GEOGRAPIIICAI. DISTRIBUTION OP PLANTS. 



165 



geologist, fiiuls the most abundant Iiarvest ; in- 

 deed, even tlie unscientific traveller is struck 

 with the novelty and beauty of the flowers which 

 he finds at every step on ci-ossing the Alps or 

 the Pyrenees. A variety of surface and expo- 

 sure is favourable to a variety of productions. 

 Some plants prefer the crevices of naked rocks, 

 othei-s the edges of springs, or the banks of clear 

 and rapid streams, others stagnant morasses. All 

 these circumstances are found abundantly in 

 mountainous districts. From these mountain 

 bogs we have obtained a tribe of plants of extra- 

 ordinary beauty, which, when planted in the 

 same kind of peaty soil as they find in their na- 

 tive spots, are made to flourish tolerably in our 

 gardens. These are the azaleas, rhododendrons, 

 andromedas, and others of the same family. 



If from the south of Russia we travel eastward 

 into Asia, the appearance of the country will be 

 found to undergo a very remarkable change. 

 Approaching the northern shore of the Black 

 sea, the soil becomes sandy, intermixed in pkces 

 with sea-shells, impregnated with salt, and 

 abounding in lakes of salt water. Such is the 

 aspect of the celebrated steppes of Russia. From 

 the low tract lying between the Black sea and 

 the north of the Caspian, these sterile regions 

 extend over a considerable part of central Asia. 

 It has l)een conjectured that these steppes were 

 once covered by the sea, and the limits of the 

 ancient coast have even been assigned ; but the 

 observation can by no means be extended to the 

 salt deserts in the north of Persia and in Inde- 

 pendent Tartary. 



The presence of salt, in any considerable quan- 

 .tity, is fatal to com and most other vegetables ; 

 there are, however, certain plants to which it 

 appears indispensable, and which have been, for 

 that reason, called saline plants. The sugar- 

 cane and the cocoa-nut tree are almost the only 

 plants which flourish equally well when wetted 

 with fresh water or with brine. From the ashes 

 of these saline plants soda is obtained. 



Immediately south of that salt plain which 

 occupies the space between the Black sea and 

 the north of the Caspian, is the chain of Mount 

 Caucasus, a most interesting region, both on ac- 

 count of its natural beauties, and of its connec- 

 tion with the earliest authentic records of his- 

 tory. In the fruitful valleys of Curdistan, a 

 Turkish province on the southern side of these 

 mountains, amidst mountains crowned with per- 

 petual snow; and on the banks of the river 

 CJihon (better known by its ancient name of 

 Oxus), which falls into the sea of Aral, on the 

 cast of the Caspian, are found whole thickets of 

 lemon, pomegranate, pear, and cheiTy trees. 

 ]<;vcry species of fruit cultivated in our gardens 

 grows there apparently wild ;'but whether they 

 are to be considered as truly natives of the soil, 

 or as being the remains of very ancient gardens, 



is the more difficult to determirie, as this is the 

 spot which appears to have been first peopled by 

 the descendants of Noah. The walnut and the 

 peach we derive from Persia; the vine and the 

 apricot from Armenia ; the sweet cherry and the 

 Spanish chestnut from Lesser Asia ; from Syria 

 the fig, the olive, and the mulberry. In the 

 triumph of the Roman general Lucullus, after 

 his return from the conquest of Pontus, about a 

 hundred years before the Christian era, was ex- 

 hibited a cherry tree, loaded with fruit, a sight 

 till then unknown to the inhabitants of Italy. 

 From the same regions we derive the hyacinth, 

 the tulip, the iris, the ranunculus, and some other 

 of our garden flowers, most of which appear to 

 have been first brought into this country during 

 the reign of Elizabeth. To this list may be 

 added the horse chestnut, the lilac, the sweet jas- 

 mine, the melon, and the cucumber. That the 

 melon and cucumber were raised in Egypt at a 

 very remote period, appears from the complaints 

 of the Israelites, when they murmured against 

 Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. " We re- 

 member the fish," said they, " which we did eat 

 in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers, and the melons, 

 and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick." 

 And in another place they speak of some kinds 

 of fruit now cultivated: "Wlierefore have ye 

 made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in 

 unto this evil place 1 It is no place of seed, or 

 of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates, neither 

 is there any water to drink." 



The "wilderness" in which these complaints 

 were uttered by the children of Israel, forms a 

 part of that great sandy desert which bounds to 

 the west the fruitful plain of the Euphrates, ex- 

 tending thence southward over a considerable 

 part of Arabia. In this desert are still to be 

 seen the ruins of Palmyra, supposed to be the 

 city built by Solomon, and named by him Tad- 

 mor in the Wilderness. Between the desert and 

 the Mediten-anean sea is the " Land of Promise," 

 bounded on the north by Mount Lebanon, still 

 famed for its majestic cedars. The cedar of Le- 

 banon, though now cultivated as an ornamental 

 tree in many parts of the world, has not been 

 foimd wild except in the mountain from which 

 it derives its name. Again crossing the desert to 

 the extremity of the Red sea, we find a nan-ow 

 tract of cultivated country along its eastern shore, 

 extending to Yemen the Happy, or Fertile Ara- 

 bia, the country of balm, frankincense, and 

 myrrh. From Arabia the balm tree was first 

 carried to Judea, as Josephus assures us, by the 

 queen of Sheba, as a present to Solomon ; where, 

 being afterwards cultivated for the sake of its 

 fragrant and medicinal juice, particularly on 

 Mount Gilead, it acquired the name of balm of 

 Gilead. Frankincense and myrrh also consist of 

 the dried juices of trees: the same may be said 

 of gum Arabic, which is procured from a speciea 



