a garden but has a fine quick stream running through it. Barrady is almost wholly drunk up by the city and gardens; and what small part of it escapes, is united in one channel again, on the southeast side of the city; and, after about three or four hours' course, finally loses itself in a bog there, without ever arriving at the sea." In short, from this extract it appears that the greatest pains were taken to make the most of every stream that passed through the country; and perhaps they used the same method for enriching the water that the Damascenes did the Barrady, by placing men upon hurdles, and dragging them down the stream, to raise the sediment which had been deposited at the bottom."

When the fruits were ripening, it was usual to defend them from the jackalls, by watching them day and night, in small temporary huts, covered with boughs, straw, turf, or the like materials, for a shelter from the heat by day, and the cold and dews by night. Hence the words of the prophet in Is. i. 8, "The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard (deserted, viz. after the vintage is past,) as a lodge, or temporary hut, in a garden of cucumbers." But besides these temporary huts, they had sometimes elegant towers, ten cubits high at the least, and four broad, for the pleasure of

a If the city of Damascus was not so extensive formerly as it is now, there might only have been two branches of the Barrady, as all that were then requisite for watering the extent of country laid out in gardens; and if that was the case, these two streams might have been the Abana and Pharphar, which are so highly praised by Naaman the Syrian, in 2 Kings v. 12; for there are no other rivers of equal magnitude in the country.

b Is. iv. 6.

c Lowth, Is. i. 8, note. Job xxvii. 18.

viewing the surrounding scenery; and chiosks, or arbours, in which they indulged in ease and pleasure. We have one of these arbours thus described by Lady M. W. Montagu. "In the midst of the garden is the chiosk, that is, a large room commonly beautified with a fine fountain in the midst of it. It is raised nine or ten steps, and enclosed with gilded lattices, round which vines, jessamines, and honeysuckles, make a sort of green wall. Large trees are planted round this place, which is the scene of their greatest pleasures." It was perhaps a house of this kind that is mentioned in 2 Kings ix. 27, as the place by which Ahaziah, king of Judah, wished to escape the fury of Jehu: for he is said to have "fled by the way of the gardenhouse."

We know very little of their manner of managing trees, so as to make them more fruitful; but Lightfoot gives us the following short hints from the Talmud: "They lay dung in their gardens, to moisten and enrich the soil; dig about the roots of their trees; pluck up the suckers; take off the leaves; sprinkle ashes; and apply smoke under the trees to kill vermin." The Jews had also a dispute among themselves, as to the degree of fruitfulness that a tree should have, to make it worth preserving; and their conclusion was, "Cut not down the palm which bears a cab of dates; nor the olive, if it but bear the fourth part of a cab." But as much of the fertility depended on the age of the

a Lightfoot's Heb. and Talm. Exer. on Mark xii. 1.
b Vol. ii. Lett. 32. Comp. vol. iii. Lett. 43.

c Heb. and Talm. Exer. Luke xiii. 8.

d Lightf. Heb. and Talm. Exer. Luke xiii. 7.

tree, so this rule only held good, after the end of the third year; when they stigmatised those that were barren, or which gave inconsiderable returns, with a red mark, as a mark of destruction." And hence the words of the proprietor of the vineyard to the vine-dresser, in the parable of the barren fig-tree. "Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this tree, and find none; cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? It hath ill requited all thy care; has been occupying the place which a more fruitful tree might have occupied; and is hurting others with its noxious shade. It deserves, therefore, to have affixed to it the mark of destruction." The vine-dresser's reply was natural and instructive. Lord, let it alone for this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and, if after that additional patience on thy part, and care on mine, it shall bear fruit, well: if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. I shall no longer plead in its behalf."

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It would certainly be desirable to have a calendar of the times when the different fruits ripen in Judea, as it might tend to throw light on several portions of Scripture; but, since that hath not yet. appeared, I shall add from Clarke's Harmer, ch. i. ob. 30, one which was kept by an European gentleman at Sheeraz in Persia, 1787.

On the 1st of June, apricots, cherries, apples, greengages, and plums, came into season. On June 19th, musk-melons. On July 6th, black grapes. On July 9th, pears. On July 13th, white grapes, and water-melons; and on July 18th, the

a Lightf. Chorog. Cent. of Israel, ch. 98.

b Luke xiii. 6—9,

Arline plum. On July 20th, apricots, apples, and cherries, went out of season. On July 22d, figs came into season. On Aug. 6th, peaches, and the small white grape called askerie. On Sept. 6th, pomegranates. On Sept. 10th, quinces, and the large red grape called sahibi. On Oct. 4th, the large pear called abbasi. And on Oct. 7th, wal

nuts.

I shall conclude this account of Jewish horticulture by remarking, that, as hired servants were often employed along with slaves, and the other members of the gardener's family, so a regulated sum was commonly given them in name of wages. Thus, our Lord in one of his parables, tells us of a certain person, who went to the market-place, and hired labourers for a penny a day, or about 72d. of our money. And when Tobit hired Azarias as his servant, he agreed for a drachm a day, and things necessary, meaning his support, which was also 7 d. so that a drachm, or denarius, was the common wages of a servant or labourer for a day, consisting of twelve hours: although these did not always form the stipulated length; for, in the Jewish writings, the labourers are said to have wrought from sunrise, till the appearance of the stars, when the urgency of the season required it.

SECT. VIII.

State of Property in Judea.

Pasture in the first stage of society common; arable lands only a counted property while they produced crops; property afterwards, either in the hands of proprietors or occupants; rent, how collected from such; farmers, in the present acceptation of the word, then unknown. Square acres in the land of Judea: proportion to each individual family; something like the feudal system among them; the eldest son's share; methods of acquiring property; checks on selfishness: the effect of the appointment of kings on property. The natural effects of the Jewish institutions on their national character.

In pastoral districts, the soil in the East, as was formerly mentioned, is frequently unappropriated, each shepherd keeping his flock in his present pasture, till necessity obliges him to seek for a better. But they sometimes also hold it for a certain annual consideration, given to the government of the country; as Niebuhr tells us the Arab tribes give, for the privilege of feeding their flocks and herds, in some parts of Arabia, in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, and in the rich plains of Upper Egypt.— As for lands devoted to agriculture, they seem to be held under several kinds of tenure. Thus, some are temporary, but independent; the occupant enjoying the present or succeeding crops, so long as they reward his labour, or suit his convenience. Others hold in perpetuity of some neighbouring chief, either for personal service, or pecuniary consideration. And others pay their proportion of taxes to the state, as the price of their security.

a Travels, passim.