lost their leaves, not unfrequently, from some cause peculiar to them, as was the case with respect to young figs, according to the representation of a Prophet, Is. xxxiv. 4. A vine's recovering its leaves, after having lost them, from whatever cause it might proceed, was certainly a lively image of the recovering of the dependencies on the Jewish kingdoms, from that state of affliction which they had shared in common with Israel: slowly, perhaps, in some respects, as is the case with the vine, according to Dr. Shaw, but however to a very desirable degree. The wine of Algiers, before the locusts destroyed the vineyards in the years 1722 and 1724, was not inferior to the best hermitage either in briskness of taste or flavour. But since that time it is much degenerated, having not hitherto (1732) recovered its usual qualities; though, even with this disadvantage, it may still dispute the preference with the common wines of Spain or Portugal." As to the wine of Lebanon, it has been considered in another article.

OBSERVATION XXIV.

Fires often made in the Fields, to burn up the dry Herbage, previous to the autumnal Rains.

It is a common custom in the East, to set the dry herbage on fire, before the descent of the autumnal rains, which fires, for want

Shaw's Trav. p. 146.

of care, often do great damage. It is no wonder then that Moses has taken notice of fires of this kind, and, by an express law, made those liable to make all damages good, who either maliciously, or by great negligence, occasioned them, and may serve to illustrate that passage.

Dr. Chandler, speaking of the neighbourhood of Smyrna, says, "In the latter end of July, clouds began to appear from the South. The air was repeatedly cooled by showers, which had fallen elsewhere, and it was easy to foretel the approaching rain. This was the season for consuming the dry herbage and un- . dergrowth on the mountains; and we often saw the fire blazing in the wind, and spreading a thick smoke along their sides."

The same ingenious traveller, in another place, mentions the alarming effects of a fire kindled by accident. Having been employed, the latter end of August, in taking a plan, and two views of a principal ruin at Troas; he goes on, we dined under a spreading tree before the arcade, and had just resumed our labour, when we were almost reduced to fly with precipitation. One of the Turks, coming to us, emptied the ashes from his pipe, and a spark of fire fell unobserved in the grass, which was long, parched by the sun, and inflammable like tinder. A brisk wind soon kindled a blaze, which withered in an instant the leaves of the bushes and trees in its way, P. 30, 31.

• Exod. xxii. 6.

b P. 276.

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seized the branches and roots, and devoured all before it with prodigious crackling and noise, and with a thick smoke; leaving the ground black, and the stones hot. We were much alarmed, as a general conflagration of the country seemed likely to ensue. The Turks with their sabres cut down boughs, and we all began buffetting the flames, which were at length subdued; the ruins somewhat retarding their progress, and enabling us to combat them more effectually. The struggle lasted about an hour, and a considerable tract of ground was laid waste. Close by was an area, with dry matted grass, where no exertion could have delayed it for a moment, but the fire must have acquired a mastery, and have ravaged uncontrolled, until repelled by the wind."

These fires are mentioned in three or four other places of this volume of Travels, but they were all in autumn. However, as the summers of the East are perfectly dry, and the drought begins some time before harvest, the law of Moses very properly mentions standing corn as liable to be destroyed by fire. Two instances are accordingly mentioned in Scripture, in which the standing corn was set on fire and destroyed, Judges xv. 5. and 2 Sam. xiv. 30.

Moses, in that passage of Exodus, mentions stacks of corn along with the standing corn, and other damage that might be done to a field : If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field be consumed therewith; he that kindleth the

fire shall surely make restitution. That part of the history of Sampson just now cited, explains what kind of damage might be done to a field, besides the consuming the corn there: And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

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Soin one of the conflagrations Dr. Chandler saw in the Lesser Asia, he says, "We had been exposed this day, without any shelter, to the sun. An accidental fire had scorched the bushes by the way, and destroyed their leaves, and the ground was bare and parched." A few pages after' there is a stronger description of this fire: "The slopes," speaking of a mountain of marble over which he passed, were covered with large pines, many scorched or fallen, and some then on fire. The conflagration, we have before mentioned, had extended far into the country, spreading wide, as driven on and directed by the wind." How destructive is fire in those hot countries, in the summer heats, not only to the parched grass and-weeds, but to shrubs and lofty trees too!

The Arabs now are wont, in making war, to cut down olive-trees, but this passage shows the olive-trees were sometimes burnt, which is supposed also in Jer. xi. 16, A green olive-tree; with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it.

8 Severe as such devastations may be, something more terrible seems to be meant by Jeremiah, ch. li. 25, namely, a volcano. To which St. John also seems to allude, Rev. viii. 8.

It was highly necessary then to guard against such devastations, more especially, as nothing is more common there than the shepherds continuing abroad all night with their flocks, but not without fires: we have a multitude of instances of that kind in this volume.

h

It will be sufficient to quote one in the beginning of these travels; "We could discern fires on Lesbos, as before on several islands and capes, made chiefly by fishermen and shepherds, who live much abroad in the air; or to burn the strong stalks of the Turkey wheat and the dry herbage on the mountains. In the daytime a column of smoke often ascends, visible afar."

How requisite was great caution in a country where fires in the open air were so common, on the one hand; and the herbage of the ground so parched and dry on the other! and to make them cautious, how necessary was an express law!

It is well known that heaps of corn are not long left in their fields: they are soon trodden out. This writer himself takes notice of it. The harvest, he and his companions observed, in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, was in June, and the heat then was excessive. He adds, "The harvest was presently over. The sheaves were collected in the field, and the grain trodden out by buffaloes." P. 276. Moses then, by particularly mentioning the corn in its heaps, after being cut, intimates, that in