This tree, sometimes called the date-tree, grows plentifully in the East. It rises to a great height. The stalks are generally full of rugged knots, which are the vestiges of the decayed leaves: for the trunk of this tree is not solid, like other trees, but its centre is filled with pith, round which is a tough bark full of strong fibres when young, which, as the tree grows old, hardens and becomes ligneous. To this bark the leaves are closely joined, which in the centre rise erect, but after they are advanced above the vagina which surrounds them, they expand very wide on every side the stem, and, as the older leaves decay, the stalk advances in height. The leaves, when the tree has grown to a size for bearing fruit, are six or eight feet long, and very broad when spread out, and are used for covering the tops of houses, &c. The fruit, which is called date, grows below the leaves in clusters: and is of a sweet and agreeable Р ler, has exhausted the whole subject of palm-trees. "The diligent natives (says Mr. Gibbon) celebrated, either in verse or prose, the three hundred and sixty uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit were skilfully applied." The extensive importance of the date-tree (says Dr. E. D. Clarke 94) is one of the most curious subjects to which a traveller can direct his attention. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia, and of Persia, subsist almost entirely upon its fruit. They boast also of its medicinal virtues. Their camels feed upon the date stone. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats, and brushes; from the branches, cages for their poultry, and fences for their gardens; from the fibres of the boughs, thread, prepared a spirituous liquor; and ropes, and rigging; from the sap is the body of the tree furnishes fuel: it is even said, that from one variety of the palm-tree, the phonix farinifera, meal has been extracted, which and has been used for food. is found among the fibres of the trunk, In the temple of Solomon were pilasters made in the form of palmtrees. 1 Kings vi. 29. It was under dwelt between Ramah and Bethel. a tree of this kind, that Deborah Judges iv. 5. To the fair, flourishing, and fruitful condition of this tree, the Psalmist very aptly compares the votary of virtue: Psalm xcii. 12, 13, 14. 94 Travels, part ii. sect. ii. p. 302. 95 In Mr. Merrick's Annotations, p. 194, taste. The learned Kæmpfer, as a is a very ingenious illustration of this pas botanist, an antiquary, and a travel- | sage. The palm is crowned at its top | Isai. v. 11; xxiv. 998. Theodoret with a large tuft of spiring leaves, and Chrysostom, on these places, about four feet long, which never both Syrians, and unexceptionable fall off, but always continue in the witnesses in what belongs to their same flourishing verdure. The tree, own country, confirm this declaraas Dr. Shaw was informed, is in its tion. "This liquor (says Dr. Shaw), greatest vigour about thirty years which has a more luscious sweetness after it is planted; and continues in than honey, is of the consistence of full vigour seventy years longer, a thin sirup, but quickly grows tart bearing all this while, every year, and ropy, acquiring an intoxicating about three or four hundred pounds quality, and giving, by distillation, weight of dates. an agreeable spirit, or aráky, acThe trunk of the tree is remark-cording to the general name of these ably strait and lofty. Jeremiah, ch. x. 5, speaking of the idols that were carried in procession, says, they were upright as the palm-tree. And for erect stature and slenderness of form, the spouse, in Cantic. vii. 7, is compared to this tree. How framed, O my love, for delights! On this passage, Mr. Good observes, that the very word Tamur, here used for the palm-tree, and whose radical meaning is struit or upright, (whence it was afterwards applied to pillars or columns, as well as to the palm,) was also a general name among the ladies of Palestine, and unquestionably adopted in honour of the stature they had already acquired, or gave a fair promise of attaining." A branch of palm was a symbol of victory, and was carried before conquerors in the triumphs 96: to this, allusion is made Rev. vii. 9; and for this purpose were they borne before Christ in his way to Jerusalem, John xii. 13. From the inspissated sap of the tree, a kind of honey, or dispse, as it is called, is produced, little inferior to that of bees. The same juice after fermentation, makes a sort of wine, much used in the East 97. It is once mentioned as wine, Numb. xxviii. 7; (Comp. Exod. xxix. 40;) and by it is intended the strong drink, 96 Aul. Gel. Noct. Att. 1. iii. c. 6. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. dier. 1. v. c. 8. 97 Plin. l. 14, sec. 19, and 1. 13. c. 9, et Philostratus, apoll. 2. people for all hot liquors, extracted by the alembic." Its Hebrew name is w SIKER, the Zukɛpa of the Greeks; and from its sweetness, probably, the saccharum of the Romans. Jerom informs us 99, that in Hebrew, any inebriating liquor is called Sicera, whether made of grain, the juice of apples, honey, dates, or any other fruit.' See SUGAR. This Herodotus, Hist. " Clio," § 193, in his account of Assyria, says: "The Palm is very common in this country, and generally fruitful. they cultivate like fig-trees, and it produces them bread, wine, and honey. The process observed is this: they fasten the fruit of that which the Greeks term the male tree to the one which produces the date; by this means the worm which is contained in the former, entering the fruit, ripens and prevents it from dropping immaturely. The male palms bear insects in their fruit, in the same manner as the wild fig-trees." Upon this subject, the learned and industrious Larcher, in his notes upon Herodotus, has exhausted no less than ten pages. The ancients whom he cites are, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Pliny; the moderns are Pontedera and Tournefort, which last he quotes at considerable length. The Amanitates Exotica of Kæmpfer will fully satisfy whoever wishes to be more minutely informed on one of the most curious and inter 98 See the Notes of Bishop Lowth, and Shaw's Trav. p. 143. ed. 4to. 99 Epist. ad Nepotianum de Vita Clericorum: et in Isai. xxviii. 1. esting subjects which the science of natural history involves. cities," he entered the desert which is above Syria, and, taking possession of it, erected there a very large This tree was formerly of great value and esteem among the Israel-city, distant two days journey from ites, and so very much cultivated in Judea, that, in after times, it became the emblem of that country, as may be seen in a medal of the emperor Vespasian upon the conquest of Judea: it represents a captive woman sitting under a palm-tree, with this inscription, JUDEA CAPTA. And upon a Greek coin, likewise, of his son Titus', struck upon the like occasion, we see a shield suspended upon a palm-tree, with a figure of Victory writing upon it. Pliny also calls Judea "palmis inclyta," renowned for palms. Jericho in particular was called "the city of palms," Deut. xxxiv. 3; and 2 Chron. xxviii. 15; because, as Josephus, Strabo3, and Pliny have remarked, it anciently abounded in palm-trees. And so Dr. Shaw, Trav. p. 343, remarks, that though these trees are not now either plentiful or fruitful in other parts of the Holy Land, yet, there are several of them at Jericho, where there is the convenience they require of being often watered; where likewise the climate is warm, and the soil sandy, or such as they thrive and delight in. Tamar, a city built in the desert by Solomon (1 Kings ix. 18; comp. Ezek. xlvii. 19; xlviii. 28), was probably so named from the palmtrees growing about it; as it was afterwards by the Romans called Palmyra," or rather "Palmira," on the same account, from Palma, a palm-tree. It is otherwise named TADMOR, which seems a corruption of the former appellation. 2 Chron. viii. 4. Josephus, Antiq. 1. viii. c. 6. § 1. tells us, that after Solomon had built several other 86 1 Vaillant Numism. Imp. Rom. Gr. p. 21. Scheuchzer, Phys. Sacr. on Exod. xv. 27. Vol. ii. p. 99. Tab. clvii. and on Job xxxix. v. 18. vol. 6. Tab. DXXIV. 2 Antiq. I. iv. c. 6. § 1. and 1. xv. c. 4. 2. and De Bell. Jud. 1. i. c. 6. § 6. 3 Lib. xvi. p. 1106. ed. Amstel. Upper Syria, one from the Euphrates, and six from Babylon; and that the reason of his building at such a distance from the inhabited parts of Syria was, that no water was to be met with nearer, but that at this place were found both springs and wells." And this account agrees with that of the late learned traveller Mr. Wood, who describes Palmyra as watered with two streams, and says, the Arabs even mention a third now lost among the rubbish. Josephus adds, that "Solomon having built this city, and surrounded it with very strong walls, named it AAAMOPA, Thadamora, and that it was still so called by the Syrians in his time, but by the Greeks "Palmira." Mr. Parkhurst, after quoting this passage, makes these remarks: "With all due deference to such learned men as may dissent from me, I apprehend that Palmira was a name first imposed, not by the Greeks, but by the Romans. There is no Greek word from whence this appellation can probably be derived; but Palmira from Palma, is the very oriental name translated into Latin; and as the warm climate of this city, and its enjoying the benefit of water in the desert, make it highly probable that its Hebrew and Latin names refer to the palm-trees with which it once abounded, so Abul Feda3, a learned oriental geographer, who flourished in the fourteenth century, expressly mentions the palm-tree as common at Palmyra even in his time. I cannot find that this city is ever mentioned by any of the old Greek writers, not even by that accurate geographer Strabo; nor indeed in the Roman history is any notice taken of it, till Appian, in the fifth book of his civil wars, 5 For an account of whom, see the Arabic authors mentioned at the end of Prideaux's 4 Nat. Hist. 1. v. c. 14. and I. xiii. c. 4, Life of Mahomet, p. 153; and Herbelot, and 9. Biblioth. Orient. in Aboulfeda. speaks of Mark Antony as attempting to plunder it. But for a further account of the ancient history and present state of this once noble and powerful city, I with great pleasure refer the reader to Mr. Wood's curious, learned, and magnificent work, entitled A Journey to Palmyra,' and shall only add, that the Arabs of the country, like the Syrians in Josephus's time, still call it by its old name Tadmor; and that Mr. Bryant tells us7, he was assured by Mr. Wood, that if you were to mention Palmyra to an Arab upon the spot, he would not know to what you alluded, nor would you find him at all better acquainted with the history of Odenatus and Zenobia. Instead of Palmyra, he would talk of Tedmor; and in lieu of Zenobia, he would tell you that it was built by Salmah Ebn Doud, that is by Solomon the son of David.'" As the Greek name for this tree signifies also the fabulous bird called the phoenix, some of the fathers have absurdly imagined that the Psalmist, xcii. 12, alludes to the latter; and on his authority have made the phoenix an argument of a resurrection. Tertullian calls it a full and striking emblem of this hope. Celsius, in the second volume of his Hierobotanicon, has devoted one hundred and thirty-five pages, replete with learning, to a description of the palm-tree, and an elucidation of the passages of scripture where it is mentioned; and Hiller, in his Hierophyticon, has thirty-eight pages. PALMER-WORM. GAZAM. Occurs Joel i. 4; and Amos iv. 9. Bochart says, that it is a kind of locust, furnished with very sharp teeth, with which it gnaws off grass, 6 Comp. Prideaux, Connect. part ii. book vi. anno 41. 7 New System of Mythol. v. i. p. 214. 8" Plenissimum atque firmissimum hujus spei specimen," De ress. c. 13. See also Clement. ad Corinthos. id const. apost. 1. 5. c. 8. Cyril. catec. 18. Epiph, in aneor. sec. 80. id phys. c. 11. Ambros. de fid. ress, &c. I rather think, however, that the Greek name иn was from Phenicia, because they first became acquainted with the tree from that country. corn, leaves of trees, and even their bark. The Jews support this idea by deriving the word from 112 GUZ or 112 GAZAZ, to cut, to shear, or mincé. Notwithstanding the unanimous sentiments of the Jews that this is a locust, yet the LXX read каμжη, and the Vulgate, eruca, a caterpillar; which rendering is supported by Fuller, Miscel. Sacr. 1. v. c. 20. Michaelis agrees with this opinion, and thinks that the sharp cutting teeth of the caterpillar, which, like a sickle, clear away all before them, might give name to this insect. Caterpillars also begin their ravages before the locust, which seems to coincide with the nature of the creature here intended. PANNAG. 5. Occurs Ezek. xxvii. 17, only. Some have thought this to be the name of a place; and perhaps the original of Phoenicia. Luther, Houbigant, Taylor, Dathe, and many others suppose the name to mean balsam. Mr. Dimock conjectures it to be the fig. Others are inclined to suppose it the valuable plant which Dioscorides and Pliny have described by the name of " panax,” from which was made a composition serviceable in many diseases; whence panacea became the name of a uni versal medicine 10. But, as the Syriac renders by a word which signifies millet, which panic resembles, Bp. Newcome translates by this latter word, from the similarity of its sound to 5. The panic was sometimes used for food. The Massilians, when besieged by Cæsar, "panico vetere omnes alebantur." B. C. II. 32. Though, according to Galen, it is dry and affords not much nutriment, it might be useful in voyages, because it could be preserved for a long time. PAPER-REED. GOMA. Occ. Exod. ii. 3; Job viii. 11; Isai. xviii. 2; xxxv. 7. For a particular description of this plant, I refer back to the article BULL-RUSH.-When the outer skin, 9 Rev. Henry Dimock, in a learned serm. on Matth. v. 18. Oxford, 1783. 10 Hiller's Hierophyt. part ii. p. 52. HAROTH, and means a meadow, or bark, is taken off, there are several | films or inner pellicles, one within a low, naked, open tract of land, another. These, when separated near a river. In Judges xx. 33, it from the stalk, were laid on a table, artfully matched and flatted together, and moistened with the water of the Nile, which, dissolving the glutinous juices of the plant, caused them to adhere closely together. They were afterwards pressed, and then dried in the sun; and thus were prepared sheets or leaves for writing upon in characters marked by a coloured liquid passing through a hollow reed. Plin. Ñ. H. I. xxx. c. 12. Herodotus, l. xi". This formed the most ancient books; and from the name of the plant is derived the word paper. "Papyrus, verdant on the banks of Nile, Its plastic pellicles INVENTION took, And on its folds with skill consummate To paint in mystic colours sound and thought." Mr. Bruce, in the Appendix to his Travels, has furnished a very particular and interesting account of the papyrus, its ancient uses, &c., with a beautiful engraving of the plant. In Isai. xix. 7, the word rendered in our version " paper-reeds," is In the 16th volume of the Archæologia, part 2d, 1812, are some particulars of the Egyptian papyrus, and the mode adopted for unfolding a roll of the same, by W. Hamilton, Esq. from which I extract the following account of the manner in which the paper was manufactured: "On an inspection of the paper, it is plainly perceived to be composed of the inner filaments of the papyrus plant, split into very thin layers; the coarser and thicker ends of these threads being cut off, equal in length to the breadth of the paper which was to be made, were laid parallel and close to each other; a coat of gum, or some other gluey substance, was then laid upon this substratum, and over that were laid transversely the finer and thinner shreds of the same reed. The whole mass was then amalgamated by a regular pres sure or beating from the fragile nature of the material, I should think the former mode most likely." The plant is called " El Babir," whence the papyrus, and our word paper. is translated "meadows." only that she often fails in her attempts to bring forth her young. To such disappointments she is greatly exposed from the position of her nest on the ground, where her eggs are often spoiled by the wet, or crushed by the foot. So he that broods over his ill-gotten gains, will often find them unproductive; or if he leaves them, as a bird occasionally driven from her nest, may be despoiled of their possession. As to the hunting of the partridge, which, Dr. Shaw observes, is the greater, or red-legged kind, the doctor says: "The Arabs have another, though a more laborious method of catching these birds; for, observing that they become languid and fatigued after they have been hastily put up twice or thrice, they immediately run in upon them, and knock them down with their zerwattys, or |