NOTICES OF BOOKS AXD MEMOIES. 59 



a picturesque description of a Xelwnhiiini thicket at Alexandi-ia, 

 wiiich in liis time was often the object of boat excursions on the 

 part of the inhabitants who hked to take breakfast under the shadow 

 of the large leaves. The same author describes in a figurative way 

 the manifold uses of these leaves (compared by Theophrastus to a 

 Thessalian hat) as diinking vessels, &c. 



It has already been mentioned that this plant, which in 

 the time of the Koman Empire was so abundant in Egypt, has 

 now completely vanished. As E. Meyer conjectures, it was very 

 probably generally planted, since it is nowhere indigenous in 

 Africa. 



Balanites aegyptiaca, Del., Arabic Hedjlidj, a moderately large 

 tree or shrub, widely distributed in North Tropical Africa fi-om 

 Senegal to Abyssinia, of the family of Olacacece, is planted very 

 rarely in Egypt now, and only single specimens are to be met with 

 in the gardens of the larger towns. Delile''' knew of only one tree in 

 Cairo and a few shrubs near Siut ; Ungerf saw only one tree also 

 in Siut, and Ascherson| a tree in the Khedive's garden at Esneh. 

 The latter has met with the plant in greater numbers in the G-reat 

 Oasis (Chargeh), wild, but, however, only shrub-like. In the 

 region of Qo9er, according to Klunzinger, § isolated trees of 

 Balanites are to be found, and probably quite wild. In ancient 

 Egypt this tree at any rate possessed a wider distribution, since 

 the kernel of its fruit has been found repeatedly in tombs. They 

 are be found in the Florentine Museum (besides the Passalacqua 

 collection), and were brought back by the expedition of Kohlfs from 

 a stone tomb in the oasis Dachel,|| where the tree was not met 

 with. The yellow stone-fruit is extensively eaten in Central 

 Africa, although European travellers,^ e. g., Kohlfs, do not find the 

 taste agreeable. It has before matmity a sour taste ; it afterwards 

 becomes sweet with a peculiar bitter medicinal taste. The 

 stone varies somewhat in its shape. Among the specimens of the 

 Passalacqua collection there are some shorter than others and 

 some more slender ; most are punctured by a small weevil. 



The cultivation of the Vine was extensively carried on by the 

 Egyptians. The representations of vine-leaves and grape- 

 gathering on the monuments are numerous''' '■' in which the drawing 

 of the leaves! + at all events leaves nothing to be desired. As 

 numerous are the accounts of the old writers about the cultivation 



* L. c, p. 228, 224. 



f L. c, xxxviii. 23, p. 126. 



+ ' Garten Flora,' 1870, p. 70. [The statement of the same ( Verhandl. der 

 anthropol. Ges. Berlin, 1875, p, 58) that Balanites is plentifully cultivated in 

 Upper Figypt is incorrect. — A. and il/.] 



§ • Bilder aus Oberagypten der Wuste, und dem Rothen Meere. Stuttgart, 

 1877, p. 235. 



II ' Sitszungsberichte der Berl. anthropol. Gesellschaft,' 1875, p. 58. 



% * Quer durch Africa,' Bd. ii., p. 11. 



** ' linger I. c.,' xxxviii. 23, Fig. 39, 40 and 42, Compare also Fig. 38. 



+f Compare, e. g., Fig. 40. 



