File:The dawn of civilization- Egypt and Chaldaea (1897) (14763447105).jpg

Identifier: dawnofcivilizati01masp (find matches)
Title: The dawn of civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Maspero, G. (Gaston), 1846-1916
Subjects: Civilization
Publisher: London : S.P.C.K.
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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Text Appearing Before Image:
The feathery tamarisk3 and the 1 A. Eaffenau-Delile, Flore dEgypte, in the Description de lÉgypte, vol. xx. pp. 435-448. TheEgyptians called the date-palm baûnirit, baûnit (Loret, Étude sur quelques arbres égyptiens, in theBecueil de Travaux, vol. ii. pp. 21-26). 2 From a drawing by Boudier, after a photograph by Insinger, taken in 1881. 3 The Egyptian name for the tamarisk, asari, asri, is identical with that given to it in Semiticlanguages, both ancient and modern (Loret, La Flore pharaonique, No. 88, p. 88). -This wouldsuggest the question whether the tamarisk did not originally come from Asia. In that case it musthave been brought to Egypt from remote antiquity, for it figures in the Pyramid texts. Bricks ofNile mud, and Memphite and Theban tombs, have yielded us leaves, twigs, and even whole branchesoî the tamarisk (Schweinfdrth, Les dernières Découvertes botaniques dans les anciens tombeaux delÉgypte, in the Bulletin de lInstitut égyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi. p. 283).
Text Appearing After Image:
30 TEE NILE AND EGYPT. nabk,1 the moringa,2 the carob,3 or locust tree, several varieties of acaciaand mimosa—the sont,4 the mimosa habbas,5 the white acacia,6 the AcaciaFarnesiana 7—and the pomegranate tree,8 increase in number with the distancefrom the Mediterranean. The dry air of the valley is marvellously suitedto them, but makes the tissue of their foliage hard and fibrous, imparting anaërial aspect, and such faded tints as are unknown to their growth in otherclimates.9 The greater number of these trees do not reproduce themselvesspontaneously, and tend to disappear when neglected. The Acacia Seyal,10formerly abundant by the banks of the river, is now almost entirely con-fined to certain valleys of the Theban desert, along with a variety of thekernelled dôm-palm,11 of which a poetical description has come down to 1 The nabéca, or nabk, Zizyphus Spina Christi, Desf., is the nûbsû of the ancient Egyptian lists(Loret, La Flore pharaonique, No. 112, pp. 44, 45; Dumichen, in

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