10 HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF SORGHUM. 



variation of the wild species, the great number of different culti- 

 vated forms, and, with few exceptions, their evident dissimilarity in 

 the two regions argue for the independent origin of the cultivated 

 species on the two continents. This view has gained wide accept- 

 ance in later years. In the discussion of geographic distribution this 

 theory is recognized as the probable one. 



ANTIQUITY. 



There can be no doubt of the great antiquity of the sorghum plant 

 in cultivation. The story of its domestication is lost in the shadows 

 of the past. From Egypt, the cradle of ancient agriculture, comes 

 the earliest known record of its use. A harvest field frescoed on 

 the walls of the tomb of Amenembes in Beni-Hassan, belonging to 

 a dynasty existing at least 2,200 years before Christ, is said by 

 Wonig (188G) to represent a form of sorghum. This crop is still 

 important in the land of the Nile. In the book of the prophet Eze- 

 kiel (600 B. C.) the word " millet " is translated " dochan " (" dochn " 

 or "dokhn") in the original Hebrew text. This word is still used 

 in Arabic for forms of sorghum and also for some of the larger mil- 

 lets, such as pearl millet (Pennisetum spicatum). The root word 

 also means " smoke " in Arabic, and the name may be more correctly 

 applicable to pearl millet, with the seeds sometimes smoke colored, 

 than to sorghum. If it here refers to a grain-bearing sorghum, this 

 crop was well known in the fertile and irrigated valleys of the Tigris 

 and Euphrates more than GOO years before the present era. It is 

 known that a sorghum with white and flattened seeds was cultivated 

 in Arabia as early as the tenth century. A very similar white durra 

 is still abundantly grown in Syria and Mesopotamia, and forms a 

 considerable part of the food of the rjoorer classes. 



Little light can be thrown on the early history of sorghum in India. 

 The Roman historian Pliny records the introduction of sorghum into 

 Italy by caravans from India during the first century. How much 

 longer it had been cultivated in India is not certain, nor can we be 

 entirely sure that the record of the Roman historian is correct. Cara- 

 vans coming from India then, as now, passed through Upper Egypt, 

 and the sorghum supposedly brought from India may possibly have 

 been an Egyptian variety used as food in the last stages of their 

 journey. The great antiquity of sorghum culture in India is. how- 

 ever, assured from other sources. According to Benson and Subba 

 Rao (1006), the plant is mentioned in one tale dating from more than 

 1,900 years ago. It is spoken of by many other writers of early times 

 and bears a Sanskrit name — Yava-nala (reed barley or reed grain). 



Where only year and page are given, see chronological bibliography at end 

 of bulletin for full citation. 

 175 



