414 JOURNAI, OF FORESTRY 



noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, . . . 

 they run hke mighty men ; they climh the wall like men of war ; and 

 they march every one on his way. They break not their ranks : neither 

 doth one thrust another; they march every one in his path. . . . 

 They leap upon the city ; they run upon the wall ; they climb up into 

 the houses ; they enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth quaketh 

 before them : the heavens tremble : the sun and the moon are darkened, 

 and the stars withdraw their shining." 



Joel is evidently describing a top fire or brush fire of considerable 

 intensity. Is there at the present time any forest cover in Palestine of 

 sufficient density to support such a fire? I do not know, but I doubt 

 it. If not, it is interesting to speculate whether the reduced forest 

 cover is a cause or an effect of the apparent change in climate.^ Isaiah 

 (64-1) adds some intensely interesting evidence as to the density of 

 forest cover in Biblical times when he says : "when fire kindleth the 

 brushwood, . . . the fire causeth the waters to boil." Have there 

 been any fires in this country, even in the Northwest or the Lake States 

 which caused the waters to boil? One writer, who had to take refuge 

 in a creek during one of the big fires in the Northwest in 1918, states 

 that falling brands caused the temperature of the creek to rise "several 

 degrees," which sounds very tame in comparison with Isaiah's state- 

 ment. In fact, Isaiah's statement seems almost incredible. Was he 

 telling fish stories? Or is there some special explanation, such as a 

 resinous brushwood producing great heat, or drainage from a sudden 

 rain on a hot fire, or a water hole containing bitumen or oil from a 

 mineral seep? I wuU leave this question for some one personally 

 familiar with the country. 



That top fires actually occurred in the Holy Land is abundantly 

 proven by many writers in addition to Joel. Isaiah says (10-19) that 

 a fire "shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field 

 . . . and the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, that 

 a child jnay write them." "It kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and 

 they roll upward in thick clouds of smoke:" The individual tree at 

 the moment of combustion he likens most effectively to a "standard- 

 bearer that fainteth." Those who have actually seen the "puff" of the 

 dying tree, as the fire rushes up through the foliage, will not miss the 

 force of this simile. Ezekiel says (20-46) : "A fire . . . shall de- 



' Prof. Ellsworth Huntington's book, "The Pulse of Asia," contains some very 

 readable and convincting material on climatic cycles in Asia Minor. 



