The times., 1899-09-24
GARDENING IN OLD EGYPT.
Truckers Were Established in
Pharnoh,s Land An $500 h. q.

A
cifscation OF a handicraft there earlier
than 2S0o B. C. But at this date lived
Sharrukin, Lord of Agade Ia Accad. on the
| Persian Gulf The statue OF this monarch
was discovered some years ago. with
long inscription. dictated by himself, Civ
ing an account of his career. II brayely
confesses that he did not know who his
father was. but his mother was princess
The appearance OF baby under such con-
ditions is not approved in the humhlest
FAMILY. To avoid unpleesantness the lady
put her offspring into basket OF rushes,
coated with bitumen. and set it afoat
upon the river. And, go says Sharrukin.
The river bore me along TO Akki the
Water Carrier il bore me. Akki the Wa
ter Carrier in the goodness OF his heart
lifted me up. AS his own child Akki the
Water Carrier raised me- He made
his gardener And as a gardener the god
dess Istar loved me" etc.-in short under
her protection he rose in the world. fought
and conquered, and made himself the
paramount King of Accad.
Here We find several facts OF high in
terest Gardeners We're well '.estab-
lished,' as they themselves would put it.
in $500 B. c., that water carrier employ
ed one, and so highly esteemed that god
desses did not disdain to keep company
with them. Mythology confirms this view
1t would seem that the great goddess had
an amiable weakness for gardeners-with-
out prejudice to other mortals equally at
traetive when such could be found. Gisd-
hubar, the Chaldean Hercules was one OF
the latter but his virtue was as adamau-
tine as his biceps, and he sternly rebuked
the lady's forwardness. How many poor
fellows have you beguiled2' he cried for
we have report OF the conversation
Ruthlessly the strong man enumerated her
victims. 'Moreoyer''-this is the one that
interests us-"thou didst love Isullanu.
the gardener of thy father, who was ever
raising for thee costly plants
In another version OF the myth the name
of this sacred horticulturist is Sisigsig.
which means, by Interpretation, "He who
maketh green the living things evidently
a skillful and conscientious person until
this wicked coquette, prehistoric Clara
We're de We're, broke his heart for pas
time Gisdhubar does not go into de-
tails, but We are to suppose that ne lost
place and the gentleman refused him a
eharaeter-then, probably, be took to
drink. IL will be observed, however. that
Isuiianu, or Sisigsig. was in the employ Of
lStar's father. And Istar was the most
powerful of goddesses. the supreme pa
troness of conquering Assyria, familiar TO
US at this day under the Grecized form
"Astarte- Her parent, therefore. must
surely have been drst-class god-at least
he would have had his domicile In heaven.
And he kept gardener there Is it not
! rightly said that this Is the most venerable
| OF professions? 1t was a nursery of kings
| in the early time Dealing with the pas
sage We have just cited, Prof. Sayce re-
marked. in his Hilbert lectures on the
| Myth OF Gisdhubar that IsulIanu was
probably the prototype OF Sargon the
| gardener loved by Istar. but. unlike Gisd-
hubar, proud Of it," We cannot follow this
reference. Sargon was a usuTper, a man OF
| low birth, who restored the glory Of AS
! syria-it is not commonly known that he
| was gardener. But assurely Prof. Sayce
is right. The very greatest OF these
| mighty Kings. however. Tiglath Pileser H.
| who made Ahaz his vassai and carried
away the tribes beyond the Jordan, passed
his early years in that occupation.
1t Is not little odd that so many great
monarchs should have been associated with
gardening. At later date, after the de-
| struction OF Tyre. Alexander commissioned
his favorite Hephaestion TO seek out
member OF the royal house Of Sidon will
ing TO rule the distracted and ruined cOun-
| try. Hephaestion chose one belonging TO
branch so decayed that he had to get
his livelihood by growing vegetables for
the market and we are told expressly that
ne proved himself an admirable King
| There was an instance curiOusly like this
only the other day. When the Rajah OF
| abominable conduct, and all his near kins-
folk appeared TO be equally infamous. Sir
Lepei Griffin received instructions from
| the Indian Government TO find a de-
cent scion OF the family II possible. He
himself has told the story OF his search
At length the mobiles and genealogists trac-
ed out a distant relative, whose pedigree
was beyond dispute: but his forefathers
had succumbed TO a palace intrigue and
fallen into the deepest poverty. In fact as
the reader will hear without surprise. he
was market gardener. The Indian Gov
ernment put him On the throne. and. says
Sir Lepel Griffin, it has never repented the
act For the first time in living memory
that Rajput state is governed with inteII-
gence and honesty.
To return TO the antique world 1t must
not be thought that an Oriental garden in
the earliest recorded time was a wilder
/ ness OF pot-herbS and medical .'Simplss'
as in the days Of our barbarous forefa-
theirs when the name was invented The
craft must have been scientific already.
perhaps to degree which will startIe rs
when the facts become known-as they
may. probably enough. Prof Sayce goes
so far as to assert roundly, in dealing with
the reign of Tiglath Pilser /. in Nineveh
ne established botanic garden" And
that monarch came to the throne about
1l3O b. G. Only a specialist of the highest
rank could venture TO criticise a statement
of fact made by Prof. Sayce, but ii seems
possible that he uses the term botanic
garden" in a sense to which botanists are
unaccustOmed-being less familiar with
their science. perhaps. than with the Gu
neiform. Assuredly. however. Tiglath was
an enthusiastic collector" In his annals
we read: "As for the cedar, the likkarin
tree, and the almug, from the Countries
have conquered these trees, which none of
the kings. my fathers, that were before me
had planted. took and in the gardens of
my land | set, and by the name Of garden
| | called them What was not in nv Land
took. and | made the gardens OF Assyria.
Passages TO the same effect, almost in the
same words. excepting the species of plant
or tree, might be given from the records
| OF every Assyrian monarch.
And not from those records only Com
pare, as the learned say, the INSCRIPTIONS
of conquering PharaObs-Thothmes III
for example. One of them. at Karnak runs
thus: Here are all the kinds of plants
and all the kinds of flowers from the land
of Ta-Neter. the Holy Land. which the
King discovered when he went into the
country OF Ruthen (Syria) to conquer il, as
his father Armen had commanded. They
are under his feet. henceforward until
eternity. What the spIen-
did soil brings forth have had represented
in this picture. to offer it to father Arnen
in his Temple as a memorial for all time -
The drawings follow. and very wonderful
they are. Another inscription tells how
Thothmes imported all the new plants
found in his Ethipoan campaigns. So en-
thusiastic was this great man in COLLECT
ing" that four new birds gave him more
pleasure than all the indemnity exacted
from the vanquished, as he himself de-
trIa DtVrT ThDt6