§ XI. Egypt is destitute of oil, but Palestine

abounds in it.

According to Strabo the greatest part of Egypt has no olive yards, the province of Heraclea alone excepted, which as it surpasses the other parts in other respects, so also produces olives to perfection, and very fruitful trees; and if any one would make the oil carefully, it would be very superior, but as they are very negligent in the manner of making it, it has a very disagreeable smell. But the rest of Egypt has no olives, except the gardens in the vicinity of Alexandria. Niebuhrt has described the instrument for making oil, but has not stated the place where he found it. If he did not find it in Alexandria, perhaps more labour and attention is paid, at this day, to the cultivation of the olive than was the case in the time of Strabo. But Palestine surpasses other countries in the abundance of its olives: whence Ezechielt the Prophet says, "Judah and the land of Israel were thy merchants: They traded in thy market (Tyre) wheat of Minnith and Pannag, and honey and oil and balm." Solomon also is said, (1 Kings v. 11,) to have sent annually to the king of Tyre, twenty measures of pure oil. Hasselquist has given us the best description of its excellence, affirming that in no region has the oil a sweeter taste than in Palestine, and that it is far preferable to that of the Province. Bellonius says that a few olives are found in Lemnos, and that they grow in gardens of Crete, but that those of Syria and the land of Jerusalem surpass in richness. In the sacred monu

* De rebus Geographicis, lib. xvii. p. 809. Edit. Paris. Conf. Michaelis' Mosaisches Recht, T. IV. p. 90.

+ Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien, T. I. p. 151.

Cap. xxvii. 17. Conf. Deut. vii. 13; xxxiii. 13; xxxiii. 24; Ps. xlv. 9; Hos. ii. 22. Conf. Talmud. in cod. Menachot cap. viii. S. Bocharti Hieroz. p. 2, lib. iv. cap. 12. Bellonii Observat. lib. ii. c. 87. Shaw's 'i ravels, p. $37, 339. Roger's Terre Saint. lib. i. c. 9. Relandi Palestina, p. 380, 381.

A A

ments of Hebrew antiquity oil was held as a sign of for-
giveness and mercy. Fertility also is denoted by the sym-
bol of the olive tree. That it was the sign of fatness and
fertility you may see from Jud. ix.; for when it was in-
vited by the barren trees to govern, it answered that it
was unwilling to leave its fatness, "wherewith by me they
honour God and man." By Horace the olive is selected
as the richest tree. Formerly the olive was the index and
symbol of the sad and of those seeking pardon and peace:
as those asking pardon carried the olive in their hands.
According to Demosthenes, the Athenians used to sup-
plicate against Timocrates, in sordid clothing and carrying
the olive. When Artaxerxes Ocho was besieging Sidon, as
Diodorus Siculus says in the life of Philip, five hundred
of the nobles of the city went out to meet Artaxerxes,
carrying olive branches and begging for peace. Apuleus
says, that women who have become widows by murder,
carry
olive branches in order to excite the commiseration
of the judges. When the Romans carried on a war with
Perseus king of Macedonia, ambassadors with long hair
and beards, and carrying olive branches, came to the Ro-
man senate to beg for mercy: this Livy states. In mar-
riage feasts and celebrations oil was used to anoint the
bridegroom; according to the Oriental customt he had
some of his friends and companions with him, who were
partakers of the unction, though not so largely as he.
From the testimony of those who have visited the Eastern
countries in our days, it appears that this custom has been
abolished and perfuming introduced in its place. The
Egyptian priests used to abstain from oil according to
Chaeremon the stoic, in Porphyry. Many of them did
not use it at all, and those who did, used it very sparingly
with their herbs. The olive, then, was not cultivated in

* Lib. ii. Od. II. Conf. Pierii Valeriani Hieroglyphica, lib. 55.
+ Confer. Jud. xiv. 11, 20. Ps. xlv. 9.

De abstinentia, lib. iv. sect. 6.

Egypt and the land was not suitable for it, a very small part only, the tract of Heraclea excepted, and even this was but little used for that purpose. But Palestine abounds in olives. Schulz says, that he found many olive yards in the vicinity of Jericho; whence Moses gave different precepts to the Israelites that they should use oil in their food, and he prohibited the use of the fat of kidneys, so that being more and more accustomed to oil, they might cultivate it with more industry, and never have a desire to remove into a region that did not produce oil.† This was an excellent method, to keep the Israelites from emigrating.

§ XII. They had butter in Egypt, but not in

Palestine.

Butter appears to have been much used in Egypt, but not at all in Palestine; it was also, scarcely known to the Greeks and Romans; thus Plinyt says, of milk is made butter, an excellent food of the barbarous nations, and which distinguishes the rich from the common people. It is generally made from the milk of the cow (e bubulo) and thence the Latin name; but the richest is from the milk of the ewe. Of the Lusitanians Strabo says, they use butter instead of oil. My denial of the use of butter in Palestine will excite astonishment, since so many great men have strenuously affirmed it; and if we compare the old and recent interpreters of the Sacred Scriptures we find the word butter in their translations, although in the original text I contend there is no mention of the word. The Israelites had no need of it, possessing

Leitungen des Höchsten auf seinen Reisen, &c. T. V.

+ Conf. Ill. Michaelis Comment. de legibus Moses Palestinam Israelitis caram facturis, sect. 5, 7. Mosaisches Recht. T. IV. p. 90.

Hist. Nat. lib. xxviii. cap. 9. Droscorides lib. xi, cap. 81.

as they did the most excellent oil, whence our Jews, butter being forbidden in the law of Moses, use goose's fat. The word n very often occurs in the Sacred Scriptures, which is generally translated butter. But on what foundation does this interpretation depend? What is the philological reason? I suppose they have been led by some prejudice to fix that signification to this word. If we make that the signification, the sense of some places in scripture. will be rendered truly ridiculous and disgusting. It rather means in particular curdled milk, and in general any milk. Which signification suits well all the places where the word is found. The root in the Arabic is 2, which signifies milk was thick and hard. In Jud. v. 25, it is said, that Joel gave to Sissera drink of N, not of butter, but of milk. In Job xx. 17, is an Oriental discription of Palestine, in these words: he shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey, ) and milk. And so the Arabic and Syriac versions render it. In Job xxix. 6, there is mention of washing the feet with milk. In this place n is put for n as all the translators allow, although they err in the translation, rendering it, with butter: this is ridiculous; for who would wash his feet in butter? This word occurs in Isa. vii. 15, the sense of which place is, he shall eat milk and honey, until he shall know to refuse evil and choose good. So the Syriac translation: but the LXX and the Vulgate, and from that Luther and others translate it butter. For the LXX living in Egypt always had butter in their minds, as that region abounded in it. From these places it will appear manifest, that means not butter but milk. Also milk appears to have been the usual drink amongst the ancients; whence many nations are called by the Greeks γαλακτοποται that is drinkers of milk, in the number of which were the Ethiopians especially also Columella gives this name to the Nomades and the Getæ ;

Galen to the Scythians; and Strabo and Pomponius Mela to the Germans. Jeromet says, the Arabs use camel's milk. At this day the Tartars are very fond of that drink.

§ XIII. The testimonies of Greek and Latin writers respecting Palestine; to which are added those of Travellers.

The enemies of religion inflamed with ardent desires to fix on the character of Moses the charge of the basest falsehood, because he has described Palestine as very fertile, bring forth Greek and Latin authors, and cite many places from them to prove its sterility; but almost all these places speak only of the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. which is called unfruitful, and to their testimony that of Maundrell and Kort are added. The latter calls Palestine an ill-fated region, that suffers for want of water; and why? He saw two rivers that were dried up within twenty feet of their origin. But in this thing Kort is by no means a competent judge, for he is a native of Holsatia; and moreover a general opinion is not to be formed from one observation, for a river may be dry one year and this may seldom or never occur again. Also, if the rivers of Palestine are easily and suddenly dried, that may not be owing to the land, but to the cultivation. But no one will deny that the condition of Palestine at this day is different from what it was in the time of Moses.

Tacitus and Julius Cæsar have written on Germany,. and represented it as an unfruitful country, but no one in our age will think of using their testimony, and from it pronounce against the present productiveness of this country. But if we consider the condition and changes of Pa

* Lib. ii. ad Glauc. de curat. cap. 10.

† Lib. ii. in loyianum.