32 



JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



Sickenberger in tbe " Contributions a la Fiore d'Egypte " mentions 

 a fruit which is intermediate between the ' Shammam ' and the ' Abou 

 Shammam,' but I have not seen it. 



A very long club-shaped melon is sometimes cultivated on the banks 

 of the Nile. This resembles the ' Shammam ' in colour and perfume, but 

 is tasteless, and otherwise of poor quality. At Cairo it is called ' quattah 

 saidy.' 



The melons belonging to Cucumis Melo are known in Egypt as 

 ' qaoon.' They are represented by several varieties, all, however, being 

 either netted or winter melons. The Cantaloupes are scarcely known 

 outside the gardens of a few Europeans. The best known of the netted 

 melons is the ' qaoon Santaouy.' This is a small, globular, and strongly- 

 scented fruit. It is somewhat deeply furrowed, and has a light yellow 

 skin with a close network of raised lines. The flesh is thin, light orange 

 coloured, and very juicy. It is a late variety of melon, and does not 

 appear in the market until the latter half of July, whereas the ' Shammam ' 

 is ready in the middle of May. 



The ' Santaouy ' is grown chiefly in the Delta, but a netted melon is 

 cultivated in Upper Egypt also, under the name of ' qaoon saidy.' It is 

 said to attain a large size, but the specimens which I have seen were not 

 remarkable in this respect. It is a globular melon, somewhat deeply 

 ribbed, and with a dark brown skin mixed with yellow and green. It has 

 a thick sweet flesh of good quality. 



Of the smooth-skinned melons, the most important is that known as 

 the ' qaoon beledi,' which, like the ' qaoon saidy,' is cultivated chiefly in 

 Upper Egypt. It is globular in form, and has a light yellow skin without 

 furrows. The flesh is white, thick, and very sweet, the average weight of 

 the fruit being about 3^ kilos. At Cairo this is called ' qaoon Doumeyry ' 

 and sometimes 'qaoon Sohagi,' but neither this nor the 'qaoon saidy' 

 comes to Cairo in large quantities. Other varieties are imported in large 

 quantities from Smyrna, after the middle of August, when the Egyptian 

 melons (Shammam) are finished. Mention must be made of an oblong 

 melon called ' qaoon mahanaouy.' The only place where I have known 

 this to be cultivated is Sohag, in Upper Egypt. A native grower of that 

 place informed me that it sometimes attains a length of 50 cm. It is, 

 however, tasteless and of little value. 



Apart from these long melons, the most remarkable Cucurbitaceous 

 fruit in Egypt is that known as ' agour ' — G. Melo Chate, L. (Naud). 

 As De Candolle points out, the name of the cucumber in modern 

 Greek is 'angouria,' "from an ancient Aryan root which is sometimes 

 applied to the water-melon, and which recurs for the cucumber in the 

 Bohemian ' agurka ' and the German 'gurke,' &c." The 'agour' of 

 the Egyptians, however, bears no resemblance to a cucumber. It is oval 

 in shape, but gradually tapering to a point at both ends. The length 

 of an average-sized fruit is about 40 cm. It has a reddish-brown skin, 

 covered with a close network of raised liues. The flesh is thin, orange- 

 coloured, juicy, but not sweet. The 'agour' matures very quickly and 

 appears in Cairo market in April. Coming at a time when no other 

 melon fruits are available, it forms an important and popular food among 

 the natives. It is usually eaten raw with sugar. 



