OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 87 



Hudson (A. Gray). G. tinctoria according to Lindley is " chiefly employed in dyeing ; the whole 

 plant affords a good yellow colour, and with woad a good green.' : 



" 21 18 B. C. = 1st year of Chao-kang, of the Hia " or Second dynasty (Chinese chron. table) ; 

 a " son of Siang " (Pauth). 



21 17 B. C. "In nine years" (Maneth.), SSsostris "subdued all Asia and of Europe as far as 

 Thrace." An account confirmed by Herodotus, and other Greek writers. Sesostris lived (accord- 

 ing to Justin) before the time of Ninus. 



2116 B. C. = " nth year of Sesurtesen II. ;" the latest date in his reign found on the mona 

 ments (C. Mull. fr. Man. p. 562). 



In tombs under the " Twelfth " dynasty at Berscheh, the transportation of a colossus is repre- 

 sented ; stated in the hieroglyphic inscription to be of limestone (Lepsius eg. and sin. 113). 



" 2107 B. C." (Armen. hist., and Sm. b. diet.), Hai'g son of Gathlas and first king of Armenia. 

 Commencement of Armenian history — (Klapr. mem. i. 410). 



In this year (= 2126 — " 19 years" of the Turin papyrus), Sesurtesen II. suc- 

 ceeded by Sesurtesen III., fifth king of the Twelfth dynasty. — The Turin papyrus 

 though partially defective in this place, affords evidence, that the reign of Sesurtesen 

 III. lasted at least thirty years. His name occurs in the sanctuary of the temple at 

 Samneh (Leps. eg. and sin. 120) ; also on the Kosser road; and he is next in the 

 order of succession on the tablet at Abydos. 



In a Third tomb at Benihassan (Champoll. pi. 396), a foreign nation, distinct perhaps from the 

 one last mentioned and wearing only the cincture of warm climates, is represented fighting the Egyp- 

 tians. The siege of a fortress is also represented. And (according to Lepsius briefe aus Aeg. p. 

 367), one of these foreigners reduced to servitude. — In the tomb of one of the kings of the Nine- 

 teenth dynasty, this foreign nation wears the Bedouin fillet. 



Of the principal arts and trades of civilized life, a majority already known to the Egyptians, and 

 figured on the walls of these and the remaining tombs at Benihassan. 



Most of the domestic and useful animals and plants already mentioned, are again figured at 

 Benihassan, and even in the same peculiar varieties or breeds. The additional kinds, in considera- 

 tion of the long interval of time, are surprisingly few; and after careful examination, I could distin- 

 guish only the following : 



Among a variety of wild species, a flock possibly of the domestic duck. — Ducks in the artificial 

 pools of a garden, -are figured under the Seventeenth or Eighteenth dynasty (Rosselin. ii. pi. 69). 

 " Nessa " and " nessarion," ducks and ducklings, are mentioned by Aristophanes av. 556 and plut. 

 ion ; and " anatum ova" and tame ducks, by Plautus, Varro, Cicero, and Pliny. 



Flocks also of the domestic goose, Anser . . . . ; this Northern bird being clearly now the com- 

 panion of man: — the "hen" and " henovdtia," geese and geese-feeding, are mentioned by Homer 

 il. ii. 460, Xenophon, and Plato. Rome in its early history, was saved from a night-surprise by a 

 flock of domestic geese: and the "anser" and "anserculus," goose and gosling, are mentioned by 

 Cicero, Columella, and Pliny. 



Albino rabbits, Lepus cuniculus, also figured, carried in cages and perhaps regarded as sacred : 

 clearly not the hare, which is figured with longer ears in the hunting scenes. — The above were the 

 only figures of the rabbit I could discover on the Egyptian monuments ; and in the time of Athe- 

 naeus ix. 63, the animal was unknown in Egypt. Alexander captured a city by means of a burrow or 



mme ( ); and the "cuniculus" or rabbit is distinctly mentioned by Polybius, Posido- 



nius, Varro, and Catullus. The rabbit seems properly a Western animal, and according to Leo 

 Africanus, is indigenous in Mauritania. 



A chceta or hunting leopard, Felis jubata, led by a cord, and probably brought down the Nile 

 from Equatorial Africa: —the cheeta is also figured in tribute-processions under the Eighteenth and 

 Nineteenth dynasties : but does not appear to have been employed in Egypt for hunting ; after the 

 manner practised in Central and Eastern Asia, as described by Marco Polo 7$. 



Of the huntino- scenes at Benihassan, some may be situated in Northern climates : especially as 

 the striped lion (Leps. d. ii. pi. 131) indicates, that accounts of the tigers of Hyrcania, along the 

 Caspian, had reached Egypt. — " Sffiukou tigris," a living tiger sent to Athens, is mentioned by 



Alexis, and Philemon. 



The wild species of quadrupeds and birds figured are very numerous, as also the species of 

 fishes, and insects : amounting to an important treatise on zoology, deserving the careful attention of 



naturalists, . 



Momordua balsamina of Tropical Arabia. The balsam-apple, called m France "pomme de 

 merveille" (Pers.). in Egypt "ballesan," in Yemen " mokahh " or " moghadd " (Forsk.), is perhaps 

 the Cucurbitaceous plant with deeply-lobed leaves and oblong fruit trained on a trellis — (Champ, 

 pi 357) : M. balsamina seems mentioned by Avicenna, and Abd-allatif; was observed by Hassel- 



