SECTION I. 



GRAIN. 



THE generic name for grain, in the Old Testament writings, is 

 dagen, corn ; so named from its abundant increase. In Gen. xxvi. 

 12, and Matt. xiii. 8, grain is spoken of as yielding a hundred fold ; 

 and to the ancient fertility of Palestine all authorities bear testimony. 

 Burckhardt states, that in some parts of the Haouran, a tract of 

 country on the east of the river Jordan, he found the barley to yield 

 eighty fold, even in the present neglected state of the country. 



It is evident from Ruth ii. 14, 2 Sam. xvii. 28, 29, and other pas- 

 sages, that parched corn constituted part of the ordinary food of the 

 Israelites, as it still does of the Arabs. Their methods of preparing 

 corn for the manufacture of bread were the following. The thrash- 

 ing was done either by the staff' or the flail, (Isa. xxviii. 27, 28) by 

 the feet of cattle (Dent. xxv. 4) or by 'a sharp thrashing instru- 

 ment having teeth' (Isa. xli. 15), which was something resembling 

 a cart, and drawn over the corn by means of horses or oxen. 

 When the corn was thrashed, it was separated from the chaff and 

 dust, by throwing it forward across the wind, by means of a win- 

 nowing fan, or shovel (Matt. iii. 12) ; after which the grain was sift- 

 ed to separate all impurities from it, Amos ix. 9; Luke xxii. 31. 

 Hence the thrashing floors were in the open air, Judg. vi. 11; 2 

 Sam. xxiv. IS. The grain thus obtained was commonly reduced 

 to meal by the hand-mill, which consisted of a lower mill-stone, the 

 upper side of which was concave, and an upper mill-stone, the low- 

 er surface of which was convex. The hole for receiving the corn 

 was in the centre of the upper mill-stone, and in the operation of 

 grinding, the lower was fixed, and the upper made to move round 

 upon h, with considerable velocity, by means of a handle. These 

 mills are still in use in the East, and in some parts of Scotland, 

 where they are called querns. The employment of grinding with 

 these mills is confined solely to females ; and the practice illustrates 

 the prophetic observation of our Saviour, concerning the day of 

 Jerusalem's destruction ; Two women shall be grinding at the 

 mill : one shall be taken, and the other shall be left,' Matt. xxiv. 41. 

 Mr. Pennant, who has given a particular account of these hand- 

 mills, as used in Scotland, observes, that the women always accom- 

 pany the grating noise of the stones with their voices ; and that 

 when ten or a dozen are thus employed, the fury of the song rises 

 to such a pitch, that you would, without breach of charity, imagine 

 a troop of female demoniacs to be assembled. As the operation of 



