MELON. 



CUCURBITACE^. Cucumis Mclo. 



)T is surprising how great a variety of plants of this class 

 exist at present in Egypt. It is probable, however, that 

 a number of these varieties were unknown during the 

 residence of the Israelites in that land. The only passage 

 where the word &quot;melon&quot; occurs in our version is that 

 wherein their dissatisfaction is spoken of, and their weeping for 

 the pleasant fruits they had left behind them. Nothing would 

 have been more likely to be remembered than the melon; for 

 this pleasant, cooling fruit was singularly adapted to quench 

 the thirst which they suffered in the fatiguing journeys to which 

 they were subject during the forty years life in the desert. 

 The melon named above seems to be nearest in kind to those 

 referred to in Num. xi. 5, and does not materially differ either 

 in size, taste, or shape from the melon known in many of our 

 Southern States. 



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