used for fodder is excluded, and looking around among the productions which serve men for food, for one that at least furnishes an external similarity to grass, have not merely guessed at the one they have taken ?

But the correct view is arrived at through a different counterargument. The has etymologically the meaning of food for cattle it is originally not grass, but pasturage, fodder,' and so also according to common use.2 The first criterion for the correctness of the interpretation is, therefore, that the article of food which is identified with 7 must be appropriately food for beasts, so that man goes, as it were, to the same table with them. Now if such an article of food could by no means be found, we should be warranted in giving up this criterion, which is entirely wanting in the leek.

But among the wonders of the natural history of Egypt, it is mentioned by travellers that the common people there eat, with special relish, a kind of grass similar to clover. The impression which the sight of this makes on those who have travelled much, is very graphically described by Mayr :3 "A great heap of clover was thrown before the beasts, and a smaller pile of clover, like fodder, was placed before the master of the house and his companions. The quadrupeds and the bipeds ate with equal greediness, and the pile of the latter was all gone before the former had finished theirs-this plant is very similar to clover, except that it has more pointed leaves and whitish blossoms. Enormous quantities are eaten by the inhabitants, and it is not unpalatable. I was afterwards, when hungry, in a situation to lay myself down upon the fields where it grows, and graze with pleasure."

Raffeneau Delile gives a more scientific description : "The fenu-grec (trigonella foenum Graecum, Linn.) is an annual plant, known in Egypt under the name of Helbeh; it very much resembles clover. The people of the country find the young fresh shoots, before blossoming, a very delicious food."

'See Gesenius, loc. cit.

2 E. g. 1 Kings xviii. 5, Job xl. 15, and other passages. Compare Gesenius.

3 Reise nach Aegypten u. s. w. S. 226.

Hist. des Plantes cultiv. en Egypte, § 2; Du Trèfle d'Egypte et de Fenu-grec, cultivés comme fourages, in the Description, t. 19, p. 59,

P

But the most particular and best account is found in Sonnini.1 From him we make a somewhat copious extract, since it clearly shows us how the emigrating Egyptians and the Israelites could, among other things, also look back longingly to the grass of Egypt: "Although this helbeh of the Egyptians is a nourishing food for the numerous beasts who cover the plains of the Delta; although horses, oxen, and the buffaloes eat it with equal relish, it appears not to be destined especially for the sustenance of animals, since the barsim furnishes an aliment better even and more abundant. But that which will appear very extraordinary is, that in this singularly fertile country, the Egyptians themselves eat the fenu-grec so much that it can properly be called the food of men. In the month of November, they cry, "Green helbeh for sale," in the streets of the towns. It is tied up in large bunches, which the inhabitants eagerly purchase at a low price, and which they eat with an incredible greediness, without any species of seasoning. They pretend that this singular diet is an excellent stomachic, a specific against worms and dysentery; in fine, a preservative against a great number of maladies. Finally, the Egyptians regard this plant as endowed with so many good qualities that it is, in their estimation, a true panacea. Prosper Alpinus has entered into long details upon its use in medicine. After so many excellent properties, real or supposed, it is not astonishing that the Egyptians hold the fern-grec in so great estimation, that, according to one of their proverbs, "Fortunate are the feet which tread the earth on which grows the hebeh."

Besides those named, von Schubert2 may be compared. He says: "The kinds of clover whose young shoots and leaves we saw eaten in many ways by the Egyptians, were the helbeh (trig. foenum, Gr.) and the gilban (Lathyrus sativus)."

1

Voyage dans la haute et basse Egypte, Tom. I. p. 379, seq.

2

Reise, Th. II. S. 107.

THE FISH.

1

The fact that fish were placed first in the narrative, and also the phrase, "which we ate in Egypt freely," indicate that they were very numerous. And it is so well known that almost incredible numbers exist in Egypt, that we need not quote all the

We make the following extract from its interest, in connection with several other passages in the Pentateuch and Isaiah, as well as the one under discussion: "Fishing is one of the employments most frequently depicted on the monuments. It is combined with fowling by amateur sportsmen, and even with the chase of the crocodile and the hippopotamus; but is also pursued as a regular trade by an entire caste. It is recorded as a fearful aggravation of the first plague of Egypt, that the fish that was in the river died,' (Exod. vii. 21). The first great complaints of the Israelites, when they murmured against Moses in the desert, was, 'We remember the fish that we did eat in Egypt freely,' (Numbers xi. 5.) And this abundance of fish was still further increased by the ponds, sluices, and artificial lakes which were constructed for the propagation of the finny tribe. Hence Isaiah, in denouncing divine vengeance against the Egyptians, dwells particularly on the ruin which would fall upon those who derived their subsistence from the animals and plants of the Nile: 'And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. Moreover, they that work in fine flax, and they that weave net works, shall be confounded. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish,' (Isaiah xix. 5-10). Although the Nile, and the artificial lakes, were constantly swept with nets, we are unable to discover any proof of the Egyptians having ever fished in the open sea; and indeed there is reason to believe that the fishes of the sea were, from religious motives, regarded with abhorrence. The supply has not failed. in modern times; the right of fishery on the canals and lakes is annually farmed out by the government to certain individuals, who pay very large sums for the privilege. The small village of Agalteh at Thebes,' says Mr Wilkinson, pays annually 1500 piastres (about £21.) to government for the fish of its canal.' M. Michaud, in his delightful Letters, gives an account of the fisheries on the lake Menzaleh, too interesting to be omitted. The waters of Menzaleh abound in fish; the Arabs say that the varieties of fish in the lake exceed the number of days in the year. Al

separate proofs of the fact. We only refer to Oedmann,1 Mayr,2 Bähr, Taylor, and Wilkinson. But it should, perhaps, be particularly mentioned; that, according to Herodotus, a part of the inhabitants of the marshes of the Delta, shepherds, who probably were not of Egyptian origin, and were hated by the cultivators of the soil, lived entirely on fish.7

THE CUCUMBER.

Upon the cucumber, also, we need not delay long. It is known that they exist in Egypt, and of peculiar excellence. They are large, of fine flavour, and very much eaten.

8

though this may be deemed an exaggeration, it is certain that whatever be the number of their species, the fishes of this lake multiply infinitely.'

On the monuments the fishermen appear as a class inferior to the agricultural population, and we know historically that they formed one of the lowest castes. This was also the case in Palestine, and hence when Christ chose two of this class to become apostles, he announces to them that they were for the future to be engaged in a more honourable occupation. 'Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him.'"-Taylor, p. 62, seq.

1 Verm. Samml. 1. S. 136. Radzivil says there': "We saw, to-day, about a hundred fishermen lying in the turbid waters of the Nile, and catching fish with their hands. Some of them came up with three fishone in each hand and one in the mouth. The fish were an ell long, and of different kinds."

2

Mayr, S. 188.

4 P. 62 seq.

See Bähr, 1. c. S. 687: Heeren, S. 150.

a Zu Herodotus, I. S. 658. 5 Vol. III. p. 63.

7 Minutoli stands entirely alone in his assertion, S. 406: "In fish the Nile is poor, as well in respect to numbers as in variety of species, of which there are not many." Were this correct, we should despair of ever finding truth in history. But we will not trouble ourselves about that in anticipation.

Compare the passage from Prosper Alpinus, which has already been quoted by Rosenmueller; Forskal, Flora, p. 169; Description, t. 19, p. 109; De Sacy upon Abdallatiph, p. 125; and Abdallatiph himself, p. 34; Hartmann, Aeg. S. 180.

THE MELONS, DEN.

The melons are of very great importance to Egypt. The following passages from Sonnini,' best show how they could become objects of general longing in the desert, where "the souls of the people were dry," verse 6. But the species of fruit which, by its pulp and its refreshing water, best serves to moderate the internal heat which the climate generates, is the pastek or water-melon (cucurbita citrullus). The markets are filled with them, and they sell at so very small a price, that the poor as well as the rich can refresh themselves with their watery and sweet juice. They are a healthful nourishment, and useful in the climate where the heat makes the blood boil, and gives sharpness to the hu

6

ONIONS.

The onions of Egypt are also far renowned and much praised. They are often represented in the sculptures. According to Arvieux, they are sweet and large, and taste better than those of Smyrna. Hasselquist protests that there are in the whole world none better. Herodotus shows that they were, in antiquity, frequently an article of diet of the people, and a common food of those who laboured upon the pyramids. In what estimation they are now held, we see from Sonnini: "This species of vegetable is yet extraordinarily common in this country it is the aliment of the more ordinary of the people, and almost the only food of the lowest class. Onions, cooked or raw, are sold in the streets and markets for almost nothing. These onions have not the tartness of those of Europe; they are sweet; they sting not the mouth unpleasantly; and they do not produce weeping in those who cut them."

1 Th. 3. S. 101.

2 Aegyptiis battich Forsk., p. 75.

3 See also Sonnini, p. 109; Abdallatiph, p. 35; De Sacy, p. 127 and 8. 4 Wilk. II. p. 373. P. 562.

7 B. 2. c. 125.

'Hartmann, S. 180.

8 Tom. II. S. 66, 67.