'Re @lrce/ of paraeUi-e a"?^ tfte ©Tree of af\c|aiT^. t I 



to its delights. All these rivers take their rise from the tree 

 Tooba ; some flow with water, some with milk, some with honey, 

 and others even with wine, the juice of the grape not being for- 

 bidden to the blessed. 



We have seen how the most ancient races conceived and 

 cherished the notion of a Paradise of surpassing beauty, situate in 

 remote and unknown regions, both celestial and terrestrial. It is 

 not, therefore, surprising that the Paradise of the Hebrew race — 

 the Mosaic Eden — should have been pictured as a luxuriant garden, 

 stocked with lovely flowers and odorous herbs, and shaded by 

 majestic trees of every description. 



We are told, in the second chapter of Genesis, that at the 

 beginning of the world " the Lord God planted a garden eastward 

 in Eden," and that out of this country of Eden a river went out 

 " to water the garden ; and from thence it was parted, and 

 became into four heads." These "heads" or rivers are further on, 

 in the Biblical narrative, named respectively Pison, Gihon, Hid- 

 dekel, and Euphrates. Many have been the speculations as to the 

 exact site, geographical features, &c., of Eden, and the Divinely- 

 planted Paradise in its midst, and the subject has been one which 

 has ever been fruitful of controversy and conjecture. Sir John 

 Maundevile has recorded that the Garden of Eden, or Paradise, 

 was enclosed by a wall. This old Eastern traveller tells us that 

 although, in the course of his wanderings, he had never actually 

 seen the land of Eden, yet wise men had discoursed to him con- 

 cerning it. He says : " Paradise Terrestre, as wise men say, is the 

 highest place of earth — that is, in all the world ; and it is so high, 

 that it toucheth nigh to the circle of the moon. F'or it is so high 

 that the flood of Noah might never come to it, albeit it did cover 

 all the earth of the world, all about, and aboven and beneathen, 

 save Paradise alone. And this Paradise is enclosed all about with 

 a wall, and men wist not whereof it is ; for the walls be covered all 

 over with moss, as it seemeth. And it seemeth not that the wall is 

 stone of nature. And that wall stretcheth from the South to the 

 North, and it hath not but one entry, that is closed with fire 

 burning, so that no man that is mortal ne dare not enter. And in 

 the highest place of Paradise, exactly in the middle, is a well that 

 casts out the four streams which run by divers lands, of which the 

 first is called Pison, or Ganges, that runs throughout India. And 

 the other is called Nile, or Gyson, which goes through Ethiopia, 

 and after through Egypt. And the other is called Tigris, which 

 runs by Assyria, and by Armenia the Great. And the other is 

 called Euphrates, which runs through Media, Armenia, and Persia. 

 And men there beyond say that all the sweet waters of the world, 

 above and beneath, take their beginning from the well of Paradise, 

 and out of the well all waters come and go." 



Eden (a Hebrew word, signifying " Pleasure "), it is generally 

 conceded, was the most beauteous and luxuriant portion of the 



