n. In Egypt they required great
attention; and so few are its plants at the present day, that the
owners of hives often take the bees in boats to various spots upon the
Nile, in quest of flowers. They are a smaller kind than our own; and
though found wild in the country, they are far less numerous than
wasps, hornets, and ichneumons. The wild bees live mostly under
stones, or in clefts of the rock, as in many other countries; and the
expression of Moses, as of the Psalmist, "honey out of the rock,"
shows that in Palestine their habits were the same. Honey was thought
of great importance in Egypt, both for household purposes, and for an
offering to the gods; that of Benha (thence surnamed _El assal_), or
Athribis, in the Delta, retained its reputation to a late time; and a
jar of honey from that place was one of the four presents sent by John
Mekaukes, the governor of Egypt, to Mohammed.

Large gardens were usually divided into different parts; the principal
sections being appropriated to the date and sycamore trees, and to the
vineyard. The former may be called the orchard. The flower and kitchen
gardens also occupied a considerable space, laid out in beds; and
dwarf trees, herbs, and flowers, were grown in red earthen pots,
exactly like our own, arranged in long rows by the walks and borders.

Besides the orchard and gardens, some of the large villas had a park
or paradise, with its fish-ponds and preserves for game, as well as
poultry-yards for keeping hens and geese, stalls for fattening cattle,
wild goats, gazelles, and other animals originally from the desert,
whose meat was reckoned among the dainties of the table.

It was in these extensive preserves that the rich amused themselves
with the chase; and they also enclosed a considerable space in the
desert itself with net-fences, into which the animals were driven, and
shot with arrows, or hunted with dogs.

Gardens are frequently represented in the tombs of Thebes and other
parts of Egypt, many of which are remarkable for their extent. The one
here introduced is shown to have been surrounded by an embattled wall,
with a canal of water passing in front of it, connected with the
river. Between the canal and the wall, and parallel to them both, was
a shady avenue of various trees; and about the centre was the
entrance, through a lofty door, whose lintel and jambs were decorated
with hieroglyphic inscriptions, containing the name of the owner of
the grounds, who i