The PALM-TREE was formerly very common in Palestine, but is less so now. Its tall, branchless stem, crowned by a feathery plume at the top, adds great beauty to the landscape, whether growing in solitary grandeur or in a grove. It is frequently mentioned in Scripture. The Israelites came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees.”1

Jericho is almost everywhere associated with palm-trees. The first mention of it is when Moses viewed the Promised Land from Mount Pisgah, and looked on the "plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees."2 Also in Judges i. 16 Jericho is called the "city of palm-trees," and again, chap. iii. 13. Deborah, the prophetess, who judged Israel, “dwelt under the palm-tree between Ramah and Bethel, in Mount Ephraim, and there the people came to her for judgment."

Palm-trees were growing near Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah, when after the return from Babylon the feast of Tabernacles was kept. The people were told to "Go forth unto the mount (of Olives), and fetch olive-branches, and pine-branches, and myrtle-branches and palm-branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.”*

When Christ rode into Jerusalem from Bethany, the people took branches of palm-trees and went forth to meet Him; so we see that the palm must have been flourishing there at that time; but now it neither exists there nor on Mount Olivet itself, though several ancient trees are still to be found within the walls of Jerusalem.

It is from this incident in the life of our Saviour that the custom of carrying branches of a kind of willow, commonly called palm, on Palm Sunday, has arisen.

The leaf of the palm-tree was often used as a model for ornaments. It is repeatedly mentioned among other ornaments of Solomon's Temple: "And the greater house he cieled with fir-tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and

"1 Also in 1 Kings vi. 29:

set thereon palm-trees and chains." "And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm-trees and open flowers, within and without." In Psalm xcii. 12, the righteous man is compared to the palm-tree: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree."

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The OLIVE-TREE seems to have been cultivated from the very earliest ages. The first mention we find of it is at the time of the Deluge, when the dove brought back an oliveleaf in her mouth, by which Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the face of the earth.2 The olive-tree is continually mentioned as one of the blessings of the Promised Land. It was a "good land . . . a land of oil olive, and honey." It still grows most abundantly in every part of the Holy Land. The inheritances of Manasseh and Ephraim are clad with olive-groves to this day; also the Vale of Shechem, the valleys round Hebron, the plains of Gilead, and the most fertile portions of Bashan. The oldest trees are those in the garden of Gethsemane, said to have existed in the time of our Lord. There are still several hundred trees scattered over Mount Olivet, but not enough to give it the woody appearance that it once had. The olive yields a great deal of oil: there are two sorts of trees, the wild and the cultivated. The latter does not grow very high; the trunk is knotty, bark smooth, and of a pale ash colour; the leaves are of a dark green on the upper side, but almost white on the underneath. The flowers are white, and grow in bunches; the fruit is first green, but quite black when ripe.

In Deut. xxviii. 40, God seems to threaten the failure of the olive-trees as a mark of His displeasure: "Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit."

David takes it as an emblem of Divine blessing: he compares himself to a green olive-tree in the house of God;"4

and the children of a good man, to the "olive-plants round about his table."1

It is used in the Prophets as a type of beauty and strength: "The Lord called thy name, A green olive-tree, fair, and of goodly fruit."2 "His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree," is a promise of God's blessing upon Israel.

It is also the blessing of Asher: "Let him dip his foot in oil."4 This blessing is recalled to the memory of every | traveller who visits those vast olive-yards, still flourishing, where the heritage of Asher formerly was.

GOPHER Wood is only mentioned once in the Bible. The Lord told Noah to make an ark of gopher wood. It is supposed by many to be the same as the cypress-tree, which from its toughness and close texture is very suitable for ship-building.

Several sorts of FIR and PINE trees are found in Palestine, but they are not so plentiful as formerly, having been destroyed for timber or fuel. The fir-trees were very much

used in the building of the Solomon by Hiram, King of Lebanon.

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Temple, and were sent to Tyre, as well as the cedars of

The fir-tree is often used figuratively in the Prophets: "I will set in the desert the fir-tree and the pine." "7 "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree."8 It is only mentioned once in the Psalms: "As for the stork, the firtrees are her house."9

A Word on the Wold.

HERE is, even to this day, in some of the midland counties, a wide-spreading district known as "The Forest." In the days of far-famed Robin Hood it was indeed worthy of the name, and, no doubt, stretched, darkly and densely, through the length and breadth of more than one county. It is open now, and there are

villages dotted here and there, but far apart, and wide, dreary tracts, with dense woods and wide expanse of common; and the lonely traveller may traverse many a weary mile without meeting a single creature to beguile the tedious distance; nay, if he be not skilled in its windings, he may lose his way entirely, and tramp along from sunset to sunrise without the chance of rest, or even of obtaining information as to his whereabouts.

One cold, sleety, gloomy November evening, when I had settled comfortably down before my bright fire, with the pleasant jingle of the tea-things in my ear, and an entertaining book in my hand, a furious ring was heard at my surgery bell.

"Dear me !" I thought, putting my slippered feet snugly on the fender," surely nobody wants the poor doctor to-night." "Wanted, please, sir," said my servant, as he slipped a note into my hand. I looked at it in dismay. Yes, I was really wanted, and that without delay. Only a distance of several miles, and that right across the dreariest part of the Forest. There was no help for it; I must put on my dreadnought, and start immediately. The moon was nearly at her full, that was one good thing.

"Who brought the note, Giles ?" I inquired eagerly, with a vague hope that the messenger might bear me company. "Old Peter Cox, sir."

"Is he going back, then?”

"Oh no, sir! He'll sleep at his daughter's, sir."

"Well, get Jerry saddled, Giles; I must start in five minutes."

Jerry came round at the appointed time-a fine, stoutlybuilt, brindly cob, capable of doing a vast amount of work, with a splendid head and a pair of large lustrous eyes. Jerry and I had been fast friends for several years. He knew the Forest almost as well as I did. I always selected him for difficult journeys. I think he knew it was rather unpleasant now, so he gave a snort of determined acquiescence.

We cantered pleasantly along the straggling village road,