. The dawn of civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea . s fertile than Egypt (op. cit., vol. ii. p. 423). Loftus, whowas neither, and had not visited Egypt, declares, on the contrary, that the hanks of the Euphratesare no less productive than those of the Nile (Travels and Researches in Chaldsea, p. 14). 4 The flora of Mesopotamia is described briefly by Hœfeb, Chaldée, pp. 180-182; cf. Oliviersaccount of it (op. cit., vol. ii. pp. 41b, et seq., and 443, et seq.). THE FLORA: CEREALS AND THE DATE-PALM. 555 were first cultivated in Western Asia, and that they spread from hence to Syria,Egypt, and the w
. The dawn of civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea . s fertile than Egypt (op. cit., vol. ii. p. 423). Loftus, whowas neither, and had not visited Egypt, declares, on the contrary, that the hanks of the Euphratesare no less productive than those of the Nile (Travels and Researches in Chaldsea, p. 14). 4 The flora of Mesopotamia is described briefly by Hœfeb, Chaldée, pp. 180-182; cf. Oliviersaccount of it (op. cit., vol. ii. pp. 41b, et seq., and 443, et seq.). THE FLORA: CEREALS AND THE DATE-PALM. 555 were first cultivated in Western Asia, and that they spread from hence to Syria,Egypt, and the whole of The soil there is so favourable to the growthof cereals, that it yields usually two hundredfold, and in places of exceptionalfertility three hundredfold. The leaves of the wheat and barley have a widthof four digits. As for the millet and sesame, which in altitude are as great astrees, I will not state their height, although I know it from experience, beingconvinced that those who have not lived in Babylonia would regard my r. THE GATHERING OF THE SPATH ES OF THE MALE PALM TREE. statement with incredulity. 8 Herodotus in his enthusiasm exaggerated thematter, or perhaps, as a general rule, he selected as examples the exceptionalinstances which had been mentioned to him : at present wheat and barley givea yield to the husbandman of some thirty or forty The date-palmmeets all. the other needs of the population ; they make from it a kind ofbread, wine, vinegar, honey, cakes, and numerous kinds of stuffs; the smithsuse the stones of its fruit for charcoal ; these same stones, broken and macerated, 1 Native traditions collected by Berossus confirm this (fragm. i. in Fr. Lenormant, Essai de Com-mentaire sur les fragments cosmogoniques de Bérose, p. 6), and the testimony of Olivier is usually citedas falling in with that of the Chaldcean writer. Olivier is considered, indeed, to have discovered wildcereals in Mesopotamia. He only says, however {Voyage dans VE
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