derness of Judah till he commenced his public ministry. We are informed, in the book of Genesis, that Ishmael settled in the wilderness of Paran; and in the first book of Samuel, that David took refuge from the persecution of Saul in the same desert, where it appears the numerous flocks of Nabal the Carmelite were pastured. Such places, therefore, were not absolute deserts, but thinly peopled, or less fertile districts. But this remark will scarcely apply to the wilderness where our Lord was tempted of the devil. It is a most miserable, dry, and barren solitude, “consisting of high rocky mountains, so torn and disordered, as if the earth had here suffered some great convulsion, in which its very bowels had been turned outward." A more dismal and solitary place can scarcely About one hour's journey

be found in the whole earth. from the foot of the mountains which environ this wilderness, rises the lofty Quarantania, which Maundrell was told is the mountain into which the devil carried our blessed Saviour, that he might shew him all the kingdoms and glory of the world. It is, as the evangelist styles it, "an exceeding high mountain," and in its ascent both difficult and dangerous. It has a small chapel at the top, and another about half way up, founded on a prominent part of the rock. Near the latter are several caves and holes in the sides of the mountain, occupied formerly by hermits, and even in present times the resort of religious devotees, who repair to these lonely cells to keep their lent, in imitation of our Lord's fasting in the wilderness forty days.b

a Maundrell's Journey, p. 78, 79.

b Shaw's Trav. vol. ii, p. 36.

PART II.

OF THE

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE EAST.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.

CHAP. I.

THE HERBS AND SHRUBS OF CANAAN AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRIES.

Aloes.-Hyssop.—The Rose.—The Lily.-The Reed or Cane.-Spikenard.Sesamum.-Darnel or Cockle.-The Mandrake.-The Gourd. The Juniper. The Myrtle.The Mustard-Tree.

Aloes.

THIS is a sort of tree, which in some parts of India rises to the height of eight or ten feet. It is crowned with a large bunch of leaves about four feet in length, and adorned with double blossoms of a red colour intermixed with yellow. The fruit is round like a large pea, white and red; the juice of these leaves is drawn by cutting them with a knife, and is afterwards received in bottles.

The eastern geographers inform us, that the wood of aloes, the smell of which is exquisite, is found only in those provinces of India which are comprehended in the first climate; but in what region it arrives at the highest degree of excellence, they have not been able to determine. The Hebrew, ahalim, in Calmet's opinion, probably signifies aloe-trees. The Vulgate reads, ut tabernacula fixit Dominus, quæ 66 as tents which the Lord hath spread;" but the Hebrew may be translated thus,

a Paris edition, vol. i, p. 58.

As the ahalim which the Lord hath planted. Our translators render it, lign-aloes: the Septuagint and Jerome sometimes translate ahalim, stacte, or aloe; but, as the aloes-tree is not common in Arabia or the neighbouring countries, the Rabbins translate ahalim, santal. The aloes of Syria, Rhodes, and Candia, called Aspalathus, is a thorny shrub; the wood is used by perfumers, after they have taken off the bark, to give consistency to their perfumes.

But the true aloes is a plant or herb: the leaves are about two inches thick, prickly and chamfered; in the middle, rises a stem, in which is a white kernel, extremely light and almost round. From this plant is extracted the drug named aloes, which is a liquor extremely bitter, used in embalming to prevent the putrefaction of the dead body. Nicodemus bought about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, to embalm the body of his Redeemer.b It was employed with myrrh and cinnamon, to perfume the bed of the lewd woman; and in the Song, the spouse says, that myrrh, aloes, and all manner of perfumes, are to be found in the garden of her beloved.

с

Hyssop.

Hyssop is mentioned as one of the smallest of herbs. It has a bitter taste, and grows on the mountains near Jerusalem. A handful of this herb, gathered, it is probable, on Calvary, near the cross, was imbued with vinegar, and applied to the parched lips of the dying Saviour. Or the hyssop of John might be what is called a reed or cane by the evangelists Mark and Matthew.