Wilkinson, John Gardner: Topographie of Thebes, and general view of Egypt: being a short account of the principal objects worthy of notice in the valley of the Nile, to the second cataracte and Wadi Samneh, with the Fyoom, Oases and eastern desert, from Sooez to Bertenice (London, 1835)

Chap. V.] VEGETABLE OILS. 219

of linen, in which the Egyptians excelled every
other nation of antiquity. At Beni-Hassan, the
cultivation of this herb, and the different purposes
to which it was applied, are represented in the
paintings of one of the grottoes ; and the fine linen
of Egypt is frequently mentioned in the Bible,*
and in the works of profane writers.

The variety of their vegetable oils has also been
noticed by ancient authors, of which the olive,
ricinus, flax, sesamum, selgam (coleseed), seemga,
lettuce, and others mentioned by Pliny,"f" are the
most remarkable.

The sesamum, or simsiin, is still much culti-
vated in Egypt, and produces the seerig, which is
reckoned the best lamp oil in the country. It is
also used in the kitchen, but is considered of
inferior flavor to that extracted from the lettuce,
though of greater value. The residue of the
pressed seed, after the oil is extracted, is eaten
by the modern peasants and Qahirenes, and sold
under the name of Qoosbeh^j; and the unbruised

* Solomon purchased it from Egypt, as well as horses and
chariots,—1 Kings x. 28. Much cotton cloth was also manu-
factured by them. This plant is the byssus of Herodotus, ii. 86 ;
the gossypium of Pliny, xix. c. I. Isaiah, xix. 9, mentions the
workers " in fine flax and .. . net works; " and Ezekiel, xxvii. 1,
" fine linen, with broidered work from Egypt." The mummy-
cloth is linen in most cases.

t Lib. xv. c. 7.

I That called taheeneh is only bruised in the mill, and con-
tains its oil.