TO DAMIATA. lit 
houfes near the fhore are tolerably well built 
a her the Egyptian manner, but thofe in the town 
are the moft miferable huts one can any where fee. 
1 counted about twelve Mofques. 1 afterwards failed 
t0 the other fide of the town, where I went on Ihore 
look for plants, and there found in great plenty 
, e handfomell in Egypt, and perhaps of all plants, 
Vlz - the Plaintain tree, which, with Vines, Mulberry 
Peach trees, made part of a hedge round a field, 
In Which Sugar and different forts of Cucumbers 
^ v ere planted. A more valuable hedge will fcarce be 
°und in any other place. If it was even made of 
pitiable metals, it would not equal this. The 
‘aintain tree was now ' in bloffom, and had al- 
f cady at the lower end of the Pedunculus, fruit 
‘ two inches long, on a Item two fpans thick and 
t ° ut three fathoms high. Clifford’s Plaintain 
was too valuable for our Linnteus to anato- 
j ' e ' To me was left the bufinefs of anatomizing 
p defcribing it, which I could do with eafe in a 
| ac e where I might cut down the whole plant with 
offoms and leaves for fourpence : I therefore dif- 
th ^ £ d * r ’ anc ^ ^ oun ^ its conftruftion as wonderful as 
y c °ther parts which my mailer defcribed. The 
^ n cs had lately put forth leaves. The Egyptians 
jj ? 1 cultivate them for the fake of wine, their re- 
f( fn forbidding them to drink it. They keep a few 
y, r t ‘? e fake of the grapes, which they eat frefh. 
t t-p • eac h tree was in bloffom, but the Mulberry 
PliV n ^ arne ^ tuaiaon as t i le Vi ne > nor is it ap- 
nf f , l ° t ^ at valuable purpofe for which it is fo 
t0 other countries. 
r 0a , JIE Maltefe cruizers frequently keep in the 
i s before Damiata, when they are at fea, which 
pil C ° ! ? monl y about this time of the year, when the 
o 1 ims go to the holy land. One of them was feen 
m 
4 
