60 



THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI. 



four thousand persons being engaged in selling ve- 

 getables at Alexandria when that place was taken 

 by Amer, and the habits of the people at the pre- 

 sent day, show how partial they always w^ere to 

 their use. The same may be remarked of the 

 Italians ; and it is a curious fact, that several 

 Roman families of note received their names from 

 the cultivation of certain pulse, t 



* Pliny says, "All kinds of pulse appeal* above the ground, in Egypt, 

 on the third day." xviii. 7. 



f As the Lentuli, Fabii, Pisones. 



