VEGETABLE LIFE IN EGYPT. 



153 



element of the arborescent vegetation. But you also meet there with 

 the banana, the gum-tree, the orange, the jujube, the mulberry, the 

 sycamore, and other tall trees, which were planted by command of 

 Mehemet Ali, and have perfectly succeeded. The green banks of the 

 river are diversified by coppices of acacias and tamarisks. In the 



1. Doum-Palm. 



VEGETABLE LIFE is THE DESERT. 



2. Date-Palm. 3. Alfa (Stipa tenacissi* 



Fayoum district bloom impervious hedges of cactus, and plantations 

 of roses for the production of rosewater. Cereals yield four crops 

 a-year ; flax, hemp, indigo, cotton, the sugar-cane, prosper admirably ; 

 and under a climate where ice, snow, and hail are unknown, not a 

 month but has its burden of flowers and fruits. Abundant crops of 

 vegetables are raised, even as in those days when the Israelites 



