SECTION IV. 

 ONIONS, AND SIMILAR PLANTS. 



ONIONS. 



' WHOEVER has tasted onions in Egypt/ says Hasselquist, ' must 

 allow, that none can be had better, in any part of the world ; here 

 they are sweet, in other countries; they are nauseous and strong ; 

 here they are soft whereas in the North, and other parts, they are 

 hard, and the coats so compact, that they are hard of digestion. 

 Hence they cannot, in any place, be eaten with less prejudice, and 

 more satisfaction, than in Egypt. They eat them roasted, cut into 

 four pieces, with some bits of roasted meat, and with this dish they 

 are so delighted, that I have heard them wish they might enjoy it 

 in Paradise. They likewise make a soup of them, cutting the on- 

 ions in small pieces ; this is one of the best dishes I ever ate.' 



As further illustrative of the passage above referred to, we may 

 observe, that among the vegetables used by the Egyptians for food, 

 melons, cucumbers, and onions, are the most common. Concern- 

 ing the last, he says, ' they are sweeter than in any other place in 

 the world ;' and in the streets of Cairo, they sell them ready prepar- 

 ed for eating. 



GARLICK. 



THIS word occurs only in one passage of scripture (Numb. xi. 5), 

 where it is joined with leeks and onions, and would, therefore, seem 

 to be some plant of a similar kind. 



LEEKS. 



THE Hebrew word which is translated, 'leek,' in Numb. xi. 5, is. 

 as we have already noticed, a general term for herbage or grass, 

 and has been so translated in several passages of our Bible. Re- 

 ferring to 1 Kings xviii. 5, Harmer says, It can hardly be allowed 

 to mean leeks, because it is there used to express the food of horses 

 and mules, but may very well stand for such vegetables as grew 

 promiscuously with grass, which the succory or endive does, and 

 this, being of a very cool nature, and much used in Egypt, he 

 takes to be the herbage intended by the original text. 

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