LEEKS. 



LlLIACE^E. Allium Porrum. 



EEKS are found as natives of all the countries border 

 ing on the Mediterranean, especially in Egypt, where 

 the cultivators of the soil consider them a pleasant 

 article of food. Formerly they were sacred ; but it fre 

 quently happens that articles offered in sacrifices, and 

 considered sacred in that sense, were nevertheless allowed 

 for food. The inhabitants of some districts of a country con 

 sidered certain articles sacred which were not thus viewed by 

 others. Hence no objection to the credibility of the account 

 that the Israelites ate leeks can be found in the fact that they 

 were held to be sacred in Egypt. Onions were adored at Pelu- 

 sium, but were not considered equally holy at other places. 

 This might have been the case with leeks. 



The only passage in which this plant is mentioned is in 

 Num. xi. 5, where it is associated with garlic and onions. 



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