ENGLISH PLEASURE GARDENS 



Plan of 

 garden at 



Amarna. 



upon part of the tomb of Tel-el-Amarna, formerly ex- 

 hibited at the British Museum. Riat, in " L'Art des 

 Jardins," says of this : " The plantation, as was usually 

 the case, lay near the Nile to facilitate its irrigation, and 

 was divided by walls into sections, each devoted to a 

 special culture. In the centre lies a rectangular basin 

 occupied by fish and ducks and tufted with lotuses. 

 A fringe of trees dates, sycamores, and palms 

 veils the boundary walls of the enclosure, containing 

 within many other species, such as figs, pomegranates, 

 willows, acacias, and tamarisks. A large door flanked 

 by two smaller ones, as was common, formed the main 



entrance. Sev- 

 eral kiosks, near 

 the basins or 

 under the shade, 

 were inviting for 

 a peaceful siesta." 

 Dating from 



about 1500 B.C. various mural paintings in tempera 

 show garden scenes where, beside the fish-ponds or 

 under the palm trees and sycamores, guests are being 

 entertained by musicians playing on the flute and 

 by dancing girls. One especially interesting example, 

 preserved at the British Museum, shows a gentle- 

 man with two companions in a boat like a gondola 

 towed by slaves along an oblong-shaped pond, over- 



