12. Of culinary vegetables, it is probable the Egyptians had the greater part of those used by the Jews and Greeks. Upon the outside of the pyramid of Cheops was found an inscription, in Egyptian characters, recording the various sums of money expended, in the progress of the work, for the radishes, onions, and garlic consumed by the workmen. That the art of cultivating vegetables, both in gardens and fields, must have been in an advanced state, is evident from the pains taken to provide the means of irrigation. Herodotus says that the Bucolic marshes and fens abounded with the lotus plant, the seeds of which the natives ate as bread. (Notes to Rameses, vol. i. p. 340.)
