watched night and day till Marchesvan, or the middle of October, when the autumnal rains began to fall, and they returned home: which account agrees with the information given to us by modern travellers. For we are told that the shepherds, when they have no other shelter, lodge in caves, of which there are many vestiges still about Askelon," or in black coloured tents of goats' hair: that, before June, "the eastern hills are oftentimes stocked with shrubs, and a delicate short grass, which the cattle are more fond of than of such as is common to fallow ground and meadows. Neither is the the grazing and feeding of cattle peculiar to Judea, for it is still practised all over Mount Libanus, the Castravan mountains, and Barbary, where the higher grounds are appropriated to this use, as the plains and valleys are reserved for tillage; for, besides the good management and economy, there is this farther advantage in it, that the milk of cattle fed in this manner is far more rich and delicious, at the same time that their flesh is more sweet and nourishing." Such is the way in which they shift about during the spring months. In the summer season, or from June till the autumnal equinox, Dr. Russell tells us, that "they take their flocks to feed beside streams, where alone verdure is to be found." And in the autumn the goats, sheep, and cattle are much relieved by being turned into the vineyards, and picking up the vine leaves. I shall only add, that as, in all pastoral districts, the flocks when left to themselves daily descend from the higher grounds in the morning, feed and rest in some low, agreeable place at noon, and ascend to the heights again in the evening; so this practice is alluded to in Scripture, when the spouse, addressing her beloved under the character of a shepherd, Shaw, p. 338. < P. 10. d Harmer, vol. i. Pref. lxxviii, says, "Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon" evidently indicating that they had a certain daily range, and that some shady place was selected to shelter them from the mid-day sun. Virgil, when treating of sheep, in his 3d Georgic, line 327, speaks of their beginning to rest at the fourth hour, or ten o'clock, when the heat began to be oppressive and in Plato's Phædrus, we read of προβαία μεσεμβριαννα, or sheep reelining at noon under a shade, by a still fountain. SECT. VII. State of Gardening among the Jews. Kitchen garden; plants of; manner of rearing them. Vineyards, very numerous; frequent allusions to them in Scripture; supposed proportions of profit to the owner and occupier. Flower-gardens mentioned in Scripture: sometimes abused to idolatrous and obscene purposes: the Floralia of the Romans orchards and shady walks of the Jews; trees and shrubs planted in them. Fences of loose stones; hedges; mud walls; stone regularly built. Gardens supplied with water: frequent allusions to this in Scripture. Maundrell's account of it. Fruits watched while ripening in temporary huts; elegant towers; chiosks; an account of one. Their manner of making trees fruitful; rule for preserving or destroying them. A calendar of the time when fruits come in season at Sheeraz, in Persia, as an approximation to those in Judea. The daily wages of hired labourers. BESIDES the lands that were devoted to agriculture and pasturage, it was usual with the Jews to inclose a certain portion for gardens, either for utility or pleasure. Hence the kitchen garden, the vineyard, the flower-garden, and the orchard. We know but little of the plants which a kitchen garden contained; but, in general, we may remark, that the great wish of the eastern nations hath always been to procure an abundance of such fruits as, on the one hand, by their cooling nature, might allay the heat of the summer months; and, on the other, those herbs of a hot quality, which might give a tone to their digestive powers when debilitated by heat. Hence, while their general food was wheat, barley, rye, fitches, millet, lentils, beans, &c. their great care, during the summer months, was to have a plentiful and continued supply of cucumbers, melons, and gourds, to serve, in place of water, to allay the thirst; and of onions, leeks, garlic, anise, cummin, cassia, cinnamon, coriander, mustard, juniper, &c. to mix with their dishes, in order to give them a high season, and assist in digestion. It appears, indeed, strange to an European, when he hears of the very hot and highly-seasoned dishes of the East, where the climate itself is of so high a temperature: but God has wisely placed the articles for highest seasoning in the warmest latitudes, that the same cause which debilitates, by excessive and continued heat, the powers of digestion, might produce in abundance those articles that could correct that debility, and assist the languid powers of nature. In the production of these vegetables little care was necessary. Hasselquist, in his Travels, p. 160, observes, that the inhabitants of Nazareth, in Galilee, "had no spades, but a kind of hoe, or ground ax." And Niebuhr says, "instead of a spade the Arabs of Yemen make use of an iron mattock (an instrument mentioned in Is. vii. 25,) to cultivate their gardens, and the lands in the mountains, which are too narrow to admit the plough." The turning up of the earth, therefore, with these simple instruments, a plentiful manure, the extirpation of weeds, and a regular application of water, were all that were requisite to produce an VOL. II. a Description de l'Arabie, p. 137. abundant crop of vegetables for the kitchen, where the climate in other respects was so favourable. ture. Vineyards were in great abundance in Judea, sometimes in elevated situations, and sometimes in low and sheltered valleys. When in elevated situations, they commonly faced the south, to make up by reflection what was wanting in natural temperature; but low situations were generally preferred, on account of the depth of soil, and other advantages. We have an account of the manner in which they formed a vineyard, in Is. v. 1,2; for wherever the vine could be cultivated it was eagerly adopted. Grapes were an agreeable fruit where the heat of the sun was so great, and their various preparations served either to give variety to entertainments or to form a considerable branch of commerce with their less favoured neighbours. It is no wonder, then, that such frequent allusions are made to the vine in ScripThus the improvement of vines by ingrafting is employed by our Lord, to explain the advantages that are to be derived from union with himself, in John xv. 1-4. The rapidity of the growth of vines after the sap has begun to ascend by the showers and heat of spring, is beautifully applied by Hosea xiv. 7, to the revival and rapid growth of the people of God: "They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." And the disappointment of the vine-dresser, after all his care, is applied by Jehovah, to point out the ingratitude of his professing people, in Jer. ii. 21: "I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?" The Psalmist takes notice of the hurtful effects of hail on vines, in Psalm lxxviii. 47. And Solomon speaks of the anxiety of the vine-dressers to catch the foxes, the little foxes, which spoiled the vines when they had ten der grapes, in Cant. ii. 15. When vineyards were let, a certain proportion of the produce was given to the owner, and a certain proportion to the cultivator of the soil. Thus in Solomon's garden, at Baalhamon, every one for the fruit thereof brought a thousand pieces of silver. Solomon got a thousand, and those who kept the fruit thereof two hundred: but we are not to look upon this proportion, perhaps, as a general rule. In Isaiah vii. 23, the rent for a thousand vines is said to have been a thousand silverlings, or shekels; about half a crown each. When Captain Light was at Jaffa, or Joppa, in 1814, he found that "one-fourth of the produce of a garden went to the gardener, who is supplied with labourers to weed and work the ground by the owner, by whom all damages are repaired, horses and oxen are found, and water-wheels are erected for irrigation." As for flower-gardens, although they are not minutely described in Scripture, they have always been in high request in the East. The vivid colours of the flowers, and their agreeable smell, have made them be much cultivated whilst by collecting them to adorn their chambers, or using them as ornaments of dress, they sweetened the air of their apartments, and counteracted the effects of profuse perspiration. Hence the bridegroom is said to recline on beds of spices, and dwell among the lilies, in Cant. ii. 16. vi. 2, 3; the spouse invites him to these delightful retreats, Cant. ii. 10-13; and in Cant. iv. 13, 14, we have some of the most esteemed plants in an eastern garden. "Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes (mean Matt. xxi. 34. Cant. viii, 11, 12. Travels, p. 144. |