80 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI. 



scendants of the trees planted in olden times near 

 the edge of the cultivated land. Their value is 

 understood ; the sale of sont pods is a revenue to the 

 owner without the trouble of cultivation ; the trees 

 are found by a son as they were left by his father ; 

 but no trouble is taken to add to their number, 

 and this careless indifference about their "-rowth 

 is confirmed by the unwise system of a govern- 

 ment which taxes every tree, and makes it a cause 

 of vexation to its possessor. 



But though many are gone, it is interesting to 

 see these few remnants of ancient groves, which 

 have continued to occupy the same spots, perhaps, 

 from the earliest times. The grove of Acanthus, 

 alluded to by Strabo, still exists above Memphis, 

 at the base of the low Libyan hills : in going from 

 the Nile to Abydus, you ride through the grove of 

 Acacia, once .sacred to Apollo, and see the rising 

 Nile traversing it by a canal similar to that which 

 conveyed the water thither when the geographer 

 visited that city, even then reduced to the condi- 

 tion of a small village : and groves of the same tree 

 may here and there be traced in other parts of the 

 Thebaid, from which it obtained the name of the 

 Thebaic thorn. 



Above the cataracts, the So}if grows in pro- 

 fusion upon the banks of the Nile, where it is 

 used for charcoal sent to Cairo for sale by the 

 })oor Nubians ; and its place is supplied in the de- 

 sert by the Sealeh and other of the Mimosa tribe, 

 which are indigenous to the soil. 



Many flowers and shrubs were grown in pots 

 or wooden boxes in the gardens, or the walks near 



