present to the governor of Egypt (Gen. xliii. 11), and in which the men of Tyre traded from the land of Israel (Ez. xxvii. 17).

Various sorts both of vines and wines are mentioned in Scripture. The choice vine' (Gen. xlix. 11; Isa. v. 2; Jer. ii. 21), sórek, is supposed by some to be the vine with soft stones, from which the Sultana raisins are produced, the serki of the Moors, and by others to be merely the common species trained and cultivated to a high degree of excellence.

We find no less than eight Hebrew and four Greek words used to denominate wine in Scripture. The ordinary word is Heb. yayin, Gr. olvos, i.e., wine' simply. Other words are used for wine of superior excellence : for sweet wine, as Acts ii. 13; for newly-fomented wine (Heb. 'ásis); for sparkling wine; for mixed wine; for spiced wine; and for sour wine, or vinegar. The mixed wine of Scripture is not wine mixed with water to dilute it, but with spices and other heating ingredients to increase its power. Thus, in Prov. xxiii. 30, "They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine." So, Ps. lxxv. 8, “ In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture."

The thin sour wine used by the poorer classes is often translated vinegar: "Eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers" (Ruth ii. 14). Such was, probably, the vinegar offered to our Lord on the cross; the common wine which was part of the daily allowance of a Roman soldier, as mentioned by all the Evangelists: "One of them ran, and took a spunge and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink" (Matt. xxvii. 48), the vinegar being given not in mockery, but to allay thirst, or as an anodyne. The Nazarites were forbidden to drink, not only good wine, but even common vinegar (Numb. vi. 3). There was, however, a stronger vinegar, alluded to in Prov. x. 26, and elsewhere.

Wine on the lees (Isa. xxv. 6) means wine that had been kept on the lees or dregs without straining, for the purpose of increasing its body. All the terms for wine are used in collocations which clearly show that fermentation is implied; nor is there the slightest ground in criticism for the pretence that the unfermented juice of the grape was ordinarily used. The fresh juice could not be

preserved without fermenting unless boiled at once as inust, when it becomes dibs or honey; and the different words are all used in one passage or another where an intoxicating liquor is necessarily implied by the context. When our Lord speaks of men not putting "New wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved" (Matt. ix. 17), He is plainly alluding to the distension of the leathern bottle by the new wine in process of fermentation, which an old skin would not be able to bear without bursting.

In Gen xl. 11, we find the fresh juice of grapes, extracted by maceration, and of a sweet taste, alluded to, the liquor being squeezed fresh into the cup. The same sweet drink is probably intended in Numb. vi. 2, where the Nazarite is forbidden "to drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried," as well as interdicted from wine, strong drink, or vinegar, whether made of wine or strong drink.

The word rendered flagon of wine' in 2 Sam. vi. 19, 1 Chron. xvi. 3, Cant. ii. 5, Hos. iii. 1, really signifies not wine, but a cake of raisins.

Strong drink (Heb. shekar) seems to include all fermented liquors not made from the fresh juice of the grape. Of these pomegranate wine has been already mentioned, as referred to in Cant. viii. 2: "Spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate." Fermented liquors are also made in the East from various other fruits, and have been so from the earliest times, especially from the date palm, from the mulberry, the fig, and the dried raisin. Beer, made from barley, was familiar to the ancient Egyptians, and probably to the Jews likewise.

The Vine, its value, fruitfulness, beauty, and uses, have supplied the sacred writers with many illustra tions. Israel brought out of Egypt by the hand of the Lord, and settled in the Land of Promise, is set forth under the figure of a vine brought, room prepared for it, the vineyard fenced and provided with tower and winepress (Ps. lxxx. 8-11; Isa. v. 1–7, xxvii. 2; Jer. ii. 21). Our Lord compares the Church of God, its blessings and responsibilities, to a vineyard carefully provided and let out to husbandmen (Matt. xii. 33, &c.). To dwell every man under his own vine and fig tree, is the ex

pression of peace and plenty: "Judah and Israel dwelt safely every man under his vine, and under his fig tree (1 Kings iv. 25). [See also Mic. iv. 4; Zech. iii. 10.] The departure of Israel from God and their ingratitude is illustrated by the comparison with wild grapes' (Isa. v. 4); the degenerate plant of a strange vine' (Jer. ii. 21); an empty vine' (Hos. x. 1); grapes of gall' (Deut. xxxii. 32). Finally, our Lord has selected the Vine as the type of Himself in His intimate union with His disciples, who bore fruit through their union with Him: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. I am the vine, ye are the branches," &c. (John xv. 1-8).

VINE, WILD.-Mentioned in Isa. v. 2: " He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." The Wild Vine, or Fox Grape, bears a very small black grape, extremely acid and astringent, and only used for verjuice or vinegar. It grows commonly, it is said, in the highways and hedges of Palestine. We found many vine plants semi-wild in different parts of the country, but did not meet with them at the time they ripened their fruit. I am, therefore, unable to describe it from observation. Some commentators understand by bôser, the 'sour grape' of Isa. xviii. 5, and Jer. xxxi. 29, 30, translated also unripe grape' in Job xv. 33, the fruit of the wild as opposed to the cultivated vine. It may, however, merely signify the sour, unripe grape of any kind, or it may signify merely weeds. [See COCKLE.]

WALNUT.-In Cant. vi. 11, we read, "I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley," where nuts' is the rendering of the Hebrew egoz, equivalent to the Arabic Ghaus, i.e., the Walnut tree (Juglans regia). The Walnut tree is a native of Persia, and was early spread through Western Asia and Europe.

Its grateful shade, handsome, wide-spreading growth, and the fragrance of its leaves, would render it a favourite tree in the gardens of Solomon. It is cultivated extensively in the colder parts of Palestine, and on the higher grounds in the north supplies the place of the Olive, being valued not only for its fruit, but chiefly for the oil extracted from the green nuts. In Syria it comes into leaf early in March, but the fruit is not ripe till August. It has recently been replanted on the sito of

the gardens of Solomon near Bethlehem, but it is only farther north that the Walnut tree is common. Josephus mentions its luxuriance in former times on the Plain of Gennesaret. It is not now to be seen there, though in some villages near, as at Hattin, there are still fine Walnut trees. It is very common in the Plain of Damascus, and few of the Lebanon villages especially high up the mountains are without their grove of Walnuts. Travellers will remember the Walnut trees of Ainât, and also of Akûrah, near the ancient Adonis. There are also many Walnut trees apparently wild in Southern Gilead. On the streams of Ammân (Rabbah) and the Upper Jabbok the tree is frequently met with, and there are clusters of them at each of the very few surviving villages of that region. Between Souf and Gerash the fine Walnut trees, mentioned by Burckhardt, by a fountain and some ruins, still remain, as do also some noble trees in Ajlun. [See NUTS.]

WILLOW.-Two words are rendered Willow' in our version. (1.) "Arábim': "Ye shall take you... boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook (i.e., of the wady or ravine) and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days" (Lev. xxiii. 40). Job, describing the habits of Behemoth (the hippopotamus), says: "The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about" (ch. xl. 22). So Isaiah in the dirge of Moab: "That which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook (valley) of the willows" (ch. xv. 7), where some particular wady is probably intended. Again, in comforting His church with His gracious promises, God speaks thus by the mouth of the same prophet: "I will pour... my blessing upon thine offspring and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses " (ch. xliv. 3, 4). In the lamentation of Israel in captivity, the exiles exclaim : "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof " (Ps. cxxxvii. 1, 2).

Another word, Tzaphtzaphah,' for Willow, occurs in Ez. xvii. 5: “He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.' This word is no doubt identical with the Arabic Safsaf, one of the vernacular names for the Willow.

From all these passages we see that the "Arábim' and the Tzaphtzaphah' were trees which invariably flourished by water-courses, when named the locality of their growth being usually associated with them, and they have always been translated Willow.' "'Arábim' is closely allied to the Arabic Gharab, another name for the Willow.

The Willow (Salix of botanists) is represented in Palestine by several species, and there are few parts of the country where one willow or another may not be found. It is, however, a local tree. All naturalists are well aware of the difficulties of determining the species of Willow, owing to the specific character being shown at different seasons of the yea.-the catkins, leaves, and fruit, all succeeding each other. We, consequently, were unable to decide several of the species which we collected, as we could not visit the localities a second time. The Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica) is frequently found on the coast overhanging wells and pools. There is a conspicuous tree of this species over a pond in the Plain of Acre, and others on the Phoenician plain. It is also common on the banks of the Barada (Abana), near Damascus.

It is probably to this species the Psalmist refers in the passage which so touchingly depicts Israel's sorrow in captivity. Another species (Salix octandra) is common on the banks of the Jordan. We also found what appeared to resemble the Common Osier (Salix viminalis). Other travellers have mentioned Salix ægyptiaca as also found. In some of the wadys by the Dead Sea, as in the Wady Areyeh and Wady Safsaf, where the stream is perennial, we found a very fine species of Willow flourishing abundantly. It is apparently allied to the Osier, and has very narrow leaves, six inches in length, whitish on the under side, and the bark a bright reddish green. These wadys were the only places in Palestine where we found the Willow the predominant tree, and where it continuously lined the banks of any stream. The Arabs called it Safsaf, their generic name. Burckhardt also mentions an Ain Safsaf, Fountain of the Willow.'

We know that the Orientals rarely discriminate species accurately, excepting in the case of plants cultivated or valuable to man, nor would an unobservant people ever