CUCUMBER. 



(Common cucumber.) 

 CUCURBITACE./E. Cucumis sativis. 



is no plant known more widely than this; and pro- 

 bably the same kind, or a variety, was the plant or 

 fruit referred to by the murmuring Israelites: &quot;We 

 remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely: 

 the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the 

 onions, and the garlic.&quot; (Numb. xi. 5.) The melons and cucum 

 bers associated in the speech of the people are at the present 

 day planted together in the same fields in various parts both 

 of Egypt and of Palestine ; and, as there are no fences sur 

 rounding the fields to keep off either cattle or thieves, the little 

 hut or lodge for the guard or watch is still used as anciently. 

 The appropriateness of the figure of the prophet often occurs to 

 the traveller as he sees in the midst of a large field of cucum 

 bers a solitary little hut, scarcely large enough to shield the 

 watchman from the sun. There for hours the gardener sits 

 alone, generally without any thing to amuse or instruct, and 

 unwilling to sleep in the hut or walk in the rays of the scorch 

 ing sun; and, as no trees or shrubs are allowed upon the field, 

 the little ragged hut has a very desolate appearance as seen 

 above the low and trailing fruit. &quot; The daughter of Zion is 

 left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of 

 cucumbers, as a besieged city.&quot; 



