188 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 
One solitary Palm Tree, about twenty feet high, stands con- 
spicuous near the tower of Jericho, at Er-Riha ; the last surviving 
relic in this place of the ancient extensive Palm forests for which 
Jericho was celebrated. At the Convent of Mar-Saba, between 
Jericho and Jerusalem, there is, I may mention, a Date Palm of 
great antiquity which always bears a stoneless fruit, and cannot 
therefore be propagated except by suckers. Where Herod’s 
Jericho stood, near the mouth of the savage Wady Kelt, several 
aged Sycamore Trees may still be seen, to remind one of the tree 
which Zaccheus climbed when our Lord passed by with the 
multitude. This tree is a species of Ficus, with large lateral 
branches springing from the trunk so close to the ground that 
it is a very easy task to climb them. Small of stature, there- 
fore, as Zaccheus was, he had no difficulty in mounting into the 
Sycamore Tree. It produces straight from its trunk clusters 
of figs, which are eaten by the peasants, although they are very 
insipid. They require to be punctured or cut by a peculiar 
instrument while in the bud stage, for without this operation 
the fruit will not form; and this was the chief work, we are told, 
of the prophet Amos. 
The Sycamore Tree at Jericho into which Zaccheus climbed is 
a good example of the verisimilitude and true local colouring of 
Scripture. The tree belongs principally to Egypt, where its wood 
used to be employed in making coffins ; and it is too tender, there- 
fore, to thrive in the Highlands of Palestine. It occurs only on the 
sea-coast, and in the Valley of the Jordan, where frost is unknown. 
It is said in the Psalms that God destroyed the Sycamore Trees 
of the Egyptians with frost. All the Sycamore Trees of Palestine, 
wherever found, belong to the State; and not only the trees, but 
all the space over which their shade extends, is taken from the 
proprietor and appropriated by the government. 
Tn the Arab gardens round the modern Jericho a few Sugar- 
canes are cultivated, the lingering remains of the luxuriant crops 
which yielded a large revenue to the crusading knights of Jeru- 
salem; and as a resident in Greenock I was peculiarly interested 
in seeing the ruins of the sugar-mills in the neighbourhood, which 
they had erected. 
At Er-Riha, which is supposed to be the site of old Gilgal, I 
noticed the wild Gourd, still growing over the ruins of ancient 
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