Nov.5] PROCEEDINGS. [1889.preciousfruitsnewand old, which I have laidup for thee, O my
beloved."*
Let us next considerthe claims of the apple. Manyyearsago,
Sir Joseph Hooker,withhis usual kindness,wrote to me on the eve
of his departure for Palestine to ask what special subjects I wished
himto make enquiriesabout. Amongst otherthingsI mentioned
the apple. Dr. Thomson in his work The Land and the Book wrote,
"The whole area(about Askelon)is especially celebrated for its
apples, which are the largest and bestI have ever seen in this
country. When I was here in June quite a caravan started for
Jerusalemloaded with them,and theywouldnot have disgraced
evenan American orchard Let tappuakh thereforestandfor
apple,as our translation has it " (p. 545, Ed.i860). Sir J. Hooker
wroteto me thus : " Three, to all appearances unexceptionalEnglish
residentauthorities,including a consul anda medical gentleman,
assuredme that the finest applesin Syria grewat Joppa and Askelon.
The fact appearedso improbable that, thoughone authorityhad
eatenthem,I could not resist prosecutingthe enquiry, andat last
founda gentleman who had propertythere,and knewa little of
horticulture, who assured me they wereall Quinces! " Tristram
says," though the fruit of the apple is cultivated withsuccessin the
higherpartsof Lebanon, out of the boundaries of the Holy Land,
yet it barely existsin the country itself. Thereare indeed a few
trees in the gardens of Jaffa, but they do not thrive, and havea
wretchedwoodyfruit,andperhaps theremaybe some at Askelon "
(Nat.Hist,of Bible, p. 334). H. Chichester Hart,quotingfroman
intelligent residentat Jerusalem, writes," Strawberries, apples,and
pears have all been unsuccessfully tried" (Quarterly Statement
Pal. Expl. Fund,p. 282). When I visited Palestine in 1886 I
neithersaw nor heardanything of apples and apple trees. One
would havesupposed from the evidence of botanists and other
authorities,thatthe tappuakh of the O. T. cannot possiblybe the
apple(Pyrusmalus),andthat Palestineis too hot for the successful
cultivationof this fruit. A few years ago,however,a very learned
writer, ProfessorW. Robertson Smith,publisheda few remarks in
the Journal of Philology (vol.xiii, pp. 65, 66 ; for 1885) on the
- I do not see any objection whywe should not interpret the words "comfort
me with tappuihim" as having referenceto some preparationof the fruit as a
sweetmeat; " comfort me with quincejelly,"like the first half of the verse, " stay
ye me with raisin-cakes."
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