DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1033#0049
THE ANCIENT BOTANY.
49
and the small yellow chrysanthemum. Among the
fruits, we have represented in Mr. Petrie's collection,
the almond, peach, cherry, currant, grape-vine, mul-
berry, fig, pomegranate, olive, carob, and walnut.
And among the vegetables we have the cabbage,
onion, peas, beans, flat peas, lupins, chick peas, and
coriander. This remarkable " find " of plant-remains
at Hawara well illustrates the passage in Strabo's
" Geographia " relating to the extreme fertility of the
Fayum. " The Arsinoite Nome," he writes, " is the
most remarkable of all, both on account of its scenery
and its fertility and cultivation. For it alone is planted
with large, perfect, and richly productive olive-trees,
and the oil is good when carefully prepared ; those
who are neglectful may, indeed, obtain oil in abund-
ance, but it has a bad smell. In the rest of Egypt
the olive-tree is never seen, except in the gardens of
Alexandria, where under favourable circumstances
they yield olives, but no oil. Vines, corn, podded
plants, and many other products also thrive in this
district in no small abundance."
91. Besides the plant-remains from Hawara, Mr.
Petrie has also discovered a considerable quantity at
Kahun. These, though they date from the remote
period of the Xllth dynasty (and are, consequently,
among the oldest vegetable remains which have yet
been found in Egypt), are in a remarkably good
state of preservation. They are chiefly interesting
from the fact that they tell us the species of plants
and fruit-trees which were grown in the gardens and
orchards, and the cereals which were cultivated in the
fields, of Egypt prior to the time of Abraham.
The fruit-tree which appears to have been the com-
monest (for several hundred of its fruits and fruit
stones have been found) was the Balanites cegyptiaca,
Del, a small tree, now known in Abyssinia by the
Arabic name of Heglig. At the present day this tree
is widely distributed in North Tropical Africa, from
Senegal to Abyssinia, but it does not now occur in
Egypt in the wild state. Indeed, but very few culti-
vated specimens are now to be found in Egypt, and
these are only to be met with in the gardens of the
larger towns. (See Ascherson, "Garten Flora," 1876,
p. 70; Delile, " Deser. de l'Egypte," Hist. Nat. vol. ii,
p. 223 ; F. Unger, " Sitzs. der K. Akad. der Wissen-
shaften in Wien," Naturw. Classe, xxxviii, Bd. No.
23; "Revue Horticole," 1889, p. 187.) In early
times, however, the tree must have had a far wider
distribution, for stones of its fruits have been fre-
quently found in the ancient tombs at Gizeh, Thebes,
Dakhel, and various other sites in Lower and Upper
Egypt. (See " Zeits. fur Ethnologie," 1877, s. 308 ;
and "Sitzs. der Berl. anthropol. Gesellschaft," 1875, s.
58 ; Fr. Woenig, "Die Pflanzen in Alten yEgypten,"
p. 48.*) At the present day great quantities of the
fruit are consumed by the different tribes of Central
Africa, though, according to Rohlfs (" Quer durch
Africa," Bd. ii, p. 11 ; see also "Botan. Zeitung,"
1874, spatte 617), the fruit has a by no means pleasant
taste. Another fruit esteemed by the Egyptians of
the Xllth dynasty was that of the Dellach palm-tree
(Hyphczne argun, Mart.). Thirty stones of this palm
were discovered at Kahun, and, that they belong to
this species and not to the allied form H. thebaica,
Mart., is clearly shown by their oval shape and by
their possessing a ruminated albumen. This palm is
not now grown in Egypt, and, so far as it at present
known, only inhabits a few valleys of the Nubian
desert within the great bed of the Nile between
Korusko and Abu Hamed. " Its present range," says
Magnus, "is touched \>y the desert road, traversed
from the earliest times, which connects Lower Nubia
with that tract of the Nile Valley in which the ancient
kingdom of Meroe flourished, the relations of which
to Egyptian culture are well known." (" Journal of
Botany," February, 1877.)
The Dom palm, though not uncommon in Egypt
at the present day, appears (if we may judge from
the number of its fruits which have been discovered
at Kahun and elsewhere in Egypt) to have also had
a wider distribution in ancient times. It was called
the mama, and it is often mentioned in the ancient
literature of Egypt. It sometimes grew to a height
of sixty cubits (see "Sallier Papyrus," No. 1, PI.
VIII, 1. 4), and its fruit, called huku or hukt (Lepsius,
" Denkmaler," vol. iv, PL XXIII, e), was much
esteemed. The Mimnsops Schimperi, Hochst, per-
haps the persea of the ancients, was also grown in
Central Egypt in Xllth dynasty times, for both its
fruit and leaves >have been identified among the
Kahun remains. At the present day it is not known
in Egypt, only occurring in Central Africa and in
Abyssinia. (See " Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoe,"
§59.)
Besides the above four kinds of trees, which were
probably far more widely distributed in Egypt in
early times, the remains of a few other species occur
in Mr. Petrie's Kahun collection, which are still to be
* Mr. Greville Chester found two stones, each of which had
been pierced by some species of weevil in a tomb at Thebes.
These he gave me to examine, and ney are now preserved in
the Museum at Kew.
49
and the small yellow chrysanthemum. Among the
fruits, we have represented in Mr. Petrie's collection,
the almond, peach, cherry, currant, grape-vine, mul-
berry, fig, pomegranate, olive, carob, and walnut.
And among the vegetables we have the cabbage,
onion, peas, beans, flat peas, lupins, chick peas, and
coriander. This remarkable " find " of plant-remains
at Hawara well illustrates the passage in Strabo's
" Geographia " relating to the extreme fertility of the
Fayum. " The Arsinoite Nome," he writes, " is the
most remarkable of all, both on account of its scenery
and its fertility and cultivation. For it alone is planted
with large, perfect, and richly productive olive-trees,
and the oil is good when carefully prepared ; those
who are neglectful may, indeed, obtain oil in abund-
ance, but it has a bad smell. In the rest of Egypt
the olive-tree is never seen, except in the gardens of
Alexandria, where under favourable circumstances
they yield olives, but no oil. Vines, corn, podded
plants, and many other products also thrive in this
district in no small abundance."
91. Besides the plant-remains from Hawara, Mr.
Petrie has also discovered a considerable quantity at
Kahun. These, though they date from the remote
period of the Xllth dynasty (and are, consequently,
among the oldest vegetable remains which have yet
been found in Egypt), are in a remarkably good
state of preservation. They are chiefly interesting
from the fact that they tell us the species of plants
and fruit-trees which were grown in the gardens and
orchards, and the cereals which were cultivated in the
fields, of Egypt prior to the time of Abraham.
The fruit-tree which appears to have been the com-
monest (for several hundred of its fruits and fruit
stones have been found) was the Balanites cegyptiaca,
Del, a small tree, now known in Abyssinia by the
Arabic name of Heglig. At the present day this tree
is widely distributed in North Tropical Africa, from
Senegal to Abyssinia, but it does not now occur in
Egypt in the wild state. Indeed, but very few culti-
vated specimens are now to be found in Egypt, and
these are only to be met with in the gardens of the
larger towns. (See Ascherson, "Garten Flora," 1876,
p. 70; Delile, " Deser. de l'Egypte," Hist. Nat. vol. ii,
p. 223 ; F. Unger, " Sitzs. der K. Akad. der Wissen-
shaften in Wien," Naturw. Classe, xxxviii, Bd. No.
23; "Revue Horticole," 1889, p. 187.) In early
times, however, the tree must have had a far wider
distribution, for stones of its fruits have been fre-
quently found in the ancient tombs at Gizeh, Thebes,
Dakhel, and various other sites in Lower and Upper
Egypt. (See " Zeits. fur Ethnologie," 1877, s. 308 ;
and "Sitzs. der Berl. anthropol. Gesellschaft," 1875, s.
58 ; Fr. Woenig, "Die Pflanzen in Alten yEgypten,"
p. 48.*) At the present day great quantities of the
fruit are consumed by the different tribes of Central
Africa, though, according to Rohlfs (" Quer durch
Africa," Bd. ii, p. 11 ; see also "Botan. Zeitung,"
1874, spatte 617), the fruit has a by no means pleasant
taste. Another fruit esteemed by the Egyptians of
the Xllth dynasty was that of the Dellach palm-tree
(Hyphczne argun, Mart.). Thirty stones of this palm
were discovered at Kahun, and, that they belong to
this species and not to the allied form H. thebaica,
Mart., is clearly shown by their oval shape and by
their possessing a ruminated albumen. This palm is
not now grown in Egypt, and, so far as it at present
known, only inhabits a few valleys of the Nubian
desert within the great bed of the Nile between
Korusko and Abu Hamed. " Its present range," says
Magnus, "is touched \>y the desert road, traversed
from the earliest times, which connects Lower Nubia
with that tract of the Nile Valley in which the ancient
kingdom of Meroe flourished, the relations of which
to Egyptian culture are well known." (" Journal of
Botany," February, 1877.)
The Dom palm, though not uncommon in Egypt
at the present day, appears (if we may judge from
the number of its fruits which have been discovered
at Kahun and elsewhere in Egypt) to have also had
a wider distribution in ancient times. It was called
the mama, and it is often mentioned in the ancient
literature of Egypt. It sometimes grew to a height
of sixty cubits (see "Sallier Papyrus," No. 1, PI.
VIII, 1. 4), and its fruit, called huku or hukt (Lepsius,
" Denkmaler," vol. iv, PL XXIII, e), was much
esteemed. The Mimnsops Schimperi, Hochst, per-
haps the persea of the ancients, was also grown in
Central Egypt in Xllth dynasty times, for both its
fruit and leaves >have been identified among the
Kahun remains. At the present day it is not known
in Egypt, only occurring in Central Africa and in
Abyssinia. (See " Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoe,"
§59.)
Besides the above four kinds of trees, which were
probably far more widely distributed in Egypt in
early times, the remains of a few other species occur
in Mr. Petrie's Kahun collection, which are still to be
* Mr. Greville Chester found two stones, each of which had
been pierced by some species of weevil in a tomb at Thebes.
These he gave me to examine, and ney are now preserved in
the Museum at Kew.