The Hebrews, like other primitive nations, appear to have been herdsmen before they were agriculturists (Gen. iv, 2, 12, 17, 22) ; and the practice of keeping flocks and herds continued in high esteem and constant ob- servance as a regular employment and a social condition (Judg. i. 16; iv, 11 ; Amos vii, 14 ; Luke ii, 8). The cul- ture of the soil came in course of time, introducing the discovery and exercise of the practical arts of life, which eventually led to those refinements, both as to processes and to applications, which precede, if the}' do not create, the fine arts (Gen. iv; xxvi, 12; xxxiii, 19). Agricul- ture, indeed, became the chief employment of the He- brew race after their settlement in Canaan ; it lay at the very basis of the constitution, linth civil and religious, which Jloses gave them, was licld in great honor, and was carried on by the high as well as the humble in po- sition (•Tudg. vi, 1 1 ; 1 Sam. xi, 5; 1 Kings xix, 19). No small care was bestowed on tjie culture of the vine, which grew luxuriously on the hills of Palestine (Isa. v, 2,5; ^fatt. xxi. 33: Numb. xiii. 24). Tlie vintage was a season of jubilee (JudLT. ix. 27 ; .ler. xxv, 30 ; Ima. xvi, 10). The hills of Palestine were also adorned with well-
cidtured olive-gardens, which produced fruit useful for food, for anointing, and for medicine (Isa. xvii, 6; xxiv, 13; Deut. xxiv, 20; Ezek. xxvii, 17; 1 Kings iv, 25; Hos. xiv, C, 7). Attention was also given to the culture of the fig-tree (2 Kings xxi, 7; 1 Chron. xxvii, 28), as well as of the date-palm (Lev. xxiii, 40 ; J.udg. i, IC ; iv, 5; XX, 33; Deut, xxxiv, 3), and also of balsam ((ien. xliii, 11 ; Ezek. xxvii, 17 ; xxxvii, 25 ; Jer. viii, 22). — Kitto. Sec Aguicultuke.
Laborautes (labore/s), a name sometimes given to the copiuUe ox fossavii, on the assumption that the. Greek word KOTciciTai is taken from kottoc, labor. — Far- rar, Eccl. Did. s. v. See Copiat^ ; Fossarii.
Laborde, Yidieu, a French priest, born at Tou- louse in 1G80, flourislied at Paris under the patronage of cardinal De Noailles. He died in 1748. His works are, A Treatise on the Essence: — Distinction and Limits of the Spiritual and TemjJoral Powers : — Familiar Con- ferences ; and other religious works of value.
Labouderie, Jean, a celebrated French theologi- cal writer, was born at Chalinargues, Auvergne, Feb. 13, 1776. He became vicar of Notre Dame, Paris, in 1815, and early distinguished himself more as a MTiter than a preacher. He was particularly conversant with the Hebrew language. He died as honorary grand vicar of Avignon at Paris, May 2, 1849. Among his works are Pensees iheolor/iques (Clermont, 1801, 8vo) : — Con- siderations addressees aux aspirants au ministh-e de Veylise de Geneve, faisant suite a celles de M. Empey- taz sur la divinite de Jesus-Christ, avec ime 7-eponse a quelques questions de M.Delloc, etc. (Paris, 1817, 8vo) : — Precis historique du Methodisme (1818, 8vo) : — Le Chris- tianisme de Moritniyne (1819, 8vo): — Vies des Saints (1820, 3 vols. 24mo) :— iff ReW/ion Chretienne (1826, 8 vo) : — Notice historique sur Ztchiyle (1828, 8vo) ; etc. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Genercde, xxviii, 395.
Laboureur, Le Jean, a French priest, born at Montmorency in 1623, became one of the almoners of the king, and died in 1G75. He wrote several valuable works on the history of France.
Labrador, a ])eninsula of north-eastern America, is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the LKiminion of Canada and the Gulf of St. Law- rence, on the west by the Hudson Bay and James Bay, on the north by the Hudson Strait. Area about 500,000 sq. miles. The peninsula formerly was a part of the ter- ritory belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, and with the remainder of this territory was in 1869 sold to the government of the Dominion of Canada. The interior of the country is almost entirely unknown. The popu- lation, comjirising Indians, Esquitnaux, and a few Euro- peans, amounts to about 4000. It is believed that Lab- rador is identical with the IhUuland (stone-land) which about the year 1000 was discovered by Leif, the son of Eric the Bed. On June 24, 1497, it was again discov- ered by John and Sebastian Cabot. It was visited in 1500 bj' the Portuguese G.Cortereal, who called it Tierra del Labrador (land for labor), and in 1576 by the Eng- lishman M. Frobishcr. In 1618 Hudson explored a part of the coast. The countrj', which has a rugged coast, and is surrounded with many small islands, does not al- low an extensive cultivation ; for, although the vegeta- tion is only in the northern part so limited as it is throughout" Greenland, the winters are even more se- vere, and during the short summers the musquitdcs are even more troublesome than in Greenland. Tlie ]i(ipu- lation of the interior, which consists of Bed Indians, is verj' small; the Esquimaux, who inhabit the north-east- ern' and tiie western coast, are a little more numerous, and support themselves by fishing seals, etc. If these animals fail them a famine is brought on, or they are forced to penetrate farther into the interior, where they are apt to encounter the Bed Indians, their irreconcila- ble enemies for centuries.