956 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



Isaiali ix, 9, 10, "tlie sycamores are cut down, but we will clianj^e them 

 into cedars." The sycamore of the Bible has no natural alliance with 

 the maple sycamores of Europe and North America. In flowers and 

 foliage it closely resembles the common fig, but grows to a greater size, 

 sometimes reaching a height of 30 or 40 feet and a diameter of 20 feet. 

 It bears at least two crops annually, but they are small and insipid 

 compared with those of the common fig tree [Ficus carica). Still they 

 are gathered and used as food by the poorer classes. The prophet 

 Amos describes himself as a "dresser of sycamore trees."' In the 

 Egyptian cult the sycamore was symbolical of the tree of life, being 

 dedicated to Hathor. 



Apples of Sodom. — The apples of Sodom are considered by some 

 to represent the nightshade {Solanum sanctum) which grows in bushes 

 and thickets in warm regions and especially in the Jordan Valley. It 

 is a shrubby plant, 3 or 4 feet high. Its blossoms resemble in color and 

 form those of the potato, and the fruits are oval-shaped, first of yel- 

 low, but when ripe of a beautiful red color. The fruit is said to be 

 turned into dust by the sting of an insect, leaving only the skin intact. 

 Eobinsou identifies the fruit of the Asclepias gigantea with the apples 

 of Sodom. This fruit resembles a large yellow apple. Externally of 

 fair appearance, it bursts when pressed like a bubble filled with air, 

 leaving only the shreds of a thin skin in the hand. The Orientals 

 describe the Asclepias gigmiiea as a plant containing an astringent milky 

 juice. (Arabic, Yatii. Syriac, Yetua sehea helha.^) 



Unripe pomegranate from Palestine. — The pomegranate {Pu- 

 nica granatum; Hebrew, Rinimon) is enumerated among the plants char- 

 acteristic of the promised land,'' though it was not native there; it was 

 and continues to be extensively cultivated in Palestine, and its failure 

 is represented as a special punishment of God.^ It grows wild in 

 Persia, Afghanistan, and neighboring countries, and has been culti- 

 vated from time immemorial along the north and south coasts of the 

 Mediterranean.'' 



It is still common in Tunis and Algiers, where it is called by* the 

 Arabs rimdn, corresponding exactly to the ancient Hebrew name. It 

 is a beautiful shrub, with dark and shining leaves and bell- shaped 

 flowers. In the autumn it yields a ruddy fruit about the size of an 

 orange, usually of a reddish tint, filled with a delicious pulp, in which 

 semitransparent seeds lie in rows. It was appreciated for its fruit" 

 and its wine,^ which is made from the fermented juice. Its fruits and 

 flowers were also used in medicine, and the rind for tanning leather. 

 The manufacture of leather by means of it was introduced by the 



'Amos vii, 14. 



^Immanuel Loew, Aramaeische Pflanzeunaiuen, Leipzig, 1881, p. 192. 



^Deuteronomy viii, § : " A land of pomegi'anates." 



Moeli, 12. 



••Pliny Nat. Hist., XIII, 34. 



'Canticles iv, 11?: "an orchard of pomegranates with precious fruits." 



''Idem viii, 2. 



