corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon."*

The existence of this custom of leaving the greater

part of the stalk of the corn standing in the field after harvest, illustrates the refinement of tyranny exercised by the despot of Egypt over the wretched Hebrew bondmen.

And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words. And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were

K

beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people. But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD. Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task. Exod. v. 6-19.

The "stubble" which the people were scattered abroad to gather was, doubtless, the stalks of the preceding harvest, which were yet standing in the field. And as this act of oppression was perpetrated a little before the growing corn was ripe, (see Gen. ix. 31) it is plain that these stalks had been exposed, as worthless, to all the vicissitudes of the weather, and even to the inundation, during nearly a year. Its tenacity would, therefore, be by this time so much reduced, as to be nearly useless in the composition of bricks; the object of the edict was merely to aggravate their oppression. But the distinction between the words "stubble" and "straw," in the above passage, shews that the substance thus collected was not the material ordinarily employed in brickmaking. It is not said that they gathered that which before had been provided for them, but being sent out to procure "straw," a material which, of course, as slaves, they had no probability of obtaining, they collected the only substitute they could find, "stubble, instead of straw." And while the painting copied above shews that occasionally the

grain was cut so as to leave the stalks standing, others manifest that this was not invariable; the occurrence of sheaves of corn, as in the following example, proving that sometimes at least, the straw was carried home as well as the ears.

This painting, the original of which is in the British Museum, is interesting also because it represents, with considerable truth and spirit, some living animals, a gazelle and two hares, which having been captured in the standing corn, are being carried, just as we should carry them now, to the farm, to stock the preserve.

As the corn was reaped, it was carried to the threshing-floor. If the ears merely were cut off, they were piled into deep baskets, apparently made of rope network, which were then borne "between two upon a staff," just as we find the Israelite spies carrying the immense cluster of grapes from Eshcol.*

When the corn was cut so as to allow of its being tied into sheaves in the field, these seem to have been carried to the floor in cars, not very dissimilar to the

CARRYING CORN.

chariots used in war. The threshing-floor was formed by a coating of well-tempered clay, beaten till it became nearly as hard as stone. Probably, as Dr. Taylor suggests, they were prepared at the joint expense of several contiguous villages, and thus would become among the best known spots in the rural districts. Thus we find it was in Canaan; the grand halt made by the mourning procession at the funeral of Jacob, took place "at the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan ;"* and when David brought up the Ark of God from Kirjathjearim, the sacred historian, in narrating the profanation that issued in the death of Uzzah, indicates the particular locality in the same manner: it was "when they came unto the threshing-floor of Chidon."+

The corn being brought to the floor, was deposited in a heap near the margin, whence a layer was thinly scattered over the floor, and oxen were driven round and round over it, until, by the action of their feet, the grain was separated from the dry and brittle husk. Sometimes, though rarely, the heap was deposited in the centre of the floor, and the cattle marched round it.

That this was the custom in Palestine we have abundant evidence. It was one of the ordinances of the Mosaic law, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox, when he treadeth out the corn." References to this usage are numerous in the prophets: "Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn:" "Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass.” ‡

THRESHING.

No monumental reference has yet been discovered to the noreg, an instrument certainly of great anti