From Cedar to Hyssop
IV. Plants with Folk Uses
I. Fuel and Tinder Plants
Fuel Plants
Poterium Spinosum L. Billan; Netish. Thorny Burnet.
(Pl. 35).
Retama Roetam Forsk. Retem. White Broom. (Pl. 36).
Noea Spinosissima L. Surr; Thirr. (Pl. 37).
Ononis Natrix L. Baswi. Yellow Rest Harrow. (Pl. 38).
Tinder Plants
Helichrysum Sanguineum L. Şoufan. (Pl. 39).
Phagnalon Rupestre L. Soufan. (Pl. 40).
Billan, or Netish, the "thorn
that crackles under the pot," crackles also famously in the limekilns,
where fierce fires are required. It grows everywhere in rocky ground, the soft
pink of its fruits contrasting beautifully with the pale grey thorns, a joy to
behold until the heats of summer dry the bushes and ripen the seeds and it is
ready for the furnace. Then the sight of the tangle of forking thorns confirms
the justice of its favourite name of Nefish, "Scratcher." One
would think it a difficult matter to make such crooked branches into a portable
bundle at all, but the clever wood gatherers contrive to build up a neat,
flattish round packet and balance it on their heads and piles of such packets
can be seen outside every village in the late summertime.
Well may they sing of the carrier as
buried in the cruel thorns!
Well may they repeat the rhyme of the
reapers:
"O would that thorns were not
seen nor created nor existing!"
(Ya ret el shok ma ban – Wala t
khallak wala kan).
Yet the girls vie with one another as
to who can carry most on their heads, till they look like trees walking, and
they have their reward not only in the appreciation of their labours at home,
but in the admiration of young men on the look out for the ideal peasant's
wife, a strong bearer of burdens. This admiration finds expression in an
amusing little verse celebrating the Baswi (Ononis natrix), Shiĥ
(Artemisia herba alba) and Surr (Noea spinosissima): [1]
[49]
"The wood carrier of the Baswi isn't worth five
farthings;
The wood carrier of the Shih is worth a hundred
whale piastres;
'l'he wood carrier .of the Surr is worth ninety and
nine slaves and a perfect man."
(Hattabat el baswi khams igta' ma betiswa
Hattabat el shih tiswa mit
qirsh el sahih
Hattabat el surr tiswa tisa' w tis'in
abid w hurr).
The meaning of that is that she who
has the energy to go down into the desert to gather the Surr, the best
fuel going, is a lass worthy of a handsome husband, and ninety and nine slaves
to do her bidding.
Dalman gives another song, similarly
chaffing the wood gatherers,
"She who gathers Alende (Ephedra), how shameless
she is;
The fool brings Awarwe (Mullein) far brushwood,
But my brushwood is Kertam (Ballota) and Shih
(Artemisia).
Put the brushwood, put the small wood on the fire,
All save that named with the name of the Beautiful One, Do
not burn that!"
The allusion in this case is to a
girl's name, 'Adbe – it is 'Adbe that must not be burnt, i.e.,
Zygophyllum dumasum.[2]
It will perhaps strike the reader
here what very small firewood is being spoken of; indeed, the small brushwood
gives a fierce heat and is reckoned good to cook with by the people, thaugh
when it comes to serious baking a larger plant than those yet mentioned is
preferred to heat the oven, the White Broom, Retem (Retama roetam); it
is most popular for the purpose because it keeps its heat so long. These folk
rhymes we have been quoting, as ever, speak of a Primitive way of life – the
sort of milieu where a light may be obtained by striking flint and steel on to
tinder made from the fluff of pappus on the seeds of certain small
'everlasting' flowers (Plates 39, 40) and where all cooking is done on little
open fires. They reck not of life in houses where good wood and coal are burnt
for comfort and kitchen. As the standard of life rises and the European (or the
Europeanized) population of Palestine increases so does the need of the warmth
of good fires and trees fall ever far this need. It is good that in these
latter days Europeans are beginning to realise that they aught to give as well
as take, witness the forest nurseries and young plantations of olive trees.
May consciences grow tenderer still .and hands more apt to plant than to
uproot!
[50]
II. Plants with Amusing Names, Proverbs or Uses
Adonis
palaestina, Boiss. (Ranunculaceae). 'Ain el Biss. Pheasant's Eye.
Pheasant's Eye never seems adequate
for this brilliant flower, but really Cat's Eye ('Ain el Biss) seems to
argue colour blindness on any who can so confound green and red. Those see perhaps
better who call it the Blood Drop.
Alcea
acaulis, Cav. (Malvaceae). Khutmia; Khubz el 'Adra. Mallow.
These names are given to several
mallows. Virgin's Bread (Khubz el 'Adra) is said of the fruit, eaten by
children in Palestine as the 'cheeses' of aor mallows are by children in
England.
Arisarum vulgare, Targ (Aroideae), Siraj el Ghule
(Witches Lamp).
The siraj is the clay lamp of olden
days which still survives in the little pinched up types used for offerings at
the tombs of Sheikhs and other shrines. If the calyx of this arum be held
sideways it will look rather like this shape, with the pistil standing out like
the wick.
Ammi Visnaga, L. (Umbelliferae). Khilleh.
This umbellifer with large heads of
white flowers grows in masses an the fallows of the plains, making fine
foraging far the bees. The fruiting pedicels are used as toothpicks.
There is an illustration in Gerarde
of "Spanish Tooth Pick Chervil," which looks very like this plant. He
says, "It is reported among the Bastard names to be called by the Romans
Bisacutum, of which name some show remains among the Syrians who commonly call
the latter, Gingidium, Visnaga, this is named in English Tooth Pick Chervil.
... The hard quills wheron the seeds do grow are good to cleanse the teeth and
gums and do easily take away all filth and baggage sticking in them, without
any hurt unto the gums, as followeth after many other Toothpicks, and they
leave a good scent or savour in the mouth."[3] All
of which is very well known to Palestinians to this day.
Anacyclus radiatus, Loisel (Compositae) Beisum.
A yellow daisy whose petals are
thrown for their fragrance into sour milk and clarified butter (leben and
semn).
Artedia squamata, L. (Umbelliferae) Drehme.
The name here comes from dirhem, ar
drachma, a coin, because of the seeds, which are large and round; the name is
also given to Tordylium AEgyptiacum, Daucus carota and other Umbelliferaus
plants for the same reason. There is an amusing proverb said of the Wild
Carrot: "You are like the monkey in the Drehme" (Ente zey qird el
drehme), said to a conceited person, or one who likes to make himself
conspicuous in company. The "qird," or "little black
monkey" is the little dark purple flower in the centre of the white ones,
which though small is conspicuous because of its colour.
[51]
Ballota
undulata, Fresen (Labiatae). Kerian; Kariamm. Fetid Horehound.
This Horehound has not a very
pleasant smell though it is considered good for washing out milk pails with.
The dry calices were it is said once used for the wicks of clay lamps. They are
used sometimes nowadays for nightlights; turned upside down floating on oil,
the stalk serves as the wick.
Calycotome
villosa, Vahl (Leguminoseae) Qundol; Qundel.
The sweet yellow flowers are put into
sour milk and clarified butter (leben and semn). Dalman says that the name
means a lamp and refers to the shining yellow flowers.[4]
Convolvulus
sp. (Convolvulaceae). Madada; Muddede.
This is a name given to all plants of
this kind, it means the "Spreaders."
Cuminum cyminum, L. (Umbelliferae). Kammun. Cumin.
"Abu Kammuni" is said of a
stingy person because the fruiting head of the plant closes over like a closed
hand. It is amusing that the Cumin had also a similar application among the
Ancient Greeks. The mean and stingy were called 'cumin splitters' (it is said
that Marcus Aurelius was so nicknamed because of his avarice), but this was an
allusion, not to the 'grasping hand' of the plant, but to its minute seed, as
is also the Biblical "tithe of mint and anise and cumin."
Cuscuta sp. (Convolvulaceae). Sha'r el Ajaiz (Old
Women's Hair). Dodder.
Dodder with its tangle of reddish
thread like stems looks to the fellahin like the hair of an old lady dyed with henna.
This colour is admired by them, but even more by the Bedu. Pere Jaussen says:
"Among the Bedu the favourite colour for hair is russet bordering on red
(roux tirant sur le rouge). 'But black is more beautiful,' I said to the
Bedouin. 'For the eyes.' he answered, 'but for the hair, it must be the colour
of henna." So the women wash their hair in camel's urine to make it
reddish.[5]
[52]
Daucus carota, L. (Umbelliferae), Shemsiyet el Rahib
(Monk's Sunshade. Wild Carrot.
The name is given from the shape of
the umbel of white flowers, spread out like a parasol.
Erodium
gruinum, L. (Geraniaceae). Ibret el Ajuz. Blue Cranes Bill. (Plate 41).
The name of Old Lady's Needle (Ibret
el Ajuz) is given because the long beaked seed vessel suggests the large
needle suited to the old lady's failing eyesight; another name is Shepherd's
Needle (Ibret el Ra'i).
Euphorbia sp. Haleib el Bum (Owl's Milk).
A name given because of the milky
juice of these plants.
Lepidium
chalepense, L. (Cruciferae). Carnebiet el djaj. (Chickens Cauliflower).
The round white heads of flowers
suggest a tiny cauliflower.
Linum usitatissimum, L. (Lineae). Kittan. Flax.
Flax, for which Palestine was once
famous, is now hardly cultivated at all, except for its seed; it is sometimes found
wild. The only proverb we know about it is one used of a stupid, lethargic
person.
"Her blood is as thick as a linseed poultice"
(Dammha itqil zey lazqa bizr el kittan).
Marrubium vulgare, L. (Labiatae), Kriha;
Horehound.
As the Arabic name shows, this plant
is 'despised', which is curious, because it is, as with us in Europe,
considered medicinal and useful.
MIedicago orbicularis, All (Leguminoseae). Dredra; Im
tabaq Ter. Medick. (Plate 43, p. 68).
These names refer to the seed pod,
coiled round and round, 'dredra' from durr to roll, or turn round, and 'Im
tabaq ter' (Mother of a Birds' Tabaq), referring to a dish called 'Imtabaq'
which has layers of dough and cheese and fruit. 'Tabaq' itself is a
round dish, or dish cover, in coiled basketry. Both these names are applied to
other Medicks, especially to Medicago denticulata, Willd, and to Gerarde's
'Moon Trefoil,' Hymenocarpus circinnatus, L.
Onobrychis cristagalli, L. (Leguminoseae). Durreis.
Cock's Comb Onobrychis. (Plate 42).
"El Durreis ma bit amin el
Ghally" (the Durreis does not trust in the corn).
This proverb is always said of one
who does not trust in Providence but is over careful, 'You are like the
Durreis,' because the plant always has the old seed visible at the root. She
will not trust in the harvest to come, but keeps the old seed by her.
[53]
Ononis antiquarum L. (Leguminaseae). Shibriq; Shibruq.
A Rest Harrow, with pink flowers and long thorns.
Proverb: "You are like the camel
eating shibriq with his eye an another thorn" (Ente zey el jemel ille
boqul el shibriq w 'ainuh 'ala gher shok). This is said of a greedy person with
much the same sense as the English saying, "A gooseberry in the mouth, one
in the hand, and another in the eye"
Opuntia
Ficus Indica, Haw (Cactaceae), Subbeir. Prickly Pear.
The Subbeir is often used punningly
in sayings about patience,[6] in
the same kind of sense as the African "Wait a Bit Thorn." Here is
also a quite modern saying which seems to have spread about in a remarkable
way, referring to an Englishman called Thomson, who is reputed to have always
picked all the seeds out before he would eat a prickly pear. It is said of any
too particular behaviour, or too carping criticism, "Like Thomson's
Prickly Pear" (Zey Subbeir el Thomson), i.e., "there will be
nothing left of it if you pick it to bits like that."
Pallenis spinasa, L. (Campositae), 'ishbet el Dabwe
(Plant of the Tarantula).
So called because of the sharp scales
of the involucre which stick nut round the yellow daisy flower like a spider's
legs. Because 'dabwe' also mean sores, some think that it has virtue for
healing them.
Papaver rhaeas, L. Khash Khash (Rattle). Corn Poppy.
The capsule with the dry seeds in it
resembles a child's rattle; another name is the Fortune Teller (El Bukheite),
because children play a game with the buds, picking one and asking it a
question before they tear it open. The first question in the game is, "Is
my father's horse red or white?" and the colour inside the bud gives the
answer.
Paranychia argentea, Lam. (Paronychieae). Ijer el hammam
(Dove's Feet).
This is a prostrate plant with a
silvery fuzz of scarious calyx lobes, and slightly fleshy stems. Children will eat
the tips of these stems when young, and because they are red at the joints,
they give the plant the name of Feet of the Dove, that blessed bird, who always
has henna on her feet. And why does the dove always have henna on her feet?
[54]
Because when Noah sent forth a raven
and a dove from the Ark, the raven never came back. Therefore this curse was
put upon him, "May your face be black as night," and he was eternally
condemned to fill a sieve with water. "Qwak, Qwak," he cries, "I
have filled it, I have filled it" (Maletuh, Maletuh), but he lies.
This is why they say in the village to one who is false, "You are like the
raven who never brought back the answer, O black faced one!" (Ente
zey el ghorab ille ma biraja el jawab, ya wij el asmar).[7]
But the dove returned,
and therefore Noah blessed her with every blessing, saying, "May you every
month have a pair of young ones" and "May your face far ever shine
white." And since that time the dove is born with henna on her feet.
Petroselinum sativum, L. (Umbelliferae). Baqdunis.
Parsley.
Cultivated but sometimes escapes and
is found wild. The following proverb really refers more to the soil than to
parsley. It is said of a stupid person, "He has a mind so thick that you
could plant parsley in it" (aqlu ghaleed tizra el baqdunis fi).
Ricinus cammunis, L. (Euphorbiaceae). Kharwa'. Castor
Oil Plant.
This plant grows wild in the Jordan
valley and other warm places in the country. It is not to be called a popular
medicine in any sense of the word. This proverb about it refers to its
spreading habit and is said to anyone who takes up too. much room, "You
are like the castor oil plant on the canal bank" (Ente zey el kharwa'
fil qana). 'Qana' is used for canals or any small aqueduct used for
irrigation, it is thought to be a word left in the country by the Crusaders.
Solanum nigrum, L. (Solanaceae). Black Nightshade. Bandoret
el Haya. Serpent's Tomataes. \
Trifolium gloabosum, L. (Leguminaseae). Neflet Qutn.
Catton Clover.
The allusion in the name is to the fruiting
head, especially the variety eriosphaerum, Post, in which the calices became
densely woolly, looking just like fluffy little balls of cotton.
Urginea
marittima, L., Liliaceae. Unsul; Basel; Basalan; Kharif.
Readers may wonder why we have not put
the Squill among the medicinal plants considering its European reputation, but
we have come across no case of its use in our district. The fine spikes of
white flowers appear in autumn, therefore it is often said in speaking of that
season, 'when the Squill flowers.' The leaves come later, in the winter; where,
as on the coast lands and Birsheba way, the bulbs are allowed to grow in rows
on the boundaries, they make fine dark green lines on the bare plain.
[55]
The aspect of the flowering Squill is
taken in Artas and elsewhere to be a presage of the coming season .of rains and
seed time. Canaan says that from the way in which it blossoms the peasant
believes he can foretell whether the winter or summer crops will be good or
bad. "He holds that the blossoming may take place at three distinct
periods (called rabtat or bruj). If the first period is marked by
abundant blossoms it is a good omen for the winter crops. Abundant blossoming
of the third rabtah is a sign of a good summer crop."
This exactly agrees with the account
given by Theophrastus, in the 4th century B.C.: "In Squill it
is the stem proper which thus appears, and presently the flower appears
emerging from it and sitting on it. And it makes three flowerings, of which the
first appears to mark the first seed time, the second the middle one, and the
third the last one; accordingly as these flowerings have occurred so the crops
usually turn out.[8]
Verbascum tripolitanum. Boiss. (Scrophulariaceae). Awarwar.
Mullein.
This mullein has yellow flowers and
woolly stems; the woolly down is considered dangerous if it gets into the eyes,
hence its name, which means 'blindness,' and mothers warn their children not to
go near the plant. In spite of this, or perhaps because of this children seem
interested in the plant and sing rhymes about it, asking it why it nods its
head. "Is your Grandmather dead?" they say, and the tall MuUein,
trembling as ever in the wind, nods its head sadly in reply.
Viscum cruciatum. Sieb. (Loranthaceae). Enab. Red
Mistletoe,
This mistletoe has bright red berries
and grows chiefly on alive trees. A fellaha met on Mount Scopus one day told us
that the berries were put into olive oil sometimes to improve the colour and
ate several of them to prove to us that they were not harmful.
III. Dead Sea Apples
When we asked fellahin about Dead Sea
Apples they said to us, "The plain is full of cursed plants, empty apples
and serpents' grapes." When questioned further about this or that plant
they became vague and readily agreed that it might be either of the two usual
claimants, Calotropis ar Solanum; their idea was really a general one, covering
all the uncanny and unprofitable plants that might grow on that cursed soil.
[56]
We will give here what lore we can of
these claimants and a third, the Colocynth, and readers shall decide for
themselves which best deserves the title.
Citrullus Colocynthis, L., Handal. Bitter
Cucumber.
The Colocynth has been taken by some
to be the fruit of Sodom, because it trails on the ground, vine-like ("for
their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gamorrah"),[9] and
when dry the gourds may be imagined to contain 'smoke and ashes.' But the plant
is not peculiar to the Dead Sea region, being found on other plains in
Palestine, and it does not seem to be regarded by the people as at all uncanny.
The gourds have a sale, and Jaffa is one of the traditional places of export.
But though their medicinal use is quite well known it is not favoured locally,
the purge is too drastic and dangerous. One tale we heard of its use is rather
amusing. An Englishman who has spent much time out in the desert, and has good
command of the language, noticed a Beduin who was travelling in his company
gathering some colocynth gourds. Understanding from the man that it was to be
used as a purge, he asked to be allowed to see exactly how the medicine was
concocted and administered. Arrived in camp, he watched the boiling of the
shells in water, and then looked to see the nauseous draught go down. To his
utter surprise the Beduin put the brew into a pan and immersed his heels in it
for a time, vowing that this manner of application was highly efficacious!
Indeed it probably had the value of a mustard bath.
We have heard of no other local uses,
save these, that the dried shells of the gaurds are good to lay among clothes,
being much disliked by the moth, and among lentils, to keep away insects.
Solanum incanum, L. Khadak. Dead Sea Apple. (Syn. S.
Coagulans, Forsk. S. sanctum, ,etc.). (Plate 44).
The prickly low bushes of this
Solanum grow near Jericho, and in the wadis about the Dead Sea. It has purple
flowers, followed by small yellow fruit, like little apples. These keep their
shape somewhat when dry, and may be found, when some insect has been at work on
the seeds, to be literally full of dust. The people know the fruit to be
poisonous and they do not use it in any way, so far as we know.
This is the Ethiopian Apple of some
of the old herbalists, and indeed it does also grow in Ethiopia. The deep chasm
of the Dead Sea and Jordan valley is full of tropical plants, recalling that
country, and the very illustrations we are using for this Solanum and the
Calotropis were drawn from specimens in the Sudan.
[57]
Calotropis
procera, Willd. 'Ushr. 'Ushr. Dead Sea Apple. (Asclepia gigantea). (Fruit, Beid cl 'Ushr, i.e.,
Eggs of the 'Ushar,). (Plate 45).
The tall bushes of the Calotropis,
some 15 feet high, are much more striking to the eye than those of the Solanum;
the leaves are large and thick, the flower is a strange waxy white and mauve,
and the fruit is ,also more imposing; it has large obovate follicles, first
green then yellowish, and filled with silky fibres, Some think that the way the
ripe seeds puff forth when the fruit is opened, floating away like perfect
little parachutes, may have suggested the 'smoke and ashes' ,of the ancient
writers. Otherwise it does not seem to fit the part so well as the Solanum.
Dalman says indeed that the Beduin regard them as "bewitched lemons,"
but so far as our observations go they find it has some uses. P. Baldensperger
says of it, "Far from the Asclepia gigantea being associated with the idea
of death and destruction, it was, to Sa'ad's mind, the symbol of life. 'Was not
its name,' he asked me, 'Oshair,[10] -
the pregnant-maker, and had not a barren woman once sat within the shade of the
tree and soon after had a child?' And to prove that life was indeed its
essential element, he showed me how a thick milky juice could be made to flow
from the plant like opium from the poppy."
Pere Jaussen mentions also the same
idea, saying that Beduin women rub their bodies with the milk of the Sodom
apple, the 'ushr, believing that, thanks to the treatment, conception will
become easy. He also tells how among the nomads the burnt wood enters into the
composition of a powder;[11] the
milk is used as a remedy against sterility in women and mares, and the down is
used for stuffing cushions."[12] We
have heard too a most unlikely tale that the down was once used for spinning;
it is not quite impossible, but a more refractory thread fibre for the purpose
can hardly be found. A similar story is told of another Asclepiad, also growing
in the same region, the Gomphocarpus, that the fibre from its follicles was
used in olden days to spin the thread for the robes of the priests of the
Samaritans at Nablus. These two plants got dreadfully mixed by the old
herbalists and it is amusing to meet our 'ushr, in some of their arguments
recognizable under the names of Ossar and Beidelsar.
[58]
IV. Bee Plants (Plates 46, 47).
Village beekeeping in Palestine is a
constant source of surprise and interest to newcomers in the country. The bees
are housed in clay pipes built up into stacks, placed usually inside the
village in courtyards or on low roofs, and they often have a very picturesque
appearance. They are like the beehives of Egypt,[13]
which go back, we know from a basrelief at the Temple of Abusir, to at least
2600 B.C., but in Egypt the pipes are made of reed mats plastered with clay,
while here the tubes are made of clay mixed with straw. In both cases the ends
of the tubes are sealed up with mud plaster, and one small hole only is left
for the bees to go in and out. The honey is taken by blowing smoke into a tube
and driving the bees out of it; it is often of excellent quality, but marred by
dirt owing to primitive methods of dealing with the comb.
It is a great sin to kill a bee;
recently a robber broke into a courtyard in a village by night and burnt out a
hive, killing the bees to get the honey, and this was reckoned a terrible
thing. The fellah who told the tale said bitterly, "There is no religion
in this village any more."
Bees love cleanliness, and those who
tend them should have clean hands and a pure heart. The anger bees show against
some individuals may be due either to some defect in their character, such as
anger, or their dress, which should preferably be white and clean, or to an
obnoxious smell – they detest people who perspire much. In spite of these
primitive hives, bees, seem able to live healthily in them; at least there is
no record of disease before the introduction of infected bees from South
Russia. But the system has one great defect: the hives arc fixed, and the crop
is therefore limited to what the bees can get near the village. Nowadays modern
beekeeping is spreading in Palestine, in the Jewish colonies, and among the
Arabs too. It was all started by the Baldensperger brothers with their
introduction of the first movable hives in 1880. They were the first to have
the brilliant idea of carrying their hives about, from the coast to the hills,
and so assuring a crop of honey all through the season, and many were their
adventures on beginning to put the idea into practice.
[59]
When the time came to take the bees
from the orange blossom of Jaffa to the thymy uplands they bound the hives on a
camel and proposed to travel by night while the bees were asleep, and rest and
let them forage by day. But one night they miscalculated and had to travel on
till dawn. The bees began to escape from the hives and the camel bolted – down
went the hives on to the ground, out came the swarms, and the beekeepers ran
for their lives. It was not till dusk that they got the angry population back
into their homes and were able to continue their journey through the darkness.
Another disaster happened one year when the bees were being conveyed to their
summer camp by a cart. The brothers, having much household stuff to carry too,
piled the bedding on top of the hives. To their horror when they unpacked on
arrival all the bees were dead – suffocated. But the brood, could that be
saved? Hastily getting horses they rode off to the village of the beekeepers,
the Nahali, and bought some clay tubes full of bees. When they returned the
smell of the dead bees in dozens of hives was terrible, no sooner, however, had
they introduced the tubes when the good little bees began cleaning up at once.
They removed the corpses, fed and raised the young brood, and went on working
so successfully that many were the pounds of honey that they had made by the
end of the thyme season. Nowadays the bees travel swiftly by motor lorry and
the excitements of other days are no more, or perhaps we might say changed, for
we think that beekeeping is never a very quiet kind of occupation.
The yearly journeyings of the bees
from Mr. E. Baldensperger's Apiary at Jaffa are never quite the same, the
flower seasons may overlap or some may fail, so visits of inspection have to be
made beforehand to study the region and judge where best to place the hives. He
has kindly given us the following notes of the plants of most importance for
the bees and the usual order of their flowering.
1. Almond. Broad Beans. Small Red Clover. (February).
These are the most important of the
earliest flowers. They are 'given to the bees'; the honey is not taken, but
left to give strength to the bees so that they may be ready for the heavy work
in front of them.
2. Orange Blossom. 'March-April.
Then comes the Orange Blossom from
March 15th to April 30th. The honey is highly popular on
account of its delicate flavour. In a good year hives will give two crops of
orange honey of some 25 kilos per hive on about the 1st and the 15th
of April respectively.[14] By
the end of April there is usually no orange blossom left.
3. Opuntia Ficus-Indica, Haw. Prickly Pear. Subbeir.
(April-June).
Mr. Baldensperger's bees are usually
sent to Ramleh for this crop. There are two kinds of prickly pear, sabr
beledi, and sabr ifmngi, a more prickly plant, with red fruit. The
first is the best, the second fowers later, but the Arabs think nothing of the
honey from either. It really is inferior, containing a high proportion of
sugar against a low proportion of protein, though it may yield a good crop, 10
to 15 kilos more.
[60]
4. Crucifers.
These are useful at this time,
especially Brassica and Sinapis. Also Clovers, especially Trifolum
alexandrinum.
5. The Labiates. May. (except Salvia triloba, April).
The most important of these are
Thymbra spicata (Sabbali), Teucrium chamaedrys (Kamendra), and
Teucrium rosmarinifolium. Salvia triloba (Miriamiya) and other salvias
are also useful; a little later Origanum maru (za'tar) is welcome and
Lavandula stoechas, where it can be found. To find these plants the bees have
to be carried up into the wadis, such as Wadi Ali, wher:e our photograph was
taken (Plate 9), and later Tell el Safi, el Tineh, or Dnibbeh. The honey from
these plants is reckoned to be good, in an exceptional year the orange blossom
and they almost meet, and some of the hives would be taken straight from Jaffa
to Wadi Ali or other similar place. But generally there is a gap and the visit
to the prickly pear has to intervene.
6. Ammi Visnaga. Khilleh. (May-June).
This again is a flower of June, most
valuable for both nectar and pollen. It is an umbelliferous plant, spreading
readily over amy waste land, in a foaming sea of white blossoms.
7. Prosopis Stephaniana. Yenbut. (Plate 46).
(June-July).
This is a low acacia, spreading on the
ground, with fragrant flowers. It may go on flowering for forty days or more.
It abounds near Tell el Safi, el Tineh and Dnibbeh, so the bees do not have to
go far away from Jaffa for it.
8. Thymus
capitata. Zuhef. Za'tar farsi. (Plate 47). (July).
When it can be managed the bees are
given the chance to rival the bees of Greece and make honey of Hymettus, for
this thyme is that which grows on Hymettus itself. It can be found at Dnibbeh,
near the villages north of the Auja, Sh Mowamis, in many mountain places, and
the hills from Maghar to Gaza.
9. Urgillea
maritima. Basalan, Buseil. (August).
Now we are in August, the spikes of
the Squill appear and are welcome, small as the white bells are, there is much
nectar in them.
[61]
10. Carthamus glaucus, M.B. Qus. (September).
Last of all in September we have this
beautiful pale thistle, a weed and hurtful in some degree in the fields, but
covering them w1th a grey and mauve mantle, and giving abundance of nectar. The
honey is good, but rather queer in flavour; it is always said of Jerusalem
honey that it tastes of Qus.
The later moves of the bees are often
troubled by their great enemies the hornets. Jalil, north of Jaffa, is a
favourite late region because there are no hornets there.
Of all these crops the Orange Blossom
is the most important. Mr. E. Baldensperger tells us that once in an
exceptional year – 1883 – ten hives gave a total of a little over 3,000 pounds
of honey in Jaffa! Surely we may still speak of Palestine as a land flowing
with milk and honey, even if, as Mr. P. Baldensperger declares, 15 out of 19
references to honey in the Bible are more likely to mean dibs, grape treacle.[15] He
goes so far as to say that in his opinion bees were not brought in till after
the Captivity.[16] The issue is
joined in the Journals of Apiculture, and we wish we cou1d quote more from Mr.
P. Baldensperger on this subject, but we have already wandered too far down
these fascinating paths, our excuse must be the inseparability of flowers and
bees. Remember not only can the bees not live without the flowers, but many
flowers cannot live without bees; such are the red clover, the salvias and
larkspurs, which set no seed in their absence.[17]
V. Of Sweet
Scents
Of the Sweet Scent of Handaqoq.
(Plate 48).
Several fragrant little pea flowers
bear the name of Handaqoq, among them Melilotus alba, Melilotus sulcata, Trigonella
hierosolymitana and Trigonella arabica, and their petals are thrown into the
sour milk or clarified butter (leben or semn) for a flavouring. This is
reminiscent of the Swiss Ziegerkraut (curd herb), a Melilot used in some parts
to flavour cheese, but that is used dry in the form of a powder, while in
Palestine it is the fresh flowers that are liked.
The sweetest of all the Handaqoqs is
Melilotus alba, the white flowered Melilot. It is rare near Jerusalem, and, a
specimen being needed for the illustration, one was found unexpectedly,
growing in Duke Humphrey's Herb Garden at Kew, where its perfume overcame even
that of the heady mints and thymes around. For long ago the Melilots ranked
among the herbs and were gathered for medicines; this value has vanished away,
yet they are as much thought of still for the bees as in the days when they
gained their name of Mel Lotus, Honey Lotus.
[62]
The yellow Trigonella is also a honey
plant and very sweet. The third plant we figure was brought in from Wady Kelt,
and the friend who found it told us that a fellah seeing him pick it called to
him and said, "Take some more of that with you, it is Handaqoq,"
and he wondered why the fellah cared for so insignificant a flower and advised
him to take some home. Next day coming into the room where the tiny sprig was
in water in a glass he noticed that the room was full of a faint exquisite
perfume – that was the value of Handaqoq.
"Smell the scent of Handaqoq,
She above has taken away my mind,
Drive your camels, brother, drive"
(Shamim rihet Handaqoq
Akdat aqli halli foq,
Suq, jamalak khayyi soq),
as the young men used to sing at weddings when the bride was high
above them, perched up on a camel. And who is the maiden who would not be
pleased at being compared to a flower so delicate and of so ravishing a
fragrance? The value of its perfume is less elegantly expressed in the
following verse:
"Lentils divorced me,
Handaqoq took me back;
By the life of your head, O Handaqoq
I'll never taste lentils again,[18]
the explanation of which is that once a poor soul who ate
lentils made herself in consequence so disagreeable to her husband that he made
up his mind to divorce her. She then had the inspiration to chew Handaqoq
and her presence became as acceptable as it had formerly been disagreeable.
Delicate in its pale greens and whites as the true Handaqoq, M.
alba, usually appears, it does sometimes grow into a big bush, quite woody in
fact. Post says that pipes are made from the stems in Syria. Even in Palestine
the plant gets woody enough to be worth burning. When the men are stoking the
lime kilns, at it for three days and three nights, pushing in fuel incessantly,
they sing to pass the time away, and this is one of their songs,
|
"In it goes |
a juva |
|
In to the heat, |
El Humma |
|
'where have we got to? |
Wen wasilna? |
|
The way of henna, |
Darb el henna |
|
The way of thorns, |
Darb el shok |
|
Handaqoq." |
Handaqoq. |
So the frail beauty ends in the
1imekilns, like the grass which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven.
[63]
The Rose of the Valley of Roses. Ward Juri. (Pl. 50).
The Dag Rose. Ward Barri. (Pl, 49).
The valley of the Roses lies sa11th
of Jerusalem between Betir and Malha. No one knows when it was planted, but it
is all wild now, and the bushes grow as they will. It is not certain whether
these roses are descended from the Damask or the Cabbage Rose; they are pale
pink and have a very sweet scent. Women come and gather from them freely in the
early summer, and take the petals to Jerusalem to be distilled into rose water,
'Ma Ward.' This rose water is most beloved in cookery, and one of us
remembers vividly the occasion when a too enthusiastic cook put rose water in
the soup, and could not understand European annoyance at its exotic flavour.
Rose Jam is a wonderful confection,
the colour a glowing pink and the taste as the perfume of the rose in life, a
spoonful or two can be enjoyed, but more cloys; it is more often seen in Syria
than in Palestine. To judge from old cookery books (17th 18th
century) Conserve of Roses was formerly appreciated in England in the days when
the Damask Rose was classed with the culinary herbs and more grown than it is
now. "Far the cabbage and damask roses, with musk and Provence roses and
sweet briar, are the only roses for a herb garden."[19]
The sweetness of the rose has
inspired many a local poem and proverb. There is one especially favourite verse
comparing pretty girls to roses which is sung at weddings during the dances.
The singer stands in the middle of the circle, armed with a sword, which she
swings above her head; she first sings a line and then the dancers round her
repeat it. The dance is a vigorous one, all the dancers whirling round, now
jumping with both feet at once and clapping hands, now joining hands in a ring.
There are many songs, new and old, sung during the dances, but the Song of the
Roses is rarely omitted: here is one version of it; in an extremely free
translation :
"We are daughters like the newly opened roses.
Who should smell our perfume and pluck us may God help him,
You who choose a dark one, O blind and lame
Take a white one for joy at eve and morning."[20]
Seemingly the Palestinian admires a
fair girl as much as Egyptian folk singers who chant endlessly of beauty with
the refrain, "O girl, O White one! See the Beauties, see!" (Ya
bint ya Beida! Shuf el muhasin shuf). Proverbs about the rose are
plenty, we will give three of them:
"He promised us a Rose and gave us an Oleander"
(Wa'aduna
el ward wa'atuna el dafli).
[64]
This means that the gift did not come
up to the expectations of it, as the oleander, though a flower fair to look
upon, is disliked and even considered to be poisonous.
"For the sake of the rose the briar drank"
(Kurmal el ward shirib el'ulleiq).
This proverb may be applied in many
ways, but a very usual meaning is that those in the company of an attractive
damsel may hope to receive a share of attentions.
"Even if the rose fades its
scent remains"
(El ward lawinu dablan Rihatu
fih).
The favourite application of this
saying is to some man or woman in the village who, though old and poor, is yet
beloved by all for sweetness of character,
Lawsonia alba. L. Henna. (Plate 51).
The Henna plant is grown in Palestine
and is much loved there, though not so passionately as in Egypt. There is
little trace of it here in olden days; perhaps, as has been suggested, it was
brought from Egypt by one of King Solomon's wives, hence the verse in the Song
of Songs:
"My beloved is as a cluster of henna flowers
In the vineyards of Engedi."
Indeed a cluster of henna flowers is
fragrance itself. 'O sweetness!' cry the flower sellers in the streets of the
Old City and few passers-by seeing henna blossoms can resist taking a few
sprigs, fit gift for a beloved wife at home to place in her hair and so shed
perfume round her. It is sweet in all the ways of life, in love, and in death,
when it is cast, a last taken, into the shroud.
But sweet as the flowers are, the
leaves are still more highly esteemed. They are dried and rubbed into a paste
with halt water and used by women as a cosmetic, dyeing the nails and sometimes
the palms of the hands a bright orange brown. This is most delicious they say,
pleasant to smell, and besides coaling and good for the skin. Men setting out
on a long journey will beg their wives to spread some on the soles to prevent
sore feet, riders swear by it as a preventive of saddle soreness, and there is
great comfort, we are told, to weary ones, after the bath, in an anointing of
feet and hands with henna.
But the triumph of the Henna Bush is
that Wedding Eve, known as the Lelt el Henna, night of music and odours, when
the bride, with much ceremony, has the paste bound to the palms of the hands
and sleeps so, that by next day she may appear more beauteaus than before, a rapture
to .all beholders. At Nablus the henna is painted on in pretty little designs,
but this is reckoned very "citified" (mutamaddin) at Artas.
Henna is used as the symbol of sweetness in the following proverbs:
[65]
"Put henna on the bird's claw
And let the affair be smoothed
over."
(Hanni
keff el asfura
W
khalli el ehkaya mastura).
Here henna has exactly the sense of
the French "douceur," where sweetness is synonymous with a tip or
bribe.
"Way of henna, way of
thorns" (Darb el henna w darb el shok). that is – (Life) –Sweet
Way, Bitter Way, often said in moralising fashion, much like our English,
"Take life as you find it, the rough with the smooth."
VI. Dye Plants. Soap.
There is usually one dyer at least in
a place of any size in Palestine. He has some dipping and dyeing to do for the
townsfolk, but for the most part his customers are the Beduin, whose women
bring in their handspun, being desirous of more brilliant colours than they
can effect by their own arts. As far as we have seen the dyers satisfy these
clients by using violent anilines imported from Europe – accounts have been
given to us of certain places, e.g., Hebron, where vegetable dyes are still in
use, but we have not verified them yet, and must confine ourselves here to a
too narrow sphere of observation.
We know that vegetable indigo and
madder, etc., were once grown and used here, so on our visit to the dyers of
Jerusalem we enquired whether they had ever used them and if so why they had
given them up, This was the answer given by one of the older men, "I used
to dye with the Indian indigo (Nil Hindi) when I was young, and I think it was
better than this 'ifrangi' indigo, but it took much more time and skill to
prepare the vat, and it cost more. If my customers would pay me a little more I
would dye with the real indigo now. But it is no good your asking me to dye a
little bit of wool for you with it. I should have to make a whole vat, and I
could only do that for a large order. Do I remember how to make a real indigo
vat? Certainly I do. I could make one any day if it was wanted." We
enquired what were the necessary ingredients for such a vat and were told that shid,
kille, and dibs should be used. Shid is lime, and kille
is the name for ashes of various glassworts (Salsolas, etc.) containing potash,
and the dibs is grape treacle. We are told by those who know that grape
sugar is a common reducing agent, and with the alkaline substances mentioned
could make a satisfactory vat for indigo.
[66]
The dyers were equally positive that
they could dye efficiently with madder if customers wanted it, in fact it does
appear to be sometimes done still in the home. We had more than one recipe
given us in Artas for dyeing with madder (fawi). The following is the
most interesting of these.
Take green grapes and press them with
a little water. Wash the wool and dry it. Then put the wool into the grape
juice and the powdered madder on top and leave it all night. Next day boil it
for an hour, stirring it. Don't wring out, but put ashes on top and leave it
for a night before washing the wool.
Opinions differed as to whether the
ashes used should be wood ash, or that of sheep or goat's dung.
The leaves of the almond tree are
said to give a yellow, and pomegranate bark with iron, a black; the safflower,
is only used to colour rice, its use as a dye plant does not appear to be
known.
We have only heard of a green once –
at Jerash, in Trans Jordan, it is obtained by the use of an umbelliferous plant
Ridolfia segetum. Mm. (Besbes) and indigo. This nowadays is the
synthetic indigo; in olden days they used a vat composed of the same
ingredients as we have already mentioned for vegetable indigo.
All other dyes used there for dyeing
the wool brought in by the Beduin were anilines, so far as could be ascertained.
We are told that the indigofera is
still cultivated in the south end of the Dead Sea, but we have not been able to
make investigation into this and other points of interest and we think there
must be more to be discovered on this subject.
Soap
The Cyclamen (C. latifolium) among
its many names[21] is often
called "Shepherd's Soap" (Sabunet el Ra'i), and it is said
that its tuberous root was formerly, and sometimes is now, used as soap; a
similar story is also but more rarely told of Leontice leontopetalum (Lion's
Leaf).
In some parts also we are told that
the Soapwort was cultivated for use as soap and that its root also was used in
the making of sweetstuff (Halawe) under the name of Shilsh Halawe,
but the root sold under that name today in Jerusalem markets is, according to
specimens we have seen and sent to Kew, not Saponaria, but a Gypsophila.
[67]
Of far greater importance in days
past was kille, the ashes of Salsolas and other similar plants which
grow around the Dead Sea and in other desert places. It is not easy to find out
exactly which plants were used. We think that round Jerusalem it could not have
been S. Kali, but rather S. inermis, and other plants. One of these, we cannot
make out which, is called Ta'om and still has a lingering reputation in
Ramallah and thereabouts as having been excellent for washing clothes. In olden
days the Taamre used to bring it out of the desert and hawk it round Bethlehem
and district exchanging the plant for figs and olives. One day when some people
came round selling mats at the door, a woman said, "This is like the
bartering of the ta'om." She remembered the days when it was so
sold. There are old people who can still remember when the Eastern mountains
were red at night from the flames of the kille fires. In those days the kille
was used with olive oil for the famous soap of Nablus; it is now quite
superseded by imported potash.
1. Medicago orbicularis,
All (Legnminoseae). Im tabak teir. Medick; flowers yellow; pod round and
coiled. Artas.
2. Hymenocarpus circinnatns,
L. (Leguminoseae). Im tabak teir. Rather like a Medick, with yellow
flowers and flat round pods.
3. Artedia squamata, L.
(Umbelliferae). Drehme. Flowers white.
4. Tordylium Aegyptiacum,
L. (Umbelliferae). Drehme.
[68]
[1] These
are desert plants, it must be remembered that Artas is all t hr desert edge.
[2] Appendix
A 23.
[3] Gerarde,
"Herbal," p. 1041-2.
[4] Dalman,
op. cit., p. 375.
[5] Jaussen,
"Coutumes des Arabes au pays de Moab," p. 95.
[6] sabr = patience.
[7] Or zey
el ghorab la wadda wala jab (Stephan).
[8] Theophrastus,
vii. 13, 6 (Hort). Canaan, "Plant Iore in Palestinian Superstition,"
J.P.O.S., vol. 7-8, p. 133. See also Dalman, op. cit., p. 97.
[9] Deut.
xxxii. 32,
[10] The
derivation of "Oshair' here is from 'ushr,' pregnancy.
[11] The
dried root is used as a medicine in India under the name of Mudar.
[12] Jaussen,
"Coutumes des Fuqara," pp. 15, 89.
[13] MelIor,
"Beekeeping in Palestine and Egypt Compared." Bulletin 82 (Government
Press, Cairo).
[14] Mellor, op.
cit.
[15] Hebrew,
debhash.
[16] Syrien,
Palestinian and Egyptian bees all differ slightly. Mr. P. Baldensperger thinks
that the Palestinian bee may be a cross between the Syrian and the Egyptian.
(See "Bulletin de la Societe d'Apiculture. Nice. 1930.
[17] Bees feed
their young on pollen, but more observations are needed in Palestine as to
which plants are visited for these purposes.
[18] Appendix
A 25.
[19] Rohde,
"A Garden of Herbs." p. 120.
[20] Appendix
A. 26.
[21] e.g.,
Squqa; zouzou; ghalyun; etc.