The peculiarities of the palm-tree are such that they could not fail to attract the attention of the writers of any country where it is indigenous, and especially from its being an indication of the vi. cinity of water even in the midst of the most desert country. Its roots, though not penetrating very deep, or spreading very wide, yet support a stem of considerable height, which is remarkable for its unifornaity of thickness throughout. The centre of this lofty stem, instead of being the hardest part, as in other trees, is soft and spongy, and the bundles of woody fibres successively produced in the interior are regularly pushed outwards, until the outer part becomes the most dense and hard, and is hence most fitted to answer the purposes of wood. The outside, though devoid of branches, is marked with a number of protuberances, which are the points of insertion of former leaves. These are from four to six and eight feet in length, ranged in a bunch round the top of the stem, the younger and softer being in the centre, and the older and outer series hanging down. They are employed for covering the roofs or sides of houses, for fences, frame-work, mats, and baskets. The tender part of the spatha of the flowers being pierced, a bland and sweet juice exudes, which being evaporated yields sugar, and is no doubt what is alluded to in some pas sages of Scripture ; if it be fermented and distilled a strong spirit or arak is yielded. The fruit, how
ever, which is yearly produced in numerous clusters and in the utmost abundance, is its chief value ; for whole tribes of Arabs a.nd Africans find their chief sustenance in the date, of which even the stony seeds, being ground down, yield nourishment to the camel of the desert.
The pahn-tree is first mentioned in Exod. xv. 27, when the Israelites encamped at Elim, where there were twelve wells and threescore and ten palm-trees. In the present day Wady Ghorendel is found the largest of the torrent beds on the west side of the Sinai peninsula, and is a valley full of date-trees, tamarisks, etc. Jericho was called the City of Palm Trees, no doubt from the locality being favourable to their growth. Mariti and Shaw describe them as still existing there, though in diminished numbers. 'The palm-tree was con• sidered characteristic of Judzea, not so much pro bably because it was more abundant there than in other countries, but because that was the first country where the Greeks and Romans would meet with it in proceeding southward. Hence the coins of the Roman conquerors of Judma have inscribed on them a weeping female sitting under a palm tree, with the inscription judwa capta' (vide Kempfer, .4mcrnitales Exotica; and Celsius, Hiero hot. i. 444-579).—J. F. R.