104 THE GEOGRAPHY OF FLANTS. 



terraneau is the Land of Promise a land, aa 

 Moses described it, " of wheat, and barley, 

 and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates ; 

 a land of oil olive, and honey," Deut. viii. 8. 

 And such it still is proved to be, wherever 

 the inhabitants, rescued from oppression the 

 most grinding, are permitted to cultivate their 

 lands with any fair prospect of reaping in 

 peace the fruit of their labours. Palms, corn, 

 pomegranates, figs, cedars, the olive, and a 

 great variety of interesting plants, characterise 

 this country ; but we must notice them a 

 little more in detail. Two of the palms are 

 found in Palestine, and were known to the 

 Jews the doum palm, (Crucifera thebaica^) and 

 the date palm, (Plicenix dactylifera.) The 

 doum palm is remarkable for its forked 

 stem, which is divided into two at some height 

 from the ground, and these branches again 

 subdivide in a similar manner. It abounds 

 also in Egypt, where it is called the ginger- 

 bread tree, from the extreme resemblance of 

 its brown mealy rind to that article. Its hard 

 kernels are turned for rosaries. 



But the palm, by way of eminence, is the 

 date palm. It is to this probably that the 

 numerous allusions in Scripture refer. This 

 palm belongs to the western part of the sub- 

 tropical zone in the old world, beginning at the 

 Canary Isles, and embracing Egypt, Palestine, 

 Syria, and Arabia, in its eastern range. It is 

 not found spontaneously east of the Indus. It 

 has been artificially cultivated in India and' 



