50 ON TtiE CULTURE 



I cannot tell of what climate the cucumber is a na:* 

 tive, but I imagine it is a native both of Afia and 

 Africa, It is above three thoufand years fmce men- 

 tion was firfl made of it ; for in the eleventh chapter 

 of the Fourth Book of MofeSy called Numbers, it is 

 thus recorded : *' And the mixt multitude that was 

 among them fell adufting, and the children of Ifra/sl 

 alfo wept again, and faid. Who fliall give us fiefh to 

 eat ? We remember the fifh which we did eat in 

 Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and 

 the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." From 

 this we may infer that the cucumber in thofe days 

 grew plentifully in Egypt : It is, therefore, not im- 

 probable but Egypt may be its native country. 



Egypt lies between the 20th and 3 2d degree of 

 north latitude, and between the 28th and 36th degree 

 of eafl longitude ; and, with regard to the tempera- 

 ture of the weather in it, in April and May the air i& 

 hot and often infedious, and the inhabitants are al- 

 mofl blinded with drifts of fand. Thofe evils are 

 remedied by the rifmg and overflowing of the Nile. 



" Whoever is in the lead acquainted with litera- 

 ture knows that the vafl fertility of Egypt is owing to 

 the annual inundation of the Nik, occafioned by the 

 rains which fall during May, June, and July, in 

 AbyiTmia, and the neighbouring countries of Africa. 

 According to Mr. Volney, the commencement of the 

 inundation is not entirely afcertained, though the 

 Copts fix it at the 19th of June. At the height of 

 its flood in the lower Egypt nothing is to be feen in 

 the plains but the tops of foreft and fruit treeSj their 



towns 



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