EKES or JERES (11$) occurs in numerou€ places of Scripture, but authors are not agreed or the exact meaning of the term : Celsius (Hierabot. i. 106, sq.), for instance, conceives that it is a general name for the pine tribe, to the exclusion of the cedar of Lebanon, which he considers to be indi cated by the word Berosh. The majority of au thors, however, are of opinion that the cedar of Lebanon (Pinus Cedrus or Cedrus Libani of Botan ists) is alone intended. The discrepancy of opinion has on this occasion, however, arisen from the doubt whether Eres, in the numerous passages of Scripture where it occurs, is always used in the same signification ; that is, whether it is always intended to specify only one particular kind of the pine tribe, or whether it is not sometimes used generically. In the latter case others of the pine tribe appear to be intended along with the cedar of Lebanon, and not to its exclusion, as advocated by the learned Celsius. We are disposed to think that the different passages in which Eres occurs autho rise our considering it a general term, applied to different species.
But before proceeding to compare these passages with one another, it will be desirable to ascertain its modern acceptation, as well as the meaning which it bears in Arabic works on Materia Medica. In these such terms are generally used in a more precise sense than in general works, the authors of which are usually unacquainted with the correct appellation of the products of nature.
In the first place there is no doubt that the name are or ars (;) is, at the present day, applied to the cedar of Lebanon by the Arabs in the hood. Mr. Harmer, on Canticles v. 15, observes that the country people near the mountain call the cedar ars, which is very nearly the original name. But the same name appears to be applied also to others of the pine tribe : thus ' at Aleppo the tree is included under the name ars' (Niebuhr, as quoted by Rosenmiiller, Bibl. Pot p. 246). So we find the term alerce, that is al-arz, applied by the Arabs to a coniferous plant, a native of Mount Atlas, and of other uncultivated hills on the coast of Africa. The wood-work of the roof of the cele
brated mosque, now the cathedral, of Cordova, which was built in the ninth century, has been proved to be formed of the wood of this tree (Loudon's Arboret. p. 2463). From alerce the English name larch is supposed to have been de rived. If we consult Persian works on Materia Medica, we find the name ants or ores given as a synonyme of abhzd, which is a species of juniper : so, again, coma is described as duraikhe sunoburbe bur, that is, `the pine-tree without fruit ;' sunobur appearing as the general term for pine-trees, which are distinguished by the name of sunobur neghar, ' the lesser pine,' called also lunoob, and sunobur kubar, `the larger pine :' of this are given, as synonymes, nazov and chilghozah, which is the Pinus Gerardiana of Botanists. With the Arabs, as quoted by Celsius, I. c. p. 1o7 : `.) (arz) nomen generale est ad pini species designandas ;' and he further quotes Abu'l Fadli, as stating, Arz est arbor zanaubar (pinus) cujus, quoad omnes ejus species, mentionem faciemus sub lit. Z. si Deus volet.—Loco condicto hoc modo pergit : Zanaubar (pinus) est arbor magna. Gignitur in montibus, et regionibus frigidis. Ejus tres sunt species, mas nempe, et fcemina major, atque minor.' It is not ne cessary for us on the present occasion to determine what are the species intended by the Arabian authors. They no doubt sometimes follow Dioscorides, and at other times insert names and descriptions which will apply only to the species indigenous in the mountains of Persia. Different species of pine, therefore, will be adduced as the kinds intended, in different countries. We may also remark, as stated by Celsius, that the translators of the sacred Scriptures into Arabic sometimes use the term szinobar, sometimes arz, as the representative of errs.