34° TRAVELS IN UPPER 



They sold in the streets of Rossetta the stalks of 

 the fenu-grcek*. This plant is cultivated as fodder; 

 and it would hold the first rank among all the 

 sorts of food which Lower Egypt supplied to ani- 

 mals, if the barsim, a species of clover peculiar to 

 this country, and of which I have already sppken, 

 did not exist there. Its Arabic name is helbe. 



Although this helbe of the Egyptians is a suc- 

 culent fodder for the numerous cattle which cover 

 the plains of the Delta ; although horses, oxen, 

 and buffaloes, eat it with equal pleasure ; it did 

 not appear to be particularly destined for the food 

 of animals, because the barsim supplies them with 

 a much better and more abundant aliment. But 

 what will appear very extraordinary, in this coun- 

 try abounding in singularities, the Egyptians them- 

 selves eat fenu greek ; for this reason it maybe 

 called with propriety the fodder of men. 



It is in the month of November that, in the 

 streets of the cities, they call green helbe to sell. 

 It is tied up in large bundles, which the inhabit- 

 ants are eager to buy at a low price, and which 

 they devour with incredible avidity, without any 

 species of seasoning whatever. They pretend that 

 this singular food is an excellent stomachic, a spe- 

 cific against worms and the dysentery ; in a word, 



* Trigonella ftvnum-greeum. Lin. 



a pre- 



