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HE Scriptural Sycamore, or Egyptian Fig, was a common tree both in Egypt and Palestine. In both countries the fruit was eaten by the poor, and in Egypt the wood was extensively used, both in building houses for the living, and making coffins for the dead. The tree grows in low ground, and to a large size, affording shelter from the sun and rain; but its leafy boughs, though they make a luxuriant show, are fruitless: the wood also is light and porous. The only fruit the tree yields, grows near the ground, upon the main trunk. It is said that, to make the tree fruitful, the bark must be cut or pierced, which causes the sap to form little shoots, upon which the fruit grows in clusters. The figs are opaque and bitter, and can only be ripened and made fit for food by friction or cutting open: and this seems to have been the humble employment of the prophet Amos, who tells Amaziah that he was no prophet, neither a prophet's son, but a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. (Amos vii. 14.) The fruit thus ripened is sweet and refreshing, but apt to cause loathing and weakness. It is said to be without grains, and frequently infested with grubs.

The Sycamore, as well as the Fig, Cedar, Vine, Olive, and others, is to be found also in the world of mind. Its leafy, fruitless boughs mark its place in the microcosm, rather in the intellect, or perhaps memory,