whose united contributions make up the Jordan, we have looked into during these last few days; but the whole land is full of them:-those of the Dog River; of the River of Beirût; of the Damûr; the Owely; the Zahrany; those of the Litany at Baalbek; Zahleh, 'Ainjar, and Mushgarah; the great Ras el'Ain at Tyre; those of Kabery and the Naamany, on the plain of Acre; and of the Kishon at Jenîn, Lejjun, and Wady Kusaby; of the Zerka, near Cæsarea; and those of the Aujeh at Antipatris, and the Ras in Sharon. And thus we might go through all Palestine, on both sides of the Jordan, and enumerate hundreds of them-powerful fountains-the permanent sources of every river in the country. I have visited them often, and always with admiration and astonishment. Nor need we wonder that so much is made of them in the Bible: they are the glory and the life of the land, and they abound to an extent almost incredible. Many single villages in the mountains have scores of smaller springs, which run among the valleys, and give drink to every beast of the field. Some even boast of hundreds of these little sources of fertility. Many of these fountains have some peculiar characteristic about them. Some are tepid, as those along the shore of Tiberias; many are slightly brackish, and not a few are remittent or wholly intermittent. Of this latter class is Neb'ah Fûarr, the source of the Sabbatic River; the Menbej, east of Beit Jenn, the head of the second river of Damascus. The main source of the Litany at 'Anjur is a remitting fountain of a very extraordinary kind. But we must not make a pleasant subject tedious by too much detail. Enough has been said to justify the declaration of Moses, that this is eminently the land of fountains."

The cereals specially mentioned as characteristic of the "good land" are wheat and barley, species of corn which were to become the food of the rich and the poor. "Barley," Heb., shorah, will be particularly referred to under Ruth i. 22-which see. "Wheat" is given in our version as the translation of five different words, namely, bār, Gen. xlii. 3; dāgān, Ps. iv. 7-which see; riphōth, Prov. xxvii. 22; hhintin, Ezra vi. 9; and hhitāh in the passage under notice. Riphōth properly means "flour" of any cereal. In 2 Sam. xvii. 19 it is rendered "ground corn.' Hhintin is the Chaldee masculine plural used by Ezra for wheat. Hhitāh is the term for wheat properly so called, whether regarded as the plant, the seed, or as in the state of flour. Bār and dāgān are rendered wheat when they refer to the best kind of grain.

"Wheat," Triticum, belongs to the natural order Gramineæ, or grass family of plants. It is the most highly esteemed of the cereal

VOL. II.

Y

grasses, and has been very widely cultivated from time immemorial. It is first mentioned about two thousand years before the Christian era (Gen. xxx. 14). At that early date even it was in common cultivation. The native country of the cultivated wheat is not known. It has been found wild in Persia in circumstances removed from the influence of man. The high value set upon wheat is to be traced to its superior nourishing power as an article of diet. It contains more substance which speedily becomes blood than any other cereal grass. Thus its importance as food. This fact can be easily ascertained. If wheaten flour be mixed with water, and slowly passed through a very fine sieve until the whole of the starch in the meal has been carried away, there remains a sticky clastic substance known as gluten. When this is boiled with strong spirits of wine, a residuum is obtained which is found to be identical in every respect with the fibrin of the animal frame. The nutritive quality in wheat varies according to the suitableness of the soil for its growth. Some soils yield wheat which, while it may be long in the stalk and spikes, may yet be far inferior in its power to nourish to that grown on land well fitted for it. The finest of the wheat is not only that which is largest in the grain, but that which is most nourishing to man. The variation in the composition of wheat may be given thus:

When Palestine was characterized as a "land of wheat," it was implied that large portions of its soil was well fitted for raising wheat of the finest kind-see under Ezek. xxvii. 17. Travellers vie with each other in describing the fruitfulness of the land which now lies desolate. The capacity of the soil to grow richest crops of wheat has in recent times been fully tested; and though a blight rests on Palestine because of the sins of that people who crucified the King himself, it is still, as in the days when Israel took possession of it, a "good land." Even Volney, who travelled with the avowed design of casting reproach on the Bible account of the land, says-" It is rich and loamy, and indi

cates the greatest fruitfulness. Almost everywhere the earth is brown, and as fine as garden mould."

"Vines"-see under Num. xiii. 20; "Fig-trees," Gen. iii. 7; "Pomegranates," 1 Sam. xiv. 2; "Oil-olive and honey," 2 Kings xviii. 32. "Iron," Heb. barzel, has been fully noticed and illustrated under Gen. iv. 22-which see. Among the cuts given under that passage two forms of iron pyrites are introduced, namely, arborescent iron

Fig. 57.

Fig. 58.

Iron Pyrites, showing

faces of the Crystals.

Needle Iron Ore.

pyrites, and pyrites in cubes. The accompanying figure (57) indicates the appearance which pyrites assume when met with as octahedrons, or crystals characterized by eight triangular faces. Fig. 58 represents needle iron ore. All these with, so called, clay iron ore, are met with in Palestine.

"Brass," Heb. něhhōsheth, means "copper" in this place-see

also under Gen. iv. 22. In classifying the different kinds of copper, grey copper is mentioned along with white, black, red, velvet, emerald, olive, and tile ores. Fig. 60 shows the structure of another ore of copper, azurite. A peculiarly interesting and beautiful form occurs as copper glauce, or vitreous copper, as it is sometimes called, fig. 61. Its form is prismatic. In colour it varies from black to steel grey,

dusky yellow, and even indigo blue. The specimen represented here occurred in quartz rock.

Continuing his instructions, Moses bids them beware lest they forget

Fig. 61.

the Lord their God-" Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint" (ver. 15).

"Scorpion," Heb. akrav, Gr. skorpios, is mentioned four times in the Old and four times in the New Testament. It is ranked with the spiders, &c., under the class Arachnida. With another family they form the order Pedipalpi, or true-jointed animals (Articulata), whose front pair of feet are used as feelers. They give their name to the family Scorpionidae. The scorpions are all natives of warm

Fig. 62.

Scorpion (Scorpio Casar).

climates. They are found in the south of Europe, but are most abundant and grow to the greatest size in tropical regions. They are numerous in Palestine. Travellers in the desert frequently meet with them in summer and autumn among heaps of loose stones.

The last joint of the tail-like abdomen is terminated by an incurved claw, which acts as a sting. The poison glands are situated at the base of this organ, and their ducts run to its point. When in motion the, so called, tail is turned up over its back, and the sting is carried as if in the act to strike. The eyes are placed on the last joint of the body (cephalothorax). They are six in number, two in the centre and two at either side. The female, like other members of this class, shows great attachment to its young.

The sting is very painful and sometimes mortal. This, with the general appearance of the animal, has at all times surrounded it with feelings of dislike and fear. De Saulcy informs us that when one of his Arabs was stung

by a scorpion, he cut open the flesh where the wound had been made, poured some liquid ammonia into it, and gave the man a few drops to drink in a glass of water. The result was a perfect cure.

In the reference to this animal by the self-willed son of Solomon, there does not appear to have been more than the declaration that his oppressions would come to be as much dreaded by the people, if they were not submissive, as men dread the sting of the scorpion. There is no necessity for making out, that some kind of scourge bore that name (1 Kings xii. 11, 14). The enemies of the servants of God are compared to scorpions (Ezek. ii. 6).

With the "first rain and the latter rain" in its season promised by God to his people if they hearkened diligently to his commandments, weather was to be given favourable to the gathering in of the fruits of the land-" the corn, the wine, and the oil" (xi. 14). The general term translated "corn" is explained under Ps. iv. 7, which see. Like the word "corn (dāgān)," "wine (tirōsh)" is used in a very wide acceptation. It may mean grapes in almost any condition, and also certain preparations from the grape. Thus its meaning here is simply grape clusters. These are referred to, as is frequently the case, under the name of the juice yielded by them, as the olive is under the term "oil." The word occurs in Gen. xxvii. 28, 37-"God give thee plenty of corn and wine.' "With corn and wine have I sustained him." In both passages "corn" includes every cereal which was in that land used for food, and "wine" all the various preparations from the grape. In like manner Aaron's portion was to consist in part of "the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine and of the wheat (dāgān)" (Num. xviii. 12). The prophet, in the grand description of a terrible and wide-spread desolation, speaks of the new wine (tīrōsh) mourning, and the vine languishing. The picture brings out boldly the season at which this judgment was to overtake the earth. It was when the grapes were ready to yield their blood, and when the vine was in its beauty (Isa. xxiv. 7). The same prophet makes use of a like appearance in order to teach a widely different lesson. He describes the people of God as despised because of their sin, and in danger of being destroyed. But he wishes to convey the tidings that, notwithstanding all their iniquities, they still were loved by God. What God has blessed and will bless let not man destroy. Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of

I