ADASHIM (Vie ; Sept. OaK6s; Vulg. lens).
is the interpretation given by our own and most other versions, and there is no reason to question its accuracy. In Syria lentiles are still called in adders (Russell, N. H. of Aleppo, i. 74). Lentiles appear to have been cnieny used for making a kind of pottage. The red pot tage for which Esau bartered his birthright was of lentiles (Gen. xxv. 29-34). The term red was, as with us, extended to yellowish brown, which must have been the true colour of the pottage, if derived from lentiles. The Greeks and Romans also called lentiles red (see authorities in Celsius, i. ro5). Len tiles were among the provisions brought to David when he fled from Absalom (2 Sam. xvii. 23), and a field of lentiles was the scene of an exploit of one of David's heroes (2 Sam. xxiii. From Ezek. iv. 9, it would appear that lentiles were sometimes used as bread. This was, doubtless, in times of scarcity, or by thepoor. Sonnini (Travels, p. 603, English translation) assures us that in southernmost Egypt, where corn is comparatively scarce, lentiles mixed with a little barley form almost the only bread in use among the poorer classes. It is called bettan, is of a golden yellow character, and is not bad, although rather heavy. In that country, in deed, probably even more than in Palestine, len tiles anciently, as now, formed a chief article of food among the labouring classes. This is repeat. edly noticed by ancient authors ; and so much attention was paid to the culture of this useful pulse, that certain varieties became remarkable for their excellence. The lentiles of Pelusium, in the part of Egypt nearest to Palestine, were esteemed both in Egypt and foreign countries (Virg. Georg. i. 228); and this is probably the valued Egyptian variety which is mentioned in the lifishna (tit. Xil vim, xviii. 8) as neither large nor small. 'large quantities of lentiles were exported from Alex andria (Augustin. Comm. in Ps. xlvi.) Pliny, in mentioning two Egyptian varieties, incidentally lets us know that one of them was red, by remarking that they like a red soil, and by whether the pulse may not have thence derived the reddish colour which it imparted to the pottage made with it (Hist. Nat. xviii. 12). This illustrates Jacob's
red pottage. Dr. Shaw (i. 257) also states that these lentiles easily dissolve in boiling, and form a red or chocolate coloured pottage, much esteemed in North Africa and Western Asia. Putting these facts together, it is likely that the reddish which is now so common in Egypt (Descript. de r Egypte, xix. 65), is the sort to which all these statements refer.
The tomb-paintings actually exhibit the opera tion of preparing pottage of lentiles, or, as Wil kinson (Anc. Egyptians, ii. 387) describes it, a man engaged in cooking lentiles for a soup or por ridge; companion brings a bundle of faggots for th fire, and the lentiles themselves are seen standing near him in wicker baskets.' The lentiles of Palestine have been little noticed by travellers. Nau (Voyage Nouveau, p. 13) mentions lentiles along with corn and pease, as a principal article of traffic at Tortoura ; D'Arvieux (1127moirrs, 237) speaks of a mosque, originally a Christian church, over the patriarchal tomb at Hebron, con nected with which was a large kitchen, where lentile pottage was prepared every day, and dis tributed freely to strangers wad poor people, in memory of the transaction between Esau and Jacob, which they (erroneously) believe to have taken place at this spot.
The lentile (Ervum lens) is an annual plant, and the smallest of all the leguminosm which are culti vated. It rises with a weak stalk about eighteen inches high, having pinnate leaves at each joint composed of several pairs of narrow leaflets, and terminating in a tendril, which supports it by fas tening about some other plant. The small flowers, which come out of the sides of the blanches on short peduncles, three or four together, are purple, and are succeeded by the short and flat legumes, which contain two or three flat round seeds slightly curved in the middle. The flower appears in May, and the seeds ripen in July. When ripe, the plants are rooted up, if they have been sown along with other plants, as is sometimes done ; but they are cut down when grown by themselves. They are threshed, winnowed, and cleared like corn.—J. K.