of the Terrestrial Globe. 225 



Jews ate the dates, and prepared them as dry fruits. They also 

 obtained from them a kind of honey, and a fermented Hquor. 

 The Hebrew money exhibits distinct representations of palm- 

 trees covered with fruit. Pliny, Theophrastus, Tacitus, Jose- 

 phus, Strabo, and others, have all made mention of woods of 

 palm-trees in Palestine. There is no room, then, to doubt 

 that this tree was cultivated, on a large scale, by the Jews. 



In exactly the same way, we find that there are documents 

 concerning the vine; and they shew that it was cultivated, not 

 only that they might eat grapes, but also that they might make 

 wine. Every one remembers the cluster which the messengers 

 of Moses gathered in the land of Canaan, and which required 

 two men to carry it. In twenty passages in the Bible, mention 

 is made of the vineyards of Palestine ; and the feast of taberna- 

 cles was celebrated after the vintage was passed. The book of 

 Genesis speaks of the wines of Juda ; and we know that the 

 vine was not only cultivated in the northern and mountainous 

 parts of the country, since frequent mention is made of the vines 

 and wines of the vallei/ of Engaddi, We may allude also to the 

 testimony of Strabo and Diodorus, for both boast much of the 

 vines of Juda. Finally, we may add that grapes are figured as 

 a symbol on the Jewish money, quite as frequently as the palm. 



To repeat then, it is well established that in the most ancient 

 times, the palm and the vine were simultaiieoasly cultivated in 

 the Valleys of Palestine. 



Let us now, then, examine what degree of heat the ripening 

 of the date and of the grape requires. 



At Palermo^ whose mean temperature is nearly ^9.°,W Fahr. 

 the date grows, but its fruit does not ripen. 



At Catania, with a mean temperature of 64}°.6' and ^^.9! the 

 dates are not eatable. 



At Algiers, whose mean temperature is about 70°, the dates 

 ripen well. Nevertheless they are assuredly better in the inte- 

 rior of the country. 



In reviewing these data, we may assert, that at Jerusalem, 

 in whose environs the date was largely cultivated, at a time 

 when the fruit of this tree served as the food of the popula- 

 tion, the mean temperature was not under that of Algiers, 

 where the date ripens and nothing more. This, then, would in- 



