Volume 2

Arga 333
willow, the leaves were like pear leaves, though very
much larger, green on one side and on the other covered
with some gray-colored stuff. It bore berries like the fruit
of the dogrose, though larger. The wood was exceedingly
hard and tough, and could be split into very fine strips
like bark. When dry and bleached, it became firm and
beautiful and almost indestructible. The tree contained a
very fine pith, which was extracted by incisions so as to
leave in the center of the inmost plank only a delicate,
reddish vein. The wood was made into little tables, and
used for all kinds of inlaid work. They dealt also in
myrrh and other spices, although these did not grow
there. They obtained them from the caravans that often
unloaded their camels and rested here for weeks at a
time. They pressed the spices into balls and prepared
them to be used by the Jews in embalming the dead. The
cows and sheep of Arga were very large.
When on the following morning jesus and His disciples
went toward Arga, the Levites and chief men of the city
met Him with every mark of respect, conducted Him to a
tent, washed His feet, and presented Him refreshments.
Some of the disciples had gone on before Jesus to apprise
the townspeople of His coming. He taught in the synagogue,
after which He cured a great many sick, among
them numbers of consumptives. He went likewise to
many of the sick in their homes. Toward three o'clock a
dinner was spread. Jesus dined with the Levites in a
public hall, the dishes having been brought thither from
the eating house. In the evening, He taught again in the
synagogue, for it was the commencement of the Sabbath.
Next morning He gave another discourse, speaking at
length of Moses in the wilderness on Mounts Sinai and
Horeb, of the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, of
the table of showbread, etc. As the ancestors of His
hearers had sent offerings for the same, Jesus alluded to
them as symbolical. He exhorted them now, in the time