Another tree used in avenues, and which grows to a greater height and with larger limbs than the lebekh, is the Egyptian sycamore. It is a species of the Indian fig. The largeness of its limbs enables you to see the whole of its skeleton. The skeleton of the lebekh is concealed by the multiplicity of its branches, and the density of its foliage. There is a fine specimen of this sycamore in the first Nubian village, on the way from Assouan to Philæ, and another equally good on the bank of the river just opposite Philæ. Trees of this kind have more of the appearance of age than others in Egypt. Their bark is of a whitish colour, and their large branches are covered with little leafless spur-like twigs, of a dingy black, on which are produced their round green fruit, about as big as bantams’ eggs. These spur-like processes on the branches are, I suppose, the homologues of the descending aërial roots of its congener, the banyan-tree of India, of which latter also I saw one or two good specimens in gardens in Egypt. It was from the imperishable wood of the sycamore that the ancient Egyptians made their mummy cases. The fine old avenue from Cairo to Shoobra, three miles in length, is composed of generally good specimens of this tree, intermingled with the acacia, lebekh, and here and there a few tamarisks.
The tree which approaches nearest to the ability to support itself in Egypt, without man’s aid, is the tamarisk. It is a tree that drinks very little, and takes a great deal of killing. You see it growing as a stunted shrub in the nitre-encrusted depressions of the desert in the neighbourhood of Ismailia, and elsewhere, where it can only very occasionally be refreshed by a stray shower. Wherever it can get the little moisture, with which it is satisfied, it becomes a graceful tree.
The thorny small-leaved acacia gives but little shade. It produces a small yellow flower, which is a complete globe, and has a sweet scent. It is in flower at Christmas. If this is the acanthus of Herodotus, its wood must have been largely used when he was in Egypt for the construction of the river boats, which were often of very great capacity.
The dôm palm is occasionally seen in Upper Egypt. The first I fell in with was at Miniéh. That, I believe, is the most northerly point at which it is found. Its peculiarity is that, when the stem has reached a few feet above the ground, it bifurcates. It then has two stems and two heads. When these two stems have grown out to the length of a few feet they, too, each of them, bifurcate, following the example of the parent stem. There are now four stems with heads. Another repetition of the process gives eight, and so on. In fact, it is a branching palm, and every branch is a complete palm-tree. The whole is a cluster of palm-trees on one stock.
These are all the trees one notices in travelling through the country. The list is soon run through, but I saw that an attempt was being made to add to the list. In the neighbourhood of the Viceroy’s palaces I found two species of Australian eucalyptus. They appeared to approve of the soil and climate, and gave promise of soon becoming fine trees. They do well at Nice, and will probably do better in Egypt.
Every one of the trees I have mentioned remains, in Egypt, in full foliage throughout the winter.
CHAPTER XLIX.
GARDENING IN EGYPT.
The Garden of God.—Ezekiel.
That horticulture was a favourite occupation among the ancient Egyptians is shown abundantly by their sculptures and paintings. Representations of gardens are so common, that we may infer that no residence, of any pretensions, was considered complete without one. We even see that rare and interesting plants, brought from Asia and Ethiopia, each with a ball of earth round the roots, carefully secured with matting, formed at times a part of the royal tribute. The very lotus, which may be regarded as, among flowers, the symbol of Pharaohnic Egypt, is now supposed to have been an importation from India. In this matter, as in every other respect, the country has sadly retrograded.