were great trees. This, I conceive, is all that a liberal interpretation of the passage could demand. There are several varieties of the sinapis, or mustard-tree, in Syria, mentioned by Hasselquist, but not used generally by the natives. One of these varieties, near Acco, and on the plain of Esdraelon, grows to the height of nine or even ten feet, and is several inches in circumference, producing branches sufficiently large to bear the weight of a bird. In several works the phytolacca is supposed to be the mustard of Scripture. This plant, however, is a well-known native of America, having been introduced into Europe in comparatively modern times, and is thought to have no claim to be considered the mustard referred to by the Evangelists.

URTICEÆ.

Urtica Dioica.

H

Urtica Pilutifera.

ASSELQUIST found both these varieties of the nettle existing in Palestine. It grows near cultivated spots, and frequently in neglected and ruined places. Every observant traveller can testify to the luxuriant growth of the nettle amid the broken walls and ancient remains of the Holy Land. The truth of the words of the prophets Zephaniah, Hosea, and Isaiah seems to be written on all the fallen palaces and fortresses throughout the land:-"Thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof."

In each of the five places where the word "nettle" occurs, the signification seems plainly the same, and the plants alluded to must be very similar in nature although there are two different words in the original. The difference between the two, however, may not be greater than that which exists between. the words "briers" and "thorns" in English. It is the very plant which, on account of its sting, would be first eradicated from the garden. Hence the force of the remark of the prophet that it should be found in the ruined palaces and houses.

There seems to have been a kind used as a potherb, and one which had the quality of curdling milk without communi

cating any disagreeable taste; for this reason it is supposed that it was not utterly despised in Judea, which was partly a dairy country. The sentiment associated with it, however, was one of utter desolation; and hence wherever it was found it was the sign of either desertion or ruin.

LILIACEÆ.

a

Allium Cepa.

HE onion of Egypt and the surrounding countries, though

of the same order as that found in our own and other northern lands, is greatly different from it both in regard to flavor and strength. Very few would recognise in the strong and acrid juice of the onion of Occidental lands any similarity to that of the onion of the Orient, which forms so large a part of the dishes of an Eastern dinner, fried with almonds or pistachio-nuts and mixed with dried fruit. The onion was worshipped, as we have already stated, at Pelusium. The reason seems to have been that the onion, which was supposed to be the squill, and grew on the shore, was considered a remedy for the marsh-fevers, and flourished nowhere in such abundance as around Pelusium. This squill had a root similar to the onion, and was called by that name.

*See LEEKS.

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