2 o APPENDIX. 



amount to much more than that quantity, for we are ftill to 

 obierve, that even when it had been as it were naiurahled 

 in Judea, and acquired a name in the country, ft ill it bore 

 evident marks of its being a ftranger there ; and its being 

 confined to two royal gardens alone, flievvs it was maintain- 

 ed there by force and culture, and was by no means a na- 

 tive of the country. And this is confirmed by Strabo, who 

 fpeaks of it being in the king's palace or garden at Jericho. 

 This place being one of the warmeft in Judea, fhews like- 

 wife their apprehenfions about it, fo that in Judea, we may 

 imagine it was pretty much in the Hate of our myrtles in 

 England, which, though cultivated in green- houfes in all 

 the reft of the illand, yet grow beautifully and luxuriant- 

 ly in Devonfhire and Cornwall, the weftern parts of it. 



Diodorus Siculus fays, it grew in a valley in Arabia Fe- 

 lix ; he fhould have faid on a number of gentle, Hoping hills 

 in Arabia Deferta, which have a very fmall degree of ele- 

 vation above the plain, but by no- means refemble a valley. 

 This place was the fcene of three bloody battles between 

 Mahomet and his kinfmen the Beni Koreifh, who refufed 

 to be converts to his religion, or acknowledge his divine 

 legation. Thefe are at large defcribed by feveral of the hif- 

 torians of that nation, with circumftances and anecdotes, 

 as well interefting and entertaining, as elegantly told. They 

 £hew plainly that Mahomet's tribe, the Beni Koreifh, did not 

 receive their fanatical manners and difpofnion from Maho- 

 met and his religion, but were juft as obftinate, ignorant, and 

 fanguinary when they were Pagans, as they were afterwards 

 when converted and became Mahometans. The laft of thefe 

 battles, which was decifive in Mahomet's favour, gave him 

 the fovereignty of Mecca, and was attended with the extir- 

 pation of iome of the principal families in this tribe. 



At 





