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THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 147 
were also given by David to the starving Egyptian (1 Sam. 30 
ch., 12), and were amongst the provisions for the feast marking 
the elevation of Dayid as King of Israel (1 Chron. 12 ch., 40). 
The thin wine used as a common beverage by the poorer classes 
is frequently translated “vinegar,” as in Ruth. 2 ch.,, 14, when 
Boaz entertained Ruth. 
The “vinegar” offered to Christ on the cross was not what 
we know as vinegar, it was a thin wine somewhat like the vin 
ordinaire of the French. In Matt. 27 ch., 34, we vead:—“Then 
they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he 
had tasted thereof, he would not drink”; while Mark. 15 ch., 23, 
says:—‘“And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: 
but he received it not.” ‘This was the first drink offered. The 
word here translated “gall” means something bitter and refers 
to wormwood, see Jer. 8 ch., 14 and Ps. 69, v., 21. The mixture 
of wine with myrrh and wormwood was commonly given to 
crucified persons in order to stupefy them and shorten their 
sufferings. It will be noticed that the Saviour refused to take 
this mixture, he would not do anything to hasten his death. 
But later on, as related in Matt. 27 ch., 48, and John 19 ch., 29, 
he readily took the plain wine when offered to him. This I think 
was really an act of kindness by the rough soldiers, who when 
the Saviour said “I thirst” (John 19 ch.; 28), hastened to give 
him of the wine provided for their own refreshment. - 
The illustrations by the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 25 ch., 30), 
“he shall give a shout as they that tread the grapes” and in 
Gen. 49 ch, 11; Isa. 63 ch., 2-8, the reference to the staining 
of the clothes of the treaders with the blood of the grape, refer 
to the method of expressing the juice, wherein the pressers 
leaped amongst the grapes, shouting to encourage one another 
in the hard work. Their legs and clothing became stained with 
the red juice. 
Wild Gourd. The wild gourd mentioned in 2 Kings 4 ch., 
38-40, which was inadvertently (“for they knew them not”) 
xIU) 
shredded into the pottage prepared by Elisha’s orders, is con- 
sidered to be the fruit of the colocynth (Citrellus colocinthis). 
The fruit though attractive in appearance is exceedingly nause- 
ous and drastic in its effects, hence the exclamation of the people 
when they tasted the pottage:—“O thou man of God, there is 
death in the pot.” ‘The Vine of Sodom referred to in Deut. 32 
ch., 32, is suggested by Canon Tristram to be the same plant. 
Wheat. There are many allusions to wheat, historical and 
symbolical. The wheat of Palestine is spelt (Triticum spelta) 
