Mr Lambert on the Apples of Sodom. 23 
Chateaubriand follows, with his discovery of what he concludes 
to be the long-sought fruit. The shrub which bears it, he says, 
grows two or three leagues from the mouth of the Jordan ; it 
is thorny, with small taper leaves, and its fruit is exactly like 
the little Egyptian lemon, both in size and colour. ‘“ Before 
it is ripe it is filled with a corrosive saline juice ; when dried, 
it yields a blackish seed, which may be compared to ashes, and 
which in taste resembles bitter pepper.” He gathered half a 
dozen of these fruits, but has no name for them either popular 
or botanical. Next comes Mr Joliffe: He found in a thicket 
of brushwood, about half a mile from the plain of Jericho, a 
shrub five or six feet high, on which grew clusters of fruit, 
about the size of a small apricot, of a bright yellow colour, 
“ which, contrasting with the delicate verdure of the foliage, 
seemed like the union of gold with emerald. Possibly when 
ripe they may crumble into dust upon any violent pressure.” 
Those which this gentleman gathered did not crumble, nor 
even retain the slightest mark of indenture from the touch ; 
they would seem to want, therefore, the most essential cha- 
racteristic of the fruit in question. But they were not ripe. 
This shrub is probably the same as that described by Chateau- 
briand. Lastly, Captains Irby and Mangles have no doubt 
that they have discovered it in the oskar plant, which they no- 
ticed on the shores of the Dead Sea, grown to the stature of 
a tree, its trunk measuring, in many instances, two feet or 
more in circumference, and the boughs at least fifteen feet 
high. The filaments inclosed in the fruit somewhat resemble 
the down of a thistle, and are used by the natives as a stuffing 
for their cushions ; ‘“ they likewise twist them, like thin rope, 
into matches for their guns, which, they assured us, required 
no application of sulphur to render them combustible.’ This 
is probably the same tree that M. Seetzen refers to. But 
still the correspondence to the ancient description is by no 
means perfect ; there being little resemblance between cot- 
ton or thistledown, and ashes or dust. M. Chateaubriand’s 
golden fruit, full of bitter seed, comes nearest to what is told 
us of the deceitful apple. If it be anything more than a fable, 
it must have been a production peculiar to this part of Pales- 
tine, or it would not have excited such general attention. On 
