74 CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



Greek word seems to have been derived from the Malay " bras ;" and 

 forms perhaps the earliest instance of the introduction of a Malay term 

 into the Mediterranean languages. — Some centuries later, as appears 

 from Horace, Strabo, Dioscorides, and the Jewish Mishna, the culture 

 of rice was introduced into Babylonia, Syria, and Egypt. 



On the death of Alexander, "B. C. 323," Ptolemy obtained the 

 government of -Egypt : but the earliest buildings erected by him, bear 

 the names in hieroglyphic characters of Philippus Aridaeus and Alex- 

 ander IV., the nominal successors to the whole Empire. Ptolemy 

 removed from Heliopolis to Alexandria the two well-known obelisks; 

 and at the mouth of the harbour, he commenced an immense pharos, 

 or light-house (the ruins of which were " one hundred and fifty cubits 

 high" so late as the twelfth century); he also founded the celebrated 

 Alexandrian Library. 



Monuments of the reign of Ptolemy and his Greek successors, are 

 numerous in Egypt; but are comparatively uninteresting. Yet the 

 temples are not devoid of architectural taste ; and their walls, though 

 chiefly devoted to Mythology and ostentatious enumerations of con- 

 quests, present dates, genealogies, and Astronomical records, that the 

 historian might consult with advantage. 



Theophrastus iv. 9, has distinctly described the Pistia stratiotes, as 

 a plant growing in Egypt ; and his account of its medicinal use is 

 confirmed by Alpinus. — The Pistia, being an aquatic plant, may have 

 floated down the Nile without human intervention. It was seen in 

 Sennaar by Cailliaud ; but nevertheless may not be truly indigenous 

 in Equatorial Africa. 



Theophrastus v. 6, mentions a kind of wood, used at Tylos (in the 

 Persian Gulf) for building ships that have been known to keep sound 

 for more than two hundred years : a description corresponding with 

 the tealc (Tectona grandis). — Forskal found the keel of the Egyptian 

 vessels made of a wood imported from India, and called " sadj :" on 

 referring to Graham, this is found to be the Bombay name of the teak. 



The KAPAAM^MON of Theophrastus, of the treatise " 1 De Mul. 

 Morb." 52 (in the Hippocratic Collection), and of Dioscorides and 

 Pliny, is admitted to be cardamoms (the seeds of Elettaria cardamo- 

 mum) . — Edrisi states, that this spice is brought by the way of Aden 

 " from China ;" but according to Bontius, the plant grows in Java. I 

 found cardamom seeds in common use throughout the Arab countries ; 

 and I met with a quantity, that had been imported by the route of 

 Mecca and the Thebaid. 



