288 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



spikelets of which could be detached from the brittle 

 rachis by the slightest shake. I could hardly believe that 

 it was really the plant for which I was looking. The 

 development of the head and grains was so perfect so 

 nearly like the forms produced under cultivation at the 

 present day that I could scarcely believe that this was 

 their wild prototype, though, to be ^^^re, if it had not 

 been so well developed, primitive man would not have 

 noticed it, or at least would not have appreciated the im- 

 portance of its cultivation to such an extent as he did. 



" I could not at that time remain longer at Rosh Pinar, 

 and so left the next day for the north. On the way from 

 Eosh Pinar to Rasheyya (three days on horseback), I 

 looked for wild wheat, but could not find any. At 

 Rasheyya, too, I spent a great deal of time botanizing 

 in the vineyards in the hope of finding the Triticum there, 

 but also without success. But when I began to extend 

 my search to uncultivated lands, along the edges of roads 

 and in the crevices of rocks, I found a few stools of 

 the wild Triticum. Later I came across it in great abun- 

 dance, and the most astonishing thing about it was the 

 large number of forms it displayed. The sample speci- 

 men of Rosh Pinar, however, was the finest one. This 

 plant had made a very vigorous growth and bore heads of 

 which the stiif, rugose awns (beards) were nearly or quite 

 6 inches long. At the foot of Mount Hermon the stems 

 were longer but fewer. Instead of being 2 feet high, as 

 at Rosh Pinar, this wild wheat at Rasheyya was more than 

 40 inches high. 



" I ascended Mount Hermon and went around to the 

 other side. I intend at some future time to describe this 

 trip, as its botanical and geological results may interest the 

 scientific world; but here I shall speak only of the Tri- 

 ticum. In descendine: from the summit of Mount Hermon 



