238 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



BARLEY. 



THIS well known grain derives its Hebrew name shoreh, from 

 the long hairy beard which grows upon its ear. 



In Palestine, the barley was sown in the month of October, and 

 reaped in the end of March, just after the passover. In Egypt, at 

 the time of the seventh plague (Exod. ix. 13), which happened a 

 few days before the passover, the barley was in the green ear, from 

 which it seems that the harvest was later there than in the land of 

 Canaan. 



In 1 Kings iv, 28, barley is spoken of as the usual food for horses,, 

 and so it still continue^ to be in Syria. 



Pliny states barley to have been the most ancient aliment of 

 mankind, and it is evident from several passages of scripture, that 

 it was used for the making of bread among the Jewish people. See 

 2 Sam. xvii. 28 ; 2 Kings iv. 22 ; 2 Chron. ii. 15 ; John vi. 810,, 

 &c. 



RYE. 



THIS species of corn is called cesmeth, probably from its longhair 

 or beard. Dr. Shaw supposes that rice is the grain intended by 

 the original. On the other hand, Hasselquist states that the Egyp- 

 tians learned the cultivation ' of rice under the Caliphs ; and Park- 

 hurst has shown that the traveller has misunderstood the statement 

 of the Roman naturalist. In Ezek. iv. 9, the Hebrew word is r.en.- 

 dered^/c/ies, a kind of tare. 



MILLET. 



THE Hebrew name of this grain is dechen, from a root which sig- 

 nifies to thrust forth, impel, &c. ; and it is so called, perhaps, from 

 its thrusting forth such a quantity of grains, above every other 

 known plant. Thus, in Latin it is called milium, as if one stalk 

 bore a thousand grains. It is no doubt the same kind of grain as is 

 now called in the East durra, which is a kind of millet, and when 

 made into bad bread, with camel's milk, oil, butter, or grease, is al- 

 most the only food which is eaten by the common people in Ara- 

 bia Felix. Niebuhr found it so disagreeable, he states, that he 

 would willingly have preferred to it plain barley-bread. This re~ 

 mark tends to illustrate Ezekiel iv. 9, 



