded by Humboldt1, in the assertion, that one acre of them yield more than twenty times the aliment, which the same space would afford, if planted with maize, rice, or wheat. On the Congo, the mangrove burns better in a green state than in a dry one; and there is a plant, which burns like oil, furnishing, as it were, in itself, both the oil and the wick: while the Bay of San Barnabe, in the Gulf of California, abounds in plums, which yield, instead of gum or resin, a fragrant incense. IV. The cocoa is so productively useful, that an elegant writer 3, in recommending a mild and equitable government to be pursued in India, not only for the sake of humanity, but of policy, insists that the cocoa should be the emblem of our empire in the East. When old, that tree yields a species of oil, that is used for light; of its juices is made toddy; the cabbage answers many culinary, and the leaf many mechanical purposes. Its trunk is used for building; its fibres for cordage; and its shell for domestic utensils. And so valuable is it in a national sense, that one of the kings of the Maldive Islands sent an ambassador to Ceylon, when in possession of the Dutch, in a ship not only built, but entirely rigged out of cocoa 1 Personal Narrative. ' Vide Miguel Venegas, Nat. and Civ. Hist. of California, i. p. 43. Ed 1758. Quart. Rev. No. III. p. 99. |