184 



THE HAWTHORN. 



sacrifices. All Indians of every age and sex make 

 their offerings : they then think that their horses 

 will not tire, and that they themselves shall be 

 prosperous. The Gaucho (countrjanan) who told 

 me this, said that in time of peace he had wit- 

 nessed this scene, and that he and others used to 

 wait till the Indians had passed by, for the sake 

 of stealing from Walleechu the offerings. The 

 Gauchos think that the Indians consider the tree 

 as the god itself; but it seems far more probable 

 that they regard it as the altar." 



Neither of the authors quoted above states to 

 what species the tree belongs. Darwin, however, 

 mentions that the one seen by him was thorny," 

 and if, as is most probable, the African tree 

 was an Acacia, which is copiously furnished with 

 thorns, the resemblance is very striking and re- 

 markable. The latter tree may have approached 

 even more closely in appearance to our Havv'thorn. 

 Bruce says that the Arabs regard with particular 

 reverence a shrub or tree which is very like our 

 Hawthorn both in form and flower. It was 

 with a branch of this tree, which they call El- 

 vah," that they believe Moses to have sweetened 

 the waters of Marah. Trees in the desert, I 

 need scarcely remark, on the rare occasions when 

 they are found, are always in the vicinity of 

 wells. 



It is far from improbable that the legend of 

 The Glastonbury Thorn" was originally con- 

 nected with some superstitious veneration of the 

 Hawthorn, yet more ancient than itself. x\c cord- 

 ing to this legend, Joseph of Arimathgea, attend- 

 ed by twelve companions, came to preach the 

 Gospel in Britain, and landed on the Isle of 



