ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 



5 



^ 



§ 



mn 



m 



m 

 hM 



The date tree is so characteristic that it is hardly 

 necessary to do more than refer to figs, i, 2, and 5, 

 which show the different ways artists 

 had of representing this tree. Some 

 of them resemble the first attempts 

 a child would make in trying to 

 give expression on paper to a tree- 

 thought. 



There cannot be much doubt that, 

 in Assyrian times, the date tree was 

 to be found in those regions, and Fig. 4. -Stump of date 



tree — No. 501, Gra;co- 



also in other parts of Western Asia, Roman saloon, Brit. Mus. 

 in immense numbers, and its fruit must have been, 

 from very early times, one of the most important 

 kinds of food, more especially to the great mass of 

 the people. 



The name of Palmyra or Tadmor would appear to 

 indicate the plentifulness, in later times, of this tree, 

 near that city. 



The shores of the Dead Sea also are said to bear 

 unmistakable evidence of whole forests having once 

 existed somewhere in its vicinity, or on the banks of 

 its tributary rivers. 



Layard ^ gives a plate representing the conquerors 

 cutting down the date trees of a conquered country. 



1 Monuments of Nineveh, ist Ser. pi. 73. 



