Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and: Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and; Productions, Volume 1Tennent, James Emerson, Sir
History
Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and: Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and; Productions, Volume 1
Tennent, James Emerson, Sir
Natural history -- Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka
[Footnote 8: The identification of this tree with the mustard-tree
alluded to by our Saviour is an interesting fact. The Greek term [Greek:
sinapis], which occurs Matt. xiii 31, and elsewhere, is the name given
to _mustard_; for which the Arabic equivalent is _chardul_ or _khardal_,
and the Syriac _khardalo_. The same name is applied at the present day
to a tree which grows freely in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and
generally throughout Palestine; the seeds of which, have an aromatic
pungency, which enables them to be used instead of the ordinary mustard
(_Sinapis nigra_); besides which, its structure presents all the
essentials to sustain the illustration sought to be established in the
parable, some of which are wanting or dubious in the common plant, It
has a very small seed; it may be sown in a garden: it grows into an
"herb," and eventually "becometh a tree; so that the birds of the air
come and lodge in the branches thereof." With every allowance for the
extremest development attainable by culture, it must be felt that the
dimensions of the domestic _sinapis_ scarcely justify the last
illustration; besides which it is an annual, and cannot possibly be
classed as a "tree." The khardal grows abundantly in Syria: it was found
in Egypt by Sir Gardner Wilkinson; in Arabia by Bové; on the Indus by
Sir Alexander Burnes; and throughout the north-west of India it bears
the name of kharjal. Combining all these facts, Dr. Royle, in an erudite
paper, has shown demonstrative reasons for believing that the _Salvadora
Persica_, the "kharjal" of Hindostan, is the "khardal" of Arabia, the
"chardul" of the Talmud, and the "mustard-tree" of the parable.]
Lastly, after a sufficiency of earth has been formed by the decay of
frequent successions of their less important predecessors, the ground
becomes covered by trees of ampler magnitude, most of which are found
upon the adjacent shores of the mainland--the Margoza[1], from whose
seed the natives express a valuable oil; the Timbiri[2], with the
glutinous nuts with which the fishermen "bark" their nets; the
Cashu-nut[3]; the Palu[4], one of the most valuable timber trees of the
Northern Provinces; and the Wood-apple[5], whose fruit is regarded by
the Singhalese as a specific for dysentery.
[Footnote 1: Azadirachta Indica.]
[Footnote 2: Diospyros glutinosa.]
[Footnote 3: Anacardium occidentale.]
[Footnote 4: Mimusopa hexandra.]
[Footnote 5: Ægle marmelos.]
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