DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0185
AND LOWER EGYPT. 169
ful cultivation. Among these plants I was struck
with one. which I have ne> er seen since in any
part of Egypt. It appears to have been brought
from some country farther to the south; and is
called fulfill beiddi, that is, native pepper. It is in
fact spicy, and its stalks, eaten raw, or boiled with
their victuals, serve as seasoning. When I saw it
there were neither flowers nor fruit upon it, so
that I cannot determine to what genus it belongs;
though certainly it has no affinity to that of the
peppers. No botanist has mentioned it; and by
those to whom I have shewn the drawing, it was
not known. We may consider it therefore as a
plant new to us. (See a representation of it,
PI. XXII. fig. 1.) Its numerous stalks, which
rise only about two feet in height, are green, and
the summits are yellow.
On one side of the monastery were some ruins,
which I was told were the remains of the ancient
edifice. There is still to be seen among them a
very deep well, with steps to descend into it. The
water in it is as brackish as that of the well which
supplies the present convent. Before the gate
were some stones, which the monks had collected
for the construction of some new cells, and I ob-
served, that almost all of them were nothing but
natron grown very hard. In the environs much
3 common
ful cultivation. Among these plants I was struck
with one. which I have ne> er seen since in any
part of Egypt. It appears to have been brought
from some country farther to the south; and is
called fulfill beiddi, that is, native pepper. It is in
fact spicy, and its stalks, eaten raw, or boiled with
their victuals, serve as seasoning. When I saw it
there were neither flowers nor fruit upon it, so
that I cannot determine to what genus it belongs;
though certainly it has no affinity to that of the
peppers. No botanist has mentioned it; and by
those to whom I have shewn the drawing, it was
not known. We may consider it therefore as a
plant new to us. (See a representation of it,
PI. XXII. fig. 1.) Its numerous stalks, which
rise only about two feet in height, are green, and
the summits are yellow.
On one side of the monastery were some ruins,
which I was told were the remains of the ancient
edifice. There is still to be seen among them a
very deep well, with steps to descend into it. The
water in it is as brackish as that of the well which
supplies the present convent. Before the gate
were some stones, which the monks had collected
for the construction of some new cells, and I ob-
served, that almost all of them were nothing but
natron grown very hard. In the environs much
3 common