any real historical time of ours. But that his records do all belong to the same continuum is the very point the Chronicler is labouring to make. The connection between these ancients and us means that they are as real as we are. This leads directly to the second noteworthy feature of chapters 1 to 3. Scattered throughout them we find a variety of miniature portraits, bits of information, odd incidents which (if for a moment we desert our ‘sap’ metaphor) we may compare to knots in the weave of fabric