76 THE MAPLE AND THE SYCAMOKE. 



elegantly formed, having the figure of a column, with two volutes at 

 the summit, disposed after the manner of those in the Ionic style of 

 architecture. 



It may be useful to add that the sycamore -tree, above described, and 

 which by botanists is named Acer Pseudo-platanus, is totally different 

 from the sycomore of Scripture. How the name came to be extended 

 to one so unlike is not known, or at least no explanation of it occurs in 

 books. The sycomore of Scripture was a species of fig-tree, Ficus 

 sycomorus. It grew abundantly in the valleys of Palestine ; also in 

 Egypt, and hence obtained the name of Pharaoh's fig. To this day it 

 is cultivated about Cairo and elsewhere for the sake of its shade ; but 

 it is a tree of little value either for timber or fruit. In ancient Egypt, 

 where there were few native timber-trees, inferior as it is to many 

 others, a certain importance necessarily attached to it, and the wood 

 was used, it is said, in the manufacture of mummy-cases. The fruit 

 is insipid, but sweetish, and still used for food, but only by the poorer 

 classes of the people. The sycamine-tree is different again. By this 

 name is intended the common black or purple mulberry, which, as well 

 as the white mulberry, on the leaves of which silkworms are fed, is 

 said now to abound in Palestine, though it is doubtful if the trees were 

 common there in the days of the prophets. 



