134 CHAPTER XVIII. 



The White Broom or Retama (Retama mono- 

 sperma or Genista Retem) is a small desert tree which 

 abounds near the Jordan, and also farther south by 

 Sinai. Major Conder, in his work on Palestine, 

 mentions the Retem among the characteristic growths 

 of Gilead. A bright, cheerful little tree it is, which a 

 Zulu, a Bashi Bazouk, or even a lawyer, might stop 

 to admire ; in fact, it deserves to be ranked among 

 those trees described in Genesis ii. 9, as " pleasant to 

 the sight." The Retama is common in the gardens 

 here, and should be commoner. 



This is the tree mistranslated Juniper in 1 Kings 

 xix., under which Elijah lay despairing and wishing 

 for death in the desert beyond Beersheba. Through 

 the snowy canopy of the Retem the angel descended 

 to comfort the prophet and protect him from the 

 vengeance of Jezebel. Under w r hat tree would a 

 weary prophet be more likely to be visited by angels 

 and bright thoughts and hopes ? 



Humboldt describes a Retama as adorning the 

 peak of Teneriffe at an elevation where no other plant 

 can grow. Happy tree, fit shelter for a prophet. Its 

 home is in the desert where no one says, " This land 

 is mine, stand off ! " where no one buys or sells or 

 cheats. Or else it lives upon a distant peak, rooted 

 in a crevice of the lava flow. Here competition is 

 not, nor care ; for no rival covets the barren spot, 

 and there is naught to shut out the ocean breeze that 

 fans its drooping sprays of small white flowers. 



Like Victor Hugo's poet : 



" II aime un desert sauvage 



Oil rien ne borne ses pas ; 

 Son coeur, pour fuir 1'esclavage, 

 Vit plus loin que le trepas." 



