so entirely conjectural ; nor is it a tiling of much con¬ 
sequence: thorns and thistles abound every where; and, 
as “ all have sinned,” it is more natural to imagine the 
allusion was not to the peculiar growth of any one 
climate or country in particular, but to the noxious 
and troublesome weeds which, without unceasing labour 
and care, would mock the hopes of the husbandman. 
In those climates, however, where various causes 
conspire most fully to develope vegetative life, thorny 
shrubs and trees are most abundant, and are armed with 
stronger and sharper spines than those with which we 
are familiar. Of such the poet speaks when describing 
“ the wonders of the torrid zone : ” 
“ Here lofty trees, to ancient song unknown. 
The noble sons of potent heat, and floods 
Prone rushing from the clouds, rear high to heaven 
Their thorny stems, and broad around them throw 
Meridian gloom.” 
Denon says that “ nine tenths of the trees and 
shrubs which compose the thickets in Egypt are armed 
with inexorable thorns, and allow only an unquiet en¬ 
joyment of the shade that is so desirable, from the pre¬ 
caution necessary to guard against them.” 
