ESHEL &y..A.:1) occurs in three places of Scrip ture, in one of which, in our A. V., it is dered grove, and in the other two tree. Celsius (ffiembot. i. 535) maintains that k'It.'; has always a general, and not a specific signification, and that it is properly translated tree. This, as stated by Rosenmiiller, has been satisfactorily refuted by Michaelis in his Suppiem., p. 134. If we compare the passages in which the word eshei occurs, we shall see that there is no necessity for considering it a generic term : the more so, as we find in the Arabic a name very similar to it, and applied to a tree of which the character and properties would point it out as likely to attract notice in the situations where eshel is mentioned. The first notice of this tree is in Gen. xxi. 33, And Abraham planted a grove (eshel) in Beer sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord.' The second notice is in I Sam, xxii. 6 : Now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree (eshel) in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.' Under such a tree also he and his sons were buried, for it is said (I Sam. xxxi. 13), And they took their hones, and buried them under a tree (eshel) at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.' In the parallel passage of I Chron. x. 12, the word alah is employed. This signifies a terebinth tree,' but is translated `oak' in the A. V. They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.' Celsius has quoted several authorities in support of his opinion that eshel is used in a generic sense, as R. David Kimchi, who remarks, 'Eschel est nomen generale (mini arbori :' and with reference to the passage in Genesis, Et plantavit Eschel, h. m. interpretatur : et plantavit plantationem.' So Rosenmiiller, though considering the term to be specific, says, ` We have the testimony of Rabbi Jonah or Abulwalid, in his Hebrew-Arabic Lexi con, that the Arabic term athle is not unfrequently used for any large tree, as was the word eshel by the later Hebrews.' The word athle which is cited, is no doubt the Arabic asul or athul.
The letter .1 is the fourth letter of the Arabic alphabet : its legitimate power appears to be that of th in the English word thin;:; but in the mouth of a Turk, Syrian, Egyptian, Persian, and a native of Hindoostan, it is either pronounced like an s lisped, or not to be distinguished from that charac ter. In a few instances it is pronounced like t (Richardson, Persian and Arabic Dictionary). In that work asl is translated a tamarisk shrub ;'lJ asalat, large prickly tamarisks.' In Il Instr. Lrimal. Bot. p. 214, we have said The Arabic name aszd or atul is applied to !liras (an arboreous species of tamarisk) in India, as to T. orientalis in Arabia and Egypt.' So in the Ulfzz Udwieh, translated by Mr. Gladwin, we have at No. 36, asset, the tamarisk bush, with 'jhaols as the Hindee ; and guz as the Persian syno nyme. The tamarisk and its products were highly
valued by the Arabs for their medicinal properties, and are described in several places under different names in Avicenna ; the plant being noticed under towfiz, and the galls, which are often found on it, under jouz-al-tooft, but which are also called chez znezech or kuznzezech. They adopt much of the de scription of Dioscorides, though the translation of Serapion no doubt errs in making ouzel the araxaXls of the Greeks. But Serapion himself, from Isaac eben Amram, says, Athel est species tamarisci.' If we refer to travellers in eastern countries, we shall find that most of them mention the athzd. Thus Prosper Alpinus (De Plantis ./Egypti, c. ix. Denman:sea atle vocata) gives a figure which suffi ciently shews that it must grow to the size of a large tree : Alterum vero tamarisci domesticum genus in rEgypto spectatur—quod ad magna= olivx mag nitudinem crescit ;' and says that be had beard of its attaining, in another place, to the size of a large oak ; that its wood was employed for making a variety of vessels, and its charcoal used throughout Egypt and Arabia ; and that different parts of it were employed in medicines. So Forskal, who calls the species Tamariscus orientalis, gives all as its Arabic name, and identifies it with says, Gallo: Tamaricis in officinis usurpantur loco fruc tus.' Belon (in his Observ. ii. 28), says, Tamad ces in 'Egypt° humidis ct siccioribus locis indif ferenter nascuntur ; illarum enim perinde in aridioribus locis reperiuntur atque in humidis lit toribus. Eae autem excrescentia quam Gallam nominavimus adeo onustm sunt, ut parum absit quin rami prx pondere rumpantur.' In Arabia Burckhardt found the tree called asul in the neigh bourhood of Medina, and observes that the Arabs cultivated it on account of the hardness of its wood. If we endeavour to trace a species of tamarisk in Syria, we shall find some difficulty, from the want of precision in the information supplied by travel lers on subjects of Natural History. But a French naturalist, M. Bove, who travelled from Cairo to Mount Sinai, and from thence into Syria, has given ample proofs of the existence of species of tamarisk in these regions. Thus, near Sinai, he says, ' Le lendemain, je m'avanfai dans la vallee el Cheick, presque entierement couverte de tamarix mannifera.' In proceeding from Suez to Gaza, in an extensive plain of barren sand, he again finds a tamarisk ; and further on, De la nous arrivfimes a quelques dunes de sable, ou je remarquai de tres gros Tamarix.' On the borders of Palestine, and the day before reaching Gaza, he says, Vers midi, nous nous arretames dans la vallee Lesare, bordee de dunes de sable mouvant, et remplie de Tama risc qui ont trois a quatre metres de circonference, et de douze is quinze metres de hauteur :' that is, in the very country in which Beersheba is sup posed to have been situated, we have Tamarisk trees, now called asul, where the eshel is described as having been planted.