. Edinburgh journal of natural history and of the physical sciences. AND OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 55 was beautifally varied by small sheets of water presenting the dazzUug reflections of the solar rays. Following the desert on the north, I visited the gardens of a village called Madrea, about four leagues from Cairo, where it was pretended that the Balm of Gilead grew (Amyris Opobalsamum). This shrub had been naturalized there by one of the Turkish Sultans, who had introduced several plants from the neighbourhood of Mecca, at the time of the conquest of Arabia. It was in vain that I made dili
. Edinburgh journal of natural history and of the physical sciences. AND OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 55 was beautifally varied by small sheets of water presenting the dazzUug reflections of the solar rays. Following the desert on the north, I visited the gardens of a village called Madrea, about four leagues from Cairo, where it was pretended that the Balm of Gilead grew (Amyris Opobalsamum). This shrub had been naturalized there by one of the Turkish Sultans, who had introduced several plants from the neighbourhood of Mecca, at the time of the conquest of Arabia. It was in vain that I made diligent in- quiries of the Arabs, in my attempts to find this plant, which Linnaeus places in Egypt, and he probably received some specimens proceeding from these ancient cultures. In the month of November, I visited the province of Fayoum, and found here nearly the same plants as formerly stated to grow on the banks of the Nile. Among those few which are not found in Lower Egypt, I observed the magnificent Asclepias gigantea, and the Cyperus alopecuroides, which the natives use for fabricating their pretty mats. At three leagues distance from Medinetta-el-Fayoum, there is a small town called Fedamin, the most aacient in the province, and the environs of which arc tho best cultivated. It is the only place where the Christians still make wine. The Vines acquire here an enormous size, and their plantation mounts back probably to a very remote age. The Olives, whose trunks are sometimes more than two metres (4^ feet) in dia- meter, produce three or four thick branches which are about half a metro in diameter, and 5 or 6 metres high. Around them spring up thousands of offsets, which are cultivated at present to be planted out in tufts in the same manner as our Lilacs. These trees appear to have been standing before the era of IVIahomet, for since that epoch no plantation has been made in Egj^pt, excepting those of the reigning princes. Any person visiting the neighbourhood of Castle-S
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