31 
thinking, was thereby altered in the least.” Such an opinion is certainly 
extraordinary, as it is well known that the climate of countries depends 
more or less at corresponding elevations on the latitudes, and we have most 
incontrovertible evidence of the changes which have taken place in Green- 
land and England as well as in other places. The Icelandic chronicles not 
only refer to former productions of that island, to forests of birch and fir, 
and the cultivation of barley and other grain, but also to the forests and 
the inhabitants of Greenland prior to the Norwegian emigration, and mention 
the name of a warm and fertile valley (Kirkinbui) near the southern coast. 
About 1,400 years ago there was a country called Yinland, within a few 
days’ sail of Greenland, watered with rivers yielding abundance of fine 
salmon, on the banks of which were trees loaded with agreeable fruits, the 
temperature pleasant, and the soil fertile. Large stumps of the trees of the 
forests are still seen in Greenland. 
The monasteries in the south of Denmark, in the thirteenth century, were 
confirmed by the papal rescripts in their possession of vineyards. Various 
documents of the 12th and 13th centuries testify that the wine-grape was 
grown at that time in the south of England, as was also the case in the 
north-west part of France (Brittany and Normandy), where it is not culti- 
vated now any more than in England. The climate has become colder, 
and in this way the vineyards of north-western France and England have 
vanished, the limit of the vine being driven further south. In the east of 
Germany the vine-limit was further north formerly, beyond the districts 
which are now in the parallel of 53°. Mr. Warington does not appear to be 
aware of these changes, and he ignores the geological facts altogether. He 
refers to Palestine, and attempts to sustain his views by reference to the 
botany and zoology of that country, which he positively maintains are now 
the same as they were of yore. Let us test the correctness of his arguments 
by the records : — 
Mr. Warington asks, “ Does Biblical evidence show us, that in the days of 
Moses Palestine was in the tropics ? ” “ The vegetation now observable in 
Palestine is identical with the vegetation mentioned in the Pentateuch. 
You have the oak, the terebinth, &c., as the characteristic trees then, just as 
now ; the palm mentioned but seldom, and as found only in certain places, 
as in the valley of the Jordan, just as at present. In the same way, also, with 
regard to the zoology of Palestine, we know perfectly well that the plants 
and animals, the zoology, and botany of the country at the present day are 
exactly those which the Bible describes.” I shall now endeavour to satisfy 
Mr. Warington on these points, and would draw his attention to the accounts 
of former tropical productions in Palestine, such as groves of palm-trees and 
cedar-trees, as well as the balsam ; also to the lions, leopards, &c., referred to 
in the Scriptures. Before, however, I enter into the question connected with 
the botany and the zoology of the country, I think it necessary to give a 
general idea of the configuration of the surface. The physical character of 
Palestine, like that of Ceylon, renders it capable of producing and nourishing 
all the organic productions of the world. In no other districts of similar 
