PALM-TREE, is the English rendering of a Hebrew word, tamahr, the signification of which is, "to rise," "to be lofty." The tree, like the camel, belongs specially to the peninsula of Arabia and the countries immediately around it, including Palestine, of which it appears on

coins as the appropriate symbol, the rather because in the East it is accounted sacred. It grew generally in Palestine (Judg. iv. 5. Joel i. 12. Neh. viii. 15), especially on warm spots, as at Jericho, hence called "the City of Palms" (Deut. xxxiv. 3); dates from whose plantations were accounted the best in the land; also at Engedi, near the Dead sea, and the lake of Gennesareth. At present the palm is rarely to be met with in Palestine. At Jericho a few are found; none at Engedi. They are common in Arabia, Persia, and Egypt, in which countries the palm, from early ages, has been held as the most useful of trees. It rises in great beauty to the height of from thirty to forty, sometimes as much as sixty or even 100, feet in height, reaching the age of even 200 years; with a single graceful straight and strong stem from ten to eighteen inches through; having at the top thin branches which are shorter as they are higher, and spread themselves from above, outwards and downwards, so as to form a broad circular covering like an umbrella, the shade of which is the more welcome from the abundance of its finger-shaped fruit, whose fragrance, sweetness, and exhilarating quality, give it a peculiar value. This fruit is eaten raw or cooked. From it wine is made; also a species of cake taken by travellers on long journeys. The elegant branches of the palm were used by the Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii. 40. Neh. viii. 15). The palm was an evergreen (Ps. xcii. 12), and an image of beauty, happiness, and victory (Lev. xxiii. 40. Rev. vii. 9. Matt. xxi. 8). On the Maccebean coins the palm

appears as the symbol of Israel, and its fine curving elegant boughs offer an appropriate image of what is high and distinguished. Its juicy branches are a favourite food with locusts (Joel i. 12). There was a wood of palms, 100 stadia long, near Jericho (Judg. i. 16). The luxuriance of the date-palm in the wilderness of Judah, near the Dead sea, is celebrated by Josephus (Antiq. ix. 1, 2). The spreading of palm-branches before our Lord, in recognition of his Messiahship (Matt. xxi. 8), is illustrated by a view of a similar event seen on the Egyptian monuments. Tamar, that is "palm-tree," was a name of beautiful Hebrew damsels (Gen. xxxviii. 6. 2 Sam. xiii. 1; xiv. 27). It is the tree intended in Ps. i. 3. With the early Christians the palm was a symbol of immortality. The Jews, at the Feast of Tabernacles, went daily round the altar bearing in their hands branches of palm, singing Hosannah! while trumpets sounded on all sides. On the seventh day they went seven times round the altar, and then the great Hosannah was sung. On the last day they often repeated the Hosannah, saying, "On thy account, O our Creator, Hosannah! on thy account, O our Creator, Hosannah!" To this custom reference is made in Rev. vii. 9, 10. Victors used to carry palm-branches in their hands. The Romans had a robe termed toga palmata, on which were woven figures of palm-trees

The engraving represents the palm in its wild state in that wilderness of Arabia, over which the Israelites

wandered forty years. That accomplished traveller, M. Leon de Laborde, has furnished some splendid

sketches of this tree as he found it in Wady Seleh, not far from the ancient Elim, where, Moses tells us, were "twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees," (Num. xxxiii. 9). The wild palm has a thick trunk, as in the picture. This is owing to the branches growing downward every year, covering thicker and thicker the original stem, from which alone, at the top, the branches and fruit proceed, forming a kind of bush, with pendant branches, like ostrich feathers. This covering preserves the trunk, and protects the tree from injury. Forests of these noble trees are found in some parts, but they more frequently stand solitary, a welcome signal to distant and weary travellers to come and drink of the cooling spring which usually bubbles at their feet. The leaves of this tree retain their freshness and beauty all the year, to which the Psalmist alludes, when he says, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree." Dates are the fruit of the palm, and hence it is sometimes called the date tree.

THE PORCELAIN TOWER AT NANKIN. We have told you something about the metropolis of China-Pekin; and at page 193 you have a picture of a pagoda. Nankin is another great city in China, whose population is very large-amounting in number to per haps a million. It is distinguished by its manufactures in silk, crape, and the fabric that bears its name, nankeen. It is also the most literary city in the empire. The streets are narrow, but clean. Its principal orna

ments are the gateways, which are very lofty and splendid, and a famous porcelain tower, called a pagoda.

This stately pagoda was built in the fifteenth century, during the reigns of two emperors.

Le Comte says of it: "The wall at the bottom is at least twelve feet thick. The staircase is narrow and

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difficult of ascent, the steps being very high. ceiling of each room is beautified with paintings; and the walls of the upper rooms have several niches full of carved idols." Colonel Cunynghame, its first European visitor, writes: "We examined the beautiful porcelain with which the exterior of the building is covered as well as the interior. The neat and finished way in which these tiles are joined together gives to the whole, at a very short distance, an appearance of being actually made of one entire piece. The many-coloured tiles used in its manufacture are diversified with a thousand curious and grotesque patterns." A woodcut of the tower, with a short description of it, was sold to the visitors for a very small coin. The description is as follows:

"After the removal of the imperial residence from Nankin to Pekin, this temple was erected by the bounty of the emperor Yung-lo. The work of erection occupied a period of nineteen years. The building consists of nine stories of variegated porcelain, and its height is about 350 feet, with a pine-apple of gilt copper at the summit. Above each of the roofs is the head of a dragon, from which, supported by iron rods, hang eight small bells; and below, at the right angles, are eighty bells, making in all 152. On the outside of the nine stages