72 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



Jericho and its neighbourhood have been amply described by many 

 able writers, and its botany has been well illustrated by Mons. Barbey 

 in his work already referred to. This latter visitor has not, however, 

 corrected one statement repeatedly made by various travellers, that of 

 the ancient palm grove, extending for several miles around Jericho, there 

 is no existing representative. There is one date-palm, 20 feet high, at 

 Gilgal. 



Of the characteristic species of the southern Ghor growing here, I may 

 mention Zizyphus spina-christi,Linn. ; Balanites eegyptiaca^ Del.; Loranthus 

 acacice, Zucc; Calotropis procera, Willd., and Populus euphratica, Oliv., the 

 latter being abundant along the Jordan. This poplar is remarkable for 

 the extraordinary variety of shapes in its leaves, especially in young trees 

 and saplings. In full-grown trees, like the one described at the Gh6r es 

 Safieh, they become more uniform ; ovate and slightly incised sometimes 

 at the base, or faintly lobed in a wavy fashion. No trees were seen near 

 Jericho in a mature condition. Tamarisk and the ' zukkum,' or false 

 balm of Gilead (Balanites), are very abundant here. An acacia near 

 'Ain es Sultin was, I believe, A.albida, Z?^/., gathered previously at Gaza. 

 It was a stunted bush, and our old friends the acacias of Sinai and Es 

 Safieh have all disappeared except the Prosopis Stephania, a small ragged 

 little shrub. This little ill-favoured acacia, which thrives best on saline 

 wet places, bears a very peculiar pod, swollen, solid, and irregular, and so 

 like a gall or deformity of some kind that it was not until opening it and 

 obtaining its seeds I could believe it to be a natural growth. 



Bananas, oranges, and a few sugar-canes are cultivated in the Arab 

 gardens at Gilgal, the modern Jericho. 



The ornithology of the Jericho district runs in parallel lines with the 

 botany. The European sorts are much commoner than in the Ghor es 

 Safieh, and the tropical and Asiatic forms generally less so. Only one 

 couple of sunbirds, and but a few of the ' hopping-thrushes ' (Argya 

 squamiceps) were seen. Shrikes were few. The palm-dove and the 

 collared turtle were not scarce, but they were not as one to twenty 

 here compared with those of the more southern oasis. A few bulbuls 

 {Pycnonotus xanthopygus, H. et Ehr.), pied chats, Saxicola lugens, Licht., 

 and the desert blackstarts, Cercomela melanura, Temn., occurred. 



On the other hand, English robins, jays, chaffinches and wheatears 



