THE SYCAMORE TREE, 267 



THE SYCAMORE TREE. 



THIS curious tree seems to partake of the nature of two distinct 

 species, the mulberry and the fig, the former in its leafj and the lat- 

 ter in its fruit. The Sycamore is thus described by Norden : ' I 

 shall remark, that they have in Egypt divers sorts of figs ; but if 

 there is any difference between them, a particular kind differs still 

 more. I mean that which the sycamore bears. It was upon a 

 tree of this sort that Zaccheus got up, to see our Saviour pass through 

 Jericho. This sycamore is of the height of a beech, and bears its 

 fruit in a manner quite different from other trees. It has them on 

 the trunk itself, which shoots out little sprigs, in form of a grape- 

 stalk, at the end of which grows the fruit, close to one another, most 

 like bunches of grapes. The tree is always green, and bears fruit 

 several times in the year, without observing any certain seasons, for 

 I have seen some sycamores which had fruit two months after oth- 

 ers. The fruit has the figure and smell of real figs ; but is inferior 

 to them in the taste, having a disgustful sweetness. Its color is a 

 yellow, inclining to an okre, shadowed by a flesh color ; in the in- 

 side it resembles the common fig, excepting that it has a blackish 

 coloring, with yellow spots. This sort of tree is pretty common in 

 Egypt. The people, for the greater part, live on its fruit.' 



From 1 Kings x. 27 ; 1 Chron. xxvii. 28 ; and 2 Chron. i. 15, it 

 is evident, that this tree was pretty common in Palestine, as well as 

 in Egypt; and from its being joined with the vines in Psalm Ixxviii. 

 47, as well as from the circumstance of David appointing a particu- 

 lar officer to superintend plantations of them, it seems to have been 

 as much valued in ancient as it is in modern times. From Isa. ix. 

 10, we find that the timber of the sycamore was used in the con- 

 struction of buildings; and, notwithstanding its porous and spongy 

 appearance, it was, as we learn from Dr. Shaw, of extreme durabil- 

 ity. Describing the catacombs and mummies of Egypt, this intelli- 

 gent writer states that he found both the mummy chests, and the 

 little square boxes, containing various figures, which are placed at 

 the feet of each mummy, to be made of sycamore wood, and thus 

 preserved entire and incorrupted for at least three thousand years. 



In Amos vii. 14, there is a reference, no doubt, to the manner in 

 which these trees are cultivated, by scraping or making incisions in 

 the fruit. 



In the passage above cited from Nordeu, that traveller adverts to 

 the circumstance of Zaccheus climbing up into the sycamore for 

 the purpose of witnessing our Lord pass through Jericho (Luke 

 xix. 4) ; and Mr. Bloornfield remarks, that this mode of viewing an 

 object seems to have been not unfrequent, insomuch that it appears 

 to have given rise to a proverbial expression, which he cites from 

 Libanius. 



The sycamore strikes its large diverging roots deep into the soil ; 



