1 48 S TUD YING NA TURE. 



dry a spray of olive or carob-tree will hardly be 

 refused, and thus in time, by the help of others, 

 our collection will be formed, and will become of 

 much value to us in teaching our Bible classes, as 

 well as from the associations the book will have 

 with the kind travellers who remembered us when 

 far away. 



I greatly treasure my own specimens of oleander 

 gathered on the shores of the Lake of Galilee, the 

 carob-leaves from Bethlehem, sycomore fig from 

 Jericho, pomegranate from Jerusalem, and olive- 

 sprays from the Garden of Gethsemane. Pleasant 

 hours have been spent in reading about each tree, 

 and the passages in Scripture where they are men- 

 tioned are invested with a deeper interest from 

 one's knowledge of many facts connected with 

 each which otherwise would have passed un- 

 noticed. 



For instance, the fruit of the carob or locust-tree 

 may have been the food of John the Baptist ; it is 

 known to this day by the name of " St. John's 

 Bread," and the sweet, nutritious pods are still 

 eaten by the poorer inhabitants of Palestine. ; It 

 is also more than probable that " the husks that 



