378 
FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF SCRIPTURE. 
of partial facts, •which we look upon as 
very immaterial. 
" The Cucurbitaceae, or gourd tribe, are re- 
markable for their power of adapting themselves 
to the different situations where they can be 
grown. Thus, Mr. Elphinstone describes 
some of them as 3d elding large and juicy fruit 
in the midst of the Indian desert, where water 
is 300 feet from the surface. Extreme of 
moisture, however, is far from injurious to 
them, as the great majority are successfully 
cultivated in the rainy season in India. Mr. 
Moorcroft describes an extensive cultivation 
of melons and cucumbers on the beds of weeds 
which float on the lakes of Cashmere. They 
are similarly cultivated in Persia and in China. 
In India, ' some of the species may be seen in 
the most arid places, others in the densest 
jungles. Planted at the foot of a tree, they 
emulate the vine in ascending its branches; 
and near a hut, they soon cover its thatch 
with a coating of green. They form a prin- 
cipal portion of the culture of Indian gardens; 
the farmer even rears them in the neighbour- 
hood of his wells.' (Royle, Himalayan Bo- 
tany, p. 218.) 
" These plants, though known to the 
Greeks, are not natives of Europe, but of 
Eastern countries, whence they must have 
been introduced into Greece. They probably 
may be traced to Syria or Egypt, whence 
other cultivated plants, as well as civilisation, 
have travelled westwards. In Egypt they 
formed a portion of the food of the people at 
the very early period when the Israelites were 
led by Moses from its rich cultivation into 
the midst of the desert. The melon, the 
water-melon, and several others of the cucur- 
bitaceas, are mentioned by "Wilkinson {Thebes, 
p. 212; Ancient Egyptians, iv. 62), as still 
cultivated there, and are described as being 
sown in the middle of December, and cut, the 
melons in ninety and the cucumbers in sixty 
days. 
" If we consider that the occurrences so 
graphically detailed in the Bible, took place in 
the East, we should expect, among the natu- 
ral products noticed, that those which appear 
from the earliest times to have been esteemed 
in these countries, w r ould be those mentioned. 
But as all are apt to undervalue the good 
which they possess, and think of it only when 
beyond their reach, so the Israelites in the 
desert longed for the delicious coolness of the 
melons of Egypt. Among these we may sup- 
pose both the melon and water-melon to have 
been included, and therefore both will be 
treated of in this article." 
" All travellers in Eastern countries have 
borne testimony to the refreshment and delight 
they have experienced from the fruit of the 
melon. But we shall content ourselves with 
referring to Alpinus, who, having paid par- 
ticular attention to such subjects, says of the 
Egyptians, ' Fructibus, &c. se replent, ut ex 
iis solis saspe ccenam, vel prandium perficiant 
cujusmodi sunt precocia, cucurbitae, pepones, 
melopepones ; quorum quidern nomen gene- 
ricum est Batech.' (Rerum ^3Sgypt. Hist. 
i. 17.) He also describes in the same chap- 
ter the kind of melon called Abdellavi, which, 
according to De Sacy, receives its name from 
having been introduced by Abdullah, a gover- 
nor of Egypt, under the Khalif Al Mamoon. 
It may be a distinct species, as the fruit is 
oblong, tapering at both ends, but thick in 
the middle ; a figure (tab. xli.) is given in his 
work, De Plantis JEgypti ; but Forskal 
applies this name also to the Chate, which is 
separately described by Alpinus, and a figure 
given by him at tab. xl." 
" The water-melon is clearly distinguished 
by Alpinus as cultivated in Egypt, and called 
by the above names, ' quae intus semina tan- 
tum, et aquam dulcissimam continent.' It is 
mentioned by Forskal, and its properties 
described by Hasselquist. Though resem- 
bling the other kinds very considerably in its 
properties, it is very different from them in 
its deeply-cut leaves, from which it is com- 
pared to a very different plant of this tribe — 
that is, the colocynth. ' Citrullus folio colo- 
cynthidis secto semine, nigro.' A few others 
have cut leaves, but the water-melon is so 
distinguished among the edible species. The 
plant is hairy, with trailing cirrhiferous stems. 
The pulp abounds so much in watery juice, 
that it will run out by a hole made through 
the rind ; and it is from this peculiarity that 
it has obtained the names of water-melon, 
melon d'eau, wasser-melon. Hasselquist says 
that it is cultivated on the banks of the Isile, 
in the rich clayey earth which subsides during 
the inundation, and serves ' the Egyptians 
for meat, drink, and physic. It is eaten in 
abundance, during the season, even by the 
richer sort of people ; but the common people, 
on whom Providence hath bestowed nothing 
but poverty and patience, scarcely eat any- 
thing but these, and account this the best 
time of the year, as they are obliged to put 
up with worse at other seasons of the year."' 
{Travels, p. 256.) J. F. P.— Pp. 4—6. 
The article Garden is treated with consi- 
derable power, and the authorities referred to 
are too numerous for us to notice ; some of 
the information is new and curious. After 
noticing the various allusions to gardens, the 
writer proceeds to inform us that — 
" Gardens were dedicated to various uses 
among the Hebrews, such as we still find 
prevailing in the East. One most essential 
