nius asserts of it, that it is pungent as pepper: and Pliny, that its seed is good for seasoning food, especially bread. It is cultivated in Egypt, as well as in Persia and India, for the sake of its seeds, which have been used in all ages as a condiment, in the same manner as we use coriander and carraway seeds.

Al-henna.-The henna is a tall shrub, endlessly multiplied in Egypt. The leaves are of a lengthened oval form, opposed to each other, and of a faint green colour. The flowers grow at the extremity of the branches, in long and tufted boquets; the smaller ramifications which support them are red, and likewise opposite; from the arm-pit cavity springs a small leaf, almost round, but terminating in a point; the corolla is formed of four petals, curling up, and of a light yellow. Between each petal are two white stamina with a yellow summit: there is only one pistil. The pedicle, reddish at its issuing from the bough, dies away into a faint green. The calix is cut into four pieces of a tender green, up toward their extremity, which is reddish. The fruit, or berry, is a green capsule previous to its maturity; it assumes a red tint as it ripens, and becomes brown when it is dried; it is divided into four compartments, in which are inclosed the seeds, triangular and browncoloured. The bark of the stem and of the branches is of a deep grey, and the wood has, internally, a light cast of yellow. In truth, this is one of the most grateful plants to both the sight and smell. The pleasing colour of its bark, the light green of its foliage, the softened mixture of white and yellow with which the flowers, collected into long clusters like the lilac, are coloured, and the red tint of the ramifications which support them, form a combination of the most agreeable effect. These flowers, whose shades are very delicate, diffuse around the sweetest odours, throughout the gardens and the apartments which they embellish. They accordingly form a favourite nosegay: the women take pleasure to deck themselves with these beautiful clusters of fragrance, to adorn their apartments with them, to carry them to their bath, to hold them in their hand; in a word, to perfume their persons with them. They attach to their possession, which the mildness of the climate, and the facility of culture seldom refuse them, a value so high, that they would willingly appropriate it exclusively to themselves; and they suffer with impatience Christian women and Jewesses to partake of it with them. The same importance seems to have been attached to this species of plant in ancient times. See Sol. Song, iv. 14.

Aloe Soccotrina-This tree grows in the island of Soccotora, in Egypt, of which it is a native. It bears the reputation of producing the best aloes. When old, it has a round stem, three or four feet high; leaves of a sword form, a foot and a half to two feet long, sharp-edged, sawed, hard, and pungent at the apex, often collected in clusters at the top of the stem; and red flowers tipped with green, borne in clusters on tall stalks, which rise erect from among the leaves.

Cummin. This is an umbelliferous plant of annual duration, found wild in Egypt, Syria, and Asia, and cultivated from time immemorial for the sake of its agreeable aromatic fruit, which, like that of caraway, dill, anise, etc., possesses stimulating and carminative properties. The plant grows about a foot high, and is very little branched. As the seeds are suspended by delicate threads, like the nigella, when ripe they may be readily removed.

Calamus Aromaticus.-This is a species of cane which is sweet scented, and which grows in Egypt, Judea, Syria, Arabia, and India. The plant emits a powerful fragrance even while growing and when dried, and reduced into powder, it forms a precious perfume.

The Flag-This plant is mentioned as affording a hidingplace for Moses, Exod. ii. 3-5. It is not certain what plant is intended; probably the original was a general term for sea or river weed, of which we may suppose there was a great variety on the margin of the waters of the Nile.

Lily. That the lily anciently grew in Egypt is testified by the hieroglyphics, among which it appears. What species of the lily grew there, is, however, unknown: probably it was the amaryllis lutea, with which the fields of the Levant are overrun. Be it what species it may, it was doubtless full of meaning among that people, as it was among the ancients generally. The fact, indeed, of its being an hieroglyphical representation is sufficient to prove this; for these representations are all fraught with meaning, though many of them are hard to be understood. An heraldic work, published in France, gives the following singular and interesting account of the lily as an emblem; It is the symbol of divinity, of purity, and abundance, and of love; most complete in perfection, charity and benediction; as that mirror of chastity, Susanna, is defined Susa, which signifies the "lily flower;" the chief city of the Persians bearing that name for excellency. Hence the lily's three leaves, in the arms of France, meaneth, piety justice, and charity.

The Sycamore tree. This tree, the ficus sycamorus of botanists, is celebrated in Palestine, Egypt, and Abyssinia, to the present day. It is a wide spreading tree, attains a considerable height, and exhibits a trunk of large dimensions, striking its bulky diverging roots deep into the soil. Its fruit seems to have been an important article in the diet of the ancient Egyptians; for the psalmist, recording in holy song the plagues wherewith God had visited that people, says, " He destroyed their sycamore trees with frost," Psa. lxxviii. 47. Travellers

inform us, indeed, that it constitutes the greater part of the diet of the people of Egypt at the present day. Give them a piece of bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a jug of water from the Nile, and they think themselves well regaled. The wood of the sycamore has obtained a high reputation for durability, notwithstanding its porous and spongy appearance. This has arisen from the circumstance that the coffins of the Egyptians, which were made of that wood, remained for many ages in a state of preservation. Dr. Shaw states, that he saw some mummy chests three thousand years old, and he contends from this fact for its extreme durability. Bruce, however, affirms, that some of the wood which he buried in his garden, perished in four years, which has given rise to a probable conjecture on the subject; namely, that the preservation of the sycamore mummy-chests arises partly from a particular preparation, or coating of the coffins: and partly from the dryness of the climate and the sandy soil of Egypt. The wood of the sycamore was also used for boxes, tables, doors, and other objects which required large and thick planks, as well as for making idols and wooden statues.

The Vine.-We learn from Scripture that Egypt was anciently celebrated for its vine trees. It does not appear, however, that the grapes of Egypt were so fine as those of Palestine; for those which the spies brought from Eschol, as a proof of the fertility of the promised land, astonished the Hebrews, and had they seen such in Egypt, it could have been no matter of surprise. Bochart informs us that, in the east, the vine produces three crops in the course of one year. Thus in March, after the tree has produced the first crop of blossoms, the dressers cut away from it that wood which is barren, and in the succeeding month a new shoot, bearing fruit, springs from the branches, which being lopped also, shoots forth again in May, laden with the latter grapes. Those clusters, which blossomed successively in March, April, and May,

become ripe, and are gathered in August and the two suc ceeding months.

Besides the vine bearing good grapes, there appears to be a wild vine growing in Egypt, that is, the solanum incanum, or the hoary night-shade. Hasselquist says, that the Arabs call this plant aneb el dib, or "wolf grapes;" that it grows much in the vineyards, and is very pernicious to them, and that it likewise resembles a vine by its shrubby stalk.

The Cypress-The cypress, cupressus sempervirens, appears to have been indigenous to Egypt; for we learn from history that coffins and mummy cases were made of its wood. The tree is too well known, being cultivated in our own country to a considerable degree of perfection, to need description.

The Pomegranate. The punica granatum, or pomegranate tree, in its native state, is a lowly shrub, about eight or ten feet in height, extremely bushy and covered with thorns; when cultivated, however, it is nearly twice that size, more especially in the south of Europe. The flowers differ in different varieties, and while the fruit of the wild plant is only about the size of a walnut, that of the cultivated tree is larger than the largest apple. This is filled with seeds imbedded in a red pulp, which is the part eaten. It seems to have been highly esteemed by the ancients, for we find the Hebrews specifying it as one of the luxuries they had lost by leaving Egypt; and it is enumerated by Moses, with wheat, barley, etc., as a recommendation of the promised land, Deut viii. 8.

The Date Palm.-This tree is an evergreen, and, to attain perfection, it requires a hot climate, with a sandy soil, yet humid, and somewhat nitreous. Hence, its favourite place is along the rivers which border the hot and sandy deserts, and beside old wells, in the very heart of the desert itself; a circumstance which renders the distant prospect of it a delight to the wanderer in those parched regions, from the assurance of water which it conveys. Mariti says that this tree grows to the height of a man in five or six years' growth; and this is a very rapid growth, if we consider that the trunk rises from the ground of a thickness which never increases. It appears to have been cultivated in Egypt in all ages of the world, and at the present day trees of this kind are very abundant there. Clarke says that the natives are chiefly engaged in the care of them, tying up their blossoms with bands formed of the foliage, to prevent their being torn off, and scattered by the wind.

The trunk of the date palm tree served for beams, either

entire or split in half: while the gereet, or branches, were, as they are now, used in making wicker baskets, bedsteads, coops, and ceilings of rooms, answering for every purpose for which laths or other thin wood-work might be required.

The Doum Palm.-Instead of one trunk without branches, the doum throws up two trunks, or more properly, branches, at the same time from the soil. From each of these spring two branches, which are also frequently bifurcated more towards the top of the tree. The terminal branches are crowned with bundles of from twenty to thirty palm leaves from six to nine feet in length. The fruit of the doum is most essentially different from that of the date palm. tree grows in Upper Egypt, but seldom in the lower country. The wood is more solid than that of the date palm, and will even bear to be cut into planks, of which the doors in Upper Egypt are frequently made.

The

Barley. Of all cultivated grain, barley comes to perfection in the greatest variety of climates, and is consequently found over the greatest extent of the habitable globe. The heat and the drought of tropical climates does not destroy it, and it ripens in the short summers of those which verge on the frigid zone. In Egypt, were the climate is mild, two crops may be reaped in the same year; one in the spring from seed sown in the autumn, and one in the autumn from seed sown in the spring. This explains a passage in Scripture, which speaks of the destruction of this plant in one of the ten plagues, Exod. ix. 31, 32. Commentators are generally agreed that this even happened in March: the first crop of barley was therefore nearly ripe, and the flax ready to gather; but the wheat and the rye sown in spring were not sufficiently advanced in growth to be injured. This is confirmed by the testimony of modern travellers. Dr. Richardson, writing in Egypt in the early part of March, says, "The barley and flax are now advanced; the former is in the ear, and the latter is bolled, and it seems to be about this season of the year that God brought the plague of thunder and hail upon the Egyptians, to punish the guilty Pharaoh, who had hardened his presumptuous heart against the miracles of Omnipotence."

Rye. It is uncertain whether the Hebrew Kusemeth, which occurs Exod. ix. 32, and which is there spoken of as anciently growing in Egypt, signifies rye. Most commentators contend that it was spelt, which the word is usually rendered in