He looked next for the other fruits, and the guide soon
found for him the "lemons": these he discovered to be a species of
_solanum_ found in other parts of Palestine and elsewhere, and the
seeds in these were the famous "cinders." He looked next for the
pears, figs, and other accursed fruits; but, instead of finding
them filled with ashes and cinders, he found them like the same
fruits in other lands, and he tells us that he ate the figs with
much pleasure.
So perished a myth which had been kept alive two thousand
years,--partly by modes of thought natural to theologians, partly
by the self-interest of guides, and partly by the love of
marvel-mongering among travellers.
The other myths fared no better. As to the appearance of the sea,
he found its waters not "black and sticky," but blue and
transparent; he found no smoke rising from the abyss, but tells us
that sunlight and cloud and shore were pleasantly reflected from
the surface. As to Lot's wife, he found no salt pillar which had
been a careless woman, but the Arabs showed him many boulders which
had once been wicked men.
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