with Egypt, the country that contains the earliest records of the human family, and
receding geographically from the same central point of reference.”
Then, starting with “ 4713 b .c ,” and “ 4491 b .c ., beginning of the first Great Year
in the Egyptian reckoning,” he begins the list, which, under the running heading of
“ Chronological Arrangement of accompanying Animals and Plants,” first treats of
the vegetables and animals mentioned in the book of Genesis, and of the “ Commencement
of Bedouin or Nomadic Life in the Desert; ” passes to the “ Colonization
of Egypt,” and to critical notices (philological and natural-historical) of its plants
and animals, as well their earliest mention as their latest known migrations ; reaches
the beginning of the Christian era at about the 470th page ; and so proceeds, till
our wonder at the patience and the erudition of the writer passes all bounds. We
are ready to agree with a biographer, who declares that our associate was “ a living
encyclopædia of knowledge ; ” that there never was a naturalist “ who had made
more extended and minute original explorations ; ” and we fully agree that “ no one
ever had less a passion or a gift for display ; ” “ that he was engaged during a long
life in the profoundest studies, asking neither fame nor money, nor any other reward,
but simply the privilege of gaining knowledge and of storing it up in convenient
forms for the service of others ;” that “ the love of knowledge was the one passion
of his life,” and that “ he asked no richer satisfaction than to search for it as for
hidden treasure.” He was singularly retiring and reticent, very dry in ordinary intercourse,
but never cynical ; delicate and keen in perception and judgment ; just,
upright, and exemplary in every relation ; and to those who knew him well communicative,
sympathetic, and even genial. In the voyage of circumnavigation he was
the soul of industry, and a hardy explorer. The published narrative of the commander
shows that he took a part in every fatiguing excursion or perilous ascent.
Perhaps the most singular peril (recorded in the narrative) was that in which this
light-framed man once found himself on the Peruvian Andes, when he was swooped
upon by a condor, evidently minded to carry off the naturalist who was contemplating
the magnificent ornithological specimen.
Dr, Pickering married in the year 1851, and leaves a widow, but no children to
inherit this honored name.
MA N ’S R E C O R D
OF
HI S OWN E X I S T E N C E
1N the distribution of species over the Globe, the order of nature has been obscured through the
interference of man. He has transported animals and plants to countries where they were previously
unknown ; extirpating the forest and cultivating the soil, until at length the face of the Globe
itself is changed.
To ascertain the amount of this interference, displaced species must be distinguished, and
traced each to its original home. Detached observations have been already given in the Twenty-first
and succeeding chapters of my Races of Man ; but, when such observations are extended to all parts
of the Globe, the accumulated facts require some plan of arrangement.
A list will naturally assume the chronological order, beginning with Egypt, the country that contains
the earliest records of the human family; and receding geographically from the same central
point of reference.
“ 4713 B. C.” ( = 4493 'X oi a. “ phcenix,” = 220 years = y] of a “ Great Y e a r ” ), the so-
called “ Julian Period.” The Egyptian years however being calendar years = 4 7 1 1 B, C.
4491 B. C. ( = 4493 in calendar years = 2953 + 1540), beginning of the first Great Year in the
Egyptian reckoning.
Artemisia Judaica oi the Sinai Desert. A kind of worjnwood called in Egj'pt “ shyeh ; ” in
which we recognize the “ shyh ” of Genesis ii. 5, — xxi. 15, Job xxx. 4 to 7, and “ sh e a ” of Haly
Abbas, and A vjcenn a : A. Judaica was observed by Rauwolf iii. 22. p, 456, and Hasselquist, in Palestine
; by Foi-skal p. 198, and Delile, in the Desert around Suez, collected there for transportation
has
to the drug shops of Egj^pt.
The “ land of Havilah ” containing ¿W « bdellium anA the onyx-stone" — {Gtn. ii. 1,1)
been identified with a district on the Persian Gulf at the mouth of the Euphrates ; where the principal
of the Bahrein islands continues to bear the name Aval (Gen. x. 7 and 29, xxv. 18, Forster, and
Sm. geogr, diet.).
Borassus dichotomus of the shores of the Persian Gulf. A branching palm called “ oka-mun-
d e l” (Graham) : the “ v th lh ” of the land of H a v i la h (G e n . ii. 11), and of Numb. xi. 7, is identified
-by Josephus, Aquila, Symmachus, Theocl . . . . , and Hieronymus, with “ vthellion,” tlie gumlike
substance bdellium: “ vthellion” is described by Dioscorides as the exudation of an Arabian
tree and among the Romans “ bdellium” is mentioned by Plautus, and Pliny: the “ dum” of Abu
Flanifa is identified by Ebn Baitar with the “ mu k i; ” Arabian bdellium according to Avicenna 206 is
the product of a kind of palm called “ rum” (read “ dum” by Sprengel) ; and a second branching
palm called “ dum,” but sometimes “ tail,” was observed by Forskal cxxvi. under cultivation in
Yemen. Eastward, bdellium is called in Hindustanee “ gu g a l” or “ muql ” (D ’roz.); “ mokl asrak ”
or bdellium according to Kaempfer amoen. 668 is the inspissated juice of fruit of a flabellate-leaved
palm growing on both sides of the Persian Gulf, but not met with by himself; its preparation ‘ from
the unripe fru it” was witnessed by Herbertus de Jager (who however gives the species as “ B. flabel-
liformis” ) : B. dichotomus was observed by Vaupel “ in various parts of Goozerat,” also covering
“ the whole of Diu Island,” and according to Nimmo “ a solitary tree grows ” as far South as the
vicinity of Bombay, but its “ fructification has not been examined ” (Graham).
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