6 THE VINEYARDS OF THE WORLD. 



already flourishing in Persia in the reign 

 of King Jensheed, a monarch who is be- 

 lieved to have lived at a very remote date 

 and who is credited with the discovery of 

 fermentation. One of his successors, about 

 the year 3000 B.C., is reported to have 

 undertaken the conquest of the island of 

 Cyprus, because it contained a treasure 

 which a mighty King ought to possess : 

 Wine. 



In Egypt, we have more than mere 

 tradition to rely upon for records of the 

 greatest antiquity. Delchevalerie, in his 

 Illustration Horticole, depicts the scenes of 

 grape-gathering and wine-making which 

 ornament the tomb of Phtah-Hotep, who 

 lived in Memphis, some 4000 years before 

 Christ. Pickering, in his Chronological 

 History of Plants, has reproduced similar 

 glyptic illustrations which he ascribes to 

 the Third Egyptian Dynasty, adding that 



