2 CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



In the following pages, the species unknown in Egypt are inserted 

 in notes. The chronological order is thus preserved, while the 

 remarks are rendered capable of indefinite extension. This permits 

 other countries to be included ; and the plants and animals introduced 

 by Polynesians and aboriginal Americans along the isles and shores 

 of the Pacific, to be brought under investigation in connexion with 

 their native names. 



The observations embraced in this and the preliminary chapters, 

 are to be regarded as an introduction to the volume on Geographical 

 Distribution prepared during the voyage of the Expedition. The 

 ground must first be cleared of sources of error, before we can arrive 

 at a view of the real order of Nature. 



I. THE NATURAL CONDITION OF EGYPT. 



To a stranger accustomed to lands clothed with vegetation, Egypt 

 presents a most uninviting aspect. An upland waste of bare light- 

 coloured soil, save only upon the bottom of the narrow trench formed by 

 the river and within reach of its overflow. After leaving the vicinity 

 of the Mediterranean, this interminable waste appears on a general 

 view to be entirely devoid of vegetation : but plants can be found 

 by searching for them; and these Desert plants, of less than a hundred 

 kinds, and in general not remarkable in their appearance, constitute 

 all that is Botanically interesting in the flora of Egypt. 



In striking contrast with the Desert, the bottom of the river-valley, 

 or the river-flats, have been always thickly covered with grasses and 

 other herbaceous and humble plants. Traces of the original growth 

 may still be distinguished : the species being few, and of European 

 affinity; and notwithstanding the warm latitudes, Tropical forms, 

 even in the Thebaid, are rare and inconspicuous. 



In these two phases of Egyptian vegetation, the only tree appears 

 to have been a willow (Salix), growing sparingly along the river- 

 brink; and perhaps the only shrubs, an occasional tamarisk, and a 

 low bushy Acacia, both belonging to the Desert. 



On closer examination, the powdery soil is found to be devoid of 

 Mosses, Ferns, and Lichens (the exceptions being, two or three Mosses 

 in the walls of cisterns, the Adiantum capillus veneris along the 

 Mediterranean, and a few Lichens in elevated situations, chiefly on 

 the tops of the Pyramids) : other tribes abounding in Europe are also 



