Ohfervaiions on the Lotus of Egyft. 0,6^ 



heard the peafants call them dochn el lacheivin, that is to 

 fay, millet of bachenin : but thev told me that they were of 

 verv little ufe. 'J he roots and feeds of the nymph^a lotus and 

 thofe of the ii)7tiphrea c^rulea are iiniilar. It is natural, 

 then, to believe that the Egyptians not only made garlands 

 of the blue lotus, but that they ufed it for food like the 

 nymphcca lotus. This is proved by the Egyptian fcjlpturcsi, 

 fince the blue nvmphrea is often reprefented among the offer- 

 inos of fruits in the grottos of Said, the paintmgs of which 

 exhibit fcenes of domcftic life. 



Of the two kinds of nyaiphsea, the Egyptians at prefent 

 prefer that with blue fiowers, which is often reprefented in 

 the temples. Ebn il Bitar, an Arabian phyfician, who has 

 written a treatifc on plants, quoted by Profper Alpinus *j di^ 

 ftinguifhes two kinds of bacbenin or nympha-a, the bed of 

 which is called that of the Arabs. I o'bferved that the pea- 

 fants of the Delta gave the name of bachenin of the Arabs 

 to the nymphaa ccerulea, and that they fet lefs value on the 

 nymph ce a lotus. 



As the antients have made very little mention of the blue 

 lotus, one might believe that it was brought to Egypt from 

 the Eaft Indiel; along with the rice, fince it grows abundantly 

 in the rice-fields of die Delta ; but the paintings in the tem- 

 ples evidently prove that this plant is as antient in Egypt as 

 the nymphi^a lotus. 



It is certain that the nympha:a carulea exlfts in India. In 

 the Horius Malabaricus \\. is called citanibel\. Rumphius 

 confiders it as a variety with blue flowers of the nympheca. 

 totusX- This nymphaea grows alfo at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and feems to be fufficiently dilVmguifhed by the fol- 

 lowing phrafe of Breyn : iiyraphaa Jiore ca:ruleo edoratijjlmo 

 Capitis Bona Spei §. A figure of it has been given by An- 

 drews j|. 



* Profperi Alpini Reram Kgypt, lib. iii. cap. lO. 



f Tom. ii. p. 53. tab. 27. 



X Hcr'nar. Amboin. torn. vi. p. 72» 



§ Prodrom. ii. 26. 



II BotanilU I'i.cpofKory, 197. 



S 4 XLVI. Me- 



