The Garden Magazine, January, 1922 



239 



" (Here offer two bowls of 

 fruit of all kinds)." This is 

 an instruction to the priest. 



" 1 count them for thee. 



" (Here offer two bowls 

 of spring fruit, flowers, and 

 vegetables)." Also a direc- 

 tion to the priest. 



Even the lowly Onion had 

 a similar religious signifi- 

 cance, for we find in the 

 pryamid of Unas, in the Fifth 

 Dynasty, the following lines 

 in the liturgy : " Osiris (soul 

 of) Unas, the white teeth of 

 Horus are offered unto thee, 

 so that they may fill thy 

 mouth. 



" (Here offer five bunches 

 of onions.)" 



The pride of the Egyptian 

 in his garden was just as evi- 

 dent in the Sixth Dynasty. 

 We find Harkuf, for exam- 

 ple, who was one of the gov- 

 ernors of the south, note on 

 his tomb as one of his accom- 

 plishments, " I constructed 

 a villa, 1 hung the doors, 1 

 dug a pond, and 1 set out 

 trees." 



This building of a reser- 

 voir, as appears from the 

 records, and as follows nat- 

 urally from the character of 

 the country, seems to have 

 been a necessary first step in 

 the construction of any gar- 

 den of importance. But 



great as the labor involved in the garden must have been, the 

 Egyptian noble apparently did not feel his mansion complete 

 without it. 



A tomb painting of the Sixth Dynasty illustrates a harvest of 

 olives. (Fig. VII, page 240) These were especially common to 



VI. MAKING AN OFFERING TO THE SPIRIT OF A TREE 



The ancient Egyptian held the trees, so rare and so difficult 

 to grow in his naturally forestless country, in great venera- 

 tion. The peasant is here making an offering to the Wild Fig 



V. FROM A TOMB AT THEBES 



A much mutilated plan of an ancient Egyptian garden with a Lotus-fringed pool 

 at the centre in whose waters ducks, geese, and fish seem to swim happily 



the south, and at even a very early period the region bordering 

 upon Libya was famous for them. 



After the Sixth Dynasty, the power of the kings at Memphis 

 waned, and the country was not again brought under one rule 

 until the Eleventh Dynasty, which came into control at Thebes, 

 perhaps 4300 years ago. 



An interesting passage which gives a suggestion of what were 

 considered the most important qualifications for a garden, comes 

 at the end of the tale of Sinhue in the Twelfth Dynasty. As a 

 reward for his valorous deeds, Sinhue narrates how the king gave 

 him an estate: 



" He made me choose for myself of his lands, 

 Of the most desirable of that which he possessed . . . 

 There were figs in it and vines; 

 More abundant than water was its wine; 

 Flowing was its honey, bountiful its oil; 

 All fruits grew upon its trees." 



Several interesting tomb paintings from the Twelfth Dynasty 

 add considerably to our knowledge of the garden of that period. 



One of these portrays four men picking fruit from vines or 

 shrubs which are arranged in the form of an arch. At first 

 glance these appear to be Grape vines, but closer examination of 

 the fruit in the baskets is convincing that it cannot be intended 

 to represent grapes. One Egyptologist has identified it rather 

 conclusively as okra. The yoke on the shoulder of the woman 

 in the picture was a common Egyptian device for carrying a 

 heavy load. 



One of the most curious of all Egyptian pictures comes from 

 the same tomb. (Fig. I, page 237) It shows trained monkeys 

 assisting two men in gathering figs. It will be noted, however, 

 that two of the monkeys seem to be helping themselves as well 



