818 Prof. Schow ofi the supposed changes hi the 



The animals also seem to be the same. They had then, as 

 now, the Crocodile, Ichneummi, Ibis ; and that the Hippopota- 

 mtis does not now occur there, but only in Abyssinia, seems to 

 be no proof of a changed climate. 



There are, however, some passages in the ancients which 

 seem to prove a change of temperature, and therefore deserve 

 a closer inquiry. 



Herodotus says, that formerly the Egyptians had no wine in 

 their country ; they made wine from barley, from which it might 

 perhaps be inferred, that at that time the climate was too warm 

 for the vine ; but it is not very clear from that passage, 

 whether Herodotus really meant all Egyptians, or only such 

 as cultivated corn. But he speaks in another passage about 

 a great consumption of wine. Besides, Theophrastus speaks 

 of .vines growing near Elephantina, and Strabo of wine from 

 the Lacus Mareotis. Athenaeus speaks of wine from the same 

 place, or Alexandria, which he says is excellent, and is cul- 

 tivated in great quantities in that country, adding, that vines 

 grow on the banks of the Nile, and even mentions wine from 

 Thebes. 



Lastly, among the representations of the grotto at Ely theia 

 a wine harvest is seen. It could not be inferred from the 

 passages of Athenaeus and Theophrastus, that the climate had 

 been colder, because the vine grew as far to the south as upper 

 Egypt ; for it is pretty evident from them that the vine was 

 rare. Theophrastus speaks only of the plant but not of wine ; 

 and Athenaeus, who was an Egyptian, makes an apology even 

 in this very passage, because he praises his native country and 

 its produce. Strabo says that the date-tree in Egypt, near the 

 Delta and Alexandria, is sterile, or bears no eatable fruit, while 

 the palms of Thebes are the best of all. In our times the date- 

 tree bears eatable fruits in lower Egypt also. But this passage 

 is not altogether clear; and all the other authors speak of the 

 date-tree being frequent throughout Egypt, which would hard- 

 ly have been the case if the tree did not bear any or not eat- 

 able, fruit. It might be concluded that the climate of Egypt 

 had been warmer, since the Nelumbium speciosum is not now 

 found in the Nile, although the plant described by Theophrastus, 

 Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, Diodorus Siculus, Athenaeus, and 



