234 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane 

 from a far country*?" " Thou hast bought 

 me no sweet cane with money, neither hast 

 thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices.^" 



Our translators have sometimes rendered 

 the Hebrew word J-Dp, which frequently oc- 

 curs in the Old Testament, as calamus, and 

 sometimes as sweet cane ; but it is generally 

 supposed to mean the sugar-cane. 



The East Indies being the only country in 

 which the cinnamon grew, we may conclude 

 that the people of Judea were supplied with 

 the sugar-cane from the same country which 

 afforded them their favourite spice. 



The prophet Ezekiel mentions the calamus 

 as being among the merchandise in the mar- 

 kets of Tyrus, about 595 years b. c. 



" Dan also and Javan, going to and fro, oc- 

 cupied in thy fairs ; bright iron, cassia, and 

 calamus, were in thy market." If 



The sugar-cane was first made known to 

 the western world by Alexander the Great, 

 whose conquests, or rather military travels, 

 reaching to the Indian seas, enabled the natu- 

 ralists of that day to make great collections 

 of fruits and plants, many of which were first 



* Chap. vi. 20. f Isaiah xliii. 24. 

 % Ezekiel xxvii. 19. 



