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    PIIUITS IN THEIR SEASON. 121

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    ¦ - - A » Vi. Data. Respecting Dates. Th...

    a fact which Ldndley acknowledges to have been known to _TheojDhras and endogenous tus , who speaks wood dis thoug tinctl h y he of was the difference not aware between that it extended exogenous to

    , , a considerable part of the vegetable kingdom , separating- it , indeed , into two grand divisions . That particular palm too which bears

    the date-fruit became generally known at a very early period , for it is the palm of the Scriptures , so early mentioned in the sacred

    record as the first food found by the wandering Israelites in the wilderness , when " they came to Elim , where "were twelve wells of

    water , and threescore and ten date trees , " for it is thus that the wherein passage what stands is now the translated old English cl palm Bibles " is of con the stantl sixteenth rendered century by ,

    the term "date" tree . It was too , in all probabili y ty , the palm earliest known to the Greeks and Romans , among whom it was held

    sacred to the Muses . The fruit of one variety—described by Pliny as' long , slender , and sometimes of a curved shape— " we , " says that

    writer , " consecrate to the worship of the gods ; but they are called chydcei ( from the Greek Kydaios , vulgar or common ) by the Jews , a

    nation remarkable for the contempt which they manifest of the divinities" a comment which shows that the word must have been

    used by the ; Hebrews in this case in the same sense in which it was bSt . Peterwhen he objected to eat of anything " common or

    unclean y / ' but it , was probably only when the fruit was degraded by being loyed as an idol offering that they thus held it in

    abhorrence . The tree was indeed so far identified with their country that it was looked on as the symbol of Judea , as is seen in the

    wellknown Homan coin bearing the inscription " Judea capta , " though it is thought that it may not have been thus selected so much on

    account of its being peculiarly abundant in Syria , as because it was there that it would be first met with by the Greeks and Romans in

    j ) roceeding southward . It holds a place too in barbarioAnythology , for it is said that the Tamanaguas of South America have a tradition

    that the human race sprung again from the fruits of the palm , after ihe Mexican IC Age of water , " a story almost reversed in

    Mahomet ' s account of its origin , which is , that it was made of tlie tempered dust which remained after the formation of Adam , and

    he therefore calls it the uncle of mankind , using it too as an illustration of the virtuous and generous man who _" stands erect before

    his Lord and devotes his whole life to the welfare of his fellowcreatures . " The inhabitants of Medina say , that at one time the

    prophet , being asked to testify to the truth of his mission by workinsome miraclelaced a date-stone in the groundfrom which

    taking g root downward , p and shooting suddenly upward at , his bidding , there arose forthwith a lofty tree in the perfection of fruitful maturity . .

    the On an conscious other occas tree ion was , when so elated he happened at the to privilege pass beneath of overshadowing a date-palm , '

    of the ladness messenger and of haile Allah d , him that with it broke a loud forth Sa into laam a spont Aleikoom . aneous . Many shout

    g , TOIi . Til . K

    Piiuits In Their Season. 121

    PIIUITS IN THEIR SEASON . 121

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1861, page 121, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041861/page/49/