the saloop kind, which the inhabitants call pea; a plant called ethee, of which the root only is eaten; a fruit that grows in a

pod, like that of a large kidney bean, which, when it is roasted, eats very much like a chestnut, by the natives called whee; a tree called wharra, called in the East Indies pandanes, which produces fruit something like the pine apple a shrub called nono; the morinda, which also produces fruit; a species of fern, of which the root is eaten, and sometimes the leaves: and a plant called theve, of which the root also is eaten : but the fruits of the nono, the fern, and the theve, are eaten only by the inferior people, and in times of scarcity: all these, which serve the inhabitants for food, the earth produces spontaneously, or with little

culture. They had no European fruit, gardenstuff, pulse, or legumes, or grain of any kind, till some seeds of melons and other vegetables were given them by Captain Cook.

1038. Of tame animals, the Otaheitans have only hogs, dogs, and poultry; neither is there a wild animal in the island, except ducks, pigeons, parroquets, with a few other birds, and rats, there being no other quadruped, nor any serpent. But the sea supplies them with great variety of most excellent fish, to eat which is their chief luxury, and to catch it their principal labor.

1039. The Friendly Islands are in most respects similar to Otaheite. Tongataboo appears to be a flat country, with a fine climate, and universally cultivated. The whole of this island is said to consist of enclosures, with reed fences about six feet high, intersected with innumerable roads. The articles cultivated are bread fruit, plantains, cocoa-nuts, and yams. In the other islands, plantains and yams engage most of their attention; the cocoa-nut and bread fruit-trees are dispersed about in less order than the former, and seem to give them no trouble. Their implements of culture consist of pointed sticks of different lengths and degrees of strength.

SECT. II. Present State of Agriculture in Africa.

1040. The continent of Africa in point of agricultural, as of political and ethical estimation, is the meanest of the great divisions of the earth; though in one corner of it (Egypt) agriculture is supposed to have originated. The climate is every where hot, and intensely so in the northern parts. The central parts, as far as known, consist of ridges of mountains and immense deserts of red sand. There are very few rivers, inland lakes, or seas, and indeed fully one half of the whole of this continent may be considered as either desert, or unknown. Some of the African islands are fertile and important, especially Madagascar, Bourbon, Mauritias, &c. We shall take tne countries of Africa in the order of Abyssinia, Egypt, Mahometan states of the north, western coast, Cape of Good Hope, eastern coast, Madagascar, and other isles.

SUBSECT. 1. Present State of Agriculture in Abyssinia.

1041. The climate of Abyssinia, though exceedingly various in different parts, is in general temperate and healthy. The surface of the country is generally rugged and mountainous; it abounds with forests and morasses; and it is also interspersed with many fertile valleys and plains, that are adapted both to pasture and tillage. The rivers are numerous and large, and contribute much to general fertility. The soil is not naturally good, being in general thin and sandy; but it is rendered fertile and productive by irrigation and the periodical rains.

1042. The agricultural products are wheat, barley, millet, and other grains. They cultivate the vine, peach, pomegranate, sugar-cane, almonds, lemons (fig. 166.), citrons, and oranges; and they have many roots and herbs which grow spontaneously, and their soil, if properly managed, would produce many more. However, they make little wine, but content themselves with the liquor which they draw from the sugar-cane, and their honey, which is excellent and abundant. They have the coffee-tree, and a plant called ensete, which produces an eatable nou

rishing fruit. The country also produces many other plants and fruits, that are adapted both for domestic and medicinal uses. Here is plenty of cotton, which grows on shrubs, like the Indian. Their forests abound with trees of various descriptions, particularly the rock, baobab, cedar, sycamore, &c.

1043. The live stock of Abyssinia includes horses, some of which are of a very fine breed; mules, asses, camels, dromedaries, oxen of different kinds, (fig. 167.) cows, sheep, and goats; and these constitute the

principal wealth of the inhabitants. Amongst the wild animals, we may reckon the antelope, the buffalo, the wild boar, the jackal, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the lion, the leopard, the hyana, the lynx, ape, and baboon, which are very destructive to the fields of millet, as well as the common rat; the zecora, or wild mule, and the wild ass; the jerboa, the fennic, ashkoko, hare, &c. The hare, as well as the wild boar, is deemed unclean, and not used as food. Bruce saw no sparrows, magpies, nor bats; nor many water-fowl, nor any geese, except the golden goose, or goose of the Nile, which is com

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mon in every part of Africa; but there are snipes in the marshes. The locusts of this country are very destructive; they have also a species of ants, that are injurious; but from their bees they derive a rich supply.

1044. The agriculture of Abyssinia is of far less use to the inhabitants than it might be for want of application and exertion. There are two, and often three harvests in the year; and where they have a supply of water, they may sow in all seasons; many of their trees and plants retain their verdure, and yield fruit or flowers throughout the year; the west side of a tree blossoms first, and bears fruit, then the south side, next the north side, and last of all the east side goes through the same process towards the beginning of the rainy seasons. Their pastures are covered with flocks and herds. They have grass in abundance, but they neglect to make bay of it; and therefore they are obliged to supply this defect by feeding their cattle with barley, or some other grain. Notwithstanding the plenty, and frequent return of their crops, they are sometimes reduced almost to famine, either by the devastations of the locusts or grasshoppers which intest the country, or by the more destructive ravages of their own armies, and those of their enemies.

SUBSECT. 2. Present State of Agriculture in Egypt.

1045. The climate of Egypt has a peculiar character from the circumstance of rain being very uncommon. The heat is also extreme, particularly from March to November; while the cool season, or a kind of spring, extends through the other months.

1046. The surface of the country is varied in some regions, but is otherwise flat and uniform. Far the greater part presents a narrow fertile vale, pervaded by the Nile, and bounded on either side by barren rocks and mountains. The soil of Egypt has been variously described by different travellers, some representing it as barren sand, only rendered fertile by watering, and others as "a pure black mould, free from stones, of a very tenacious and unctuous nature, and so rich as to require no manure." The latter appears to prevail only in the Delta.

1047. The fertility of Egypt has been generally ascribed to the inundations of the Nile, but this is applicable in a strict sense only to parts of the Delta; whereas, in other districts there are canals, and the adjacent lands are generally watered by machines. Gray's description of Egypt, as immersed under the influx of the Nile, though exquisitely poetical, is far from being just. In Upper Egypt the river is confined by high banks, which prevent any inundation into the adjacent country. This is also the case in Lower Egypt, except at the extremities of the Delta, where the Nile is never more than a few feet below the surface of the ground, and where of course inundation takes place. But the country, as we may imagine, is without habitations. The fertility of Egypt, according to Browne, an intelligent traveller, arises from human art. The lands near the river are watered by machines; and if they extend to any width, canals have been cut. The soil in general is so rich as to require no manure. It is a pure black mould, free from stones, and of a very tenacious unctuous nature. When left uncultivated, fissures have been observed, arising from extreme heat, of such depth that a spear of six feet could not reach the bottom.

1048. The limits of cultivated Egypt are encroached upon annually, and barren sand is accumulating from all parts. In 1517, the era of the Turkish conquest, lake Mareotis was at no distance from the walls of Alexandria, and the canal which conveyed the waters into the city was still navigable. At this day the lake has disappeared, and the lands

watered by it, which, according to historians, produced abundance of corn, wine, and various fruits, are changed into deserts, in which are found neither shrub, nor plant, nor verdure. The canal itself, the work of Alexander, necessary to the subsistence of the inhabitants of the city, which he built, is nearly choked up, and preserves the waters only when the inundation is at its greatest height, and for a short time. About half a century ago, part of the mud deposited by the river was cleared out of it, and it retained the water three months longer. Schemes have lately been adopted for opening and perfecting this canal. The Pelusiac branch, which discharges itself into the eastern part of the lake of Tanais, or Menzalé, is utterly destroyed. With it perished the beautiful province which it fertilized, and the famous canal begun by Necos, and finished by Ptolemy Philadelphus. The famous works executed by kings, who sought their glory and happiness in the prosperity of the people, have not been able to resist the ravages of conquerors, and that despotism, which destroys every thing, till it buries itself under the wreck of the kingdoms whose foundation it has sapped. The canal of Amrou, the last of the great works of Egypt, and which formed a communication between Fostat and Colzoum, reaches at present no farther than about four leagues beyond Cairo, and loses itself in the lake of Pilgrims. Upon the whole, it may be confidently affirmed that upwards of one-third of the lands formerly in cultivation is metamorphosed into dreary deserts.

1049. Landed property in Egypt is for the most part to be considered as divided between the government and the religious bodies, who perform the service of the mosques, and have obtained possession of what they hold by the munificence of princes and rich men, or by the measures taken by individuals for the benefit of their posterity. Hence, a large proportion of the tenants and cultivators hold either of the government, or the procurators of the mosques. But there is one circumstance common to both, viz. that their lands, becoming unoccupied, are never let but upon terms ruinous to the tenants. Besides the property and influence of the beys, the mamelukes and the professors of the law are so extensive, and so absolute, as to engross into their own hands a very considerable part: the number of the other proprietors is extremely small, and their property liable to a thousand impositions. Every moment some contribution is to be paid, or some damage repaired; there is no right of succession or inheritance for real property, except for that called "wakf," which is the property of the mosques; every thing returns to government, from which every thing must be repurchased. According to Volney, the peasants are hired laborers, to whom no more is left than what is barely sufficient to sustain life; but Browne says, that these terms can be properly applied to very few of

them..

1050. The occupier of the land, assisted by his family, is the cultivator; and in the operations of husbandry scarcely requires any other aid. And the tenant of land commonly holds no more than he and his family can cultivate, and gather the produce of. When, indeed, the Nile rises, those who are employed to water the fields are commonly hired laborers. The rice and corn they gather are carried to their masters, and nothing is reserved for them but dourra, or Indian millet, of which they make a coarse and tasteless bread without leaven; this, with water and raw onions, is their only food throughout the year; and they think themselves happy if they can sometimes procure a little honey, cheese, sour milk, and dates. Their whole clothing consists in a shirt of coarse blue linen, and in a black cloak. Their head-dress is a sort of cloth bonnet, over which they roll a long handkerchief of red woollen. Their arms, legs, and breasts are naked, and some of them do not even wear drawers. Their habitations (fig. 168.) are mud-walled huts, in which they are suffocated with heat and smoke, and in which, besides the experience of other inconveniences, they are perpetually distressed with the dread of the robberies of the Arabs, and the: extortions of the mamelukes, family feuds, and all the calamities of a perpetual civil war.

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1051. The agricultural products of Egypt are grain of most sorts, and particularly rice. Barley is grown for the horses, but no oats are seen. In the Delta a crop of rice and a crop of barley are obtained within the year on the same ground. Sometimes instead of barley a fine variety of the soil (Trifolium Alexandrinum of Forskal) is sown without ploughing or harrowing. The seed sinks to a sufficient depth in the moist soil, and produces three cuttings before the time for again sowing the rice.

1052. Rice is sown from the month of March to that of May; and is generally six months in coming to maturity. In reaping, it is most commonly pulled up by the roots; and as the use of the flail is unknown in Egypt, the rice plants are spread in thick layers on floors, formed of earth and pigeon's dung, which are well beaten, and very clean; and then, in order to separate the grain from the straw, they make use of a sort of carts, constructed like our sledges, with two pieces of wood joined together by two cross bars; between the longer sides of this sledge are fixed transversely three rows of small wheels, made of sohd iron, and narrowed off towards their circumference. On the fore part is fixed a high seat, on which a man sits, for the purpose of driving two oxen that are harnessed to the machine, and thus moving it in a

circular direction over every part of the heap of rice, till the grain is completely separated from the straw the grain is then spread in the air to be dried. The dried rice is carried to the mill, where it is stripped of its chaff or husk. This mill consists of a wheel turned by oxen, which sets several levers in motion; and at their extremity is an iron cylinder, about a foot long, and hollow underneath; these cylinders bent in troughs, which contain the grain; and at the side of each trough there stands a man, whose business it is to place the rice under the cylinders. The next operation is to sift the rice in the open air, by filling a small sieve, which a man lifts over his head, and thus lets fall, with his face turned to the wind, which blows away the small chaff or dust. This cleaned rice is put a second time into the mill, in order to bleach it; it is afterwards mixed up in troughs with some salt, which contributes very much to its whiteness, and also to its preservation; and in this state it is sold. Rice is furnished in great quantities in the Delta; and that which is grown in the environs of Rosalta is more esteemed on account of its preparation, than that which is produced in the vicinity of Damietta. The produce of the one and the other is equally wonderful. In a good season, that is, when the rise of the Nile occasions a great expansion of its waters, the profit of the proprietors of rice fields is estimated at fifty per cent. clear of all expenses. Savary says, that it produces eighty bushels for one.

1063 Wheat is sown as soon as the waters of the Nile have retired from the lands appropriated to it; the seed-time varies with the latitude, and also the harvest, which is earlier in Upper than in Lower Egypt. Near to Syene they sow the barley and the corn in October, and reap it in January. Towards Girge they cut in February, and in the month of March in the vicinity of Cairo. This is the usual progress of the harvest in the Said. There is also a number of partial harvests, as the lands are nearer or at a greater distance from the river, lower or more elevated. In the Lower Egypt they are sowing and reaping all the year. Where the waters of the river can be procured, the earth is never idle, and furnishes three crops annually. In descending from the cataracts in January, the corn is seen almost ripe; lower down it is in ear, and advancing further, the plains are covered with verdure. The cultivator, in general, merely casts the seed upon the moistened earth; the corn soon springs up from the mud; its vegetation is rapid, and four months after it is sown it is fit to be reaped. In performing this operation, the sickle not being used, the stalks are pulled up by the roots, and carried to large floors, like those which are used for treading eut rice; and by a similar operation the corn is separated from the ear. Unripe ears of corn are dried and slackly baked in an oven, and being afterwards bruised and boiled with meat, form a common dish in Lower Egypt, called “ferik."

1054. Flax has been cultivated in Egypt from the most remote period, and is still grown in considerable quantities. Indigo is also grown for dyeing it, the color of the shirt in this country being universally blue.

1055. Of the hemp, which is abundantly cultivated in this country, the inhabitants prepare intoxicating liquors; and also by pounding the fruits into thin membranous capsules, they form a paste, which answers a similar purpose; and they also mix the capsules with tobacco for smoking.

1056. The sugar-cane is also one of the valuable productions of Egypt. The common people do not wait for the extraction of the sugar, but cut the canes green, which are sold in bundles in all the towns. They begin to ripen in October, but are not in general fit to be cut till November or December. The sugar-refiners are in a very imperfect state. 1057. Fruit trees of various species abound in this country. Among these we may reckon the olive-tree, fig-trees which yield figs of an exquisite flavor, and the date-tree, which is to be found every where in the Thebais and in the Delta, in the sands as well as in the cultivated districts, requiring little or no culture, and yielding a very considerable profit, on account of the immense consumption of its fruit. The species of palm-tree that furnishes dates produces also a bark; which, together with its leaves and the rind of its fruit, afford filaments from which are manufactured ropes and sails for boats. The leaves are also used for making baskets and other articles. The very long rib of the branches is employed, on account of its lightness and solidity, by the mamelukes, in their military exercises, as javelins, which they throw at each other from their horses when at full speed. A species of cyperus, which produces a fruit resembling the earth-nut, but of a much more agreeable flavor, is cultivated in the environs of Rosetta; and the small tubercles are sent to Constantinople and other towns of the Levant, where they are much valued. The Egyptians press from them a milky juice, which they deem pectoral and emollient; and give them to nurses, in order to increase the quantity of their milk. The banana trees, though not natives of the sail of Egypt, are nevertheless cultivated in the northern parts of that country. The papaw, or custard apple-tree, (Anona), is also transplanted into the gardens of Egypt, and yields a fruit equally gratifying to the taste and smell. In the shade of the orchards are cultivated various plants, the roots of which are refreshed by the water that is conveyed to them by little trenches; each enclosure having its well or reservoir, from which the water is distributed by a wheel, turned by oxen. The mallow (Malva rotundifolia) grows here in abundance: it is dressed with meat, and is one of those herbs that are most generally consumed in the kitchens of Lower Egypt. Two other plants used as food, are the garden jew's mallow, and the esculent hibiscus. Another tree, which appears to be indigenous in this country, is the "atle," a species of larger tamarisk (Tamarix orientalis, Forskal.) The wood of this tree serves for various purposes; and among others, for charcoal. It is the 169 only wood that is common in Egypt, either for fuel or for manufactures. Fenu-greek is cultivated for fodder, though for this use a plant called barsim, is preferred. The plant called "helbe," is cried about for sale in November in the streets of the towns; and it is purchased and eaten with incredible avidity, without any kind of seasoning. It is pretended, that it is an excellent stomachic, a specific against worms and the dysentery, and, inshort, a preservation, against a great number of disorders. Lentils form a considerable article of food to the inhabitants of Upper Egypt, who rarely enjoy the luxury of rice. The Egyptian onions are remarkably mild, more so than the Spanish, but not so large. They are of the purest white, and the lamina are of a softer and looser contexture than that of any other species. They deteriorate by transplantation; so that much must depead on the soil and climate. They remain a favorite article of food with all classes; and it is usual to put a layer or two of them, and of meat, on a spit or skewer, and thus roast them over a charcoal fire. We need not wonder at the desire of the Israelites for the onions of Egypt. Leeks are also cultivated and eaten in this country; and almost all the species of European vegetables abound in the gardens of Rosetta. Millet and Turkey corn, the vine, the henné or Egyptian privet, the water-melon (fig. 169.) are cultivated in Egypt;

and the country furnishes a variety of medicinal plants, as carthamus, tinctorius (fig. 170.), senna, coloquintida, &c., and that curious rooted plant the mandrake (fig. 171.) must at least be a native of the island of Canaan. 170

1058. The live-stock of Egyptian agriculture is principally the ox, the buffalo, the horse, ass, mule, and camel. The oxen of Egypt are employed in tillage, and in giving motion to a variety of hydraulic machines; and as they are harnessed so as to draw from the pitch of the shoulder, their withers are higher than those of our country; and, indeed, they have naturally some resemblance to the bison (Bos ferus), or hunched ox. It has been said that the cows of Egypt bring forth two calves at a time; an instance of fecundity which sometimes happens; but is not reckoned very common. Their calves are reared to maturity, as veal, which is forbidden by the law of the Mahometans, and the Copts also abstain from the use of it, is not eaten in Egypt.

1059. The buffalo is more abundant than the ox, and is equally domestic. It is easily distinguishable by the constantly uniform colour of the hair, and still more by a remnant of ferocity and intractability of disposition, and a wild lower

ing aspect, the characteristics of all half-tamed animals. The females are reared for the sake of the milk, and the males to be slaughtered and eaten. The flesh is somewhat red, hard, and dry; and has also a musky smell, which is rather unpleasant.

1060. The horses of Egypt rank next to those of the Arabians, and are remarkable for their valuable qualities. Here, as in most countries of the East, they are not castrated either for domestic use or the cavalry.

1061. The asses of Egypt have no less a claim to distinction than the horses; and these, as well as those of Arabia, are esteemed for their vigor and beauty the finest in the world. They are sometimes sold for a higher price than even the horses. They are more hardy than horses, less difficult as to the quality and quantity of their food, and are therefore preferred in traversing the deserts. The handsomest asses seen at Cairo are brought from Upper Egypt and Nubia. On ascending the Nile, the influence of climate is perceptible in these animals, which are most beautiful in the Said, but are in every respect inferior towards the Delta. With the most distinguished race of horses and asses, Egypt possesses also the finest mules; some of which, at Cairo, exceed in value the price of the most beautiful horses.

1062. The camel and dromedary, as every body knows, are the beasts of burden in Egypt, and not only answer all the purposes of our waggons and public conveyances, but bear the conveyances of luxury (fig. 172.), in which the females of the higher classes pay their visits on extraordinary occasions.