368 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XV. 



Flowers were presented in different ways ; either 

 loosely, tied together by the stalks *, or in care- 

 fully-formed bouquets, without any other gifts. 

 Sometimes those of a partictdar kind were offered 

 alone ; the most esteemed being the lotus, pa- 

 pyrus, convolvulus, and other favourite produc- 

 tions of the garden : and sometimes a bouquet of 

 peculiar form was presented t, or two smaller ones 

 carried in each of the donor's hands, t 



Chaplets and wreaths of flowers were also laid 

 upon the altars, and offered to the Deities, whose 

 statues were frequently crowned \i^ith them. Those 

 which were most grateful or useful to man were 

 chosen as the most acceptable to the Gods ; and 

 the same feeling guided them in their selection of 

 herbs and roots destined for the altar. It was 

 probably the utility, rather than the flavour, that 

 induced them to show so marked a preference for 

 the onion, the Raphanus^t and cucurbitaceous 

 plants, which so generally found a place amongst 

 the offerings. Their frequent use is equally shown 

 by the authority of the Bible ll, of Herodotus^, 

 and of the sculptures, where they appear as the 

 representatives of the vegetables of the country. 

 We are thus enabled to account for the great im- 

 portance attached to onions, which, being for- 

 bidden to the priests, and those initiated in the 



* Vidf Woodcut, No. 478. f Vide Woodcut, No. 478. fig. 12. 



J Vide Woodcut, No. 478. fig. 1.'3. 



§ Eaten by tlicwortnien who built the pyramids. Jldt- Vol. II. p. .370. 

 [| Numb. xi. 5. The uamc of "melons" is Abtakhim, OTTD^N' 



the Bateekh, ;^j.hJ, or water melon of modern Egy|)t. 

 I .. . 



1 Herodot. ii. 125. 



