IIG BURilA, ITS PEOPLE AXD PRODUCTIOXS. 



The Oriler Gramincoe is of all otliers the most useful to man, furnishing, as it 

 does, the chief sustenances of the liunian race, and rendering civilization, which has 

 ever gone hand in hand with agriculture, possible. The cereal grasses, besides starch, 

 sugar, and mucilage, atford certain azotizcd matters essential to the sustenance of 

 aniirwls, as Jihrine, cassein, and alhumine, together with phosphate of lime, so valuable 

 in the formation of bone in young and growing animals. The principal cereals 

 cultivated in temperate regions are wheat, Triticuin sativum ; rye, Sccale cereale ; 

 barley, Hordeum vulgare and S. distichum ; oats, Arena saiiva; whilst in warm 

 countries lice, Ori/za sativa, and millets, Panicum niiliaceum, P. fnimcntaceum, P. 

 pilosum, and Eleimiie coracana, take their place as the chief staples. Zca Mays, a 

 native of America, is now spread over the whole world, whilst Horghum rulgare, S. 

 sa cell a rat urn, and Penicillaria apicata, are chiefly cultivated by the negro races of 

 Africa. 



The cultivation of food grains dates from the remotest antirpiity ; and when we 

 consider that diti'crent regions of the earth have each their appropriate plants, rice, 

 wheat, barley, maize, rye, and so on, we must suppose that the art of agriculture 

 was spontaneously developed at different spots under the pressure of !Necessity, 

 guided by Intelligence. Ovid, in the Fourth Book of 'Fasti,' describes Ceres as first 

 teachiug the cultivation of corn : 



"Prima Ceres, homine ad meliora alimenta yocato 

 Mutavit glandes utiliore cibo. 

 Ilia jugo tauros eollum pricbore coegit 



Tum primum soles eruta vidit humus." — Fasti IV. 401. 



But the whole passage, though matchless as a poetic picture, is a wide deviation 

 from the old original Myth, as embodied in the Hymn to Uemeter, which records, not 

 the gift to man of corn by Ceres, but the institution of the Eleusinian Mysteries at 

 that time when, in anger with Zeus and all the immortals, she traversed the earth, 

 sorrowing for her lost daughter, the slender-ankled Persephone, till, hiding the 

 tearless eyes of Divinity in mortal guise, she at last entered in humble capacity the 

 house of Celeus : ' 



'XtrtraftEi'tj fe I'—ena Kc\ait'c</)e'i Kpovtwl't 

 vofT(pta6e7aa Oclcp a'^opijr Kai fiuKpou OXv^ittoi' 

 (t'^eT* eV ai'OjjicTTtci' TroXin^ Ka) Trtoim i'pya 

 6rCo9 a^ia\cvt>ov(7a voXvi' ypot'oi/ oi'Cc t/v at'Cjitcv 

 elaopoivv '^/('yuwffKe, fiaOv^wvu^v re ''^vvaiKwi' 

 TTjii'v "/' ore C)j Kc\eo?"o f:tuXt)poi'o'i iketo cd.'^ia 

 a? tot' 'EXei'ffn'o? Ovoetrfftj^ Kotpitvos jyeV. 



''' Hymn to Demeter, 1. 91." 



Here the wife of Keleos, the fair girdled Metanira, proffers her by way of welcome 

 a cup of wine, which the sorrowful Goddess rejects, but asks in its stead for a draught 

 of ivater, miiif/Ied with Jluur and Penny royal [Mentha pulcyium), which was at once 

 given to licr : 



T/^ (e C67ra^ Mcrai/eipa ctcov ^leXnyreo? oh'ov 

 7r\jj(ra(T ?y c' (h'ei'evff' ov '^[fip Oc^iijov oi i'cpafTKCiy 

 TTtveiu oii'ov epvOpov ui^tvye c* up u\(pt Kui vcicp 

 couvai fti^aaaf Triefieu "/Xij^wi'i Tfpc/i'ij. 



Hymn to Demeter, 1. 20G.' 



1 See also Mytholotry of the Aryan Nations, by Ruv. G. "W Cox. 



" Then indeed, in dud-^'eon vritll Kroniou, kin^' of the clouds, did she withdraw herself from the 

 assembiy of the Gods, and from higli Olympos, and went forth amont; the cities and fruitful husbandries 

 of men for a long space, disguising her beauty, so that none that looked upon her knew her (for a goddess) 

 either of men or deep-girdled women, till it came to pass she reached the house of the prudent Keleos, 

 who in those days was a leading chief in fragrant Eleusis. 



^ To her Metanira proffers a brimming cup of honey-sweet wine ; but she declines it, saying it was 

 not meet for her to quaff the red wine, but begs (in its plai'e) may be given her a draugfit of water 

 mixed with meal and (flavoured with the herb) " penny royal." 



