Peasant life in the Holy Land . age and tender shoots. This customis referred to in Ezek. xxxiv. 29, , andMic. vii. 14. The practice is very destructive of the trees, notfrom the removal of the branches, but from bouffhs are left where thev fall, and as theprocess is repeated year after year a pile of sticksgradually gathers round the tree. These are asdry as tinder, and a light carelessly thrown by apassing traveller or a grass fire sets the whole ina blaze. I have seen oaks which probably tookhundreds of years to grow, and which could ill bespared in such a treeless land, thus d
Peasant life in the Holy Land . age and tender shoots. This customis referred to in Ezek. xxxiv. 29, , andMic. vii. 14. The practice is very destructive of the trees, notfrom the removal of the branches, but from bouffhs are left where thev fall, and as theprocess is repeated year after year a pile of sticksgradually gathers round the tree. These are asdry as tinder, and a light carelessly thrown by apassing traveller or a grass fire sets the whole ina blaze. I have seen oaks which probably tookhundreds of years to grow, and which could ill bespared in such a treeless land, thus destroyed in afew hours. In some parts of the Lebanon, during the autumn,w^hen the silkworm season is over, sheep are regu-larly fattened with mulberry-leaves, which are care-friUy gathered by hand for the purpose. The leavesare put into their mouths, and they are forced toeat even when unwilling to do so. The womenmay be actually seen working the poor animalsjaws with their hands to induce them to go on o> o >. FAT-TAILED SHEEP 175 masticating their food. This hand-feeding is, how-ever, only done in the case of the sheep, of whichevery family that can possibly afford it buys oneat least to feed up for the winters supply ofcooking fat. The Syrian breed of sheep has a verylarge broad tail consisting almost exclusively of fat,and when thus fed up this tail becomes of an enor-mous size, yielding, when the animal is slaughtered,many pounds of a very delicate fat, which is highlyprized for cooking purposes. In the Mosaic ritualit was specially ordered to be offered to God(Lev. iii. 9, ). In the winter and early spring many of theshepherds from the villages overlooking the Ghortake their flocks down there to graze. If a fairlyabundant rain has fallen in the autumn in theJordan ^^alley, owing to its warm, almost tropicalclimate, a rich growth of vegetation springs upthere long before the uplands have begun to getgreen. At such times thousands of goats andsheep from the villag
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