88 WILD FLOWEES. 



to flavour the smier kraut, wliicli is so unpalat 

 able a dis'li to all but Germaus ; and in that 

 jand they are burned in sick rooms and hos- 

 pitals for the purpose of fumigation. In our 

 country, they are chiefly used for giving the 

 flavour to gin, and large quantities are imported 

 from Holland, Germany, and Italy, for making 

 this liquor. The juniper bush is, with us, low 

 and small, seldom so large as the furze ; but 

 where it attains some size, the wood is very 

 firm and compact. In former times, spits and 

 drinking vessels were made of it, as it was 

 thought to impart a pleasant flavour to meat, 

 or liquid. Tbe sandarach, or pounce, which 

 is used to strew over manuscripts, is made 

 from a gum which oozes from the old juniper 

 plants. 



We read in the first book of Kings, xix. 4, 

 that the prophet Elijah lay and slept " under 

 a juniper tree ;" but the word so translated is 

 thought by recent commentators to be a species 

 of broom. Three kinds of juniper, however, 

 are said byKitto, in the " Pictorial Palestine," 

 to be common in the Holy Laud. " On Mount 

 Hor," on which Aaron died, says this writer, 

 " and where his tomb is still honoured, it 

 grows even to the summit ; nor is it wanting 

 in the renowned valley below, in which the 

 metropolis of Seir is entombed." Many writers 

 think that one species of juniper, {Juniperus 

 oxijcednis,) rather than that of the so-called 

 cedar of Lebanon, is the cedar wood so famed, 

 in former times, for its durability, and of which 



