dry and parched food may, per- like so many distressed orphans, haps, be added, the great variety for their mother. In this man of land snails which occasional-ner, the ostrich may be said to ly cover the leaves and stalks of be hardened against her young these herbs, and which may af- ones, as though they were not ford her some refreshment. Nor hers; her labor, in hatching and is it improbable, that she some- attending them so far, being times regales herself on lizards vain, without fear, or the least and serpents, together with in- concern of what becomes of sects and reptiles of various them afterwards. This want of kinds. Still, however, consider-affection is also recorded, Lam. ing the voracity and size of this 4:3, The daughter of my peocamel bird, (as it is called in the ple is become cruel, like the East,) it is wonderful how the ostriches in the wilderness;' little ones should be nourished that is, by apparently deserting and brought up, and especially their own children, and receiving how those of fuller growth, and others in return." much better qualified to look out for themselves, are able to subsist. The ostrich is proverbial for her stupidity and want of parental affection. It is related, that when hard pushed by hunters, as is sometimes the case, she stops and hides her head; seeming to think that thus her whole body is also concealed. Her want of natural affection appears in the readiness with which she abandons her eggs or young ones. On this point, Dr. Shaw remarks, "On the least noise or trivial occasion, she forsakes her eggs, or her young ones, to which, perhaps, she never returns; or if she does, it may be too late either to restore life to the one, or to preserve the lives of the others. Agreeably to this account, the Arabs meet sometimes with whole nests of these eggs undisturbed; some of them are sweet and good, others are addle and corrupted; others, again, have their young ones of different growth, according to the time, it may be presumed, they may have been forsaken of the dam. They often meet with a few of the little ones no bigger than well-grown pullets, half starved, straggling and moaning about, || When the ostrich is provoked, she sometimes makes a fierce, angry and hissing noise, with her throat inflated, and her mouth open; when she meets with a timorous adversary that opposes but a faint resistance to her assault, she chuckles or cackles like a hen, seeming to rejoice in the prospect of an easy conquest. But in the silent hours of night, she assumes a quite different tone, and makes a very doleful and hideous noise, which sometimes resembles the roaring of a lion; at other times that of the bull and the ox. She frequently groans, as if she were in the greatest agonies; an action to which the prophet beautifully alludes: "I will make a mourning like the ostrich," Mic. 1:8, where our English version improperly reads owls. OVEN, see under BREAD. OWL, a well-known species of birds, pronounced by Moses to be unclean, Lev. 11:16,17, and which are never eaten by any people. It is, however, very uncertain whether the Hebrew words translated owl actually mean this bird. Some of them certainly do not. See under OSTRICH, and Birds. P. PADAN ARAM, the plains of are the vestiges of the decayed Aram, or Syria. See MESOPO- || leaves; for the trunk is not solid TAMIA, and SYRIA. like other trees, but its centre is PALESTINE, taken in a lim-filled with pith, round which is a tough bark, full of strong fibres when young, which, as the tree grows old, hardens and becomes ited sense, denotes the country of the Philistines, which was that part of the Land of Promise extending along the Mediter-ligneous. To this bark the leaves ranean sea, from Gaza south to are closely joined, which in the Lydda north. Palestine, taken centre rise erect, but after they in a more general sense, signifies are advanced above the vagina the whole country of Canaan, as that surrounds them, they exwell beyond, as on this side, Jor- pand very wide on every side dan; though frequently it is re- the stem, and, as the older leaves strained to the country on this decay, the stalk advances in side that river; so that in later height. The leaves, when the times the words Judea and Pales- tree has grown to a size for beartine were synonymous. We finding fruit, are six or eight feet also the name of Syria-Palestina long; are very broad when given to the Land of Promise, spread out, and are used for and even sometimes this prov-covering the tops of houses, and ince is comprehended in Coele- similar purposes. Syria, or the Lower Syria. Hero- The fruit, which is called date, dotus is the most ancient writer grows below the leaves in clusknown who speaks of Syria-Pal-ters; and is of a sweet and estina. He places it between agreeable taste. The diligent Phoenicia and Egypt. See CA-natives, says Mr. Gibbon, cele. NAAN. PALM, a measure of a hand's, or four fingers' breadth, or 3.648 inches. PALMER-WORM is put in Joel 1:4, for a Hebrew word which signifies a species of locust. In the same verse the caterpillar and canker-worm are also put for different species of locusts. PALM-TREE. This tree is called in Hebrew tâmâr, from its straight, upright growth, for which it seems more remarkable than any other tree: it sometimes rises to the height of a hundred feet. The palm is one of the most beautiful trees of the vegetable kingdom. The stalks are generally full of rugged knots, which brate, either in verse or prose, the 360 uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves and the fruit of the palm are skilfully applied. The extensive importance of the date-tree, is one of the most curious subjects to which a traveller can direct his attention. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia and Persia, subsist almost entirely on its fruit. They boast also of its medicinal virtues. Their camels feed upon the date stone. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats and brushes; from the branches, cages for their poultry, and fences for their gardens; from the fibres of the boughs, thread, ropes and rigging; from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor; and the body || with other things. What we of the tree furnishes fuel it is call the Proverbs of Solomon, even said, that from one variety which are moral maxims and of the palm-tree, the phoenix fari-sentences, the Greeks call the nifera, meal has been extracted, || which is found among the fibres of the trunk, and has been used for food. Parables of Solomon. In like manner, when Job answers his friends, it is said, he began to take up his parable. Job 27:1. 29:1. The parabolical, enig tious way of speaking, was the language of the eastern sages and learned men; and nothing was more insupportable than to hear a fool utter parables. Prov. 26:7. Several parts of the Holy Land, no less than of Idumæa,matical, figurative and sententhat lay contiguous to it, are described by the ancients to have abounded with date-trees. Judea, particularly, is typified, in several coins of Vespasian, by a disconsolate woman sitting under a palm-tree. In Deut. 34:3, Jericho is called the "city of palm-trees," and several of these trees are still found there; but in general they are at present rare in Palestine. PAMPHYLIA, a province of Asia Minor, having Cilicia east, Lycia west, Pisidia north, and the Mediterranean south. It is opposite to Cyprus, and the sea between the coast and the island is called the sea of Pamphylia. The chief city of Pamphylia was Perga, where Paul and Barnabas preached. Acts 13:13. 14:24. PANNAG, in Ezek. 27:17, is probably some kind of artificial and costly pastry or cakes. PAPER, PAPYRUS, see Book. The prophets employed parables, the more strongly to impress prince and people with their threatenings or their promises. Nathan reproved David under the parable of a rich man who had taken away and killed the lamb of a poor man. 2 Sam. c. 12. Our Saviour most frequently addressed the people in parables; thereby verifying the prophecy of Isaiah, 6:9, that the people should see without knowing, and hear without understanding, in the midst of instructions. Jerome observes, that this manner of instructing and speaking by similitudes and parables, was common in Syria, and especially in Palestine. It is certain that the ancient sages employed this style almost to affectation. PARADISE. This word in Hebrew signifies a garden or forest of trees, a park, in which sense it is used, Neh. 2:8. Eccles. 2:5. Cant. 4:13. PAPHOS, a maritime city on the western extremity of the isle of Cyprus. It had a tolerable harbor, and was the station of a Roman proconsul. About sixty stadia or furlongs from the city was the celebrated temple of The Septuagint use the word Venus, who was hence often paradisus when they speak of the called the Paphian goddess.garden of Eden, in which the Lord Acts 13:6,13. placed Adam and Eve. This famous garden is indeed commonly known by the name of "the" terrestrial paradise," and there is hardly any part of the world PARABLE, derived from a Greek word which signifies to compare things together, to form a parallel or similitude of them in which it has not been sought. || Cossacks. It is said the ParSee EDEN. In the New Testament, paradise is put for a place of delight, where the souls of the blessed enjoy happiness. Thus our Saviour tells the penitent thief on the cross, Luke 23:43, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise ;" i. e. in the state of the blessed. Paul, speaking of himself in the third person, says, 2 Cor. 12:4, "I knew a man that was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." PARAN, or EL PARAN, a large tract of desert country lying south of Palestine and west of the Ghor or valley which runs from the Dead sea to the gulf of Akaba. It was in and near this desert region that the Israelites wandered thirty-eight years. See EXODUS. PARCHMENT, see Book. PARTHIA is supposed to have been originally a province of Media, on its eastern side, which was raised into a distinct kingdom by Arsaces, B. C. 250. It soon extended itself over a great part of the ancient Persian empire, and is frequently put for that empire in Scripture, and other ancient writings. Parthia maintained itself against all aggressors for nearly 500 years; but in A. D. 226, one of the descendants of the ancient Persian kings united it to his empire, and Persia resumed its former name and dynasty. The Parthians were celebrated, especially by the poets, for their mode of fighting, which consisted in discharging their arrows while they fled. They would seem to have borne no very distant resemblance to the modern thians were either refugees or exiles from the Scythian nations. Jews from among them were present at Jerusalem at the Pentecost. Acts 2:9. PARTRIDGE. The Hebrew name of this bird is korê, the caller. Forskal mentions a partridge whose name, in Arabic, is kurr; and Latham says, that in the province of Andalusia, in Spain, its name is churr, both taken, no doubt, from the Hebrew. The German hunters also say, of the partridge, "It calls." As this bird is so well known in every part of the world, a particular description is un necessary. PASSOVER, (Pascha, a passing over,) a name given to the festival established in commemoration of the coming forth out of Egypt, Ex. c. 12, because, the night before their departure, the destroying angel, who slew the first-born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Hebrews without entering them, they being marked with the blood of the lamb, which, for this reason, was called the paschal lamb. The month of the exodus from Egypt, (called Abib by Moses, afterwards called Nisan,) was ordained to be thereafter the first month of the sacred or ecclesiastical year; and the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, (see EVENING,) they were to kill the paschal lamb, and to abstain from leavened bread. The day following, being the fifteenth, reckoned from six o'clock of the preceding evening, was the grand feast of the passover, which continued seven days; but only the first and the seventh day were peculiarly solemn. The slain lamb The modern Jews also continue to observe the passover. With those who live in Palestine the feast continues a week, but the Jews out of Palestine extend it to eight days, according to an ancient custom, by which the sanhedrim sent two men to observe the first appearance of the new moon, who immediately gave notice of it to the chief of the council. For fear of error, they kept two days of the festival. a ship for Phoenicia, in which he embarked. Acts 21:1. PATHROS, Jer. 44:1,15. Ezek. 29:14. 30:14, one of the three ancient divisions of Egypt, viz. Upper Egypt, which Ezekiel speaks of as distinct from Egypt, and the original abode of the Egyptians; as indeed Ethiopia and Upper Egypt really were. See EGYPT. PATMOS, an island of the Ægean sea, to which the apostle and evangelist John was banished, A. D. 94. Rev. 1:9. In this island he is said to have had his revelation, recorded in the Apocalypse. Patmos lies between the island of Icaria and the promontory of Miletus, or between Samos and Naxos, and is now called Patimo, or Patmo sa. Its circuit may be five-andtwenty or thirty miles. It has also a city called Patmos, with a harbor, and some monasteries of Greek monks, who show a cave, now a chapel, where they pretend that John wrote his revelation. PAUL, the distinguished apostle of the Gentiles, who was also called Saul. The apostle Paul was born of Jewish parents at Tarsus in Cilicia, and inherited the privileges of a Roman citizen. He was originally by trade a tent-maker, but was educated at Jerusalem, in the school of Gamaliel; and yielding himself to the strictest discipline of the sect of the Pharisees, he became a fierce defender of the Jewish re As to the Christian passover, the Lord's supper, it was instituted by Christ, when, at the last passover supper he ate with his apostles,he gave them a symbol of his body to eat,and a symbol of his blood to drink, under the form of bread and wine; prefiguring that he should give up his body to the Jews and to death. The paschal lamb which the Jews killed, tore to pieces, and ate, and whose blood preserved them from the destroying angel, was a type and figure of our Saviour's death and passion, and of his blood shed for the salvation of the world. PATARA, a maritime city ofligion, and a bitter adversary of Lycia, celebrated for an oracle of Apollo, who was supposed to reside here during the six winter months, and the rest of the year at Delos, and who was hence called Patareus. Paul, in passing from Philippi to Jerusalem, found here the Christians. After his miraculous conversion, he devoted all the powers of his ardent and energetic mind to the defence and propagation of the gospel of Christ, more particularly among the Gentiles. His views of the |