418 THE JUNIPEE. 



from four to five hundred trees or shrubs. Every year, in 

 the month of June, the inhabitants of the neighboiuing 

 valleys and villages climb up to these Cedars and celebrate 

 mass at their feet. How many prayers have resounded 

 under these branches ! and what more beautiful canopy 

 for worship can exist?" ^ 



THE JUXIPER. 



JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS. 

 Class — DlCEOIA. O/Y^cr — MONADELPIIIA. 



The Juniper is well known to the readers of the English 

 version of the Bible as the tree under which the prophet 

 Elijah, wearied with his journey through the wilderness, 

 sat down to rest, when flying from the persecution of 

 Jezebel (1 Kings xix. 4). This tree, or rather shrub, is 

 generally supposed to be a species of Broom {Genista 

 monos2:>erma), which is one of the few plants to be found 

 in the Arabian deserts. Burckhardt mentions it as 

 growing also in the deserts to the south of Palestine, so 

 that the Juniper which sheltered the prophet may pos- 

 sibly be the tree in question, though other travellers have 

 looked for it in the neighbourhood of Mount Horeb, 

 instead of at the distance of a day's journey from 

 Jerusalem. Lord Lindsay speaks of his having frequently 

 sheltered himself under a Broom in the valley of Mount 

 Sinai, an incident -which Dr. Kitto fixes on as conclusive, 

 .seemingly forgetting that Elijah was as yet distant a 

 journey of forty days from the same spot. Nevertheless 

 the similarity of the Hebrew name Piothem to the Arabic 

 Rethem, makes it highly probable that the two trees are 

 identical. 



The Juniper is a native of all the northern parts of 

 Europe, and in Great Britain is generally found on hills 

 ^ Lamartine. 



