rew there anciently. In order to complete our survey, we may
therefore proceed to inquire what are the chief vegetable products of
the region at the present time.

In the south the date-palm grows well as far as Anah on the Euphrates
and Tekrit on the Tigris. Above that latitude it languishes, and ceases
to give fruit altogether about the junction of the Khabour with the one
stream and the Lesser Zab with the other. The unproductive tree,
however, which the Assyrians used for building purposes, will grow and
attain a considerable size to the very edge of the mountains. Of other
timber trees the principal are the sycamore and the Oriental plane,
which are common in the north the oak, which abounds about Mardin (where
it yields gall-nuts and the rare product manna), and which is also
found in the Sinjar and Abd-el-Aziz ranges; the silver poplar, which
often fringes the banks of the streams; the sumac, which is found on the
Upper Euphrates; and the walnut, which grows in the Jebel Tur, and is
not uncommon between the foot of Zagros and the outlying ranges of
hills. Of fruit-trees the most important are the orange, lemon,
pomegranate, apricot, olive, vine, fig, mulberry, and pistachio-nut.
The pistachio-nut grows wild in the northern mountains, especially
between Orfah and Diarbekr. The fig is cultivated with much care in the
Sinjar. The vine is also grown in that region, but bears better on the
skirts of the hills above Orfah and Mardin. Pomegranates flourish in
various parts of the country. Oranges and lemons belong to its more
southern parts, where it verges on Babylonia. The olive clothes the
flanks of Zagros in places. Besides these rarer fruits, Assyria has
chestnuts, pears, apples, plums, cherries, wild and cultivated, qinces,
apricots, melons and filberts.

The commonest shrubs are a kind of wormwood--the _apsinthium_ of
Xenophon--which grows over much of the plain extending south of the
Khabour--and the tamarisk. Green myrtles, and oleanders with their rosy
blossoms, clothe the banks of some of the smaller streams between the
Tigris and Mount Zagros; and a shrub of frequent occurrence is the
liquorice plant. Of edible vegetables there is great abundance. Truffles
and capers grow wild; while peas, beans, onions, spinach, cucumbers, and
lentils are cultivated successfully. The carob (_Ceratonia Siliqua_)
must also be mentioned as among the rarer products of this region.

It was noticed above that manna is gathered