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and the olive and pomegranate trees produce ripe fruit. The Jericho rose blossoms; the third clusters of grapes, which in May had produced another small branch loaded with the latter grapes, are gathered: as are also cotton, lettuces, endives, cresses, wild chervil, spinage, beet, garden artichoke, and wild artichoke.

-KISLED.

The Third Civil Month: Ninth Sacred 30 Days-November. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

2. Prayers for rain.

28.

Lessons, Exod. i-v. Isa. xx
Jer. i. 1-ii. 4.

Feast in memory of the ex
Sadducees from the Sanhed
place the Pharisees were int

Weather, Productions,

This is the first winter mont piercing, and sometimes fatal to Ditto.ured to the climate; but rain is

3. Feast in memory of the idols, which were thrown by the Asmonæans out of the courts, where they had been placed by the idolatrous Gentiles.

6. Fast in memory of the book of Jeremiah, torn and burnt by Jehoiakim, Jer. xxxvi.

23.

Lessons, Gen. xxxvii. 1.-li. 1.-Amos ii. 6. -iii. 9.

7. Feast in memory of the death of Herod the Great, son of Antipater.

21. Feast of Mount Gerizim. This feast was instituted in memory of the triumph of the Jews over the Samaritans, when the Temple at Jerusalem was visited by Alexander the Great.

25. The renewing and dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus, after its profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Mac. iv. 52. 2 Mac. ii. 16. John x. 22. In the time of Josephus this was called The Feast of Lights. Ant. 1. xii. c. 11. Lessons, Gen. xliv. 18-xlvii. 27. Ezek. xxxvii. 15, to the end.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The

The rains, if not already fallen, certainly fall this month. The heat, although not so great in the day-time, is still violent; but the nights are very cold. The rivers and lakes are, at this period, for the most part, dried up. winds are chiefly from the north; but seldom blow with force. The mercury, as the month advances, gradually falls from 60 to 50 deg. The variation of one day is not more than from 2 to 5 deg.

This is the time for the general sowing of corn. The trees retain their leaves till the middle of the month. Dates are gathered. The napleia, or cenoplia, yields its delicious fruit; in shape, resembling the crab-apples, and containing a nut as large as olives. At Aleppo, the vintage lasts to the 15th of the month.

.TEBETH-מבת.

The Fourth Civil Month: Tenth Sacred Ditto. 29 Days-December.

Feasts, Fasts, &c.

8. Fast on account of the translation of the Law out of Hebrew into Greek. Philo states (Vit. Mos.) that the Jews of Alexandria celebrate a feast on this day in commemoration of the event. But the Jews at present abominate the version. 9. Fast, for which no reason is assigned. 10. Fast in memory of the Siege of Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings xxv. 1.

than snow, which, when it falls, s all the day on the ground, even winter. The winds blow from north; but are seldom violent. winds blow, the weather is dry sometimes bring mist and hoar accompanied with storms. shines, and there is a calm, the hot. The mercury usually star it frequently gets up 3 deg. in if there be no rain.

Pulse and corn are sown. Sug and are cut down at Cyprus.

The grass and herbs springin rains, the Arabs drive their f mountains into the plains.

-SHEBET

The Fifth Civil Month: Elevent 30 Days-Januar Feasts, Fasts, &

2. Rejoicing for the death of

næus, a great enemy to the 4 or 5. Fast in memory of th

Elders, who succeeded Josl 15. Beginning of the year of

22.

23.

29.

hence they begin to count during which trees were from the time of their bein xix. 23-25. Some place of these four years on month.

Feast in memory of one ca who had ordered the placi figures in the Temple, wh den by the law; but he d ders were not executed. this under the high priest, It is not known who this N Fast for the war of the te that of Benjamin, Judg. xx to remembrance the idol xviii.

Memorial of the death of phanes, 1 Mac. vi. 1. Lessons, Exod. xxvii. 20xliii. 10, to the end of the

Weather, Production This may be called the secon On the elevated parts of Pales intense during the early part There is generally a considera which is dissolved in a few hour of Jericho the cold is scarcely fo winds, which generally blow bring heavy rains, especially d these swell the rivers, lakes, a are dried up during the summe ing the mercury is generally 46 deg., and does not rise abov

the afternoon. On rainy or cloudy days, it seldom exceeds 1 or 2 deg. of rise, and frequently remains the same during the whole day. Towards the latter end of the month, when the sky is clear, it is so hot that travellers with difficulty prosecute their journey. The winds blow gently, and chiefly from the north or east.

All kinds of corn are sown this month. Beans blossom, and the trees are again in leaf. The almond tree blossoms earliest, and even before it is in leaf. If the winter be mild, the winter fig, which is generally gathered the beginning of spring, is still found on the trees, though stripped of their branches. Misletoe, and the cotton tree, flourish. Among the garden herbs and flowers of this month, are, cauliflower, hyacinth, violet, gold-streaked daffodil, tulip, wormwood, lentise-tree, anemonies, ranunculuses, and colchicas, a genus of lilies.

.-ADAR.

The Sixth Civil Month: Twelfth Sacred Ditto. 29 Days-February. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

7. Fast because of the death of Moses, Deut. χχχίν. 5.

8, 9. The trumpet sounded by way of thanksgiving for the rain that fell in this month, and to pray for it in future.

12. Feast in memory of the death of two proselytes, Hollianus and Pipus, his brother, whom one Tyrianus or Tyrinus would have compelled to break the law, in the city of Laodicea.

Lessons, Exod. xxxv. 1-xxxviii. 21. 1 Sam. xvii. 13-26.

13. Esther's feast; probably in memory of Esth. iv. 16.-Feast in memory of the death of Nicanor, 1 Mac. vii. 44. 2 Mac. xv. 30.

14. The first Purim, or Lesser Feast of Lots, Esth. ix. 21.

15. The great Feast of Purim, or Lots, the second Purim.

17. Deliverance of the Sages of Israel. 20. Feast in memory of the rain obtained by

one called Onias Hammagel, during a great drought in the time of Alexander Jannæus.

23. Dedication of the temple of Zerubbabel,

(Ezra vi. 16.) The day is not known. 25. Commemoration of Jehoiachim, king of Judah, advanced by Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, above the other kings at his

court.

Lessons, Lev. i-v. Isa. xliii. 21-xliv. 24. 28. Feast in commemoration of the repeal of

the decree, by which the kings of Greece had forbidden the Jews to circumcise their children, to observe the Sabbath, and to decline foreign worship.

Here is intercalated the second month of Adar, or Ve-adar.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The weather as last month, except that towards the latter end, at least in the more

the 4th or 6th. Sometimes it changes to

with snow. The sky is frequently cov with clear light clouds: the atmosphere gi warm; the wind continuing north or east, latterly, changing westward. The first days, the mercury usually stands between and 47 deg. In the afternoon it does not above 1, 2, or 3 deg.; but afterwards, ex the weather should become cold, it rises dually to 50 deg.

The latter crops now appear above grou barley is sown until the middle of the moi Beans acquire a husk, and may be gathered the spring. Cauliflowers and water-parst are gathered. The peach and apple tr blossom, and a great variety of herbs, cap vating the sight by their delightful appearai in the fields.

jo-NISAN.

The Seventh Civil Month: First Sacred Di 30 Days March. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

1. Fast because of the death of the children Aaron, Lev. x. 1, 2.

10. Fast for the death of Miriam, the sister Moses, Numb. xx. 1. Also in memory the scarcity of water that happened aft her death to the children of Israel, the desert of Kadesh, Numb. xx 2 this day every one provided himself a lam or a kid, preparatory to the following Pas

14.

15.

over.

On the evening of this day they killed t paschal lamb; they began to use unleave ed bread, and ceased from all servile bour.

The solemnity of the PASSOVER, with Octave. The first day of unleaven bread, a day of rest. Unleavened bre eaten for eleven days. After sun-set sheaf of barley was gathered, and broug into the Temple.

16. The barley provided the evening before offered as the first fruits of the harves After that time it was allowed to rea From this day the fifty days to Penteco were counted.

21. Octave of the Feast of the Passover.

26.

Fast for the death of Joshua, Josh. xxi

29.

29. Supplication for the rain of the Spring.

Weather, Productions, &c.

This month is the forerunner of spring. Th cold seldom continues till this time, except o the summits of mountains, and the more nort ern parts of the country; but rains, accompa nied with thunder and hail, are not yet ove The weather is generally warm and temperate sometimes extremely hot, especially in the plai of Jericho. The western winds often blo with great force, and the sky is cloudy and ol scured. In the middle of the month, the me cury stands at 52 deg.; towards the end, be tween 56 and 58 deg. In the beginning of th month, it does not rise in the afternoon when

by the thawing of the snow on the tops of the mountains. Earthquakes are sometimes felt at

this time.

Rice, Indian wheat, and corn of Damascus, are sown in Lower Egypt. Beans, chick-peas, lentils, kidney-beans, and gervansos, are gathered. Every tree is in full leaf. The fig, palm, apple, and pear trees blossom. The former frequently while the winter fig is on the tree. The Jericho plum-tree presents its fruit. The vine, which has a triple produce, having yielded its first clusters, is pruned of the barren wood. Yellow polly, thyme, sage, rosemary, artichoke, fennel, sand-thistle, anemonies, tulips, &c. flourish.

-IJAR.

The Eighth Civil Month: Second Sacred Ditto. 29 Days-April.

Feasts, Fasts, &c.

1. Fast of three days for excesses committed during the Feast of the Passover.

7. Dedication of the Temple, when the Asmoafter the peranew, næans consecrated it secutions of the Greeks. 10. Fast for the death of the High-Priest Eli, and for the capture of the Ark, by the Philistines, 1 Sam. iv. 5.

14. SECOND PASSOVER, in favour of those who could not celebrate the first.

23. Feast for the taking of the city of Gaza, by Simon Maccabeus, 1 Mac. xiii. 43, 44. Or. for the taking and purification of the citadel of Jerusalem, by the Maccabees, 1 Mac. xiii. 49, 53; xvi. 7. 36. Also, a feast for the expulsion of the Caraites out of Jerusalem, by the Asmonæans or Maccabees.

27. Feast for the expulsion, by the Maccabees, of the Galileans, or those who attempted to set up crowns over the gates of their temples and houses; and even on the heads of oxen and asses; and to sing hymns in honour of false gods.

28. Fast for the death of the prophet Samuel, 1 Sam. xxv. 1.

Weather, Productions, &c.

The latter rains now fall; but cease about the end of the month. The sun's heat is excessive in the plain of Jericho, the small streams in which are dried up. But in other parts of Palestine, the Spring is now delightful. Heavy dews sometimes fall in the night The mercury rises gradually, as the month advances, from 60 to 66 deg.; in the afternoon, it does not rise, when the sky is clear, above 8 or 10 deg. The sky is always without clouds except those small bright ones that rise in the afternoon. Never is the sky observed to be cloudy or obscured, except when there is rain, which is accompanied with thunder, much seldomer than in the last month. A hoar frost is seen for several days together, the beginning of the month; especially when the winds blow from the north or east. The air grows very hot, but the mornings and evenings are cooler. The snows on the summits of Libanus, and

corn soon arrives at maturity. spelt, and barley, ripen. The sp hard. The almond and the ora duce fruit. The turpentine tree nubi blossom. A new shoot springs from the branch of the left in the preceding month, wh be lopped. Sugar canes are plan Asphodel, ranunculuses, anemon as, yellow-leaved hyslope, drago molanuses, phalangias, and tuli flower.

Grass being very high, the Aral horses to pasture.

,SIVAN—סיון.

The Ninth Civil Month: Third 30 Days-May. Feasts, Fasts, &c

6. PENTECOST, the 50th day

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27. Fast because Rabbi Chan with the book of the Law.

Weather, Production

The Summer season comm cessive heat of the sun renders ren. Rain has been observed part of this month. Egmont the town of Safet most pure while the heat was insupporta adjacent. The sky is genera fair, except that small bright cl rise. The winds blow generall At the beginning of the mont reaches 70 deg.; then it rises 76 to 80 deg. In the afterno rise above 6 or 9 deg. The air in proportion as the western pecially if they are calm for gether: but even then the viol is not so great as when the w the north or east. When th great, there is frequently obse which obscures the sun. The s thaw rapidly, but the cold is s

summit.

Harvest continues. Whea and rye, are cut down. The gathered. Hasselquist and Po cotton is sown this month; Korte affirm, that the cotton winter in Syria, and now puts

harvest, to sow various garden herbs: many of the vegetables come to maturity twice in the same year, in spring and in autumn. The grass and herbs reach their greatest height at this time.

THAMMUZ.

The Tenth Civil Month: Fourth Sacred Ditto. 29 Days-June. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

14. Feast for the abolition of a pernicious book of the Sadducees and Bethusians, by which they endeavoured to subvert the oral laws, and all the traditions.

18. Fast in memory of the tables of the Law, broken by Moses, Exod. xxxii. 19. On this day the city of Jerusalem was taken. The perpetual morning and evening sacrifice was suspended, during the siege by Titus. Epistemon tore the book of the Law, and set up an idol in the Temple. It is not said whether this happened under Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus Epiphanes, or the Romans.

Weather, Productions, &c.

During this month the sky is generally clear, and the weather extremely hot. As the month advances, the mercury gradually rises in the morning, from 76 to 80 deg.; in the afternoon, it stands between 84 and 92 deg. The winds, generally blowing from the west, refresh the air in the afternoon: and, by blowing sometimes during the night, they assuage the heats, which are now excessive The inhabitants pass their nights in summer upon the roofs of their houses, which are not rendered damp by any dew. The snow, however, is still frozen on Libanus, in some parts of which it is so cold, as to compel travellers to put on their winter garments.

Rice, early figs and apples, plums, cherries, and mulberries, ripen. The cedar gum distils spontaneously, and the bacciferous cedar yields berries. The palm-tree produces opobalsamum, or balm of gilead, during this and the two following months. The melon is gathered, and rosemary flourishes.

The Arabs, as the summer advances, lead their flocks to the hills and mountains situated more to the north.

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18. Fast, because, in the time of Ahaz, the e ing lamp went out.

21. Hylophoria; a Feast, on which they st up the necessary wood in the Tem Scaliger places this festival on the 22 the next month.

24. Feast in memory of the abolition of a by the Asmonæans, or Maccabees, wł had been introduced by the Sadduc enacting, that both sons and daugh should alike inherit the estates of their rents.

Weather, Productions, &c.

Heat more intense. There is no rain. banus is free from snow, except where the cannot penetrate. The snows on the tops the mountains thawing gradually during summer, Libanus yields a perpetual supply water to the brooks and fountains in the co tries below. The mercury usually stands the beginning of the month at 80 deg.; towa the end, 85 or 86 deg. It does not rise in afternoon above 8 or 10 deg. The winds ge rally blow from the west; but when they f the heat is excessive. Dates, apples, pea nectarines, peaches, grapes, and the gou called citrul, ripen. Cauliflower and wat parsnip, are sown. There is no longer a su cient supply of pasturage for the cattle. -ELUL.

The Twelfth Civil Month; Fifth Sacred Di 29 Days-August. Feasts, Fasts, &c.

7. Dedication of the walls of Jerusalem by hemiah, Ezra xii. 27.

17. Fast for the death of the Spies, who broug an ill report of the Land of Promise, Nu xiv. 36. Also, a Feast in remembrance the expulsion of the Greeks, who wo have prevented the Israelites from mar ing, and who dishonoured the daught of Israel. When they intended to use lence towards Judith, the only daugh of Matthias, he, with the assistance of sons, overcame them, and delivered country from their yoke.

22.

Feast in memory of the punishment some wicked Israelites, whose insole could not be restrained otherwise than death.

29. On this day the Jews reckoned up the bea that had been born, the tenth part of wh belonged to God.

Weather, Productions, &c. The sky is serene and fair, and the heat treme. The weather is entirely the same ing the first twenty days, as in the preced months afterwards white clouds, commo called niliaca, larger than those which are nerally observed in summer, rise, for the n part, till the end of the month. Mr. Bur hardt, who was at Shobak, a village a few m north of Mount Seir, in Arabia Petrea, on

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nues the same, as in the last month: afterwards, it falls 4 or 5 deg. Dew falls, but not in any great quantity. Snow has been seen on the summits of Libanus during this month, but it was wet and slippery.

Figs, olives, and pomegranates, are ripe. The winter fig, or the third produce, which does not ripen before winter, appears this month. The shrub al-kenna, or, al-henna, brought out of Egypt, puts forth leaves, and its fragrant blossoms. The first clusters of the vine, which blossomed in March, come to maturity, and are ready for gathering.

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CLIMATE, SEASONS, NATURAL PHENOMENA, &c. It not being possible to insert into the body of this Calendar every particular connected with the subject, or appearing to demand notice, the following remarks are submitted to the reader's attention. The compiler deems it necessary to observe here, that, for the following materials, as well as those forming the Calendar, he is chiefly indebted to the Biblical Encyclopædia of CALMET, and the labours of his learned Editor, the late Mr. CHARLES TAYLOR; BUHLE'S Economical Calendar of Palestine; HORNE'S Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures; The Investigator; The Critica Biblica, or, as it is now called, The Scripture Magazine; BURCKHARDT'S Travels; and a scarce Tract by J. D. MICHAELIS, on the Jewish months.

The Holy Land is situated in the fifth climate, between the 31st and 34th degrees of north latitude: hence it is natural to expect, that the heat should be intense during the summer months, as we actually find that it is. The surface of the land, however, being so greatly diversified with mountains and plains, renders the climate unequal and variable, though in general it is much more settled than in our more western countries. On the south it is sheltered by lofty mountains, which separate it from the sandy deserts of Arabia; breezes from the Mediterranean cool it from the west side; the high mount Lebanon keeps off the north wind, while mount Hermon intercepts the north east. From Tripoli to Sidon, the country is much colder than the rest of the coast further to the north and to the south, and its seasons are less regular. The same remark applies to the mountainous parts of Judea, where the vegetable productions are much later than on the sea-coast, or in the vicinity of Gaza. From its lofty situation, the air of Safet, in Galilee, is so fresh and cool, that the heats are scarcely felt there during the summer, though in the neighbouring country, particularly at the foot of mount Tabor, and in the plain of Jericho, the heat is intense. Very hot days, however, are frequently succeeded by excessively cold nights. Hence, Jacob complains to Laban, that, in his service, "In the day the drought consumed him, and the frost by night." (Gen. xxxi. 40.) and the dead body of Jehoiakim was denounced to be "cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost." (Jer. xxxvi.

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are they subject to occasional visi and storms. (Cant. iv. 16; Prov. xxxvii. 9.) During some parts of pecially in those months corres our months of April, May, and heavy dews fall in the night-time Petrea, the dews are so heavy, as skin those who are exposed to soon as the sun arises, and the at comes a little warmed, the mist: dispersed, and the abundant m the dews had communicated to th tirely evaporated. Tornadoes, of followed by thunder, lightning by no means uncommon in Pal the winter and cold seasons. Is alludes to them as occurring in which border on the south of Ju (i. 4.) speaks of one coming from but it most frequently blows from which case it is generally attend consequences to the traveller. M cribes one of these tornadoes, in the Nile, as lifting up a camel, an to a considerable distance, with as to break several of its ribs; wh and two of his servants off their fee ing them with violence on the gr also was demolished by it, part of of which were dispersed all ov leaving the other half standing. dangerous wind to which this c ject, is the famous Samoun, Sam The principal stream of this pes always moves in a line, about tw breadth, and twelve feet above t the earth; but its parching influ all places for a considerable di only means of preservation from fluence, is to lie flat, with the 1 ground, until the blast is over. from instinct take the same p pushing their mouths into the sa proach of this destructive wind is a redness in the air, and when su to admit of being observed, it haze, in colour resembling the 1 the rainbow, but not so compres A person exposed to this terribl tacked by a violent giddiness, with burning thirst; head-ache fits of shivering ensue; and thes lent fever. The effects of the S bodies of those whom it destroys At first view its victims appear but if an arm or a leg be smartly: ed up, it separates from the body ly after becomes black. Theve one of these whirlwinds which in cated twenty thousand men in or another in 1655, which suffocat sand persons. It was no dou "blast" that destroyed the army rib in one night. 2 Kings xix. 7

A singular phenomenon is rec Shaw, while travelling in the val Ephraim. They were attended an hour by an ignis fatuus, whic

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