ABATTICHIM (p+rmzts; ; Sept. crlicuos). This word occurs only in Numbers xi. 5, where the murmuring Israelites say, `We remember the fish which we did eat freely in Egypt, the cucumbers ' and the abattichim,' etc. The last word has always I been rendered MELONS.' The probable correct ness of this translation may be inferred from melons having been known to the nations of antiquity; and It may be proved to be so, by comparing the original term with the name of the melon in a cognate language such as the Arabic.
The Cucurbitacew, or gourd tribe, are remarkable for their power of adapting themselves to the dif ferent situations where they can be grown. Thus Mr. Elphinstone describes some of them as yielding large and juicy fruit in the midst of the Indian desert, where water is 30o feet from the surface. Extreme of moisture, however, is far from injurious to them, as the great majority are successfully cul tivated in the rainy season in India. Mr. Moorcroft describes an extensive cultivation of melons and cucumbers on the beds of weeds which float on the lakes of Cashmere. They are similarly cultivated in Persia and in China. In India `some of the species may be seen in the most arid places, others in the densest jungles. Planted at the foot of a tree, they emulate the vine in ascending its branches; and near a hut, they soon cover its thatch with a coating of green. They form a principal portion of the culture of Indian gardens: the farmer even rears them in the neighbourhood of his wells' (Royle, Himalayan Botany, p. 218).
These plants, though known to the Greeks, are not natives of Europe, but of Eastern countries, whence they must have been introduced into Greece. They probably may be traced to Syria or Egypt, whence other cultivated plants, as well as civilization, have travelled westwards. In Egypt they formed a portion of the food of the people at the very early period when the Israelites were led by Moses from its rich cultivation into the midst of the desert. The melon, the water-melon, and several others of the Cucurbitacew, are mentioned by Wilkinson (Thebes, p. 212; Ancient Egyptians, iv. 62) as still cultivated there, and are described as being sown in the middle of December, and cut, the melons in ninety and the cucumbers in sixty days.
If we consider that the occurrences so graphi cally detailed in the Bible took place in the East, we should expect, among the natural products noticed, that those which appear from the earliest times to have been esteemed in these countries would be those mentioned. But as all are apt to undervalue the good which they possess, and think of it only when beyond their reach, so the Israelites in the desert longed for the delicious coolness of the melons of Egypt. Among these we may sup pose both the melon and water-melon to have been included, and therefore both will be treated of in this article.
By the term "Matt/chin/ there is little doubt that melons are intended, as, when we remove the plural form inz, we have a word very similar to the Arabic Butikh, which is the name of the melon in that language. This appears, however, to be a generic term, inasmuch as they employ it simply to indicate the common or musk melon, while the water-melon is called Butileh-hindee, or Indian melon. The former is called in Persian khurpoozelz, and in Hindee khurbooja. It is pro bably a native of the Persian region, whence it has been carried south into India, and north into Europe, the Indian being a slight corruption of the Persian name. As the Arabian authors append frefath as the Greek name of bzitikh, which is con sidered to be the melon, it is evident that jirfask must, in their estimation, be the same. From there being no p in Arabic, and as the diacritical point noon might, by transcribers, have easily been mis taken for that of shen, it is more than probable that this is intended for ,rlirwv, especially if we compare the description in Avicenna with that in Dioscorides. By Galen it was called Afelopepo, from ?title and peps, the former from being roundish in form like the apple. The melon is supposed to have been the of Theophrastus, and the ainuos of Hippocrates. It was known to the Romans, and cultivated by Columella, with the assistance of some precaution at cold times of the year. It is said to have been introduced into this country about the year 1520, and was called musk melon to distinguish it from the pumpkin, which was usually called melon.