abattichim. The similar Arabic word batekh is a generic name for melons, etc., and would include different species. The common melon in the East is the cucumis melo , and the water melon the cucurbita citrullus. The melon was one of the fruits the Israelites had eaten in Egypt, and for which they longed in the wilderness. Numbers 11:5 . Kitto long remembered the gratitude with which he received a slice of melon when travelling in a hot and dry plainin the East.