various plants mentioned in the Bible are fully treated of in this work under their proper names. It is not necessary here to repeat what is said elsewhere, nor is it intended to give anything like a resume of the botany of Palestine. All that is aimed at is to give some of the leading features of the botany of the country—to mention some of the principal plants now existing, and the localities in which they abound. The diversity of climate in Palestine has already been noticed. There is a regular gradation from the cold of northern Europe to the heat of the tropics. This produces a corresponding variety of plants. Many of the plants of Europe, Asia, and Africa, are found in the respective departments of Palestine. On the mountain-tops of Hermon, Bashan, and Galilee, the products of the cold regions of the north grow luxuriantly ; on the coast plain are some peculiar to Eastern Asia ; and in the deep valley of the Jordan, African flora abound. * On the northern mountain ridges, and in Bashan, the oak and pine are the principal trees ; the for mer sometimes forming dense woods, and growing to a great size. The cedar is now, and probably always was, confined to the higher regions of Leba non. Among smaller trees and bushes are the juniper, dwarf elder, sumac (Rhos), and hawthorn ; the ivy, honeysuckle, and some species of rose are met with but not in great abundance. The cele brated `oak of Bashan' appears to be the Quercus ./Egilops ; it has a massive trunk, short gnarled arms, and a round, compact top. It also abounds in Gilead, all over Jebel el-Hish, and Galilee. An oak of another and smaller variety (Quercus Coccifera), growing in bushes, not unlike English hawthorn in form, and having a leaf resembling holly, but smaller, spreads over Carmel, the ridge of Samaria, and the western slopes of the moun tains of Judaea, sometimes forming impenetrable jungles. Intermixed with it in some places are found the arbutus, hawthorn, pistachio, and carob or locust-tree. Common brambles are abundant, as well as the styrax, the bay, the wild olive, and more rarely the thorny Paliurns Aculeatus, or ' Christ's thorn.' In the lowlands are the plane-tree, sycamore, and palm ; but none of them abundant. Along the sandy downs of Sharon and Philistia grows the maritime pine ; and on the banks of streams are the willow, oleander, and gi gantic reeds. In the Jordan valley, and along the Dead Sea, are found the nubk (Zizyphus Spina Christi), papyrus, tamarisk, acacia, retama (a kind of broom), sea pink, Dead Sea apple (Solarium Sodomeum), the Balanites ./Egyptiaca, and on the banks of the river several species of willow and reed.
The hills and plains of Palestine abound in flowers. In early spring large sections of the country are covered with them, looking like a vast natural parterre. The most conspicuous among them are the lily, tulip, anemone, poppy, hyacinth, cyclamen, star of Bethlehem, crocus, and mallow. Thistles are seen on plain and mountain in infinite number and great variety—some small and creep ing, with bright blue spines, others large and for midable, with heads like the `flails' of the ancient Britons. On the hills are also found vast quan tities of aromatic shrubs, which fill the air with fra grance ; among them are the sage, thyme, and sweet marjoram.
The cultivated trees and plants in Palestine in dude most of those common in Europe, with many others peculiar to warmer climates. The vine may be regarded as the staple product of the hills and mountains. It is still extensively cultivated; and those terraces now seen on the sides of valley, hill, and mountain, were doubtless clothed with vines in ancient times. The olive is scarcely less abun dant. It is found at almost every village in Western Palestine ; but its greatest groves are at Gaza, Nabulus, and on the western declivities of Galilee. It is not met with in the Jordan valley, and it is extremely rare in Gilead and Bashan. Some of the trees grow to a great size, though the branches are low and sparse. The writer saw an olive tree in the plain of Damascus upwards of forty feet in girth.* The fig is abundant, especially among the hills of Judah and Samaria. Other fruit-trees less common are the pomegranate, apricot, walnut, al mond, apple, quince, and mulberry. Date-palms are
found at various places along the maritime plain ; there are very few in the mountains, and they have altogether disappeared from Jericho, the • city of pains trees ;' though dwarf-palms grow at various places along the Jordan valley, as at Gennesaret. In the orchards of Joppa are the orange, lemon, citron, and banana ; and the prickly pear in great abundance formed into hedges. The principal cereals are wheat, barley, rye, Indian corn, and rice in the marshy plain of the upper Jordan. Of pulse we find the pea of several varieties, the bean, large and small, and the lentil. Among esculent vegetables are the potato, recently introduced, carrots, lettuce, beet, turnip, and cabbage. In the sandy plains, and in the Jordan valley, cucum bers, melons, gourds, and pumpkins are grown in immense quantities. Hemp is common, flax less so, and cotton is produced in large quantities. Mr. Poole states that indigo and sesame are grown in the valley of Nabulus (Yournal R. G. S., xxvi. On the botany of Palestine the following works may be consulted :—Shaw, Travels in Barbary and the Levant, 1808; Hasselquist, Voyages and Travels in the Levant, 1766 ; Schubert, Boise, 1840 ; Kitto, Physical Hist. of Pal. ; Russell, Natural Hist. of Aleppo ; also papers in Transac tions of Linn. Society, xxii.; and Natural Hist. Rev. No. v. ; and Smith's Did. of Bible, in art. Pales tine, the valuable paper on botany by Dr. Hooker, zoology of the Bible, like the botany, is fully treated in this work under the names of the several animals. All that is needed in this place, therefore, is to group together the principal animals at present found in List different parts of Palestine, referring the reader for fuller particulars to the separate articles, and to the works mentioned at the close. It may be remarked that comparatively little is known as yet of the animals of Palestine. The great majority of travellers who visit the country have not time, and even if they had they do not possess the scientific knowledge to minute researches in natural history. It is to be hoped that the recent expedition under the superintendence of the Rev. H. B. Tristram will add largely to our present store of information. As yet the results of his investigations are not known.
The Domestic Animals of Palestine are, with one or two exceptions, those common in England. The horse is small, hardy, and sure-footed ; but not famed either for speed or strength. The best kinds are bought from the Bedawin of the Arabian desert. Asses are numerous ; some small and poor ; others large and of great strength ; and others, especially the white kinds, prized for their beauty and easy motion (cf. Judg. v. 10). Mules are chiefly used as beasts of burden. As there are no roads and no wheeled carriages, the mules are the carriers of the country, and are met on all the leading thoroughfares in immense files, garnished profusely with little bells and cowries. The camel is also employed for carrying heavier burdens, for performing more lengthened journeys, and for traversing the neighbouring deserts. The best camels are bought from the wandering Arabs. The ox of western Palestine is mostly small andpoor, owing doubtless to hard work and insufficient food ; but the writer has seen great droves of fine fat cattle upon the rich pastures of Jaulas.n. There is a very tall, lanky, species in the plain of Damas cus, and in parts of the Hauran. Oxen are now very rarely slaughtered for food in the interior. They are mainly kept for field-labour and for `treading out the corn.' The buffalo is found in the valley of the upper Jordan ; but the writer has not met it elsewhere in Palestine. Large-tailed sheep abound, and form the principal article of animal food. Flocks of the long-eared Syrian goat cover the mountains in all parts of the land. They are the chief producers of milk and butter. The common street dog infests the towns, villages, and encampments, belonging to no one, though tole rated by all as a public servant—the only sanitary officer existing in Palestine. There is another variety employed by shepherds. Cats, like dogs, are common property, and are rarely seen domes ticated like our own.