76 FLORA OF THE 



the holy water of the Ganges, and of the sacred 

 Well of Benares. The sacred Well of ' Zemzem,' in a 

 temple at Meccah, corresponds to that of the sacred 

 Well of Benares. The ' Zemzem' water is used by the 

 Arabs and Egyptians for sprinkling over grave-clothes, 

 not improbably with the intention of giving the soul of 

 the deceased a safe passport into the other world, and 

 preventing it from being bothered on its way there. 



Count d'Alviella (p. 174) refers to this holy water 

 theory, which I discussed in the Bab. & Or. Record, 

 under the supposition that the cone was a fir cone, and 

 was used as an ' aspergillum ' ; but he seems to think 

 that there is more to be said in favor of Dr. Tylor's 

 theory of fertilization. He gives a picture of the young 

 male inflorescence of the date tree, which is sufficiently 

 like the cone held in the hand, excepting that small one, 

 to which I will refer, further on, as being in the Louvre. 



On the other hand, Lenormant had already shown that 

 the fir-cone was considered a holy object, and was used 

 as a charm, to cure sick persons, the malady itself being 

 considered as a machination of devils. 



Let us inquire, however, what further arguments Count 

 d'Alviella puts forth in support of the ' fertilization theory.' 



Referring to Dr. Tylor's arguments, he says (p. 195) : 

 " On a bas-relief, in the Louvre, we see one of these 

 genii actually plunging this object into one of the pal- 

 mettes figured at the top of the branches." 



