Even these descriptions, however, seem hardly to come up to the ancient accounts of the plant in ques- tion. Hence the conclusion of Dr. Royle (in a paper read before the Eoyal Asiatic Society, March IG, 1844) has been preferred, who shows that there is a plant still known in the East by the name oi khardal (which cor- responds to the rabbinical title, and is indeed the mod- ern Arabic for " mustard"), growing near Jerusalem, but most abundantly on the banks of the Jordan and round the sea of Tiberias; its seed being employed as a sub- stitute for mustard. The plant is the Salvadora Persica of Linnaeus (the Cissus arborea of Forskal), a large shrub, Of tree of moderate size, a native of the hot and dry parts of India, of Persia, and of Arabia. Dr. Rox- burgh {Flor. Ind. i, 389 sq.) describes the berries as much smaller than a grain of black pepper, having a strong aromatic smell, and a taste much like that of garden cresses. The plant has a small seed, which pro- duces a large tree with numerous branches, in which the birds of the air may take shelter. It is probably the tree which Irby and Mangles themselves suppose to be the mustard-tree of Scripture, rather than the ordinary shrub. They met with it while advancing towards Ke- rak, from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. It bore its fruit in bunches resembling the currant; and the seeds had a pleasant, though strongly aromatic taste, nearly resembling mustard. A specimen of the tree had been brought home by Mr. W. Barker, and it had been ascertained by IMessrs. Don and Lambert to be the Salvadora Persica of botanists; but both had
Salvadora Persica.
MUSTARD
11^
MUTH-LABBEN
written against its claim to be the mustard-tree of Scripture, while 3Ir. Frost, hearing a conversation on the subject, liad supposed the tree to be a Phytolacca, and had hence maintained it to be the mustard-tree of Scripture, but without adducing proofs of any kind (^e- marks on the Mustard-tree of the A'. T. [Lond. 1827]; Bulli'lin des sciences nat. Mai, 182G, p. 74; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, ut sup.).
On the other hand, •'Hiller, Celsius, Rosenmilller, who all studied the botany of the Bible, and older writ- ers, such as Erasmus, Zczerus, CJrotius, are content to believe that some common mustard-[)lant is the plant of the parable. The objection commonly made against any Sinapis is that the seed grew into ' a tree' {civi^pop), or, as Luke has it, ' a great tree' {civcpov n'iya), in the branches of which the fowls of the air are said to come and lodge. Now, in answer to the above objection, it is urged with great truth that the expression is figura- tive and Oriental, and that in a proverbial simile no lit- eral accuracy is to be expected ; it is an error, for which the language of Scripture is not accountable, to assert, as Dr. lloyle and some others have done, that the pas- sage implies that birds ' built their nests' in the tree ; the Greek word KaraaKrivuw has no such meaning, the word merely means ' to settle or rest upon' anythuig for a longer or shorter time; the birds came, 'insidendi et veisandi causa,' as Hiller {Ilieroj)hyt, ii, 63) explains the phrase; nor is there any occasion to suppose that the expression 'fowls of the air' denotes any other than th.e smaller insessorial kinds — linnets, finches, etc. — and not the 'aquatic fowls by the lake-side, or partridges and pigeons hovering over the rich plain of Genesa- reth' which Prof. Stanley {S. and P. p. 427) recognises as ' the birds that came and devoured the seed by the way-side'— for the larger birds are wild and avoid the way-side— or as those 'which took refuge in the spread- ing branches of the mustard-tree.' Ililler's explanation is probably the correct one; that the birds came and settled on the mustard-plant for the sake of the seed, of which they are very fond. Again, whatever the aivairi may be, it is expressly said to be an herb, or, more prop- erly, ' a garden herb' (Xaxavov, olus). As to tlie plant being called a ' tree' or a ' great tree,' the expression is not only an Oriental one, but it is clearly spoken with reference to some other thing ; the aivavi, with respect to the other herbs of the garden, may, considering the size to which it grows, justly be called 'a great tree," though, of course, with respect to trees properly so named, it could not be called one at all. Now it is clear from Scripture that the aivani was cultivated in our Lord's time, the seed a 'man took and sowed in his field;' Luke says, 'cast into liis garden:' if, then, the wild plant on the rich plain of Akkar grows as high as a man on horseback, it might attain to the same or a greater height when in a cultivated garden; and if, as lady Callcott has observed, we take into account the very low jilants and shrubs upon which birds often roost, it will readily be seen that some common mus- tard-plant is able to fulfil all the scriptural demands. As to the story of the rabbi Simeon ben-Calaphtha hav- ing in his garden a mustard-plant into which he was accustomed to climb as men climb into a fig-tree, it can only be taken for what Talmudical statements gener- ally are worth, and must be (juite insufficient to afford grounds for any argument. Hut it may be asked. Why not accept the cx|>lanation that the Salvadora Persiva is the tree denoted V— a tree which will literally meet all tiie demands of the parable. Uecause, we answer, where the commonly received opinion can be shown to be in full accordance with the scriptural allusions, there is no occasion to be dissatisfied with it ; and again, be- cause at present we know nothing certain of the occur- rence of the Salvadora Persica in Palestine, except that it occurs in the small tropical low valley of Engedi, near the Dead Sea, whence Dr. Hooker saw specimens, but it is evidently of rare occurrence. 'Sir. Ameuny says he had seen it all along the banks of the Jordan,