HERODOTUS AS A BOTANIST. tO 



parapets of their dwellings, Avitli their plaited tresses stiff 

 and glistening with castor oil, and uttering the stereotyped 

 cry of ' Baksheesh ya Howaga. ' " Once more, in the 

 outskirts of Munieh, half veiling our first glimpse of the 

 Rameseum on our approach up stream, here represented by 

 tall plantations, and again on the sandy slopes below the 

 rock temples of Ipsambol, these only consisting of tiny 

 plants, and in many another spot besides, Riciniis communis 

 may be seen, and is moreover utilised. to such an extent that 

 not an article purchased from the inhabitants of Lower Nubia 

 but what has to be hung over the rail of the steamer, or 

 exposed on the paddle-box for days in order that the direful 

 scent, in which they delight, may exhale. 



Herodotus ox the Lotus. 



But for greater cheapness of living the marsh men practice 

 certain peculiar customs, such as these following: — they 

 gather the blossoms of a certain Avater lily, which grows in 

 great abundance all over the flat country at the time when 

 the Nile rises, and floods the regions along its banks — the 

 Egyptians call it the Lotos — they gather, I say, the blossoms 

 of this plant, and dry them in the sun, after which they 

 extract from the centre of each blossom a substance like the 

 head of a po]3py, which they crush and make into bread. The 

 root of the lotus is likewise eatable, and has a pleasant sweet 

 taste ; it is round, and about the size of an apple. There is 

 also another species of the lily in Egypt, which grows, like 

 the lotus, in the river, and resembles the rose. The fruit 

 springs up side by side with the blossom, on a separate 

 stalk, and has almost exactly the look of the comb made by 

 wasps. It contains a number of seeds, about the size of an 

 olive stone, which are good to eat, and these are eaten both 



green and dried. 



Herodotus, Lib. U, c. 92. 



Various relations of the Lotos to Egyptian life. — The Lotos 

 plant is so intimately and A'ariously connected with the 

 sundry phases of Egyptian life, that it is difficult to unravel 

 and enumerate all the thoughts and associations to which 

 the mention of this flower gives rise. 



(1) The Lotos as a model for art. 



The blossoms furnished an rrtistic model for the 



G '^ 



