DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0253
Chap. V.] HARVEST.—ANOTHER GRAIN. 215
It was then collected on a level spot in the vicinity
of the field, and several asses, or oxen,* trod out the
grain, being driven to and fro over every part of the
heap, which men took care constantly to turn with
large forks. Similar to this process was the tritura
of the Latins ; and in some instances the Egyptians
employed other animals for the same purpose. For
winnowing, they had two short-handled shovels,
and the grain, amassed in a lofty mound, was then
carried in leather bushels, f and housed in a vaulted
granary,^: or in its open court; each measure, as it
was called by the teller, being noted down by a
scribe who overlooked its removal.
Another species of grain, with a single round
head, was plucked up by the roots, but formed in
the Thebaid (at least) § a much smaller proportion
of the cultivated produce of the country. Its
height far exceeds the wheat, near which they
represent it growing, and its general appearance
* Unmuzzled, as with the Jews. I have seen them employed
in Egypt for the same purpose, but they generally use the noreq,
a machine drawn by two oxen, consisting of a frame supported on
three axles, each traversing three or four circular plates of iron
disposed at intervals (but not opposite those of the next axle),
which serve as wheels, while they separate the grain and cut the
straw afterwards set apart as provender for cattle.
t Vide the sculptures of Thebes.
{ Sometimes this was divided into several circular cells, filled
from the top, to which a ladder or staircase was attached; the
grain, when wanted, being taken out from a small door at their
base.
§ 1 have not met with it represented elsewhere, but this may
be owing to the few tombs in other parts of Egypt.
It was then collected on a level spot in the vicinity
of the field, and several asses, or oxen,* trod out the
grain, being driven to and fro over every part of the
heap, which men took care constantly to turn with
large forks. Similar to this process was the tritura
of the Latins ; and in some instances the Egyptians
employed other animals for the same purpose. For
winnowing, they had two short-handled shovels,
and the grain, amassed in a lofty mound, was then
carried in leather bushels, f and housed in a vaulted
granary,^: or in its open court; each measure, as it
was called by the teller, being noted down by a
scribe who overlooked its removal.
Another species of grain, with a single round
head, was plucked up by the roots, but formed in
the Thebaid (at least) § a much smaller proportion
of the cultivated produce of the country. Its
height far exceeds the wheat, near which they
represent it growing, and its general appearance
* Unmuzzled, as with the Jews. I have seen them employed
in Egypt for the same purpose, but they generally use the noreq,
a machine drawn by two oxen, consisting of a frame supported on
three axles, each traversing three or four circular plates of iron
disposed at intervals (but not opposite those of the next axle),
which serve as wheels, while they separate the grain and cut the
straw afterwards set apart as provender for cattle.
t Vide the sculptures of Thebes.
{ Sometimes this was divided into several circular cells, filled
from the top, to which a ladder or staircase was attached; the
grain, when wanted, being taken out from a small door at their
base.
§ 1 have not met with it represented elsewhere, but this may
be owing to the few tombs in other parts of Egypt.