CHAP. XI. 



MODE OF CUTTING WHEAT. 



iiS 



noreg *, or corn drag, of modern Egypt, which 

 the Hebrew name " moreg " so closely resembles ; 

 and the same word is applied to the " threshing 

 instruments " of Oman, t The Jews, like the 

 Greeks t, bound up the wheat, when cut, into 

 sheaves §; but this was not the usual custom of 

 the Egyptians, who were generally contented to 



2 3 4 



No. 433. Wheat bound in sheaves. TItebcs. 



Fig. 1. reaping. 2. carrying the ears. 3. binding them in sheaves put up at fig. 4. 



put it into baskets or rope nets, and to carry it 

 loose to the threshing floor. The same was done by 

 the Romans ; and they either cut down the corn to 

 the roots, or culled the ears with a toothed sickle, 

 gathering the straw afterwards ||, or burning it for 

 manure.^ 



The modern Egyptians cut the wheat close 

 to the ground, — barley and doora being plucked 

 up by the roots, — and having bound it in sheaves, 

 carry it to a level and cleanly swept area near the 

 field, in the centre of which they collect it in a 



* Vide Vignette, Vol. II. p. 196. 

 -}■ In 1 Chron. xxi. 23. niorcgini. 

 t Horn. II. xviii. 550. 



§ This ancient custom is mentioned in Genesis xxxvii. 7. Vide 

 Levit. xxiii. 10. Dent. xxiv. 19. &.c. 



II Colum. ii. 21. H Virg. (icorg. i. S-i. 



