04. CHAPTER IV TRADES AND PROFESSIONS

CHAPTER IV TRADES AND PROFESSIONS The hand of Honour is a balance,
All roads lead to the flour mill. — Syrian Proverb.

One of the happiest sights in family life is to watch the bright, instantaneous way in which a child awakes out of sleep, rejoicing that the darkness is past and a new day has come. City life in the East shows this feature of childhood. The stars of the dawn melt away rapidly in the increasing light, and as soon as the sun arises the day’s work begins. The first to be astir are the bakers, firing the cakes that are sold in the streets, with hot milk, to.the early labourers. Those who have charge of horses, mules, donkeys, and camels stretch themselves and rise, ready-dressed, to prepare the food for which their animals have been waiting patiently. Day-labourers, with or without tools, begin to assemble in the accustomed place, salute each other, and stand waiting to be engaged.

Workers from the suburbs of the town pour in on foot and on donkey-back. The sound of the anvil is heard, the clinking of the coppersmith at his work, the whirr of the wheel in the open yard where string is twisted, then the loud fumbling in the lock as the door of the Arab shop is opened, and so the new, noisy, bright, busy day begins. As soon as the sun sets the work ceases, the shops are closed, the streets grow empty, and the town settles down to the rest and silence of another night (Psalms 104:23). The Bedawi shepherd is lost in wonder when he enters the town and sees life under conditions so different from his own. His own wants are so few and simple, and the necessaries of food, clothing, and tools are mostly supplied by his own hands and the labours of his family. But in the town each craft has its own street or market-place; the coppersmiths and silversmiths, the sellers of grain, wood, vegetables, mutton, and cloth, makers of shoes and mattresses, are all grouped together, each industry in its own place. It is the distribution of energy and development of special skill that must always come with expanded life. The trades of the East are remarkable for the skill shown in the use of simple tools, the excellent work produced by rude appliances. The history of Oriental handi-crafts is one of expert masters rather than of improved methods. This delicacy of touch, facility in designing, and good eye for proportion and effect, are largely due to the ancient trade -guilds, in which the same work was usually engaged in by father and son from generation to generation. With regard to any improvement in the processes of the work, a trade secret was also a family secret, and was closely guarded. The private profit which thus secured effciency had its element of danger to the public, as we see to-day in the lost arts of the ancient lacquer-work and the tempering of bronze.

Recent contact with European machinery and manufacture has added a few new occupations, and to some extent modified the old. In Syria and Palestine as elsewhere art exists not for art merely, but for the profit that can be made out of it. This is the moral responsibility of inventions. Orientals are now as fond of our flashy and fading aniline dyes as we are of their rich and permanent tones in cloth and carpets. The one great trade that is now awanting is that of the image-maker.

Perhaps the last trace of it is seen in the silver lamps and vessels that are made as votive offerings for the churches and saint-shrines, and the six-foot candles of the altar that supplement the Syrian sunshine.

Let us now turn our attention to some of these trades and industries, and as we do so we shall be surprised to find in how many places the Bible will be opened, and how interesting and helpful these allusions will be to us.

1. Weaving, Dyeing, and Embroidery. — (1) Weaving is still found in its simplest form among those who were the first to begin it, namely, the wandering shepherds or Bedawin. A Bedawi woman stuffs a bunch of goat-hair under her arm, and drawing out a tuft of itties it to a stone. She spins it round and gradually adds more hair.

She thus gets a roughly uniform thread, the twisted strand that is woven into hair-cloth for the nose-bags of donkeys, horses, and camels, sacks for holding grain and flour; and the lengths that are over-edged and joined together to make the black “houses of hair” — the Bedawi tents. This is the sackcloth of the Bible, which was worn as a mark of penitence or grief, and was the standard simile for anything intensely black. Somewhat softer and more flexible is the cloth of camel-hair; the softest and most valuable being that of sheep’s wool. As sheep and goats are black or white, and camels buff-coloured or dark brown, decoration is introduced in the form of broad alternate stripes of light and dark colour. Through all Oriental weaving we find these two features, the suspended stoneweight and the love of striped ornamentation. Among the pastoral tribes the weaving of tent-cloth, the outer large cloak, and a few similar things, is still the work of the women. Among the village peasantry also a woman is often seen twisting thread of cotton or wool as she walks along, but the supply of cloth is now chiefly from the looms of such towns as Aleppo, Beyrout, and Damascus, or imported from Europe. In the Oriental hand-loom, the foundation threads of the warp are fixed to a beam near the roof of the room, and slope downwards and forwards in close parallel lines to a horizontal revolving beam at the feet of the weaver. These give the length and breadth of the cloth, and the woof threads of cotton, linen, silk, or wool are one by one passed through them from side to side, each line being pressed into position by a wooden bar brought down upon the web. The weaver sits at his work.

(2) Dyeing. — Many of the Oriental dyes are extremely rich and permanent. The brilliant crimson, their favourite colour, is named in Arabic as in Hebrew from the insect that makes the nut in a kind of oak-tree. Indigo is prepared from the rind of the pomegranate. The shellfish, from which the precious Phoenician “ purple “ was made that Lydia sold (Acts 16:14), is still met with on the beach at Acre.

Bright crimson and soft, faded-looking blue, “ dragon’sblood “ (Turkey) red, canary yellow, and indigo, with here and there a softening of the sacred Moslem green, the whole broken up and relieved with white — such, ever moving and yet remaining always the same, is the motley effect of an Oriental crowd.

Orientals are very sensitive to light and dark, warm and cold values in colour, but do not feel quite as we do about the relationship of primary and secondary colours of the same strength. Scarlet and purple, blue and green are constantly placed side by side (Exodus 26:1). If a Moslem woman, dressed for the festival, were to appear among the ladies of an English or American drawingroom, they would regard her as decidedly spectacular while she would wonder what evil some of them had done or suffered that they ’should dress so soberly. In her own land her dress is a response to the bright sunshine which harmonises everything. Even the zebra in its own haunts is made invisible by its stripes. Along with such bright and often glaring colours, Oriental fabrics have many

CHECKER-WORK. subtle shades of gray and olive, delicate flushes of lilac and opal, and salmon -pink like the heart of almond blossom.

(3) Embroidery, broidered work. — This is the ornamentation of any kind of cloth, cotton, linen, silk, or wool by different colours and designs. There are two principal kinds.

(A) Monochrome design, or the effect of a pattern without any additional colour. Here also there are two varieties. (a) On the cloth. — This is a very intricate and tedious kind of needlework, seldom attempted except for

EMBROIDERED-WORK. the robe or dress -coat of Oriental male costume. The robe of dressing-gown shape, made of smooth bright linen or coloured silk, is cut out and laid upon its lining of white cotton. Then threads of cotton-twist, like merchant’s cord, are laid between and sewn in according to pattern in zig-zags, squares, curves, etc. The sewing running close along each side of the string gives a raised effect like fine quilting in the yoke of a lady’s dress, or as is seen on a larger scale in our manufactured white bed-covers of the honeycomb pattern, except that the Oriental cloth is exactly the same on both sides. Such work upon linen or silk under bright sunlight is very rich and lustrous; when upon cloth of gold (Psalms 45:13) the effect would be exceedingly resplendent. (b) In the cloth. — Here the same style of pattern in lines, squares, circles, zig-zag, and key-pattern is obtained in the process of weaving without any raising of the surface. It is woven in Damascus in a great variety of beautiful designs, and is the familiar damask of home manufacture. Something of this kind (a) or (b) must have been the material and style of the high priest’s coat (Exodus 28:39). It is “chequer worh.”

{B) Design in different colours — (a) With raised surface. — This was a superadded pattern in gold thread and different colours. The appearance is that of embossing in metal, as when an Oriental bridal dress of rich, heavy silk is ornamented with large gold lilies in massive relief. (b) In the cloth. — The coloured design is in this case introduced during the weaving, the prevailing form of decoration, as in the tabernacle curtains, being that of stripes.

These Eastern fabrics are usually the same on both sides. They are called in the Bible “ broidered-work of divers colours “ when the chief impression is that of rich and varied colouring. It is the work of the variegator (Exodus 26:36; Ezekiel 16:10). The further descriptive term “ cunning-work “ is added when a chief feature of the elaboration consists in the beauty and intricacy of the design, the interweaving of geometrical figures, eflfects of chain armour and tartan crossings, and drawings of human, animal, or floral design in the pattern. It is the work of the designer (Exodus 26:1; Exodus 28:6; Exodus 36:8).

2. Masonry. — Many of the most wonderful antiquities of the East, like its most characteristic present-day features, are due to the work of the mason. His implements and methods are further interesting to the student of Scripture because of its frequent reference to them by way of illustration and teaching. The farmers everywhere are skilful in the building of the low terrace walls of undressed stone for their cornfields and vineyards, but when a building has to be constructed of stone and lime the experience of the master mason is usually resorted to. Certain villages are famous for their masons, who travel all over the land fulfilling their engagements.

(1) The foundation. — Great attention has to be paid to this on account of the shrinkage and expansion of the ground by summer drought and winter rain. The necessity of getting down to the rock often involves a great deal of labour and expense, and is the most frequent cause of the disappointment referred to in Luke 14:9.

Deep broad trenches are cut and filled with thick walls of stone and lime. These are carried up to the surface of the ground and allowed for a time to dry and settle. All this work is of course afterwards invisible; hence the implied discourtesy of building upon another man’s foundation (Romans 15:20; 1 Corinthians 3:10).

(2) The corner-stone. — When the first tier of oblong stones is laid upon the foundation prepared for it, a broad square one is chosen for each corner so as to make a sure foundation where the two walls meet (Is. 28:16; Ps. 118:22; Matt. 21:42). A similar square block, but thinner, is often placed at each corner of the top row of stones on which the roof beams are to be laid. Its uninviting shape would naturally cause this stone to be passed by when the masons were trimming the ordinary oblong stones, until a special need revealed its special fitness {64} for clasping the two walls. When laying the foundation of an important building for a government office or public institution, the Moslems are accustomed to kill one or more sheep as a feast to the poor. It is the dedication ceremony.

(3) The measuring reed. — At the laying of the foundation row, and from time to time during the construction of the walls, the master mason uses a long straight cane, about 20 feet in length, for measuring the spaces of the walls

MASON’S TOOLS. and between the windows and doors (Ezekiel 40:3; Revelation 21:16). A somewhat shorter reed or cane is used very simply, but with wonderful correctness, in the building of the arches that are so numerous in Oriental architecture.

(4) The plumb-line. — This is a small inverted cone of lead attached by a cord to a cylindrical piece of wood of the same diameter, so that when the wood is laid to the stone newly set in the row the lead suspended below should barely touch the wall. It is in constant use for preserving the perpendicular. To stand this test is the secret of permanence. Whatever is “off the straight “ must fall to the ground however many sheep may have been sacrificed at its dedication (Isaiah 28:17; Jeremiah 22:13). In its moral application this teaching of uprightness applies very specially to “God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9), the building founded upon holy faith (Jude 1:20), and the erection of the “ spiritual house “ (1 Peter 2:5).

(5) The levelling-line. — This is used along with the plumb-line. When a fresh course is to be laid on, two stones of the same height are placed at each end of the wall, or about 20 feet apart, and each is tested for the perpendicular by the plumb-line. Then a length of cord is unwound from its pin and passed several times round one of the stones, and stretched from its outside top corner to the same point of the other stone where it is also made fast. About the middle point of this string the plumbline is applied again, and then the whole course is laid on, thus securing both perpendicular and horizontal accuracy. This levelling-line seems to be referred to in 2 Kings 21:13, where it is prophesied that the line that had been passed over Samaria and the house of Ahab would be stretched over Jerusalem, that is, it would be made level with the ground. These details of the measured foundation, and the use of the line, and the festivities of the dedication, are alluded to in Job 38:4-7.

(6) Tools of the mason. — These are seen in the accompanying illustration, and are variously adapted to splitting, chipping, and facing the stones. The hammer with the toothed edge is especially interesting, from the fact that the gigantic stones of Baalbek show a graining that must have been produced by a similar instrument. The small basket for carrying off earth is also of interest, inasmuch as it is found with its hoisting ropes preserved underground through the centuries, and lying where it had been laid down by the toilers of ancient Egypt.

3. Carpentry. — Oriental custom does not make such an extensive demand upon the carpenter as it does upon the mason. His chief work is in making roofs, doors, windowshutters, lattice-squares, and divan frames for the houses. Along the coast there is a small industry in boat building.

Chairs and tables are referred to in the Bible, and their construction is described on the Egyptian monuments, but it is likely that the ordinary peasants, in ancient times as at present, sat and ate on the floor or the divan. In carrying loads the pack-saddle takes the place of the waggon, and gardens are marked off by boundary-stones, walls, and hedges of wild cactus or reed, so that here also the work of the carpenter is not required. The scarcity of timber in certain localities, such as Jerusalem, causes many houses to be covered with a vault or dome of stone instead of a wooden roof. The ancient Egyptian monuments show the adze, saw, square, awl, and glue-pot, as the chief necessaries of the ancient carpenter, and with these and a few additional implements, his modern successor in the East does his simple work. His most ornamental work is in the panelling of the roof, the making of lattice for the windows, and the arabesque decoration of doors. The adze is his favourite implement. In ripping a board with the saw, he sits on the board and saws away from himself. An avaricious man is compared by the Arabs to the long double - handed saw for cutting logs into boards, because it “ eats “ both in going up and coming down.

4. Metal-work. — All the records of the East abundantly support the Bible in indicating that from the earliest times there has been a knowledge of plain and ornamental work in the various metals connected with mechanical art. The ornamental work is called engraving, and corresponds in wood, stone, metal, and jewels to the effect of embroidery in cloth (Exodus 28:11;

ENGRAVING IN WOOD AND METAL.

1 Samuel 13:19; 2 Samuel 5:11). It exists at the present day in all the forms referred to in the Bible, in the etched line of the graving tool (Exodus 32:4), in punched-out design, embossing, perforation, the combined effect of removal and insertion in inlaying and mosaic work, and the complete removal of the carved object, as in the ancient image (Exodus 32:4; Exodus 39:14; 1 Kings 6:18; Ezekiel 8:10; Acts 17:29). The East has always been famous for colossal masonry, but recent exploration in Egypt has revealed that there was equal skill in the most intricate work of the goldsmith and jeweller. The inventiveness in design, delicacy of handling, and mastery over hard surfaces, are unsurpassed by anything in the art of the present day. Their successors in the East of the present day retain much of the delicate touch of the cunning workers of ancient times, but their taste for design is usually satisfied with the repetition of the traditional patterns. The metal-worker of to-day uses the same tools in the same way and for the same objects that his forefathers used them. The graving tool, tongs, hammer, anvil, and bellows are found in all, only differing in size and strength as they are applied to iron and copper or gold and silver. The primitive anvil (Isaiah 41:7) is a simple cube inserted in a block of oak-log, and the bellows (Isaiah 54:16; Jeremiah 6:29) is made of the skin of a goat or cow with the hair left on.

(1) Iron. — The smith of the present day makes many things in iron that were formerly made of copper or bronze. The farmer and mason are his chief customers. He is usually engaged in making ploughs, hoes, pick - axes, sickles, horse-shoes, nails, window-bars, and masons’ tools. When the Philistines oppressed Israel, iron was made an object of special prohibition (1 Samuel 13:19), much in the same way as the Bible has been during the conflict for religious liberty.

(2) Copper. — Ordinary copper is chiefly used for cooking utensils, and for the large vessels of the wine-press, olivepress^ and ajso for the preparations of the dryer. They are {69} hammered into shape out of flat circular plates of the metal. To prevent copper-poisoning these pots are heated over the smith’s charcoal fire, and receive a lining of tin, “which melts on the hot metal, and is spread by a cloth and sal ammoniac. Tin in the European form does not belong to the East; it is only used for coating copper vessels, and in alloy with copper to make brass, which is called by the

BRACELET AND NECKLACE.

Arabs yellow copper. This is used for more ornamental articles such as trays, ewers, lamps, and vases.

(3) Gold and silver. — Silver is of course much more extensively used than gold. It is largely obtained from the head-dress coins and old ornaments of the Bedawin and peasant women. Refining is done by means of alkalis, and dross and alloy are removed as described in Isaiah 1:25; Jeremiah 6:29; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:3. The commonest forms of ornament are the following: (a) Ear-rings (Gen. 35:4; Exodus 32:2;Ezekiel 16:12). These are in the form of balls, long pendants, crescents, and discs. The large crescents have a loop that passes over the ear, where it is generally tied to a lock of hair. (b) Necklaces (Isaiah 3:19). These “chains” are composed of balls, squares, or hollow cylinders of filigree, or are made of massive twist or intricately woven chain-work. The chain on the neck was often a symbol of office (Genesis 41:42). Neck-bands with crescents attached are still worn on camels (Judges 8:26). (c) Finger-rings (1 Kings 21:8). These are often referred to in the Bible. They are not only for ornament with inserted jewels, but also used as signets. These seal-rings are often worn suspended by a cord round the neck, (d) Bracelets (Genesis 24:22; Isaiah 3:19). These have the same varieties of pattern as the necklaces, thin bangles of gold, silver, brass, and coloured glass being very common, (e) Armlets (2 Samuel 1:10). These are of solid twist, or flat bauds, with engraved pattern, and sometimes jewelled, clasping the arm by the elasticity of the metal, and leaving an opening of half an inch or more. They are chiefly worn by the Bedawin, as they still wear the primitive sleeves with long points, which are tied behind the neck when the arm is bared for active exercise. Any ornament upon the arm is thus displayed. (f) Anklets (Isaiah 3:18) are open rings of plain twist, or with bells and discs attached, now chiefly worn by Bedawin women, (g) Nose-rings (Isaiah 3:21; Ezekiel 23:25) are confined to the same class, being thin plain rings attached to the centre or wing of the nose. In the Bible the context does not always determine whether the ring mentioned was for the ear or nose, and in such cases the R. V. gives simply “ ring.” It seems to have been the most primitive of all, and may have first passed into ornamental use as a symbol of religious dedication and a token of guardianship. (A) Amulets (Is. 3:20, K.V.) To the Oriental mind all the above-mentioned ornaments {71} have more or less an amulet value, protecting especially against the evil eye. Some are made solely for this purpose in the shape of silver discs and caskets, but as they are also made of other things they will be referred to in connection with the religious life, (i) The work of the goldsmith and silversmith is also required for such church furniture as candlesticks, lamps, censers, and the vessels of Holy Communion.

A TRAY OF BREAD.

5. Bakers. — Among the peasantry and Bedawin, the baking of bread is one of the chief household duties, but in the towns and principal villages the larger oven of the regular baker is required. The superiority of this bread is implied in the Arabic proverb, which teaches that the best is the cheapest in the end — “ Send your bread to the oven of the baker though he should eat the half of it.” The modern Oriental baker does not as a rule prepare the dough, but confines himself to the firing of what is sent to him for that purpose. One of the common sights in an Oriental town is that of the baker’s boy carrying on his head a tray of new bread for one house, and on his side a similar tray for another house. The batch is prepared in the house and sent to the baker in the form of round balls of dough, which he kneads into flat cakes for the oven. Jewish women have a custom of taking out a small handful of the dough and rubbing it with earth, or wrapping it in a rag and then laying it beside the dough on the tray so that the baker may throw it into the fire at the side of the oven. It is evidently a relic of sacrificial custom (Leviticus 6:5), and meant to be a token of gratitude to God, but popular superstition gives it another name which in Arabic means “Satan’s portion.” It is to keep off the evil eye. The oven. — The Oriental oven is a long, low, stonebuilt vault, like half a railway -engine’s boiler, with a stone pavement down the middle, and a long narrow strip at each side for the firewood. In the evening the ashes are raked out and the children of the poor often bring a piece of tin, or broken water-jar, on which to carry home some of the glowing embers for the cooking of the evening meal (Isaiah 30:14). In the night the brushwood and logs are laid in position for the baking of the next morning, the door of the oven being closely shut to keep in the heat and prevent the rapid consumption of the fuel. The reference to this in Hosea 7:4, Hosea 7:6 rather implies that the bakers attended to the preparation of the dough as well as the baking of the loaves. Ancient Jerusalem had its Baker’s Street (Jeremiah 37:21).

Besides the ordinary bread, many kinds of cakes, sweetmeats, and seasoned dishes are baked in these public ovens, especially during the days before and after religious fasts.

6. Apothecaries. — This word is translated “ perfumers “ in the Revised Version. The original word includes both meanings, referring to the medicinal value of certain herbs and the essential oils obtained from their flowers and seeds, as well as to their application to cosmetics and the flavouring of food. All large Oriental towns such as Alexandria and Beyrout have their Perfumer’s Street. Their stock includes anything fragrant in the form of loose powder, compressed cake, or essences in spirit, oil, or fat, as well as seeds, leaves, and bark

Such perfumes are mentioned in connection with the holy oil and incense of the tabernacle (Exodus 30:5, Exodus 30:35), the rich ritual of Baal-worship (Isaiah 57:9), and the embalming of the dead and the rites of burial (Genesis 1:2 (sic); 2 Chronicles 16:14; Luke 23:56). The smell of incense is perceived on entering an Oriental church, and the smoking censer always accompanies the funeral procession.

Orientals are very fond of scents and flavours, some of those they like best, however, being considered heavy and oppressive by Europeans. When the orange -trees, violets, and roses are in blossom, the women make scented waters which they keep in large, closely-sealed bottles for use in summer as cooling syrup-drinks. These are presented to guests in tumblers on brass and silver trays. The king’s female “ confectionaries “ (1 Samuel 8:13) would be occupied with the preparation and mixing of such flavouring essences. One of the picturesque figures in the streets of an Oriental town in summer, is that of the man who walks up and down with his large leather or glass bottle, selling iced water flavoured with violet essence, rose-water, liquorice, or mastic. He calls out to the idle and the active, among the merchants sitting at their shop doors and the carpenters and blacksmiths busy at their trades, temptingly clapping his brass saucers and cups, and crying “ Ho, thou thirsty one! For nothing, for nothing! “ The refreshing effect of a cool tumblerful for a farthing makes it seem as if his advertisement was almost true. It is always suggestive of Isaiah 55:1. The enjoyment of perfume is referred to in Proverbs 27:9; Song of Solomon 1:3. It is especially connected with festivities and crowded gatherings. In the Jewish synagogue, on a warm summer morning, the servant of the congregation sprinkles a little rose-water among the worshippers. The passage of a carriage occupied by musk-scented Oriental ladies makes a distinct lingering train in the air, like the Gulf Stream in the ocean. Thus Solomon’s palanquin with its dust-blown escort filled the air of the wilderness with its rich fragrance (Song of Solomon 3:6). Certain scents were and still are very costly. Such in its concentrated and purest form is otto of roses, the name being a corruption of the Arabic ’atar — essence, perfume. These perfumes were kept in beautiful vases of translucent alabaster, and the term was applied to any precious vases of similar form although made of metal and other materials. When it is said that the vase was broken (Mark 14:3), the reference is to the breaking open of the seal at the top of it. Such scent vases are found in the ancient tombs with something of the scent still clinging to them. The knowledge of the healing virtues of certain herbs was the great contribution of Jewish and Saracen doctors to European medicine.

It is when we understand the higher value set upon these perfumes and essences by Orientals that we realise how much is meant by the words of the Preacher, “A good name is better than precious ointment” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

7. Fishermen. — The Bible speaks of the fish of the Nile (Isaiah 19:8), and of the sea (Nehemiah 13:16; Hosea 4:3; Zephaniah 1:3), but the most frequent allusions to the art of fishing are in connection with the Sea of Galilee. These of course are fresh -water fish. The Lake contains vast quantities of them, and the danger of the breaking net and sinking boat is still at times encountered (Luke 5:6). There are three principal ways of fishing.

(1) The casting-net. — When using this, the fisherman stands on the bank or wades breast-deep into the water, and skilfully throws the net which he had arranged on his arm into the water in front of him. It falls in the shape of a ring, and as the lead weights around the fringe drag it down, the net takes the shape of a dome or cone in sinking, and finally falls upon the fishes it encloses. The fisherman then dives down and draws the leads securely together, and carries net and fish to the bank. Favourite spots are the warm springs above Magdala, where the fish congregate in vast swarms, and the fisherman frequently flings in some bait to bring them to one spot, and near enough to the shore for his purpose.

(2) The drag net is of the same open form as is used in herring and salmon fishing, with floats along the top and leads along the bottom of the net. It is worked from boats by forming a loop, and thus enclosing the fish.

(3) Hooks. — Fishing by the hook or angle is referred to in Isaiah 19:8; Amos 4:2; Habakkuk 1:15; Matthew 17:27. On calm summer nights on the Mediterranean coast fish are speared (Job 41:7) by a trident, being attracted to the surface by a moving torch held over the stern of the boat. The application of the fisher’s art to the service of the Gospel (Matthew 4:19) inculcates patience, self-effacement, and the use of appliances in perfect order.

8. Fowlers and Hunters. — The chase has always been a favourite pastime wherever a high value has been set on skill, courage, and endurance. The sculptures of Assyria and the paintings of Egypt portray hunting scenes in which large game is attacked with spears, panthers, and dogs, and smaller game on land and water is caught with snares. The sarcophagi recently discovered at Sidon contain beautiful panels in marble representing hunting scenes. Hunting is frequently referred to in the Psalms and Prophets, and three principal methods are mentioned. These are (1) shooting with the how and arrows (Exodus 27:3), now superseded by the fowlingpiece; (2) snaring by the spring net (Amos 3:5) and cage (Jeremiah 5:27), especially for birds, such as quail, partridge, and duck; (3) pits covered with a net and brush-wood for deer, foxes, wolves, bears, etc. (Psalms 35:7; Isaiah 14:18; Isaiah 42:22).

Sparrows, linnets, and other small birds are caught by bird-lime set on trees beside a decoy cage. Some are kept as song-birds, but most of them are hung like trout on twigs, a dozen or so in each bunch, and sold for food as cheaply as when Christ taught from their lives the lesson of our heavenly Father’s care (Matthew 10:29). The partridge is not only ever watchful and ready to take flight, but when suddenly come upon it has wonderful confidence in the protective value of its spots. A brood or covey of them will lie motionless, almost at the hunter’s feet, without being discovered. David was acquainted with these ways and resources of the bird when he compared the trouble Saul was giving himself to the hunting of the partridge (1 Samuel 26:20).

Serpent charmers are seen from time to time, who entice the snakes from their hiding-places, and make a livelihood by exhibiting them twisting harmlessly around their persons. Usually after a time the man with the snake-bag is missed from his usual rounds, and on inquiry one is told that he died of snake-bite. The Bible refers to the serpent that refuses to be charmed, and makes it an emblem of the deadened conscience (Psalms 58:3-5) and of implacable hatred (Jeremiah 8:17). The moral suggestiveness of the fowler’s art turns on the power that evil acquires when concealed behind an apparent good, the revelry of recovered freedom, the unexpectedness of calamity, and the vengeance of the moral law when a man lays a snare for himself (Psalms 124:7; Ecclesiastes 9:12; Judges 8:27; Proverbs 26:27).

9. Day-labourers. — Every Oriental town has a wellknown place where men congregate at dawn and wait to be engaged in manual labour for the day. Such labour

LABOURERS WAITING AT DAYBREAK. includes gardening, ditching, repairing walls, whitewashing, and porterage. The labourer stands either without any tools, or with the trowel, spade, hoe, or rope that he is accustomed to use. The common time of engagement is shortly after sunrise; the unengaged hang about for a few hours and then generally go elsewhere in search of small jobs. Such day-labourers are usually too lazy, irregular, or inefficient to follow a regular trade. They expect to have an overseer seer over them to keep them from loitering, and when the time of payment comes, some incident in the day’s proceedings is frequently discovered on which to found a claim for more than the sum agreed upon. The altercation of Matthew 20:12, from a variety of causes, is often repeated. These day-labourers live from hand to mouth, and each day’s hire is needed at sunset to purchase the family supper, which is always the chief meal of the day (Deuteronomy 24:14-15).

POTTER’S WHEEL

10. Pottery. — (1) Its usefulness. In the East the expensiveness of copper vessels, the unsuitableness of leather bottles for many of the requirements of town and village life, and the fragility of earthenware, create a large and constant demand for the potter. Earthenware jars are also preferred for holding drinking-water, as the evaporation from the porous substance helps to keep the water cool. In the warm East it is a point of courtesy to give “ a cup of cold water “ (Matthew 10:42).

(2) The wheel. — The clay is trodden by the feet until it is reduced to a suitable and uniform consistency. A quantity of it is then lifted and laid on the table beside the potter. He keeps beside him a dish of water into which at any moment he can dip his fingers. The instrument consists of an upright, revolving wooden rod to which two horizontal wooden discs are firmly attached,

ORIENTAL POTTERY. So that whatever turns one turns the other also. Hence the prophet speaks of the wheels of a certain potter (Jeremiah 18:3). The lower and larger one is driven by a spurn of the heel, the upper by a push of the hand. The potter has a considerable variety to choose amongst, even in the shapes and sizes of the common water pitchers, apart from such articles as cooking-pots and jars for olives, cookingbutter, grape-syrup, etc. When during the process of moulding the lump seems to be insufficient or too much for one form, he can convert it into a somewhat different form. To break off or add a fresh lump of clay would involve a fresh commencement. The potter can do what he likes with the clay, but not with himself; he must make the best possible use of each lump. His liberty is directed by wisdom. The form, ornamentation, and to a large extent the colour of the pottery, as drab, red, or black, are determined at the moist stage. The baking makes these unchangeable.

(3) The baking. — After being lifted from the wheel the vessel is set on a shelf along with rows of others, where they are all exposed to the wind from every direction, but sheltered from the sun until they are considerably dried and hardened. They are then arranged in the brick-kiln, a shallow well of brickwork or stone about four feet deep and eight or ten feet in diameter, with a small oven of brick at the base. The pottery is piled up over this until the wall rises like a cone to the height of some twelve feet. It is thickly covered with brushwood to keep in the heat and prevent sudden chilling from outside. The fire is kept burning below until the pottery is sufficiently hardened. A few of the jars come out bent at the neck, with a dint in the middle, or a general lean to one side, and the ground around a potter’s kiln is always thickly strewn with the broken pieces of the vessels that, in spite of his skill and care, have proved unable to stand the test of fire. The expression “make strong the brick-kiln” (Nahum 3:14), refers to the reconstruction of the circular wall and the dome when the kiln is to be filled with bricks to be fired.

Besides the uses referred to, clay was the writingmaterial of Assyria and Babylon. Job refers to the impression produced upon it by the seal or mould, and compares the clay tablet under its relief - design to embroidered cloth (Job 38:14). Clay bricks dried in the sun or by fire were extensively used for underground stone houses, cisterns, fortresses, and dwelling-houses. The successive demolitions of Lachish (Tel-el-Hesy), recently explored by the Palestine Exploration Fund, lie like the layers of a Scotch pebble. At the present day in Syria, wherever building-stone is scared houses are built of sun-dried brick except on the side or gables facing the western raing quarter. Hence the reference to the thief as digging through the walls of houses (Job 24:16).

(4) The Scripture illustrations drawn from pottery emphasise three important resemblances between it and the spiritual life. (a)The subjection of the clay to the potteries, Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:19; Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:4-11; Romans 9:21). This teaches the possibilities of faith and the iniquity of rebellion against the will of God. An Arabic proverb says, “ The potter can put the ear where he likes.” (b)Its cheapness and insignificance. — Hand pitchers cost one halfpenny, and large ones for carrying water from the fountain about twopence. Such is the humiliation of Zion described in Lamentations 4:2. Fervent words from a wicked heart are compared to silver dross over an earthen vessel (Proverbs 26:23). The earthen vessel can hold what is valuable without having any value of its own. Such is the condition of Christian grace and the Christian service (2 Corinthians 4:7). (c) Fragility. — It is very easily broken and cannot be mended. Sometimes a small hole in a jar can be stopped up with mud, rag, or dough, but usually the knock or fall that breaks one part breaks it altogether and instantaneously (Psalms 2:9; Psalms 31:12; Isaiah 30:14; Jeremiah 19:11; Revelation 2:27). This frailty is alluded to in a familiar Arabic proverb which teaches patience amid provocations: “ If there were no breakages, there would be no potteries.” David speaks of his strength as “ dried up like a potsherd” (Psalms 22:15). These fragments lie about everywhere, exposed to all kinds of weather, and are practically indestructible. Archaeologists tell us that they often render very important service. The sorrows of God’s people have been as helpful as their songs.

11. Hewers of wood and Drawers of water (Deuteronomy 29:11; Joshua 9:21). — These are still among the humblest occupations in the land. Timber is scarce all over western Palestine, especially in Judea. Charcoal burners go up to the mountains where oak and pine trees may still be met with, but the hewer of wood is generally content to glean among trees and tree-roots left in less remote localities. It is one of the common sights in Jerusalem to see the small load of twigs and roots, chiefly of old olive-trees, being brought in for sale on a man’s back or that of his donkey. It involves so much toil and time, and is so poorly paid, that only the poorest and those unskilled in labour attempt to gain a living in this way. Similarly the drawer of water, who brings water from the fountain and carries it to the houses, often has a long way to go, and a long time to wait before his turn comes round to fill his jars or skins. It is generally a feeble old man who now does it, and the water is carried on the back of a donkey too old and infirm to keep pace with the other baggage - animals. Jeremiah mentions among the sorrows of Israel in its days of humiliation, that the young men were made to do donkey’s and mule’s work in turning mill-wheels, and the children were set to carry wood, and often stumbled under loads that were too heavy for them (Lamentations 5:13).

12. Tax-gatherers. — The publicans of the Roman Empire are represented by a numerous and flourishing class in the modern East. The farming out of import and export duties, excise on tobacco, salt, etc, and of the Government tithe on produce, is universally practised. A commercial company guarantees to the Government a fixed sum for a certain tax or monopoly, and then directly or by furthersub-letting proceeds to fix such a scale of charges as will ensure a profit by the transaction. It leads to much oppression and injustice, and fosters a feeling of hostility towards anything connected with the Government. Through long continuance it has ceased to be regarded as a social wrong. The public conscience accepts it as a necessity; and in a Turkish custom house men may be met with of the type of Zacchseus, with honest instincts and even spiritual desires (Luke 19:23).

13. Money-changers. — The work of the moneychangers is twofold, namely, to change money from one kind of currency to another, and to give change in the same currency. He charges about twopence for changing a pound, and the change received has always to be carefully scrutinised, both as to quantity and quality. At times they systematically keep a small, useful coin out of circulation, until its scarcity increases its value by a farthing or more, and then let it return to the shops. These small profits to them are a great inconvenience to the public. The money-changer sits all day at the street corner with his little box in front of him, occasionally clinking his coins to advertise his presence. The variety of coinage in Syria and Palestine is exceedingly perplexing to those recently arrived in the country. In a church collection there may be found, besides ordinary Turkish coins, francs and half-francs of Austria, France, and Italy, with copper and silver coins from England and India. In ancient Jerusalem the presence of worshippers from the different lands of their commercial residence and political dispersion must have brought many different coins into circulation (Acts 2:9-11). In the time of Christ, a custom begun for the convenience of strangers and the general public had become a mercenary scandal in the temple, and the money-changers were expelled with the others who had converted the house of prayer into a noisy Oriental bazaar (Matthew 21:12).

14. Bankers. — Small sums of money are frequently lent and borrowed among Orientals on the strength of friendship and kinship. Very often they remain unpaid, and this light treatment of a promise within a privileged circle of relationship is easily extended to ordinary business engagements. When money is advanced, or goods are forwarded to a merchant on the guarantee of a mutual friend, if some plausible excuse can be found for non-fulfilment of contract, the mere breaking of one’s word is not regarded as disgraceful. The unforeseen obstacle is interpreted as something sent from above, and to be accepted with pious submission! The party imposed upon has no tribunal of business honour or public opinion to appeal to by which the defaulter might be put to shame and inconvenience, and prosecution would likely lead to a competition in legal bribery. The loser feels that his business capacity has been discredited by the transaction, and expatiates to sympathetic friends on the cleverness with which he has been duped (Luke 16:8). Notwithstanding such drawbacks, which are due to general want of veracity and of moral tone, rather than to a purpose of deliberate villainy, the practice of lending out money at interest is widespread and popular. Servant-girls loan out their earnings in petty usury. Syrian cabmen were among the sufferers by the recent depreciation of South African mineshares. Many of the wealthy Syrian Christians made their money by mortgaging the lands of the Egyptian peasantry under the regime of the old Khedives, and bitterly lament the interference caused by the British occupation of that country. Among the Moslems the taking of interest is prohibited by the Koran as unbrotherly and inhuman, but ways of evasion are easily found. The common charge is about onepercentper month, but this is often exceeded. The Jewish money-lender who wins an ugly notoriety in Christian lands of the West is only walking in the steps of Oriental tradition. When an Oriental Christian shows signs of independent thought and a spirit of religious inquiry, it is a common device of the monks to find some way of lending him money, after the manner of a friendly Shyloek, and when he is unable to repay it, to screw him into dutiful submission to the Church. For the past two hundred years Armenians have been the leading money-changers, bankers, and taxgatherers of the East, and the hatred thus accumulated by a few was one of the chief incentives to the persecution that recently destroyed so many of their innocent and helpless countrymen. Usury and deceit are among the chief causes that make Oriental Christianity weak and contemptible in the presence of Islam. Such are some of the colours that have to be put on the palette when the rich man of Scripture sits for his portrait.

15. Merchants. — The Bible references to merchandise are chiefly to the trading caravans of the overland route passing east and west, north and south, through the Promised Land. Their halting-stations at such places as Palmyra and Jerash are marked by broken pillars, amphi-theatres, and general desolation, for their merchandise is now with the trade-carrying nation that rules the sea. They are now poorly represented by the travelling pedlar with the box or bundle of wares on his back: their profits and practices are found in the bazaar-shops of the Oriental towns and villages.

(1) Shops. — A collection of small shops in a square or in rows of streets is called the Bazaar. The goods of the travelling merchant used to be stored in 3, khan, or large building, composed of a number of rooms built round an open square, and in charge of a keeper. Here the commodities were exposed for sale during the day and guarded during the night. The open city square or row of shops under the protection of city police is an expansion of this. The shop is a small room without windows, whose whole front opens on the street. There the shopkeeper sits, and passers-by see all that is exposed for sale.

(2) Weights. — When the goods are sold by the piece or by length a standard measure properly marked is used, but when by weight the customer is very much at the mercy of the merchant. The weights are very often mere lumps of black stone, broken chain-links, or irregular small blocks of iron. Probably the merchant in ancient times had the same facilities for cheating (Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10).

(3) The price. — This in common Oriental usage is determined partly by the value of the article and partly by the appearance of the customer. A few shops invite Europeans by a placard of “ fixed price,” but on nearer approach this usually fades into an aspiration. A fair price is described as one that is “ good for the wolf and good for the sheep.”

Several other trades, handicrafts, and manufactures remain to be referred to briefly, or noticed afterwards in other connections: Soap, in which mineral or vegetable alkali and olive oil are used in the composition, is made in several places, that of Tripoli and Haifa being especially esteemed. The tanning of hides for leather bottles, harness, and shoes, and for export in the raw condition, is an industry at most large towns, and extensively at Jaffa (Joppa) and Hebron, at which latter place glass vessels and ornaments are also manufactured. The butcher among the Jews is a kind of ecclesiastic, who exercises official censorship at the slaughter-house, extracts the prohibited sinew (Genesis 32:32), and kills fowls in the proper way with the proper knife, especially the sacrificial white fowls for the Day of Atonement. Some of these customs seem to us rather odd and antiquated, but they served a sanitary purpose in the past, and it is still especially safe to purchase meat in the shop of an Oriental Jewish butcher.

Millers will be spoken of in connection with the domestic hand-mill, the door-keeper with the house, the forerunner with travel, the letter-writer and teacher with education, and law and medicine along with property and religion.