74 CUCUMBER. 



There is another variety of cucumber, growing only around 

 Cairo after the inundation of the Nile, which is highly praised 

 by Hasselquist, called the cucumis chate, (Linn.) It resembles 

 in substance the melon, and is wholesome and delicious and 

 very much in request among the natives. The fruit is green and 

 oblong and is called by some &quot; abdellarius,&quot; an Arabic word, sig 

 nifying the &quot;slave of sweetness.&quot; Egypt has been noted for the 

 varieties of this kind of plant, some of which are eaten unripe 

 as well as ripe, much as our apples are eaten ; and no doubt, 

 as this fruit was first mentioned among those longed for by the 

 Israelites, they must have been common in the country they 

 had left. They are described as growing with great rapidity, 

 so much so that &quot;in twenty-four hours they will actually gain 

 as many inches of volume.&quot; 



