THE SUB-TROPICAL ZONE. 97 



The language of Isaiah recurred to his mind, 

 when, speaking of the desolation of Judah, he 

 says, " The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage 

 in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucum- 

 bers." But the force and truth of the figure 

 were still more strikingly seen, when, a short 

 time after, returning the same way, the crop 

 was gathered, the hut destroyed, the bamboos 

 lying in every direction, the thatch scattered, 

 and all was desolation and destruction. In 

 Egypt, the doum and date palms abound : these 

 we shall notice again presently. 



In Arabia, we find the colocynth, a plant of 

 the melon tribe, inhabiting also the Levant. 

 It is, however, a very active purgative, and is 

 much used at the present day in medicine. 

 The wild vine, producing the poisonous gourds 

 spoken of in 2 Kings iv. 38 41, and which, 

 while occasioning the alarming cry, " O thou 

 man of God, there is death in the pot," gave 

 opportunity for the miracle performed by 

 Elisha, is supposed to have been this plant. 

 A still more active plant is the Momordica 

 elaterium, or squirting cucumber, the dried 

 juice of which is one of the most violent pur- 

 gatives known, a few grains having destroyed 

 life.* It is, however, useful in dropsy, but one- 

 eighth of a grain is a sufficient dose. It is 

 probably the " vine of Sodom," spoken of in 

 Dent, xxxii. 32. A species of luffa, a South 

 American cucurbitaceous plant, possesses similar 

 qualities. These all inhabit the same latitudes 

 as the cucumber, gourd, etc. Arabia is also 

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