iT, Boox I. AGRICULTURE OF ANTIQUITY. 5
nt, Property in land was recognised, the same grains cultivated, and the same domestic rh animals reared or employed; some led a wandering life and dwelt in tents like the Arabs; and others dwelt in towns or cities, and pursued agriculture and commerce like tity the fixednations. Itis reasonable indeed, and consistent w ith received opinions, that this pre- should be the case; for admitting the human race to have been near ly exterminated at the the deluge, those who survived that cé ttastrophe would possess the more useful arts, and elt ge nal habits of life of the antediluvian world. Noah accordingly is styled a a husband- the man, and is said to have cultivated the vine and made wine. ld little more than three lace centuries afterwards, Abraham is stated to have had extensive flocks and herds, slaves of ince both sexes, silver and gold, and to have purchased a family sepulchre with a portion of cent territory around it. Isaac fe son, ae his residence in E-alestine, is said to have sown ture and reaped a hundred fold. Corn seems to have been grown in abundance in Egypt; lture for Abraham, and afterwards Jacob, had recourse to that country dGring times of famine, re of Irrigation was also extensively Pe actised there, for it is said(Gen. xiii. 10.) that the plain any of Jordan was watered ever ywhere, even as the garden of the Lord, the land of Egypt. dopt Such is the amount of acricultural information contained in the writings of Moses, from dern which the general conclusion is, that agriculture, in the Kast, has been‘practised i in all or most of its branches from time immemorial.‘The traditions of other countries, however,
as recorded by various writers, ascribe its invention to certain fabulous personages; as the Egyptians to Osiris; the Greeks to Ceresand Triptolemus; the Latins to Janus; the Chinese to Chin-hong, successor of Fo-hi.
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Secr. I. Of the Agriculture of Egypt.
8. The origin of agriculiure has been sought by modern philosophers in natural cir- cumstances. Man in his rudest state, they consider, would first live on fruits or roots, afterwards by hunting or fishing, next by the pasturage of animals, and lastly, to all of
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Mish these he would add the rai sing of corn. Tillage, or the culture of the soil for this pur- pose, is supposed to have been first practised in imitation of the effects produced by the
and sand and mud left by the inundations of rivers. These take place more or less in every
rem- country, and their effects on the herbage which spontaneously spring up among the de-
op of posited sand and mud must at a very early period have excited the attention cf the coun-
sub- tryman.‘This hypothesis seems supported by the traditions and natural circumstances of Egypt, a country overflown by a river, civilised from time immemorial, and s abundant in corn as to be called the granary of the adjoining states. Sir Isaac nee
and Stillingfleet accordingly, cons dered that corn was first cultivated on the banks of the Nile. Sir Isaac fixes on Lower Egypt; but as Herodotus and other ancient Greek writers assert that that country was once a marsh, and as Major Rennel in his work on
the geography of Herodotus is of the same opinion, Stillingfleet(orks, vol. li, 524.) concider it more probable that the cultivation of land was invented in U pper Egypt, and proceeded downwards according to the course of the Nile. &. The situation and natural phenomena of Upper Egypt, Stillingfleet considers, rendered it fitter for the invention of cultivation than the low country;‘for while Lower Egypt was a marsh, formed by the depositions of the Nile, the principal part of Upper Egypt was a valley a few leagues broad, bounded by mountains, and on both sides declining to the river. Hence it was overflowed only for a certain time and season; the waters rapidly declined, and the ground, enriched by the mud, was soon dry, and i ina od in state fit to receive seed. The process of cultivation in this country was also most obvious ee and natural; for the ground being every year covered with mud brought by the Nile, those and plants springing up spontaneously after its recess, must have given the hint, that sia: nothing more was necessary than to scatter the seeds, and they would vegetate, Secondly, es the ground was prepared by nature for receiving the seed, and required only stirring toe. sufficient to cover it. From this phenomen on the surrounding nations learned two ae things: first, that the ground before sowing should be prepared, a nd cleared from plants; : si and secondly, that the mixture of rich mould and sand would produce fertility.© What ae is here stated may appear without foundation as to Upper Egypt; because at present, in eks. the vicinity of Thebes, water is raised by art. But this objection is obviated by the tes- d the timony of Dr. Pococke, who is of opinion that formerly Upper Egypt was overflowed, in ished the same manner as Lower Egypt was afterwards, and is to this a the day.’(tilling fleet’s Life and Works,&c. ii. 524.) sixth 10.. The invention of agricultural implements, must have iiatts been coeval with the invention of aration; and accordingly they are supposed to have originated in Egypt. Antiquarians con- are agreed, that the primeval implement used in cultivating year's the soil, must have been of the pick kind.(fig. 2.) A t that medal of the greatest antiquity, dug up at Syracuse, con- oe tained an impression of such an instrument(LHncyc. of Gard. fig. 77.): and its pro- . Bao