ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. ; 



ing of awe succeeds to wonder ; for there is nothing 

 to reHeve the mind, to lead to hope, or to tell of 

 what has gone by." The cutting down of the date 

 trees of conquered countries was no doubt intended to 

 prevent the conquered people from resettling there. 

 This alone would be ample evidence of the importance 

 of the date crop in those days, and will more than 

 account for depopulation and subsequent ruination of 

 their temples and palaces. The depopulation of those 

 districts must have inevitably followed the destruction 

 of their food-trees. 



So useful and so important must the date tree have 

 been to those people, that one can readily understand 

 why it was greatly revered, and raised to the rank of 

 a sacred tree. The trunks of the felled trees, which 

 gave inferior fruit, would probably have been utilised 

 as pillars for houses, beams for bridges, etc. Although 

 the interior of the date-palm stem is soft and pithy, 

 its exterior is so hard and flinty as to chip the edge 

 of an adze used in squaring it. Rawlinson, in his 

 History of Ancient Egypt, Vol. I, p. 50, says, " The 

 wild date tree furnishes, and has probably always 

 furnished, the principal timber used in Egypt for 

 building purposes. It is employed for beams and 

 rafters, either entire or split in halves, and though 

 not a hard wood, is a sufficiently good material, being 

 tough and elastic." 



