GARDENS OF VARIOUS NATIONS. 563 



not unfrequently, there were also large ponds on which the Egyptians 

 amused themselves by being rowed about in pleasure boats, or with 

 their favourite pastime, by spearing the fish with which these pieces of 

 water were stocked. The ancient Egyptians used to lay out a part of 

 their gardens in walks shaded by trees planted in rows. The roots 

 of these trees were kept moist by the base of their stems being 

 banked round with earth, and thus the water was retained, as the 

 mound was made lower in the centre than at the circumference. 

 Whether the trees were clipped into forms or were allowed to grow 

 naturally, it is impossible to say with any certainty ; for what we know 

 about the gardens of this people of antiquity is mostly learnt from the 

 sculptures or paintings of Thebes. We certainly there find trees repre- 

 sented as growing in a free and natural manner, although against this, 

 again, trees are also depicted in very peculiar forms, leading one to 

 suppose that the Egyptians knew the art of " topiaris " long before 

 the Romans. 



The different parts of their large gardens were severally allotted 

 to the vineyard, orchard, kitchen and flower-garden. In Rosellini's 

 valuable work on the "Monuments of Egypt and of Nubia" is a very 

 interesting representation of an ancient Egyptian garden which must 

 have existed nearly 1 500 years before the Christian era, as it is said 

 to have belonged to a military chief from whose tomb at Thebes it is 

 copied in the reign of Pharaoh Amenof II., the sixth king of the 

 eighteenth dynasty. Doubtless the plan of this garden may be taken 

 as an ideal of what were all the other large ones of that nation. Its 

 form is a large square, which is enclosed on all sides by jagged walls. 

 A river or canal flows on the right side ; and this is shaded by an 

 avenue of trees. In the middle of this is a road which leads to the 

 principal entrance, beyond which is an outer gate, or rather a passage, 

 flanked with trees. Beyond this again is a little gate leading to the 

 vineyard which occupies the centre of the garden. Within the quad- 

 rangle are trees, such as date palms and sycamores, planted in regular 

 alternation, this being the custom in Egypt. Leading to and from this 

 vineyard are other small alleys, which are more especially intended 



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