This test shows that the mean annual temperature of Palestine has not altered since Old Testament times. The palm tree now grows dates on the coast of Palestine and in the deep depression around the Dead Sea, but it does not produce fruit on the highlands of Judea. Its distribution in ancient times, as far as we can judge from the Bible, was exactly the same. It grew at "Jericho, the city of palm trees" (Deut. xxxiv: 3 and 2 Chron. xxviii: 15), and at Engedi, on the western shore of the Dead Sea (2 Chron. xx: 2; Sirach xxiv: 14); and though the palm does not still live at Jericho--the last apparently died in 1838--its disappearance must be due to neglect, for the only climatic change that would explain it would be an increase in cold or moisture. In olden times the date palm certainly grew on the highlands of Palestine; but apparently it never produced fruit there, for the Bible references to the palm are to its beauty and erect growth: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm" (Ps. xcii: 12); "They are upright as the palm tree" (Jer. x: 5); "Thy stature is like to a palm tree" (Cant. vii: 7). It is used as a symbol of victory (Rev. vii: 9), but never praised as a source of food. Dates are not once referred to in the text of the Bible, but according to the marginal notes the word translated "honey" in 2 Chron. xxxi: 5 may mean dates.... It appears, therefore, that the date palm had essentially the same distribution in Palestine in Old Testament times as it has now; and hence we may infer that the mean temperature was then the same as now. If the climate had been moister and cooler, the date could not have flourished at Jericho. If it had been warmer, the palms would have grown freely at higher levels and Jericho would not have held its distinction as _the_ city of palm trees.[29]