Kitap 16
2.41
Jericho is a plain encompassed by a mountainous district, which slopes towards it somewhat in the manner of a theatre. Here is the Phoenicon (or palm plantation), which contains various other trees of the cultivated kind, and producing excellent fruit; but its chief production is the palm tree. It is 100 stadia in length; the whole is watered with streams, and filled with dwellings. Here also is a palace and the garden of the balsamum.Balsamodendron Giliadense. Pliny xii. 25. The latter is a shrub with an aromatic smell, resembling the cytisusMedicago arborea. and the terminthus.The pistachia, b. xv. c. ii. § 10. Incisions are made in the bark, and vessels are placed beneath to receive the sap, which is like oily milk. After it is collected in vessels, it becomes solid. It is an excellent remedy for headache, incipient suffusion of the eyes, and dimness of sight. It bears therefore a high price, especially as it is produced in no other place.In. b. xvi. c. ii. § 16, our author says that it is found on the borders of the Lake Gennesareth. This is the case also with the Phoenicon, which alone contains the caryotesIt yields, during the hot season, an immense quantity of toddy or palm wine. palm, if we except the Babylonian plain, and the country above it towards the east: a large revenue is derived from the palms and balsamum; xylobalsamumObtained by boiling the branches of the balsamodendron in water, and skimming off the resin. is also used as a perfume.
