size. Every one of these sixteen lesser squares in the garden was bordered with stone; and in the stone-work were troughs, very artificially contrived, for conveying the water all over the garden; there being little outlets cut at every tree, for the stream, as it passed by, to flow out and water it." Every one must see how effectually this would correct the heat of the climate, and give a luxuriant vegetation to all within, while the grounds without were parched with drought; and the classical reader will here recollect the garden of Alcinous, king of Phæacia. The following extract from Maundrell may give a tolerable idea of the appearance of the country round about Jerusalem, or any great city where they had abundance of water. "Damascus," says he,b❝ is encompassed with gardens, extending no less, according to common estimation, than thirty miles round, which makes it look like a city in a vast wood. The gardens are thick set with fruit trees of all kinds, kept fresh and verdant by the waters of Barrady (the Chrysorrhoas of the ancients,) which supply both the gardens and city in great abundance. This river, as it issues from between the clefts of the mountain (of Antilibanus) into the plain, is immediately divided into three streams, of which the middlemost and biggest runs directly to Damascus, and is distributed to all the cisterns and fountains of the city. The other two (which Mr. Maundrell takes to be the work of art) are drawn round, one to the right hand, and the other to the left, on the borders of the gardens, into which they are let as they pass by little currents, and so dispersed all over the vast wood: insomuch, that there is not a garden but has a fine quick stream running through it. Barrady is almost wholly drunk up by the city and gardens; and what Odyss. vii. 112-130. b Page 122. VOL. II. 30 small part of it escapes is united in one channel again on the south-east 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, for the pleasure of viewing the surrounding scenery and chiosks, or arbours, in which they indulged in ease and pleasure. We have one of these arbours 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. 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. Is. iv, 6. c Lowth, Is. i. 8, note. Job xxvii. 18. 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 garden-house." 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 smoke under the trees to kill vermin." Hence, in the parable of the fig-tree that had been barren for three years, the gardener pleads for delay till he should dig about it and dung it.-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 that bears a cab of dates, nor the olive, if it but bear the fourth part of a cab." But as much depended on the age of the tree, so this rule only held good after the end of the third year; when they stigmatised those that were barren, or gave inconsiderable returns, by a red mark, as a mark of destruction.—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 that was kept by an European gentleman at Sheeraz in Persia, 1787. Vol. ii. Lett. 32. Comp. vol. iii. Lett. 43. On the 1st of June, apricots, cherries, apples, greenOn June 19th, gages, and plums, came into season. musk-melons. On July 6th, black grapes. On July 9th, pears. On July 13th, white grapes, and watermelons; and on July 18th, the Orleans plumb. On July 20th, apricots, apples and cherries, went out of season. On July 22d, figs came into season. On August 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, walnuts. 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 74d 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 7ąd: 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 accounted 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; method 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 it rewards his labour, or suits 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: these are, properly speaking, the possessing proprietors, who devote their care to the improvement of their estates, and personally superintend them but there are others, who, from ignorance, indolence, distance, or other avocations, find this personal attendance inconvenient or impossible, and therefore |