276 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



bunches of grapes often and twelve pounds. Forster tells us, that 

 he was informed by a Religious, who had lived many years in Pa- 

 lestine, that there were bunches of grapes in the valley of Hebron, 

 so large that two men could scarcely carry one. Comp. Numb, 

 xiii. 24. And Rosenmuller says, Though the Mahoniedan religion 

 does not favor the cultivation of the vine, there is no want of vine- 

 yards in Palestine. Besides the large quantities of grapes and rai- 

 sins which are daily sent to the markets of Jerusalem and other 

 neighboring places, Hebron alone, in the first half of the eighteenth 

 century, annually sent three hundred camel loads, that is, nearly 

 three hundred thousand weight of grape juice, or honey of raisins, 

 to Egypt.' 



To show the abundance of vines which should fall to the lot of 

 Judah in the partition of tlie promised land, Jacob says of his 

 tribe, that he shall be found 



Binding his colt to the vine, 



And to the choice vine, the foal of his ass. 



Washing his garments in wine, 



His clothes in the blood of the grape. 



Gen. xlix. 11. 



It has been shown by Paxton, that in some parts of Persia, it was 

 formerly their custom to turn the cattle into the vineyards after the 

 vintage, to browse on the vines, some of which are so large that a 

 man can hardly compass their trunk in his arms. These facts clear- 

 ly show, that according to the prediction of Jacob, the ass might be 

 securely bound to the vine, and without damaging the tree by brow- 

 sing on its leaves and branches. The same custom appears, by the 

 narratives of several travellers, to have generally prevailed in Lesser 

 Asia. Chandler observed, that in the vineyards around Smyrna, 

 the leaves of the vines were decayed or stripped by the camels, or 

 herds of goats, which are permitted to browse upon them, after the 

 vintage. When he left Smyrna on the 30th September, the vineyards 

 were already bare ; but when he arrived at Phygella, on the 5th or 

 6th of October, he found its territory still green with vines; which 

 is a proof that the vineyards at Smyrna must have been stripped by 

 the cattle, which delight to feed upon the foliage. 



This custom furnishes a satisfactory reason for a regulation in the 

 laws of Moses, the meaning of which has been very imperfectly un- 

 derstood. A man was prohibited from introducing his beast into 

 the vineyard of his neighbor. The reason was, it was destructive 

 to the vineyard before the fruit was gathered ; and after the vintage, 

 it was still a serious injury, because it deprived the owner of the 

 fodder which was most grateful to his flocks and herds, and per- 

 haps absolutely requisite for their subsistence during the winter. 

 These things considered, we discern in this enactment, the justice, 

 wisdom, and kindness of the great Legislator. 



The law enjoined that he who planted a vine should not eat of 

 the produce of it before the fifth year, Lev. xix. 24, 25. Nor did 

 they gather their grapes on the seventh year : the fruit was then left 



