104 ALFRED E. RENDLE, ESQ.^ D.SC, h\R.S., F.L.S., ON 



frequent these favoured spots, and the butterflies recall those of 

 Nubia and Abyssinia. 



There are two characteristic features about the natural history 

 of Palestine. First its isolation, shut in by the sea, the 

 desert, and the snow mountains ; and then the extraordinary 

 variety of its physical geography. 



It is estimated that about 120 plants are mentioned in the Bible, 

 and, as in the case of the animals, it is often difficult or im- 

 possible to associate the Hebrew name with a specific plant. I 

 must confine my remarks to-day to plants, and 1 think that 

 will take all the time we have at our disposal. 



We must remember two things. The men who were put 

 in charge of the translation of the Bible were not scientists, 

 and in the second place, even if they had been scientists, 

 science had not advanced far at the beginning of the seventeenth 

 century, and practically nothing was known about the natural 

 history of Palestine — in fact, it was not until Canon Tristram 

 spent a year, from fourteen to fifteen years ago, in very careful 

 collection and observation, and until his observations were 

 23ublished, that we had anything at all like an adequate idea of the 

 natural history of Palestine. Hence the names in the Authorised 

 Version were simply an effort, well meaning enough, to express in 

 English the plant referred to, and in some cases the translator* 

 have not attempted to find an English equivalent. 



The name Gopher wood is simply a transliteration. The word 

 occurs only once, and may be the same as Gopher, the Cypress^, 

 which is very common in Chaldea and Armenia, and from its 

 toughness is very well suited for shipbuilding. In many cases 

 words have been used which are not correct, as in the case of the- 

 Rose, Chestnut, Oak, Terebinth. Some have very general appli- 

 cation, as Bramble or Thorn, and it is hopeless to pin down any 

 particular plant to any special term. There is another term, 

 " bitter herbs," which is one of very wide meaning; as Canon 

 Tristram points out, the inhabitants of Palestine used a great 

 variety of heibs in their salads. 



I referred just now to one of the woods. I might refer to a 

 second wood mentioned in the Bible, the Almug or Algum tree,, 

 which was imported by Hiram, King of Tyre, from Ophir. The 

 wood was used in the King's house and for musical instruments,, 

 and it was evidently a very precious wood , and has been identified 

 with the red Sandal-wood of India, which is of a very red colour,, 

 and is still used in the East. Or it may have been the true 



