and 



T"\ Y the rivers of Babylon, there we sat 

 j down, yea, we wept, when we remem- 

 bered Zion. Upon the willows in the 

 midst thereof we hanged our harps." Thus 

 sang the Psalmist of the sorrows of the exiles 

 in Babylon, and his song has fastened the name 

 of the great and wicked city upon one of the 

 most familiar willows, while also making it 

 "weep"; for the common weeping willow is 

 botanically named Salix Babylonica. 



It may be that the forlorn Jews did hang 

 their harps upon the tree we know as the weep- 

 ing willow, that species being credited to Asia 

 as a place of origin ; but it is open to doubt, 

 for the very obvious reason that the weeping 

 willow is distinctly unadapted to use as a harp- 

 rack, and one is at a loss to know just how 

 the instruments in question would have been 

 hung thereon. It is probable that the willows 

 along the rivers of Babylon were of other 



97 



