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Show OAK MARKS VENERATED SPOT Tree Planted Where Abraham Erected Erect-ed Altar to the Lord Has Been Carefully Preserved. It is recorded that when Abraham was promised tile possession of the land of Canaan nnd was cominund'. d to "walk through the land," he "removed "re-moved bis tent, and came and dwelt In the plain of Manire, which is In Hebron, and built tberp an altar t the Lord." This spot -is still miflu' I by a great oak, venerated alike by Christian, Jew and Mohammedan. It Is to this protection that une must attribute its preservation in a rrgiuu cleared of almost all trees by the Improvident Im-provident Turk. The specie s is not uncommon in Palestine and Major Portal, while stationed at general headquarters head-quarters of the British army there, sent to Kew gardens a small box of acorns which were recognized as th' fruit of Abraham'." tree. Sir Joseph Hooker visited the spot in 1800 and wunted to secure a specimen of the wood for Kew, but no one would cut off a bough. It was only when the snow, which visited Jerusalem in ISolJ and which did not spare Hebron, had broken down one of the oak's branches he was able to secure a portion of. It which Is to be seen to this day in one of the Kew museums. But a more practical fame awaits the tree, for It Is with It that the Syrian forests will probably be rehabilitated In the bright era which is dawning now that the Turk no longer rules the land. |