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GR 


Ce 


UC-NRLF 


SB    Ml    132 


:  HGETABLE  LA! 

OF  TARTAR! 


art&rica  Jjoromez, 


THE  "  BAROMETZ,"  OR  "  TARTARIAN  LAMB." 

After  Joannes  Zahn. 


THE    VEGETABLE    LAMB 


OF 


TARTARY; 

A  Curious  Fable  of  the  Cotton  Plant. 


TO  WHICH   IS   ADDED 


A    SKETCH    OF   THE    HISTORY   OF   COTTON    AND 
THE    COTTON    TRADE. 


BY 


HENRY   LEE,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.,  F.Z.S., 

SOMETIME     NATURALIST     OF     THE     BRIGHTON     AQUARIUM, 

AND 

AUTHOR  OF   '  THE  OCTOPUS,  OR  THE  DEVIL-FISH    OF  FICTION  AND    OF   FACT,' 
'SEA  MONSTERS   UNMASKED,'    '  SEA   FABLES   EXPLAINED,'   ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


LONDON: 

SAMPSON  LOW,  MARSTON,  SEARLE,  &  RIVINGTON, 

CROWN  BUILDINGS,  188,  FLEET  STREET. 

1887. 

All  Rights  reserved. 


£•*'•*•*  2   *         *     /.      *  'LONDON  : 
PRINTED  BY  WILUAM  CLOWES  AND  SONS,    LIMITED, 

STAMFORD  STREET   AND  CHARING  CROSS. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION    .         .         .         .  . .     I 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  HISTORY  OF  COTTON  AND  ITS  INTRODUCTION  INTO  EUROPE  .      63 

APPENDIX     .        .        *  '•     .        .        .        .        .        .        .        •      97 

INDEX  .        .'.•"•"..»' 107 


M115787 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FIG.  PAGE 

THE    "BAROMETZ,"    OR   "TARTARIAN   LAMB." — After   Joannes 
Zahn    .........  Frontispiece 

I. — THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  PLANT. — After  Sir  John  Mandeville      .       3 

2. — PORTRAIT   OF  THE   "BAROMETZ,"   OR   "SCYTHIAN    LAMB." — 

After  Claude  Duret 9 

3. — ADAM  AND  EVE  ADMIRING  THE  PLANTS  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF 
EDEN.  THE  "VEGETABLE  LAMB"  IN  THE  BACKGROUND. — 
Fac-simile  of  the  Frontispiece  of  Parkinson's  "  Paradisus "  .  19 

4. — RHIZOME  OF  A  FERN,  SHAPED  BY  THE  CHINESE  TO  REPRESENT 
A  TAN-COLOURED  DOG,  AND  LAID  BEFORE  THE  ROYAL 
SOCIETY  BY  SIR  HANS  SLOANE  AS  A  SPECIMEN  OF  THE 
"BAROMETZ,"  OR  "TARTARIAN  LAMB." — From  the  '•Philo- 
sophical Transactions,  vol.  xx.,  p.  86 1  v  .  .  25 

5. — ROUGH  MODEL  OF  A  TAN-COLOURED  DOG ,  SHAPED  BY  THE 
CHINESE  FROM  THE  RHIZOME  OF  A  FERN,  AND  SUBMITTED 
TO  THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY  BY  DR.  BREYN  AS  A  SPECIMEN  OF 
THE  "  SCYTHIAN  VEGETABLE  LAMB,"  OR  BORAMETZ. — From 
the  '  Philosophical  Transactions,  No.  390  ••  .  .  .  .31 

6. — THE  " BORAMETZ,"  OR  "SCYTHIAN  LAMB." — From  De  la  Croix's 

'  Connubia  Florum '  .  .  .  ...  .  .  37 

7. — A  COTTON-POD        .        .     •    .'/     .        .        .-       .      ..        .    61 


PREFACE. 


THE  fable  of  the  existence  of  a  mysterious  "  plant- 
animal  "  variously  entitled  "  The  Vegetable  Lamb  of  Tar- 
tary"  "  The  Scythian  Lamb"  and  "  The  Barometz"  or 
"  Borametz"  is  one  of  the  curious  myths  of  the  Middle  Ages 
with  which  I  have  been  long  acquainted.  Until  the  year 
1883,  not  having  given  serious  thought  to  it,  or  made  it  a 
subject  of  critical  examination,  I  had  been  content  to  accept 
as  correct  the  explanation  of  it  now  universally  adopted  ; 
namely,  that  it  originated  from  certain  little  lamb-like  toy 
figures  ingeniously  constructed  by  the  Chinese  from  the  rhi- 
zome and  frond-stems  of  a  tree-fern,  which,  from  its  identifi- 
cation with  the  object  of  the  fable,  has  received  the  name  of 
Dicksonia  Barometz.  But  during  my  researches  in  the 
works  of  ancient  writers  when  preparing  the  manuscript  of 
my  two  books,  *  Sea  Monsters  Unmasked!  and  '  Sea 
Fables  Explained]  I  came  upon  passages  of  old  authors 
which  convinced  me  that  these  toy  "lambs"  made  from 
ferns  by  the  Chinese  had  no  more  connexion  with  the  story 
of  "  The  Vegetable  Lamb  "  than  the  artificial  mermaids  so 
cleverly  constructed  by  the  Japanese  were  the  cause  and 
origin  of  the  ancient  and  world-wide  belief  in  mermaids. 
Subsequent  investigations  have  confirmed  this  opinion. 

I  have  found  that  all  of  these  old  myths  which  I  have 
been  able  to  trace  to  their  source  have  originated  in  a 
perfectly  true  statement  of  some  curious  and  interesting 


x  PREFACE. 

fact ;  which  statement  has  been  so  garbled  and  distorted, 
so  misrepresented  and  perverted  in  repetition  by  numerous 
writers,  that  in  the  course  of  centuries  its  original  meaning 
has  been  lost,  and  a  monstrous  fiction  has  been  substituted 
for  it.  "  Truth  lies  at  the  bottom  of  a  well,"  says  the  adage  ; 
and  in  searching  for  the  origin  of  these  old  myths  and 
legends,  the  deeper  we  can  dive  down  into  the  past  the 
greater  is  the  probability  of  our  discovering  the  truth  con- 
cerning them.  To  obtain  a  clue  to  the  identity  of  "  The 
Scythian  Lamb "  we  must  consult  the  pages  of  historians 
and  philosophers  who  lived  and  wrote  from  eighteen  to 
sixteen  centuries  before  Sir  John  Mandeville  published  his 
version  of  the  story ;  and,  having  there  found  set  before  us 
the  real  "  Vegetable  Lamb "  in  all  its  truthful  simplicity 
and  beauty,  we  shall  be  able  to  recognise  its  form  and 
features  under  the  various  disguises  it  was  made  to  assume 
by  the  wonder-mongers  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

I  venture  to  believe  that  the  reader  who  will  kindly 
follow  my  argument  (p.  42,  et  seq.)  will  agree  with  me  that 
the  rumour  which  spread  from  Western  Asia  all  over 
Europe,  and  was  a  subject  of  discussion  by  learned  men 
during  many  centuries,  of  the  existence  of  "  a  tree  bearing 
fruit,  or  seed-pods,  which  when  they  ripened  and  burst  open 
were  seen  to  contain  little  lambs,  of  whose  soft  white  fleeces 
Eastern  people  wove  material  for  their  clothing,"  was  a  plant 
of  far  higher  importance  to  mankind  than  the  paltry  toy 
animals  made  by  the .  Chinese  from  the  root  of  a  fern,  of 
which  gew-gaws  only  four  specimens  are  known  to  have 
been  brought  to  this  country.  It  seems  to  me  clear  and 
indisputable  that  the  rumour  referred  to  the  cotton-pod, 
and  originated  in  the  first  introduction  of  cotton  and  the 
fabrics  woven  from  it  into  Eastern  Europe. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  explanation  of  the  process   by 


PREFACE.  xi 

which  the  truthful  report  of  a  remarkable  fact  was  in  time 
perverted  into  the  detailed  history  of  an  absurd  fiction  is 
very  easy  and  intelligible. 

As  this  little  book  was  originally  intended  for  publication, 
like  its  predecessors  before-mentioned,  as  a  hand-book  in 
connection  with  the  Literary  Department  of  the  South 
Kensington  Exhibitions,  I  have  treated  in  a  separate 
chapter  of  the  history  of  cotton,  its  use  by  ancient  races  in 
Asia,  Africa,  and  America,  and  its  gradual  introduction 
amongst  the  nations  of  Europe.  The  various  stages  of  its 
progress  Westward  were  so  distinctly  and  intimately  de- 
pendent on  many  remarkable  events  in  the  world's  history, 
by  which  its  advance  was  alternately  retarded  and  facili- 
tated, that  the  annals  of  the  ''vegetable  wool"  which 
holds  so  important  a  place  amongst  the  manufacturing 
industries  of  Great  Britain  are  hardly  less  romantic  than  the 
fable  of  "  The  Vegetable  Lamb"  which  was  its  forerunner. 

HENRY  LEE. 
SAVAGE  CLUB. 

May,  1887. 


THE 

VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY 

A    CURIOUS    FABLE    OF   THE 
COTTON  PLANT. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE   FABLE   AND   ITS   INTERPRETATION. 

AMONGST  the  curious  myths  of  the  Middle  Ages  none  were 
more  extravagant  and  persistent  than  that  of  the  "  Vege- 
table Lamb  of  Tartary,"  known  also  as  the  "Scythian 
Lamb,"  and  the  "Borametz,"  or  "Barometz,"  the  latter 
title  being  derived  from  a  Tartar  word  signifying  "  a  lamb." 
This  "  lamb  "  was  described  as  being  at  the  same  time  both 
a  true  animal  and  a  living  plant.  According  to  some 
writers  this  composite  "plant-animal"  was  the  fruit  of  a 
tree  which  sprang  from  a  seed  like  that  of  a  melon,  or 
gourd  ;  and  when  the  fruit  or  seed-pod  of  this  tree  was  fully 
ripe  it  burst  open  and  disclosed  to  view  within  it  a  little 
lamb,  perfect  in  form,  and  in  every  way  resembling  an 
ordinary  lamb  naturally  born.  This  remarkable  tree  was 
supposed  to  grow  in  the  territory  of  "  the  Tartars  of  the 
East,"  formerly  called  "  Scythia "  ;  and  it  was  said  that 

B 


LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

;  Yrorrthe  teecfcs  of  these  "tree-lambs,"  which  were  of  sur- 
\l\  pissing  i\frhite4n&ss/£he  natives  of  the  country  where  they 
*  were  founcf  wove  'materials  for  their  garments  and  "  head- 
dress." In  the  course  of  time  another  version  of  the  story 
was  circulated,  in  which  the  lamb  was  not  described  as 
being  the  fruit  of  a  tree,  but  as  being  a  living  lamb 
attached  by  its  navel  to  a  short  stem  rooted  in  the  earth. 
The  stem,  or  stalk,  on  which  the  lamb  was  thus  suspended 
above  the  ground  was  sufficiently  flexible  to  allow  the 
animal  to  bend  downward,  and  browze  on  the  herbage 
within  its  reach.  When  all  the  grass  within  the  length  of 
its  tether  had  been  consumed  the  stem  withered  and  the 
lamb  died.  This  plant-lamb  was  reported  to  have  bones, 
blood,  and  delicate  flesh,  and  to  be  a  favourite  food  of 
wolves,  though  no  other  carnivorous  animal  would  attack  it. 
Many  other  details  were  given  concerning  it,  which  will  be 
found  mentioned  in  the  following  pages.  This  legend  met 
with  almost  universal  credence  from  the  thirteenth  to  the 
seventeenth  centuries,  and,  even  then,  only  gave  place  to  an 
explanation  of  it  as  absurd  and  delusive  as  itself.  Follow- 
ing the  outline  sketched  in  the  preface,  I  shall,  in  this 
chapter,  lay  before  the  reader  the  story  of  the  "  Barometz  " 
or  "Vegetable  Lamb,"  as  related  by  various  writers,  and 
shall  then  give  my  reasons  for  assigning  to  the  fable  an 
interpretation  very  different  from  that  which  has  been 
hitherto  accepted  as  the  true  one. 

The  story  of  a  wonderful  plant  which  bore  living  lambs  for 
its  fruit,  and  grew  in  Tartary,  seems  to  have  been  first 
brought  into  public  notice  in  England  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
III.,  by  Sir  John  Mandeville,  the  "  Knyght  of  Ingelond  that 
was  y  bore  in  the  toun  of  Seynt  Albans,  and  travelide 
aboute  in  the  worlde  in  many  diverse  countreis,  to  se 
mcrvailes  and  customes  of  countreis,  and  diversity's  of 


FIG.  i.— THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  PLANT. 

After  Sir  John  Mandeville. 


This  plate  illustrates  that  version  of  the  Fable  by  which  the 
' '  Vegetable  Lamb  "  is  represented  as  contained  within  a  fruit,  or 
seed-pod,  which,  when  ripe,  bursts  open,  and  discloses  the  little 
lamb  within  it. 


B    2 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.  5 

folkys,  and  diverse  shap  of  men  and  of  beistis."  In  the 
26th  chapter  of  the  book  in  which  he  "  wrot  and  telleth 
all  the  mervaile  that  he  say,"  and  which  he  dedicated  to 
the  King,  he  treats  of  "  the  Countreis  and  Yles  that  ben 
be3ond  the  Lond  of  Cathay,  and  of  the  Frutes  there  "  ;  and 
amongst  the  curiosities  he  met  with  in  the  dominions  of 
the  "  Cham  "  of  Tartary  he  mentions  the  following  : — 

"  Now  schalle  I  seye  5011  semyngly  of  Coimtrees  and  Yles 
that  ben  be3onde  the  Countrees  that  I  have  spoken  of. 
Wherefore  I  seye  you  in  passynge  be  the  Lond  of  Cathaye 
toward  the  high  Ynde,  and  towards  Bacharye,  men  passen 
be  a  Kyngdom  that  men  clepen  Caldilhe :  that  is  a  fair 
Contree.  And  there  growethe  a  maner  of  Fruyt  as  though 
it  weren  Gowrdes :  and  whan  thei  ben  rype  men  kutten 
hem  ato,  and  men  fynden  with  inne  a  lytylle  Best,  in 
Flesche,  in  Bon  and  Blode,  as  though  it  were  a  lytylle 
Lomb  with  outen  Wolle.  And  Men  eten  both  the  Frut 
and  the  Best ;  and  that  is  a  great  Marveylle.  Of  that  Frute 
I  have  eaten  ;  alle  thoughe  it  were  wondirfulle,  but  that  I 
knowe  wel  that  God  is  marveyllous  in  his  Werkes."* 

Sir  John  Mandeville  appears  to  have  never  previously 
heard  of  this  strange  plant,  but  reports  of  its  existence 
under  various  phases  may  be  traced  back,  as  we  shall 
presently  see,  to  a  date  at  least  eighteen  hundred  years 
earlier  than  that  of  his  mention  of  it.  As  it  is  in  the  works 
of  these  older  writers  that  we  shall  find  the  long-sought  key 
of  the  mystery,  we  will  set  them  aside  for  the  present  and 
follow  the  growth  and  dissemination  of  the  fable. 

Claude  Duret,  of  Moulins,  who,  in  his  '  Histoire 
Admirable  des  Plantes  (1605),'  devotes  to  it  a  chapter 
entitled  "  The  Boramets  of  Scythia,  or  Tartary,  true 

*  'The  Voiage  and  Travaile  of  Sir  John  Maundevile,  Knt.'  See 
Appendix  A. 


6  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

Zoophytes  or  plant-animals  ;  that  is  to  say,  plants  living 
and  sensitive  like  animals,"  therein  says  : — 

"  I  remember  to  have  read  some  time  ago  in  a  very 
ancient  Hebrew  book  entitled  in  Latin  the  Talmud  leroso- 
limitanum,  and  written  by  a  Jewish  Rabbi  Jochanan, 
assisted  by  others,  in  the  year  of  salvation  436,  that  a  cer- 
tain personage  named  Moses  Chusensis  (he  being  a  native 
of  Ethiopia)  affirmed,  on  the  authority  of  Rabbi  Simeon, 
that  there  was  a  certain  country  of  the  earth  which  bore  a 
zoophyte,  or  plant-animal,  called  in  the  Hebrew  '  Jeduah? 
It  was  in  form  like  a  lamb,  and  from  its  navel  grew  a  stem 
or  root  by  which  this  zoophyte  or  plant-animal  was  fixed, 
attached,  like  a  gourd,  to  the  soil  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and,  according  to  the  length  of  its  stem  or  root,  it 
devoured  all  the  herbage  which  it  was  able  to  reach  within 
the  circle  of  its  tether.  The  hunters  who  went  in  search  of 
this  creature  were  unable  to  capture  or  remove  it  until  they 
had  succeeded  in  cutting  the  stem  by  well-aimed  arrows  or 
darts,  when  the  animal  immediately  fell  prostrate  to  the 
earth  and  died.  Its  bones  being  placed  with  certain 
ceremonies  and  incantations  in  the  mouth  of  one  desiring 
to  foretell  the  future,  he  was  instantly  seized  with  a  spirit 
of  divination,  and  endowed  with  the  gift  of  prophecy." 

As  I  was  unable  to  find  in  the  Latin  translation  of  the 
Talmud  of  Jerusalem  the  passage  mentioned  by  Claude 
Duret,  and  was  anxious  to  ascertain  whether  any  reference 
to  this  curious  legend  existed  in  the  Talmudical  books,  I 
sought  the  assistance  of  learned  members  of  the  Jewish 
community,  and,  amongst  them,  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hermann 
Adler,  Chief  Rabbi  Delegate  of  the  United  Congregations 
of  the  British  Empire.  He  most  kindly  interested  himself 
in  the  matter,  and  wrote  to  me  as  follows  :— 

"  It  affords  me  much  gratification  to  give  you  the  infor- 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.  7 

mation  you  desire  on  the  Borametz.     In  the  Mishna  Kilaim, 
chap.    viii.    §    5   (a   portion   of  the   Talmud),  the  passage 
occurs  : — '  Creatures  called  Adne  Hasadeh  (literally,  "  lords 
of  the  field  ")  are  regarded  as  beasts.'     There  is  a  variant 
reading, — Abne  Hasadeh  (stones  of  the   field).     A   com- 
mentator, Rabbi  Simeon,  of  Sens  (died  about  1235),  writes 
as  follows  on  this  passage: — 'It  is  stated  in  the  Jerusalem 
Talmud  that  this  is  a  human  being  of  the  mountains  :  it 
lives  by  means  of  its  navel :  if  its  navel  be  cut  it  cannot 
live.     I  have  heard  in  the  name  of  Rabbi  Meir,  the  son 
of  Kallonymos  of  Speyer,  that  this  is  the  animal   called 
'Jeduah?      This   is   the  '  Jedoui'  mentioned    in    Scripture 
(lit.  wizard,  Leviticus  xix.  31)  ;  with  its  bones  witchcraft 
is    practised.      A  kind  of  large  stem  issues  from  a  root 
in  the  earth  on  which  this  animal,  called  ljadual  grows, 
just   as   gourds   and   melons.     Only  the   'Jadua*  has,   in 
all    respects,   a  human   shape,   in    face,  body,  hands,  and 
feet.     By  its  navel  it  is  joined  to  the  stem  that  issues  from 
the  root.     No  creature  can  approach  within  the  tether  of 
the  stem,  for  it  seizes  and  kills  them.     Within  the  tether  of 
the  stem  it  devours  the  herbage  all  around.     When  they 
want  to  capture  it  no  man  dares  approach  it,  but  they  tear 
at  the  stem  until  it  is  ruptured,  whereupon  the  animal  dies.' 
Another  commentator,  Rabbi  Obadja  of  Berbinoro,  gives 
the    same    explanation,    only     substituting — '  They    aim 
arrows  at  the  stem  until  it  is  ruptured,'  &c.    The  author  of  an 
ancient  Hebrew  work,  Maase  Tobia  (Venice,  1705),  gives  an 
interesting  description  of  this  animal.     In  Part  IV.  c.    10, 
page  786,  he  mentions  the  Borametz  found  in  Great  Tartary. 
He  repeats  the  description  of  Rabbi  Simeon,  and  adds  what 
he  has  found  in  'A   New  Work  on  Geography,'  namely, 
that  '  the  Africans  (sic]  in  Great  Tartary,  in  the  province  of 
Sambulala,  are  enriched  by  means  of  seeds  like  the  seeds  of 


8  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

gourds,  only  shorter  in  size,  which  grow  and  blossom  like  a 
stem  to  the  navel  of  an  animal  which  is  called  Borametz  in 
their  language,  i.e.  'Iambi  on  account  of  its  resembling  a 
lamb  in  all  its  limbs,  from  head  to  foot  ;  its  hoofs  are  cloven, 
its  skin  is  soft,  its  wool  is  adapted  for  clothing,  but  it  has 
no  horns,  only  the  hairs  of  its  head,  which  grow,  and  are 
intertwined  like  horns.  Its  height  is  half  a  cubit  and  more. 
According  to  those  who  speak  of  this  wondrous  thing,  its 
taste  is  like  the  flesh  of  fish,  its  blood  as  sweet  as  honey, 
and  it  lives  as  long  as  there  is  herbage  within  reach  of  the 
stem,  from  which  it  derives  its  life.  If  the  herbage  is  de- 
stroyed or  perishes,  the  animal  also  dies  away.  It  has  rest 
from  all  beasts  and  birds  of  prey,  except  the  wolf,  which 
seeks  to  destroy  it.'  The  author  concludes  by  expressing 
his  belief,  that  this  account  of  the  animal  having  the  shape 
of  a  lamb  is  more  likely  to  be  true  than  that  it  is  of  human 
form." 

We  have  an  interesting  record  of  another  journey  into 
Tartary,  undertaken  almost  simultaneously  with  that  of  Sir 
John  Mandeville,  by  Odoricus  of  Friuli,  a  Minorite  friar 
belonging  to  the  monastery  of  Utina,  near  Padua.  The 
exact  date  of  his  departure  on  his  travels  is  not  mentioned, 
but  he  returned  home  in  1330,  and  the  history  of  his  adven- 
tures and  observations*  was  written  in  the  month  of  May  of 
that  year — thus  taking  precedence  by  about  thirty  years  of 
the  narrative  of  the  old  English  traveller. 

Odoricus,  describing  his  visit  to  the  country  of  the 
"  Grand  Can,"  says  : — "  I  heard  of  another  wonder  from 
persons  worthy  of  credit ;  namely,  that  in  a  province  of  the 

*  '  The  Journall  of  Frier  Odoricus  of  Friuli,  one  of  the  order  of  the 
Minorites,  concerning  strange  things  which  he  saw  amongst  the 
Tartars  of  the  East.'—'  Hakluyt  Collection  of  Early  Voyages,'  vol.  ii. 
1809.  See  Appendix  B. 


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THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION,          u 

said  Can,  in  which  is  the  mountain  of  Capsius  *  (the 
province  is  called  '  Kalor '),  there  grow  gourds,  which, 
when  they  are  ripe,  open,  and  within  them  is  found  a  little 
beast  like  unto  a  young  lamb,  even  as  I  myself  have  heard 
reported  that  there  stand  certain  trees  upon  the  shore  of 
the  Irish  Sea  bearing  fruits  like  unto  a  gourd,  which  at  a 
certain  time  of  the  year  do  fall  into  the  water  and  become 
birds  called  Bernacles  ;  and  this  is  true." 

In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  the  "  Scythian 
Lamb "  was  made  a  subject  of  investigation  and  argu- 
ment by  some  of  the  most  celebrated  writers  of  that  period. 

Fortunio  Liceti,  Professor  of  Philosophy  at  Padua, 
writing  in  1518,!  gives  his  complete  credence  to  the  story 
of  the  little  beast  like  a  lamb  found  within  a  fruit-pod 
when  it  bursts  from  over-ripeness  ;  and  besides  the  above 
passage  from  Odoricus  quotes  another,  by  which  it  would 
appear  that  the  worthy  friar  afterwards  himself  saw  this 
botanical  curiosity,  and  described  it  as  being  "  as  white  as 
snow."  I  have  been  unable  to  find  this  paragraph  in  the 
Hakluyt  edition  of  Odoricus's  travels. 

Juan  Eusebio  Nieremberg,  however,  in  his  '  Historia 
Natures'  (Antwerp,  1605),  also  quotes  these  two  passages, 
and  in  exactly  the  same  words.  He  probably  copied  them 
from  Liceti,  and  not  from  the  original. 

Sigismund,  Baron  von  Herberstein,  who,  in  1517  and 
1526,  was  the  ambassador  of  the  Emperors  Maximilian  I. 
and  Charles  V.  to  the  "  Grand  Czard,  or  Duke  of  Muscovy," 
in  his  'Notes  on  Russia,' \  gives  further  details  of  this 

*  Probably  an  error  of  transcription  for  "  Caspius."  The  mountain 
of  Caspius  (now  Kasbin)  is  about  eighty  miles  due  south  of  the  Caspian 
Sea,  and  in  Persian  territory,  near  Teheran. 

t  '  De  Spontaneo  Viventiiim  OrtuJ  lib.  3,  cap.  45. 

%  '  Rerum  Muscoviticarum  CommentariiJ  1549.     See  Appendix  C. 


12  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

"  vegetable-animal."  He  writes  : — "  In  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Caspian  Sea,  between  the  rivers  Volga  and  Jaick, 
formerly  dwelt  the  kings  of  the  Zavolha,  certain  Tartars,  in 
whose  country  is  found  a  wonderful  and  almost  incredible 
curiosity,  of  which  Demetrius  Danielovich,  a  person  in  high 
authority,  gave  me  the  following  account ;  namely,  that  his 
father,  who  was  once  sent  on  an  embassy  by  the  Duke  of 
Muscovy  to  the  Tartar  king  of  the  country  referred  to, 
whilst  he  was  there,  saw  and  remarked,  amongst  other 
things,  a  certain  seed  like  that  of  a  melon,  but  rather 
rounder  and  longer,  from  which,  when  it  was  set  in  the 
earth,  grew  a  plant  resembling  a  lamb,  and  attaining  to  a 
height  of  about  two  and  a  half  feet,  and  which  was  called 
in  the  language  of  the  country  '  Borametz,'  or  *  the  little 
Lamb.'  It  had  a  head,  eyes,  ears,  and  all  other  parts  of 
the  body,  as  a  newly-born  lamb.  He  also  stated  that  it 
had  an  exceedingly  soft  wool,  which  was  frequently  used 
for  the  manufacturing  of  head-coverings.  Many  persons 
also  affirmed  to  me  that  they  had  seen  this  wool.  Further, 
he  told  me  that  this  plant,  if  plant  it  should  be  called,  had 
blood,  but  not  true  flesh  :  that,  in  place  of  flesh,  it  had  a 
substance  similar  to  the  flesh  of  the  crab,  and  that  its  hoofs 
were  not  horny,  like  those  of  a  lamb,  but  of  hairs  brought 
together  into  the  form  of  the  divided  hoof  of  a  living  lamb. 
It  was  rooted  by  the  navel  in  the  middle  of  the  belly,  and 
devoured  the  surrounding  herbage  and  grass,  and  lived  as 
long  as  that  lasted  ;  but  when  there  was  no  more  within  its 
reach  the  stem  withered,  and  the  lamb  died.  It  was  of  so 
excellent  a  flavour  that  it  was  the  favourite  food  of  wolves 
and  other  rapacious  animals.  For  myself,"  adds  the  Baron, 
"  although  I  had  previously  regarded  these  Borametz  as 
fabulous,  the  accounts  of  it  were  confirmed  to  me  by  so 
many  persons  worthy  of  credence  that  I  have  thought  it 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          13 

right  to  describe  it  ;  and  this  with  the  less  hesitation 
because  I  was  told  by  Guillaume  Postal,*  a  man  of  much 
learning,  that  a  person  named  Michel,  interpreter  of  the 
Turkish  and  Arabic  languages  to  the  Republic  of  Venice, 
assured  him  that  he  had  seen  brought  to  Chalibontis  (now 
Karaboghaz),  on  the  south-eastern  shore  of  the  Caspian  Sea, 
from  Samarcand  and  other  districts  lying  towards  the 
south,  the  very  soft  and  delicate  wool  of  a  certain  plant 
used  by  the  Mussulmans  as  padding  for  the  small  caps 
which  they  wear  on  their  shaven  heads,  and  also  as  a 
protection  for  their  chests.  He  said,  however,  that  he  had 
not  seen  the  plant,  nor  knew  its  name,  except  that  it  was 
called  '  Smarcandeos,'  and  was  a  zoophyte,  or  plant-animal. 
The  numerous  descriptions  given  to  him,"  he  added, 
"  differed  so  little  that  he  was  induced  to  believe  that  there 
was  more  truthfulness  in  this  matter  than  he  had  supposed, 
and  to  accept  it  as  a  fact  redounding  to  the  glory  of  the 
Sovereign  Creator,  to  whom  all  things  are  possible." 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  above  narrative  by 
Sigismund  von  Herberstein,  and  probably  in  allusion  to  it, 
Girolamo  Cardano,  of  Pavia,  carefully  discussed  the  phe- 
nomenon in  question  in  his  work  '  De  Rerum  Naturd]  f 
printed  at  Niirnberg  in  1557.  He  endeavoured  to  expose 
the  absurdity  of  the  statements  made  concerning  this 
"  animal-plant,"  and  explained  the  physical  impossibility  of 
its  existence  in  the  manner  described.  He  argued  that  if  it 
had  blood  it  must  have  a  heart,  and  that  the  soil  in  which 
a  plant  grows  is  not  fitted  to  supply  a  heart  with  movement 
and  vital  heat.  He  also  pointed  out  that  embryo  animals, 
especially,  require  warmth  for  their  development  from  the 

*  Author  of  '  Liber  de  Causts,  seu  de  Principiis  et  Originibus 
Natures]  &c. 

|  Lib.  vi.  cap.  22. 


H  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

ovum,  which  they  could  not  obtain  if  raised  from  a  seed 
planted  in  the  earth,  demonstrating  clearly  enough  that  no 
warm-blooded  animal  could  exist  thus  organically  fastened 
to  the  earth.  In  reply,  however,  to  a  possible  question  sug- 
gested by  himself,  why  there  should  be  no  plant-animal  on 
land,  seeing  that  there  are  zoophytes  in  the  sea,  he,  with  the 
weakness  and  indecision  which  were  innate  in  his  character, 
admitted  that  "  where  the  atmosphere  was  thick  and  dense 
there  might,  perhaps,  be  a  plant  having  sensation,  and  also 
imperfect  flesh,  such  as  that  of  mollusks  and  fishes." 

This  weak  point  in  his  argument  laid  him  open  to  the 
criticism  of  his  relentless  enemy,  Julius  Caesar  Scaliger. 
Always  on  the  watch  to  wound  and  harass  Cardano  with 
cutting  satire  and  irritating  gibes,  this  caustic  persecutor 
lost  no  time  in  making  his  attack.  In  one  of  his  "  Exer- 
citationes"*  he  thus  personally  addressed  the  object  of  his 
sneering  disparagement  :— 

"  You  may  regard  as  beyond  ridicule  this  wonderful 
Tartar  plant.  The  most  renowned  of  the  Tartar  hordes  of 
the  present  day,  by  its  reputation,  its  antiquity,  and  its 
nobility,  is  that  of  the  Zavolha.  These  people  sow  a  seed 
like  that  of  the  melon,  but  rather  smaller,  from  which 
springs  and  grows  out  of  the  earth  a  plant  which  they  call 
'  Borametz,'  i.e.  '  the  Lamb.'  This  plant  grows  to  the 
height  of  three  feet  in  the  likeness  of  a  real  lamb,  having 
feet,  hoofs,  ears,  and  a  head  perfect  with  the  exception  of 
horns,  instead  of  which  the  plant  has  hairs  in  the  form  of 
horns.  Its  skin  is  soft  and  delicate,  and  is  used  in  Tartary 
for  head-gear.  The  internal  pulp  is  said  to  be  like  the 
flesh  of  the  cray-fish,  and  to  have  an  agreeable  flavour  ; 

*  '  Exotericarum  Exercitationum]  lib.  xv.,  "  De  Subtilitate  "  ;  ad 
Hieronymum  Cardanum  Exercit.  181,  cap.  29.  Frankfort,  1557.  See 
Appendix  D. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          15 

but  if  an  incision  be  made,  real  blood  flows  from  it.  The 
root  or  stalk  which  rises  from  the  earth  is  attached  to  the 
navel  of  the  lamb,  and  (which  is  more  remarkable)  whilst 
the  plant  is  surrounded  with  herbage  it  lives  as  does  a 
lamb,  but  as  soon  as  it  has  consumed  all  within  its  reach  it 
withers  and  dies.  This  does  not  happen  by  the  arrival  of 
the  plant  at  any  definite  period  of  its  growth,  for  it  has 
been  found  by  experiment  that  if  the  grass  around  it  be 
removed  it  perishes.  Another  most  curious  circumstance 
connected  with  it  is  that  wolves  will  eat  it  with  avidity, 
though  no  other  carnivorous  animals  will  attack  it  This," 
says  Scaliger,  still  apostrophizing  Cardano,  "  is  merely  a 
little  sauce  and  seasoning  to  your  allusion  to  the  fable  of 
the  Lamb  ;  but  I  would  like  to  know  from  you  how  four 
distinct  legs  and  their  feet  can  be  produced  from  one 
stem." 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  this  dissertation  of  Scaliger, 
which  is  really  a  keen  satire  on  Cardano,  and  a  sarcastic 
repetition  of  his  version  of  the  fable  with  ironical  comments 
thereon,  has  been  almost  invariably  taken  as  serious,  and 
regarded  as  an  expression  of  his  entire  belief  in  the 
"  Scythian  Lamb,"  as  described.  Of  all  subsequent  writers 
on  the  subject,  Deusingius  *  seems  to  have  been  the  only 
one  who  clearly  perceived  Scaliger's  intention  and  meaning. 
Hence,  many  profound  believers  in  the  myth  have  claimed 
as  their  champion  one  who  would  have  derided  them  for 
their  credulity. 

*  Antonius  Deusingius,  Professor  of  Medicine,  and  Rector  of  the 
University  of  Groningen,  in  his  <  Fasciculus  Dissertationum  Selec- 
torum]  p.  598,  printed  in  1660,  declares  his  own  utter  disbelief  in  this 
animal-vegetable  monstrosity,  and  after  quoting  Scaliger,  thus  writes 
of  him  : — "  Hac  equidem  Scaliger,  quitamen  ne  serio  historiam  narrare 
credatur  quam  ipse  reveraprofabulosa  habet,  nequaquam  vero  approbat, 
ut  perperam  de  eo  refert  Sennert? — Hyp.  Physic.  5,  cap.  8. 


16  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

Claude  Duret,  for  example,  whose  implicit  faith  in  the 
marvellous  zoophyte  nothing  could  shake,  quotes  verbatim 
in  its  defence  the  remarks  of  "  le  grand  Jules  Cesar 
Scaliger,"  and  asks  *  triumphantly, — 

"  Who  cannot  see  plainly  that  Cardano,  after  having  long 
doubted,  and  after  having  adduced  philosophical  arguments 
drawn  from  the  works  of  Aristotle  and  other  eminent 
writers,  felt  himself  obliged  and  condemned  to  confess  that 
in  a  place  filled  with  heavy  and  dense  air  (such  as  is 
Tartary)  the  Borametz — true  plant-animals — might  exist 
as  described,  as  well  as  sponges,  '  sea-nettles,'  and  '  sea- 
lungs/  which  every  one*  knows  are  true  zoophytes,  or 
animal-plants." 

After  this  amusing  assumption  that  the  air  of  Tartary 
possesses  the  "  weight "  and  "  density  "  necessary  for  the 
production  of  plant-animals,  Duret  quotes  from  Sir  John 
Mandeville's  book  in  the  language  in  which  it  was 
originally  written— the  Romanic — the  passage  which  I 
have  extracted  from  the  old  English  version  of  the  enter- 
prising knight's  '  Voiage  and  Travailes/  and  also  cites,  in 
confirmation  of  the  prodigy,  the  account  given  of  it  by  the 
Baron  Von  Herberstein.  He  then  strongly  expresses  his 
own  belief  that — 

"  Of  all  the  strange  and  marvellous  trees,  shrubs,  plants 
and  herbs  which  Nature,  or,  rather,  God  himself,  has  pro- 
duced, or  ever  will  produce  in  this  Universe,  there  will 
never  be  seen  anything  so  worthy  of  admiration  and  con- 
templation as  these  '  Borametz  '  of  Scythia,  or  Tartary, — 
plants  which  are  also  animals,  and  which  browze  and  eat 
as  quadrupeds.  .  .  If  I  did  not  entirely  believe  this  I  would 
denounce  it  as  fabulous,  instead  of  accepting  it  as  a  fact  ; 
but  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  daily  studying  good  and 
*  '  Histoire  admirable  des  Plantes]  p.  322. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          17 

rare  books,  printed  and  in  manuscript,  and  who  are  endowed 
with  great  wisdom  and  understanding,  know  that  there  is 
no  impossibility  in  Nature,  i.e.  God  himself,  to  whom  be 
all  the  honour  and  glory  !  " 

Besides  the  authors  already  quoted,  and  others  who 
merely  copied  the  narratives  of  their  predecessors,  Guillaume 
de  Saluste,  the  Sieur  du  Bartas,  accepted  as  authentic  the 
story  of  the  Vegetable  Lamb.  In  his  poem  "  La  Semaine" 
published  in  1578,  in  which  the  first  few  days  of  the 
existence  of  all  terrestrial  things  are  described  reverently 
and  with  considerable  power,  he  represents  this  plant  as 
one  of  those  which  excited  the  astonishment  of  the  newly- 
created  Adam  as  he  wandered  on  the  first  day  of  the  second 
week  through  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  earthly  Paradise  in 
which  he  had  been  placed. 

"  Or,  confus,  il  se  perd  dans  les  tournoyements, 
Embrouilldes  erreurs,  courbez  desvoyements, 
Conduits  virevoultez,  et'  sentes  desloyales 
D'un  Dedale  infiny  qui  comprend  cent  Dedales, 
Clos  non  de  romarins  dextrement  cizelez 
En  hommes,  my-chevaux,  en  courserots  seelez, 
En  escaillez  oyseaux,  eh  balenes  cornues, 
Et  mille  autres  fagons  de  bestes  incogneues, 
Ains  de  vrays  animaux  en  la  terre  plantez, 
Humant  1'air  des  poulmons,  et  d'herbes  alimentez, 
Tels  que  les  Boramets,  qui  chez  les  Scythes  naissent 
D'une  graine  menues,  et  des  plantes  repaissent ; 
Bien  que  du  corps,  des  yeux,  de  la  bouche,  et  du  nez, 
Us  semblent  des  moutons  qui  sont  naguieres  naiz. 
Us  le  seroient  du  vray,  si  dans  Palme  poictrine 
De  terre  ils  n'enfongoient  une  vive  rapine 
Qui  tient  a  leur  nombril,  et  tombe  le  meme  jour 
Quils  ont  broutte  le  foin  qui  croissoit  a  1'entour, 
O-  merveilleux  effect  de  dextre  divine, 
La  plante  a  chair  et  sang,  1'animal  a  ratine, 
La  plante  comme  en  rond  de  soymeme  se  meut, 
L'animal  a  des  pieds,  et  si  marcher  ne  pfeut  : 


i8  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

La  plante  est  sans  rameaux,  sans  fruict,  et  sans  feuillage, 
L'animal  sans  amour,  sans  sexe,  et  vif  lignage  ; 
La  plante  a  belles  dents,  paist  son  ventre  affam£ 
Du  fourrage  voisin,  1'animal  est  sdme." 

Joshua  Sylvester,  the  admiring  translator  of  Du  Bartas,* 
gives  the  following  version  of  the  above  lines  : — 

"  Musing,  anon  through  crooked  walks  he  wanders, 
Round  winding  rings,  and  intricate  meanders. 
False-guiding  paths,  doubtful,  beguiling,  strays, 
And  right-wrong  errors  of  an  endless  maze ; 
Nor  simply  hedged  with  a  single  border 
Of  rosemary  cut  out  with  curious  order 
In  Satyrs,  Centaurs,  Whales,  and  half-men-horses, 
And  thousand  other  counterfeited  corses  ; 
But  with  true  beasts,  fast  in  the  ground  still  sticking 
Feeding  on  grass,  and  th'  airy  moisture  licking, 
Such  as  those  Borametz  in  Scythia  bred 
Of  slender  seeds,  and  with  green  fodder  fed  ; 
Although  their  bodies,  noses,  mouths,  and  eyes, 
Of  new-yeaned  lambs  have  full  the  form  and  guise, 
And  should  be  very  lambs,  save  that  for  foot 
Within  the  ground  they  fix  a  living  root 
Which  at  their  navel  grows,  and  dies  that  day 
That  they  have  browzed  the  neighbouring  grass  away. 
Oh  !  wondrous  nature  of  God  only  good, 
The  beast  hath  root,  the  plant  hath  flesh  and  blood. 
The  nimble  plant  can  turn  it  to  and  fro, 
The  nummed  beast  can  neither  stir  nor  goe, 
The  plant  is  leafless,  branchless,  void  of  fruit, 
The  beast  is  lustless,  sexless,  fireless,  mute  : 
The  plant  with  plants  his  hungry  paunch  doth  feede, 
Th'  admired  beast  is  sowen  a  slender  seed." 

About  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  very  little 
belief  in  the  story  of  the  "  Scythian  Lamb "  remained 
amongst  men  of  letters,  although  it  continued  to  be  a 

*  *  Du  Bartas  :  His  Divine  Weekes  and  Workes,  translated  and 
dedicated  to  the  King's  most  excellent  Maiestie  by  Joshua  Sylvester, 
London.  1584.' 


SOLE 
Paisulifus  Terrefh-i.5. 


FIG.  3.— ADAM  AND  EVE  ADMIRING  THE  PLANTS  IN  THE  GAR!>E$  totf 
EDEN.    THE  "VEGETABLE  LAMB"  IN  THE  BACKGROUND^  •'<•• 

Fac-simile  of  the  Frontispiece  of  Parkinsons  "  ParadisusP  •>,',*        ^ 


C   2 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          21 

subject  of  discussion  and  research  for  at  least  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  later. 

AthanasiusKircher,  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Avignon, 
who  wrote*  in  1641,  after  following  the  error  of  his  pre- 
decessors of  quoting  Scaliger  as  a  believer  in  the  myth, 
says : — 

"  Some  authors  have  regarded  it  as  an  animal,  some  as  a 
plant ;  whilst  others  have  classed  it  as  a  true  zoophyte. 
In  order  not  to  multiply  miracles,  we  assert  that  it  is  a 
plant.  Though  its  form  be  that  of  a  quadruped,  and  the 
juice  beneath  its  woolly  covering  be  blood  which  flows  if 
an  incision  be  made  in  its  flesh,  these  things  will  not  move 
us.  It  will  be  found  to  be  a  plant." 

This  unwavering  prediction  has  been  fulfilled.  But  the 
story  had  to  pass  through  many  vicissitudes  of  acceptance 
and  disbelief  before  this  decision  of  Kircher  was  unani- 
mously admitted  to  be  correct.  It  seems  to  have  been 
the  fate  of  this  curious  fable,  through  the  whole  period 
of  its  history,  that  no  sooner  has  a  ray  of  some  author's 
common  sense  penetrated  the  mist  of  superstition  by  which 
it  was  surrrounded  than  it  has  been  again  befogged  by  the 
ignorant  credulity  of  the  next  writer  on  the  subject. 

Jans  Janszoon  Strauss,  a  Dutchman,  better  known 
as  Jean  de  Struys,  who  travelled  through  many  countries, 
and  amongst  them  Tartary,  from  1647  to  1672,  describes  f 
this  vegetable  wonder.  But  he  was  an  uneducated  and 
credulous  man,  and  his  account  of  it  is  little  more  than  a 
repetition  of  the  errors  and  fallacies  of  former  centuries 
concerning  it,  rendered  still  more  incomprehensible  by  his 

*  *  Magnes ;  sive  de  arte  magnetic^  opus  tripartitum]  p.  730. 

f  *  Voyages  de  Jean  de  Struys  en  Moscovie,  en  Tartarie,  et  en  Perse] 
chap.  xii.  p.  167.  Amsterdam.  1681.  Also  an  English  translation, 
"done  out  of  Dutch,"  by  John  Morrison.  London.  1684.  See 
Appendix  E. 


22  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

having  confused  with  its  "  very  white  down,  as  soft  as  silk," 
the  Astrachan  lamb-skins,  which  were  then,  and  are  still,  a 
well-known  article  of  commerce.  He  says  : — 

"  On  the  west  side  of  the  Volga  is  a  great  dry  and  waste 
heath,  called  the  Step.  On  this  heath  is  a  strange  kind  of 
fruit  found,  called  'Baiomez  '  or  '  Barnitsch/  from  the  word 
'  Boran,'  which  is  "  a  Lamb  "  in  the  Russian  tongue,  because 
of  its  form  and  appearance  much  resembling  a  sheep, 
having  head,  feet  and  tail.  Its  skin  is  covered  with  a  down 
very  white  and  as  soft  as  silk.  The  Tartars  hold  this  in 
great  esteem,  and  it  is  sold  for  a  high  price.  I  have  myself 
paid  five  or  six  roubles  for  one  of  these  skins,  and  doubled 
my  money  when  I  sold  it  again.  The  greater  number  of 
persons  have  them  in  their  houses,  where  I  have  seen 
many.  That  which  caused  me  to  observe  it  with  greater 
attention  was  that  I  had  seen  one  of  these  fruits  among  the 
curiosities  in  the  house  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Swammerdam, 
in  Amsterdam,  whose  museum  is  full  of  the  rarest  things 
in  Nature  from  distant  and  foreign  lands.  This  precious 
plant  was  given  to  him  by  a  sailor  who  had  been  formerly 
a  slave  in  China.  He  found  it  growing  in  a  wood,  and 
brought  away  sufficient  of  its  skin  to  make  an  under-waist- 
coat.  The  description  he  gave  of  it  did  very  much  agree 
with  what  the  inhabitants  of  Astrachan  informed  me  of  it. 
It  grows  upon  a  low  stalk,  about  two  and  a  half  feet  high, 
some  higher,  and  is  supported  just  at  the  navel.  The  head 
hangs  down,  as  if  it  pastured  or  fed  on  the  grass,  and  when 
the  grass  decays  it  perishes  :  but  this  I  ever  looked  upon 
as  ridiculous ;  although  when  I  suggested  that  the 
languishing  of  the  plant  might  be  caused  by  some 
temporary  want  of  moisture,  the  people  asseverated  to  me 
by  many  oaths  that  they  have  often,  out  of  curiosity,  made 
experience  of  that  by  cutting  away  the  grass,  upon  which  it 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          23 

instantly  fades  away.  Certain  it  is  that  there  is  nothing 
which  is  more  coveted  by  wolves  than  this,  and  the  inward 
parts  of  it  are  more  congeneric  with  the  anatomy  of  a  lamb 
than  mandrakes  are  with  men.  However,  what  I  might 
further  say  of  this  fruit,  and  what  I  believe  of  the  wonder- 
ful operations  of  a  secret  sympathy  in  Nature,  I  shall  rather 
keep  to  myself  than  aver,  or  impose  upon  the  reader  with 
many  other  things  which  I  am  sensible  would  appear 
incredible  to  those  who  had  not  seen  them." 

The  next  traveller,  in  order  of  date,  who  made  the 
Tartarian  Lamb  the  object  of  his  investigations  was  Dr. 
Engelbrecht  Kaempfer,  who,  in  1683,  accompanied  an 
embassy  to  Persia,  and  was  appointed  Surgeon  to  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  two  years  later.  He  reported, 
on  his  return,  that  he  had  searched  "  ad  risum  et  nauseam  " 
for  this  "  zoophyte  feeding  on  grass,"  that  there  was  nothing 
in  the  country  where  it  was  believed  to  grow  that  was  called 
"  Borametz,"  except  the  ordinary  sheep,  and  that  all  ac- 
counts of  a  sheep  growing  upon  a  plant  were  mere  fiction 
and  fable.  "  The  word  '  Borametz/  he  says,*  "  is  a  corruption 
of  the  Russian  *  Boranetz,'  in  Polish  '  Baranak,'  the  dimin- 
utive of  which,  '  Baran,'  is  Sclavonic.  In  such  a  case  it 
signifies  *  a  sheep.'  But,"  he  continues,  "  there  is  in  some 
of  the  provinces  near  the  Caspian  Sea  a  breed  of  sheep 
totally  different  from  those  with  which  we  are  commonly 
acquainted,  and  highly  valued  for  the  elegance  of  the  skin, 
which  is  used  in  various  articles  of  clothing  by  the  Tartars 
and  Persians.  For  the  magnates  and  the  rich  who  desire 
a  material  superior  to  that  worn  by  the  general  population, 

*  i  Amcenitatum  Exoticarum  politico-physico-medicarum  fasciculi] 
x.,  lib.  3,  obs.  i.  Lemgo,  1712.  Kaempfer's  MSS.  and  collections 
were  acquired  by  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  and  were  deposited  in  the  British 
Museum. 


24  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

the  skins  of  the  youngest  lambs  are  preserved,  the  fleeces 
of  these  being  much  softer  that  those  of  the  older  ones, 
and  the  younger  the  animal  from  which  they  are  taken  the 
more  costly  are  they."  He  then  refers  to  the  barbarous 
custom  of  killing  the  ewes  before  the  time  of  natural 
parturition  to  obtain  possession  of  the  immature  fleece  of 
the  unborn  lamb,  and  says,  correctly,  that  the  earlier  the 
stage  of  pregnancy  in  which  this  operation  is  performed 
the  finer  and  softer  is  the  fur  of  the  fcetal  skin,  and  the 
lighter  and  closer  are  the  little  curls  for  which  it  is  chiefly 
prized.  The  pelt,  also,  is  so  thin  that  it  is  scarcely  heavier 
than  a  membrane,  and,  in  drying,  it  frequently  shrinks  so  as 
to  lose  all  similitude  to  the  skin  of  a  lamb,  and  assumes  a 
form  which  might  lead  the  ignorant  and  credulous  to  believe 
that  it  was  a  woolly  gourd.  He,  therefore,  conjectures  that 
some  of  these  dried  and  shrunken  skins  may  have  been 
placed  in  museums  as  examples  of  the  fleece  of  the  "  Tarta- 
rian Lamb,"  under  the  supposition  that  they  were  of 
vegetable  origin. 

Kaempfer's  suggestions  were  ingenious,  though  his  theory 
was  erroneous.  But,  although  he  rather  impeded  than 
assisted  in  the  correct  identification  of  the  object  of  dis- 
cussion, he,  at  least,  helped  to  discredit  the  myth,  which 
he  declared  to  be  one  of  those  "  received  with  favour  by  the 
superstitious,  and  which  when  once  they  have  found  a  writer 
to  describe  them,  however  incorrectly,  please  the  many, 
obtain  numerous  adherents,  and  become  respectable  by  age." 

An  important  chapter  in  the  history  of  this  curious 
fiction  was  reached  when,  in  1698,  Sir  Hans  Sloane  laid 
before  the  Royal  Society  an  object  which  has  ever  since 
been  generally  regarded  as  a  specimen  of  the  strange  natural 

*  Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  xx.  p.  86 1  ;  and  Lowthorp's 
Abridgment  of  the  Phil.  Trans,  vol.  ii.  p.  649. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          27 

production  about  which  so  much  mystery  had  existed, 
so  many  outrageous  stories  had  been  told,  and  on  which 
so  much  learned  discussion  had  been  expended.  His 
description  of  it  is  printed  in  the  Society's  Transactions, 
and  is  as  follows  : — 

"The  figure  (fig.  4)  represents  what  is  commonly,  but 
falsely,  in  India,  called  '  the  Tartarian  Lamb,'  sent  down 
from  thence  by  Mr.  Buckley.*  This  was  more  than  a  foot 
long,  as  big  as  one's  wrist,  having  seven  protuberances,  and 
towards  the  end  some  foot-stalks  about  three  or  four  inches 
long,  exactly  like  the  foot-stalks  of  ferns,  both  without  and 
within.  Most  part  of  this  was  covered  with  a  down  of  a 
dark  yellowish  snuff  colour,  some  of  it  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
long.  This  down  is  commonly  used  for  spitting  of  blood, 
about  six  grains  going  to  a  dose,  and  three  doses  pretended 
to  cure  such  a  haemorrhage.  In  Jamaica  are  many  scandent 
and  tree  ferns  which  grow  to  the  bigness  of  trees,  and  have 
such  a  kind  of  lanugo  on  them,  and  some  of  the  capillaries 
have  something  like  it.  It  seemed  to  be  shaped  by  art  to 
imitate  a  lamb,  the  roots  or  climbing  parts  being  made  to 
resemble  the  body,  and  the  extant  foot-stalks  the  legs. 
This  down  is  taken  notice  of  by  Dr.  Merret  at  the  latter 
end  of  Dr.  Grew's  Mus.  Soc.  Reg.  by  the  name  of  '  Poco 
Sempie,'  a  '  golden  moss,'  and  is  there  said  to  be  a  cordial. 
I  have  been  assured  by  Mr.  Brown,  who  has  made  very 
good  observations  in  the  East  Indies,  that  he  has  been  told 
by  those  who  lived  in  China  that  this  down  or  hair  is  used 
by  them  for  the  stopping  of  blood  in  fresh  wounds,  as  cob- 

*  This  specimen  evidently  came  from  China  ;  for  I  find  a  record 
that  at  the  date  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane's  paper  "  Mr.  Buckley,  Chief 
Surgeon  at  Fort  St.  George,  in  the  East  Indies,  presented  to  the 
Royal  Society  a  cabinet  containing  Chinese  surgical  and  other  instru- 
ments and  simples." 


28  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

webs  are  with  us,  and  that  they  have  it  in  so  great  esteem 
that  few  houses  are  without  it ;  but  on  trials  I  have  made 
of  it,  though  I  may  believe  it  innocent,  yet  I  am  sure  it  is 
not  infallible." 

Sir  Hans  Sloane  had,  it  is  true,  clearly  perceived  the 
nature  of  the  specimen  sent  to  the  Royal  Society  by  Mr. 
Buckley,  and  had  correctly  identified  it  as  a  portion  of  one 
of  the  arborescent  ferns  ;  but  on  the  question  whether  he 
had  discovered  the  right  interpretation  of  the  puzzling 
enigma  I  shall  have  more  to  say  presently.  The  object 
figured  seems  to  have  been  regarded  by  many  of  his 
contemporaries  as  so  insufficient  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  oft-told  story  of  the  plant-animal,  and  so 
unsatisfactory  an  explanation  of  it,  that  every  one  who 
subsequently  had  an  opportunity  of  visiting  Tartary  still 
felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  make  enquiries  concerning  the 
famous  prodigy  of  that  country. 

Accordingly,  we  find  that  John  Bell,  of  Autermony, 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  afforded  him  by  a 
diplomatic  journey  to  Persia,*  in  1715-1722,  to  endeavour, 
whilst  in  Tartary,  to  obtain  authentic  information  respecting 
the  "  Vegetable  Lamb."  He  found  that  nothing  was  known 
of  it  in  the  country  where  it  was  supposed  to  be  indigenous, 
and  thus  writes  of  it  : — 

"  Before  I  leave  Astracan,  it  may  be  proper  to  rectify  a 
mistaken  opinion  which  I  have  observed  to  occur  in  grave 
German  authors,  who,  in  treating  of  the  remarkable  things 
of  this  country  relate  that  there  grows  in  this  desart,  or 
stepp  adjoining  to  Astracan,  in  some  plenty,  a  certain 

*  '  Travels  from  St.  Petersburg  in  Russia  to  various  parts  of  Asia, 
in  1716,  1719,  1722,  &c.,  by  John  Bell,  of  Autermony.  Dedicated  to 
the  Governor,  Court  of  Assistants,  and  Freemen  of  the  Russia 
Company.  London.  1764.'  See  Appendix  F. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          29 

shrub  or  plant  called  in  the  Russian  language  '  Tartasky 
Borashka,'  i.e.  'Tartarian  Lamb,'  with  the  skins  of  which 
the  caps  of  the  Armenians,  Persians,  Tartars,  &c.,  are  faced. 
They  also  write  that  the  *  Tartashky  Borashka  '  partakes  of 
animal,  as  well  as  vegetative  life,  and  that  it  eats  up  and 
devours  all  the  grass  and  weeds  within  its  reach.  Though 
it  may  be  thought  that  an  opinion  so  very  absurd  could 
find  no  credit  with  people  of  the  meanest  understanding, 
yet  I  have  conversed  with  some  who  were  much  inclined 
to  believe  it,  so  very  prevalent  is  the  prodigious  and  absurd 
with  some  part  of  mankind.  In  search  of  this  wonderful 
plant  I  walked  many  a  mile  accompanied  by  Tartars  who 
inhabit  these  desarts  ;  but  all  I  could  find  out  were  some 
dry  bushes,  scattered  here  and  there,  which  grow  on  a  single 
stalk  with  a  bushy  top  of  a  brownish  colour :  the  stalk  is 
about  eighteen  inches  high,  the  top  consisting  of  sharp 
prickly  leaves.  It  is  true  that  no  grass  or  weeds  grow 
within  the  circle  of  its  shade — a  property  natural  to  many 
other  plants,  here  and  elsewhere.  After  a  careful  enquiry 
of  the  more  sensible  and  experienced  among  the  Tartars, 
I  found  they  laughed  at  it  as  a  ridiculous  fable." 

Bell  further  says  : — 

"  In  Astracan  they  have  large  quantities  of  lamb-skins, 
grey  and  black,  some  waved  and  others  curled,  all  naturally 
and  very  pretty,  having  a  fine  gloss,  especially  the  waved, 
which  at  a  small  distance  appear  like  the  richest  watered 
tabby :  *  they  are  much  esteemed,  and  are  much  used  for 
the  lining  of  coats  and  the  turning  up  of  caps,  in  Persia, 
Russia,  and  other  parts.  The  best  of  these  are  brought 
from  Bucharia,  China,  and  the  countries  adjacent,  and  are 
taken  from  the  ewe's  belly  after  she  hath  been  killed,  or  the 

*  A  rich  watered  silk  :  from  the  French  "  tabis  "  ;  Italian,  "  tabi"  ; 
Persian,  "  retabi? 


30  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

lamb  is  killed  immediately  after  it  is  lambed,  for  such  a 
skin  is  equal  in  value  to  the  sheep.  The  Kalmuks  and 
those  Tartars  who  inhabit  the  desert  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Astracan  have  also  lamb-skins  which  are  applied  to  the 
same  purpose,  but  the  wool  of  these  being  rougher  and 
more  hairy,  they  are  inferior  to  those  of  Bucharia  and 
China  both  in  gloss  and  beauty,  and  also  in  the  dressing ; 
consequently  in  value.  I  have  known  one  single  lamb-skin 
from  Bucharia  sold  for  five  or  six  shillings  sterling,  when 
one  of  these  would  not  yield  two  shillings." 

Bell    had    sufficient    discrimination    to   see   that   these 
Astracan  lamb-skins  were  in  no  way  connected  with  the 
fable  of  the  "Borametz,"  and  thus  avoided  the  error   of- 
Kaempfer,  who  regarded  them  as  having  given  rise  to  the 
reports  of  the  existence  of  that  marvellous  "  animal-plant." 

The  Abbe  Chappe-d'Auteroche,  during  his  visit  to  Tar- 
tary,*  about  half  a  century  later  than  John  Bell,  sought  for 
the  "  Scythian  Lamb "  with  equal  earnestness  and  with 
similar  want  of  success. 

Long,  however,  before  the  result  of  the  investigations  of 
these  two  travellers  had  been  made  known,  a  second 
manipulated  fern-root,  similar  to  that  described  by  Sir  Hans 
Sloane,  had  been  subjected  to  the  scrutiny  of  another 
keen  and  scientific  observer. 

In  September,  1725,  Dr.  John  Philip  Breyn,  of  Dantzic, 
addressed  to  the  Royal  Society  of  London  an  important 
communication  in  Latin  on  this  subject,f  in  which  he 
expressed  his  complete  disbelief  in  the  old  story,  and 
described  a  specimen  of  the  "  Borametz  "  (as  he  believed  it 

*  *  Voyage  en  Sibe'rie,'  Paris.     1768. 

t  *  Dissertiuncula  de  Agno  Vegetabili  Scythico,  Borametz  mtlgo 
dicto?  Phil.  Trans.,  vol.  xxxiii.  p.  353,  1725  ;  and  also  in  Martyn's 
Abridgment  of  the  Phil.  Trans.,  vol.  vi.  p.  317. 


dictum  • 


FIG.  5.— ROUGH  MODEL  OF  A  TAN-COLOURED  DOG,  SHAPED  BY  THE 
CHINESE  FROM  THE  RHIZOME  OF  A  FERN,  AND  SUB- 
MITTED TO  THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY  BY  DR.  BREYN  AS  A 
SPECIMEN  OF  THE  "  SCYTHIAN  VEGETABLE  LAMB." 

From  the  'Philosophical  Transactions,'  No.  390. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.  33 

to  be)  which  had  fallen  into  his  hands,  and  which  had  led 
him,  independently,  to  the  same  conclusion  as  that 
arrived  at  by  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  of  whose  observations,  he 
says,  he  was  unaware  when  his  own  memoranda  were 
written.  Commencing  by  quoting  the  maxim,  "  Non  fingen- 
dum  sed  inveniendum  quid  Natura  faciat  aut  ferat"  he 
urges  upon  all  who  search  for  the  hidden  treasures  of 
Nature,  or  who  desire  to  discover  her  secrets,  to  bear  in 
mind  that  golden  axiom  that  "  the  works  and  productions 
of  Nature  should  be  discovered,  not  invented,"  and 
remarks  that,  if  the  older  writers  had  adhered  to  this, 
Natural  History,  great  and  honourable  in  itself,  would  not 
have  been  tarnished  by  so  many  silly  fables  like  that  of  the 
"  Scythian  Lamb."  He  directs  attention  to  the  fact  that 
none  of  those  who  have  described  this  plant-animal  are 
able  to  say  that  they  ever  saw  it  growing  ;  quotes  Kaemp- 
fer's  interpretation  of  the  origin  of  the  report,  namely  the 
Astrachan  lamb-skins  of  commerce,  and  hesitates  to  regard 
the  object  in  his  possession  as  the  key  of  the  problem. 
That  he  had  grave  and  sufficient  reasons  for  his  doubts 
upon  this  point  will  be  seen  from  his  interesting  description 
of  the  curiosity  referred  to.  He  says  : — 

"  A  certain  learned  and  observant  man,  passing  through 
our  city  on  his  return  from  a  journey  through  Muscovy, 
enriched  my  museum  with,  amongst  other  natural  curiosities, 
one  of  these  *  Scythian  Lambs,'  which  he  declared  to  be  the 
genuine  Borametz.  It  was  about  six  inches  in  length,  and 
had  a  head,  ears,  and  four  legs.  Its  colour  was  that  of  iron- 
rust,  and  it  was  covered  all  over  with  a  kind  of  down,  like  the 
fibres  of  silk-plush,  except  upon  the  ears  and  legs,  which 
were  bare,  and  were  of  a  somewhat  darker  tawny  hue.  On 
careful  examination  of  it,  I  discovered  that  it  was  not  an 
animal  production,  nor  yet  a  fruit,  but  either  the  thick 

D 


34  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

creeping  root,  or  the  climbing  stem,  of  some  plant,  which  by 
obstetric  art  had  acquired  the  form  of  a  quadruped  animal. 
For  the  four  legs,  which  looked  as  if  the  feet  had  been  cut 
off  from  them,  were  so  many  stalks  which  had  supported 
leaves,  as  were  also  those  which  formed  the  ears,  and 
which  more  nearly  resembled  horns.  The  fibres  emerging 
from  these,  by  which,  like  other  plants,  this  root  or  stalk 
had  conveyed  nutriment,  left  no  doubt  upon  this  point. 
Close  inspection  also  showed  that  one  of  the  front  legs  had 
been  artificially  inserted,  and  that  the  head  and  neck  were 
not  of  one  continuous  substance  with  the  body,  but  had 
been  very  cleverly  and  neatly  joined  on  to  it.  In  fact,  this 
root,  or  stem,  had  been  skilfully  manipulated  into  the  form 
of  a  lamb  in  the  same  artful  manner  as  the  little  figures  of 
men,  which,  it  was  said,  shrieked  and  dropped  human  blood 
when  drawn  from  the  ground,  were  formed  from  the  roots 
of  the  mandragore  and  bryony." 

Dr.  Breyn  added  that  there  remained  in  his  mind  some 
doubt  as  to  the  plant  from  which  this  burlesque  of  nature 
and  art  was  fabricated,  until  the  similarity  of  its  ferruginous 
silky  fibres  to  those  of  some  of  the  capillaries  suggested  the 
thought  that  it  must  be  a  portion  of  some  exotic  fern.  As 
to  the  particular  species  to  which  it  belonged  he  was  unable 
to  pronounce  an  authoritative  opinion,  but,  hoping  in  the 
course  of  time  to  receive  more  certain  information  concern- 
ing it,  he  would  merely  say  that  he  believed  it  was  of  a 
peculiar  species  found  in  Tartary,  and  up  to  that  date 
undescribed. 

Dr.  Breyn's  confirmation  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane's  identifi- 
cation of  the  "  Scythian  Lamb  "  as  the  stem  or  rootlet  of  a 
fern  artificially  and  cleverly  manipulated  was  a  crushing 
blow  to  the  already  weakened  fable.  Unfortunately,  how- 
ever, the  conclusion  thus  arrived  at  was  utterly  misleading, 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          35 

though  it  not  only  satisfied  his  contemporaries,  but  has 
ever  since — even  to  the  present  day — been  universally 
accepted  as  the  correct  interpretation  of  the  problem.  The 
injurious  result  was,  that,  as  the  question  appeared  to  have 
been  set  at  rest,  enquiry  ceased,  and  for  nearly  sixty  vears 
afterwards  no  more  was  heard  of  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb." 

Towards  the  close  of  the  century  two  eminent  botanists, 
who  were,  of  course,  well  acquainted  with  the  specimens 
that  had  been  described  by  Sir  Hans  Sloane  and  Dr. 
Breyn,  were  constrained  in  writing  of  the  poetry  of  their 
science  to  make  the  legendary  "  Borametz  "  their  theme. 

Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin,  in  1781,  contributed  to  the 
literature  of  the  subject  the  following  lines*  :  — 

"  E'en  round  the  Pole  the  flames  of  love  aspire, 
And  icy  bosoms  feel  the  secret  fire, 
Cradled  in  snow,  and  fanned  by  Arctic  air, 
Shines,  gentle  Borametz,  thy  golden  hair  ; 
Rooted  in  earth,  each  cloven  foot  descends, 
And  round  and  round  her  flexile  neck  she  bends, 
Crops  the  grey  coral  moss,  and  hoary  thyme, 
Or  laps  with  rosy  tongue  the  melting  rime  ; 
Eyes  with  mute  tenderness  her  distant  dam, 
And  seems  to  bleat — a  '  vegetable  lamb.' " 

Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin  appears  to  have  bestowed  "  golden 
hair  "  upon  his  Borametz,  to  assimilate  it  to  the  fern-root 
toys  that  were  regarded  as  its  prototypes  ;  but  as  the  fern 
of  which  they  were  made  is  a  native  of  Southern  China, 
and  as  no  author  has  described  the  lamb-plant  as  being 
found  in  a  cold  climate,  his  authority  and  his  motive 
for  locating  it  in  an  arctic  region  are  alike  inexplicable. 

Dr.  De  la  Croix,  the  other  botanical  author  above 
referred  to,  extolled,  in  1791,  the  fabulous  animal-plant 

*  *  The  Botanic  Garden.'  A  poem  in  two  parts ;  with  philoso- 
phical notes.  London.  1781. 

D  2 


36  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

in  a  Latin  poem  *  which  Bishop  Atterbury  characterized 
as  "  excellent,  and  approaching  very  near  to  the  versification 
of  Virgil's  '  Georgics.' " 

"  Qui  Caspia  sulcant 

./Equora,  sive  legant  spumosa  Boristhenis  ora 
Sive  petant  Asiam  veils,  et  Colchica  regna, 
Hinc  atque  inde  stupent  visu  mirabile  monstrum  : 
Surgit  humo  Borames.     Prsecelso  in  stipite  fructus 
Stat  quadrupes.     Olli  vellus.     Duo  cornua  fronte 
Lanea,  nee  desunt  oculi ;  rudis  accola  credit 
Esse  animal,  dormire  die,  vigilare  per  umbram, 
Et  circum  exesis  pasci  radicitus  herbis  : 
Carnibus  Ambrosiae  sapor  est,  succique  rubentes 
Posthabeat  quibus  alma  suum  Burgundia  Nectar  ; 
Atque  loco  si  ferre  pedem  Natura  dedisset, 
Balatu  si  posset  opem  implorare  voracis 
Ora  lupi  contra,  credas  in  stirpe  sedere 
Agnum  equitem,  gregibusque  agnorum  albescere  colles." 

As  this  has  not  been  "  done  into  English  "  (to  use  an  old 
phrase),  I  venture  to  offer  the  following  translation  of  it  : — 

"  The  traveller  who  ploughs  the  Caspian  wave 
For  Asia  bound,  where  foaming  breakers  lave 
Borysthenes'  wild  shores,  no  sooner  lands 
Than  gazing  in  astonishment  he  stands  ; 
For  in  his  path  he  sees  a  monstrous  birth, 
The  Borametz  arises  from  the  earth  : 
Upon  a  stalk  is  fixed  a  living  brute, 
A  rooted  plant  bears  quadruped  for  fruit, 
It  has  a  fleece,  nor  does  it  want  for  eyes, 
And  from  its  brows  two  woolly  horns  arise. 
The  rude  and  simple  country  people  say 
It  is  an  animal  that  sleeps  by  day 
And  wakes  at  night,  though  rooted  to  the  ground, 
To  feed  on  grass  within  its  reach  around. 
The  flavour  of  Ambrosia  its  flesh 
Pervades  ;  and  the  red  nectar,  rich  and  fresh, 
Which  vineyards  of  fair  Burgundy  produce 
Is  less  delicious  than  its  ruddy  juice. 

*  *  Connubia  Florum,  Latino  Carmine  Demonstrata.'     Bath.     1791. 


I  1 


B  $ 

I  * 

o  >S| 

?  3 

w  § 

fi  I 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          39 

If  Nature  had  but  on  it  feet  bestowed, 

Or  with  a  voice  to  bleat  the  lamb  endowed, 

To  cry  for  help  against  the  threat'ning  fangs 

Of  hungry  wolves  ;  as  on  its  stalk  it  hangs, 

Seated  on  horseback  it  might  seem  to  ride, 

Whit'ning  with  thousands  more  the  mountain  side." 

We  must  now  leave  the  poetical  view  of  the  subject,  and 
come  to  facts. 

The  substance  of  which  the  artificial  animals  exhibited 
by  Sir  Hans  Sloane  and  Dr.  Breyn  were  constructed  is  the 
long  root-stock  of  a  fern  of  the  genus  Dicksonia,  of  which 
there  are  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  species,  varying  greatly 
in  size,  in  their  mode  of  growth,  and  in  the  cutting  of  their 
fronds.  Some  of  them,  such  as  D.  antarctica,  a  native  of 
Australia  and  New  Zealand,  often  seen  in  our  greenhouses, 
are  tree-like  in  habit,  having  stems  from  ten  to  forty 
feet  in  height,  and  fronds  two  or  three  yards  in  length,  and 
two  feet  or  more  across  ;  whilst  others  have  root-stocks 
creeping  along  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  genus  is 
most  fully  represented  in  tropical  America  and  Polynesia : 
one  species  extends  as  far  north  as  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  and  another  was  introduced  into  this  country  from 
St.  Helena.  In  some  species,  such  as  D.  Molluccensis^  from 
Java,  the  stems  are  furnished  with  strong  hooked  prickles  ; 
in  others  they  are  densely  clad  at  the  base  with  a  thick 
coat  of  yellow-brown  hairs,  which  shine  almost  like 
burnished  gold.  The  stems  of  D.  Sellowiana,  from  tropical 
America,  are  so  thickly  clad  with  long  fibrous  hairs,  chang- 
ing to  brown  or  nearly  black,  that  it  has  been  said  they 
precisely  resemble  the  thighs  of  the  howling  monkeys.* 

*  See  *  European  Ferns,'  By  James  Britten,  F.L.S. ;  with  coloured 
illustrations  from  Nature,  by  Dr.  Blair,  F.L.S.  Cassell.  London. — A 
work  full  of  information  on  the  culture,  classification,  and  history  of 
ferns.  I  am  indebted  to  it  for  many  of  the  details  here  given  of  the 
economic  value  of  ferns. 


40  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

The  species  of  Dicksonia  which  has  been  supposed  to 
have  given  origin  to  the  fable  of  the  "  Scythian  Lamb  "  has, 
from  that  circumstance,  received  the  name  of  Barometz.  It 
was  formerly  known  as  Cibotium  glaucescens.  It  was  intro- 
duced into  cultivation  in  conservatories  in  this  country 
about  the  year  1830,  and  was  shortly  afterwards  described 
as  Cibotium  barometz,  but  the  genus  Cibotium  is  now 
generally  united  with  Dicksonia.  Its  long  caudex,  or  root- 
stock,  creeps  over  the  surface  of  the  ground  in  the  same 
manner  as  that  of  the  better  known  "  Hare's-foot "  fern, 
Davallia  Canariensis,  and  this  is  covered  with  long  silky 
hairs,  or  scales,  which  look  something  like  wool  when  old 
and  dry.  These  hairs  or  scales  have  been  sometimes  used 
as  a  styptic  in  Germany,  and  also,  very  commonly,  in  China, 
as  related  to  Sir  Hans  Sloane  by  Dr.  Brown.  The  similar 
hairs  of  other  species  of  Dicksonia,  natives  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  are  exported  to  the  extent  of  many  thousands  of 
pounds  weight  annually  under  the  name  of  "  Pulu,"  and  are 
used  in  the  stuffing  of  mattrasses,  cushions,  &c.  The  hairs 
of  D.  culcita  are  similarly  utilised  in  Madeira.  No  more 
than  two  or  three  ounces  of  hair  are  yielded  by  each  plant, 
and  it  is  reckoned  that  about  four  years  must  elapse  before 
another  gathering  can  be  obtained. 

The  rhizomes  and  stems  of  many  ferns  abound  in  starch, 
and  have  a  commercial  value,  either  as  medicine  or  food. 
The  soft  mucilaginous  pith  of  Cyathea  medtillaris,  one  of 
the  large  tree-ferns  of  New  Zealand,  was  formerly  eaten  by 
the  natives.  It  is  of  a  reddish  colour,  and,  when  baked, 
acquires  a  somewhat  pungent  flavour.  In  New  Zealand 
ferns  seem  to  be  in  some  repute  for  their  edible  properties, 
for  the  large  scaly  rhizomes  of  Marattia  fraxinea,  and 
those  of  another  fern,  Pteris  esculenta,  nearly  allied  to  our 
common  bracken,  P.  aquilina,  are  also  eaten  by  the  Maoris. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          41 

The  natives  bake  them  in  ashes,  peel  them  with  their  teeth, 
and  eat  them  with  meat,  as  we  do  bread  ;  and  sometimes 
pound  them  between  stones,  in  order  to  extract  the 
nutritious  matter,  the  woody  part  being  rejected  as  useless. 
In  Nepaul,  the  rhizomes  of  Nephrolepis  tuber osa  are  similarly 
prepared  for  food  ;  and  in  New  Caledonia  the  mucilaginous 
matter  of  Cyathea  vieillardii  is  obtained  from  incisions 
made  in  the  stem,  or  at  the  base  of  the  fronds.  The 
succulent  fronds  of  the  little  water-fern,  Ceratopteris  thalic- 
troides,  are  boiled  and  eaten  as  a  vegetable  -by  the  poorer 
classes  in  the  Indian  Archipelago.  The  young  shoots  of 
the  handsome  tree-fern,  A  ngiopteris  evecta,  are  eaten  in  the 
Society  Islands,  and  its  large  rhizome,  which  is  in  great 
part  composed  of  mucilage,  yields,  when  dried,  a  kind  of 
flour.  In  the  same  islands  the  young  fronds  of  Helmin- 
thostachys  limulata,  the  "  Balabala  "  of  the  Fiji  Islands,  are 
eaten  in  times  of  scarcity  ;  and  the  soft  scales  covering  the 
stipes  of  the  fronds  are  used  by  the  white  settlers  for  stuffing 
pillows  and  cushions  in  preference  to  feathers,  because 
they  do  not  become  heated,  and  are  thus  more  comfort- 
able in  a  sultry  climate.  In  New  South  Wales,  the  thick 
rhizome  of  Blechnum  cartilagineum  is  much  eaten  by  the 
natives.  It  is  first  roasted  and  then  beaten,  so  as  to 
break  away  the  woody  fibre  :  it  is  said  to  taste  like  a  waxy 
potato. 

By  skilful  treatment  the  inhabitants  of  Southern  China 
occasionally  converted  the  thick  root-stock  of  one  of 
these  tree-ferns,  "  Dicksonia  barometz"  into  a  rough  sem- 
blance of  a  quadruped,  which  quadruped,  by  a  foregone 
conclusion,  was  supposed  to  be  a  lamb.  They  removed 
entirely  the  fronds  that  grew  upward  from  the  rhizome, 
excepting  four,  and  these  four  they  trimmed  down  until 
only  about  four  inches  of  each  stalk  was  left.  The  object 


42  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

thus  shaped  being  turned  upside  down,  the  root-stock 
represented  the  body  of  the  animal,  and  was  supported  by 
the  four  inverted  stalks  of  the  fronds,  as  upon  four  legs. 
If  the  specimen  had  an  insufficient  number  of  stalks  grow- 
ing from  it  to  make  the  four  legs,  others  were  artificially 
and  neatly  affixed  to  it ;  ears  were  similarly  provided,  and, 
if  necessary,  the  trunk  was  fitted  with  a  head  and  neck 
made  from  another  root-stock. 

So  far,  well !  The  identification  of  the  material  of  which 
these  imitations  of  four-legged  animals  were  fashioned  as 
the  rhizome  and  frond-stalks  of  a  tree-fern  is  complete,  and 
perfectly  satisfactory.  But,  having  given  to  these  root-stocks 
of  tree-ferns  the  full  benefit  of  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
economic  uses  that  have  been  made  of  them  in  various  ways 
and  in  different  localities,  and  having  frankly  stated  the  still 
accepted  theory  of  their  connection  with  the  myth  of  the 
"  Vegetable  Lamb  of  Scythia,"  I  have  to  express  my  very 
decided  opinion  that  they  and  the  "  lambs  "  (?)  made  from 
them  had  no  more  to  do  with  the  origin  of  the  fable  of  the 
"  Barometz  "  than  the  artificial  mermaids  so  cleverly  made 
by  the  Japanese  have  had  to  do  with  the  origin  of  the  belief 
in  fish-tailed  human  beings  and  divinities.  In  the  first  place, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  these  manipulated  ferns  were  not 
intended  by  those  who  fashioned  them  to  resemble  lambs 
at  all.  Secondly,  if  they  had  been  intended  to  represent 
the  lamb  of  the  fable,  they  could  have  been,  like  the 
Japanese  mermaids,  only  the  outcome  and  illustration  of  the 
legend — not  the  objects  which  first  gave  rise  to  it.  Neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  of  these  counterfeit  fabrications  appears 
to  have  been  ever  common  ;  and  neither  was  certainly  manu- 
factured in  sufficient  numbers,  nor  distributed  so  abundantly 
and  completely  over  the  habitable  globe,  as  to  have  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  myth  which  in  the  one  case  was  universally 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          43 

believed,*  and  in  the  other  attracted  attention  all  over 
Europe  and  Western  Asia,  and  also  in  Egypt.  Very  few 
of  the  Japanese  artificial  mermaids  have  been  seen  in  this 
country,  though  they  have  been  eagerly  sought  for,  and  the 
fern-"  lambs  "  that  have  been  brought  to  England  may  be 
counted  on  one's  ringers. f  « 

*  See  the  Chapter  on  "  Mermaids  "  by  the  Author  in  *  Sea  Fables 
Explained,'  one  of  the  Handbooks  issued  by  the  Authorities  of  the 
Great  International  Fisheries  Exhibition  of  1883.  London.  Clowes 
and  Sons,  Limited. 

t  I  know  of  only  four — (though,  of  course,  there  may  be  others,  of 
which  I  shall  be  glad  to  receive  information) — namely,  one  in  the 
Botanical  department  of  the  British  Museum  ;  another  in  the 
Museum  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  ;  the  specimen  sent  from 
India  by  Mr.  Buckley  to  the  Royal  Society  in  1698  ;  and  that 
described  by  Dr.  Breyn  in  1725.  Of  the  origin  of  the  first-mentioned 
nothing  is  known,  though  it  is  apparently  the  one  figured  by  John  and 
Andrew  Rymsdyk,  in  their  *  Museum  Britannicum'1  (1778,  plate  xv.), 
as  one  of  the  curious  objects  in  the  British  Museum.  Of  the  second 
we  only  know  that  it  was  presented  to  the  College  of  Surgeons  by 
Mr.  Quekett — the  habitat  of  the  fern  of  which  it  is  composed  being 
erroneously  given  in  the  Catalogue  (No.  177  of  "  Plants  and  Inverte- 
brates ")  as  "  Plains  of  Tartary,"  the  supposed  home  of  the  mythical 
lamb,  but  where  the  fern  in  question  never  grew.  That  sent  to 
England  by  Mr.  Buckley,  and  which  was  the  subject  of  Sir  Hans 
Sloane's  paper  in  1698,  seems  to  have  been  lost  or  mislaid.  Whether 
it  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Royal  Society,  or  was  placed 
by  Sir  Hans  Sloane  in  his  own  collection,  it  ought  to  be  in  the 
British  Museum.  But  nothing  is  known  of  it  there,  nor  of  the  cabinet 
of  surgical  instruments  and  appliances  in  which  it  arrived.  I  have 
endeavoured  to  trace  it ;  but  although,  as  usual,  I  have  met  with  every 
kind  assistance  and  courtesy  from  the  heads  of  departments,  I  have 
been  unsuccessful. 

Sir  Hans  Sloane,  who  died  in  1753,  bequeathed  his  valuable  col- 
lection and  library  to  the  nation  on  the  condition  that  £20,000  should 
be  paid  to  his  executors  for  the  benefit  of  his  daughters.  The  Govern- 
ment raised  the  necessary  funds  by  a  guinea  lottery,  and  sufficient 
money  was  thus  obtained  to  purchase  also  (for  £10,500)  Montague 
House,  in  Bloomsbury,  which  then  became  the  British  Museum. 


44  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

Further,  it  is  a  fact  which  seems  to  have  been  strangely 
overlooked,  that  these  tree-ferns,  with  the  creeping  root- 
stocks,  do  not  grow  in  Tartary.  The  particular  species  of 
Dicksonia  from  which  the  doll-" lambs"  were  made  is  a 
native  of  Southern  China,  Assam,  and  the  Malayan  penin- 
sula and  islands.*  And  we  have  conclusive  evidence,  in 
addition  to  the  report  made  by  Mr.  Buckley  to  the  Royal 
Society  (p.  27),  that  these  playthings  themselves  were  of 
Chinese  workmanship. 

Juan  de  Loureiro,  an  accomplished  Portuguese  botanist 
and  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Lisbon,  who  lived  and 
laboured  as  a  Catholic  missionary  for  more  than  thirty 
years  in  Cochin  China,  and,  afterwards,  for  three  years  in 
China,  thus  writes  f  : — 

"  The  Polypodium  borametz  grows  in  hilly  woods  in 
China  and  Cochin  China.  Many  authors  have  written  of 
the  Scythian  Lamb,  or  Borametz — most  of  them  fabulously. 
Ours  is  not  a  fruit,  but  a  root,  which  is  easily  shaped  by 
the  help  of  a  little  art  into  the  form  of  a  small  rufous  dogy 
by  which  name,  and  not  by  that  of  a  '  lamb!  it  is  called  by  the 
Chinese'' 


When  the  Royal  Society  removed  from  their  old  premises,  in  Crane 
Court,  to  Somerset  House  in  1780  they  also  gave  the  contents  of  their 
cabinets  to  the  National  Collection,  but  many  of  these,  and  amongst 
them  this  fern-root  animal,  cannot  be  found. 

Dr.  Breyn,  of  Dantzic,  no  doubt  retained  the  specimen  which  he 
described,  and  it  is  probably  in  some  continental  collection. 

I  know,  therefore,  of  only  two  of  these  so-called  "  lambs  "  extant  in 
this  country — one  in  the  Natural  History  Museum,  South  Kensington, 
and  the  other  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons.  No 
history  of  either  of  these  has  been  preserved. 

*  ''Synopsis  Filicum]  by  Sir  W.  J.  Hooker  and  J.  G.  Baker, 
F.L.S.  1863.  Art.  <;  Dicksonia  barometz." 

f  Flora  Cochinchinensis ,  torn.  i.  p.  675.     Lisbon.     1790. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          45 

Loureiro  describes  the  cutting  off  the  stalks  to  form  the 
legs,  the  fixing  on  of  smaller  ones  as  ears,  and  other 
particulars  of  the  rude  manufacture  of  these  fern-root  dogs, 
as  witnessed  by  himself.  The  common  name  of  these  toys 
in  China — "  Cau-tich,"  and  in  Cochin  China,  "  Kew-tsie," 
both  represent  a  "  tan-coloured  dog." 

It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  lamb-plant  was 
represented  as  springing  from  a  seed  like  that  of  a  melon,  but 
rounder,  and  that  the  natives  of  the  country  where  it  grew 
planted  these  seeds.  It  was  therefore  a  cultivated  plant. 
The  lamb,  it  was  also  stated,  was  contained  within  the  fruit 
or  seed-capsule  of  the  plant ;  and  when  this  fruit,  or  seed- 
pod,  was  ripe  it  burst  open,  and  the  little  lamb  within  it 
was  disclosed.  The  wool  of  this  lamb  was  described  by 
various  writers  as  being  "  very  white,"  "  as  white  as  snow," 
whereas  these  root-stocks  of  ferns  bear  no  resemblance  to 
a  lamb  in  their  natural  condition ;  and  when  they  have 
been  deftly  trimmed  into  shape  the  hairs  or  scales  upon 
them  are  tawny  orange,  matching  better  with  the  "  tan " 
markings  of  a  dog,  which  they  were  intended  to  represent, 
than  with  the  soft,  white  fleece  of  a  young  lamb. 

Therefore,  even  if  I  had  no  better  explanation  to  offer, 
I  should  be  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  identification  of 
these  tawny  toy-dogs,  made  in  China  from  the  root  of  a 
wild  fern,  the  spores  of  which  are  as  small  as  dust,  with 
the  "  Vegetable  Lambs "  of  Scythia,  whose  white  fleeces 
were  found  within  the  ripe  and  opening  fruit  of  a  cultivated 
plant,  raised  from  a  large  seed,  was  obviously  erroneous, 
and  that  the  origin  of  the  rumour  must  be  sought  for  else- 
were. 

The  plant  that  set  all  Europe  talking  of  the  lambs  that 
grew  in  fruits  and  on  stalks  of  plants  somewhere  in  Scythia 
was  one  of  far  higher  importance  and  value  to  mankind 


46  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTAR Y. 

than  the  childish  knick-knacks  made  for  amusement  out 
of  the  creeping  root-stocks  of  ferns.  These  and  the  curly- 
fleeced  progeny  of  the  poor  ewes  of  Astrachan  were  lambs 
that  crossed  the  track  of  the  first,  lost  lamb,  and  led  those 
searching  for  it  into  the  mistake  of  following  their  respec- 
tive trails,  whilst  the  original  "  Scythian  Lamb  "  escaped 
from  sight 

Tracing  the  growth  and  transition  of  this  story  of  the 
lamb-plant  from  a  truthful  rumour  of  a  curious  fact  into  a 
detailed  history  of  an  absurd  fiction,  I  have  no  doubt  what- 
ever that  it  originated  in  early  descriptions  of  the  cotton 
plant,  and  the  introduction  of  cotton  from  India  into 
Western  Asia  and  the  adjoining  parts  of  Eastern  Europe. 

Herodotus,  writing  (B.C.  445)  of  the  usages  of  the  people 
of  India,  says  (lib.  iii.  cap.  106)  of  this  cotton  : — "Certain 
trees  bear  for  their  fruit  fleeces  surpassing  those  of  sheep 
in  beauty  and  excellence,  and  the  natives  clothe  themselves 
in  cloths  made  therefrom." 

In  the  4/th  chapter  of  the  same  book,  Herodotus  de- 
scribes a  corselet  sent  by  Aahmes  (or  Amasis)  II.,  King  of 
Egypt,  to  Sparta  as  having  been  "  ornamented  with  gold 
and  fleeces  from  the  trees  " — padded  with  cotton,  in  fact. 

Ctesias,  also,  who  was  the  contemporary  of  Herodotus, 
and  was  made  prisoner,  and  kept  by  the  King  of  Persia  as 
his  court  physician  for  seventeen  years,  was  acquainted 
with  the  use  of  a  kind  of  wool,  the  produce  of  trees,  for 
spinning  and  weaving  amongst  the  natives  of  India,  for  he 
mentions  in  his  '  Indica '  a  fragment  quoted  by  Photius, 
"  tree-garments  "  ;  and  that  he  thus  referred  to  clothing  made 
from  these  tree-fleeces  we  have  the  testimony  of  Varro  : — 
"  Ctesias  says  that  there  are  in  India  trees  that  bear  wool" 

Nearchus,  the  admiral  of  Alexander  the  Great,  reported 
that  "  there  were  in  India  trees  bearing,  as  it  were,  flocks 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          47 

or  bunches  of  wool,  and  that  the  natives  made  of  this 
wool  garments  of  surpassing  whiteness,  or  else  their  black 

-— - — _ 

complexions  made  the  material  appear  whiter  than  any 
other." 

Aristobulus,  another  of  Alexander's  generals,  made 
mention  in  his  journal  of  the  cotton  plant,  under  the  name 
of  "  the  wool-bearing  tree,"  and  stated  that  "  it  bore  a 
capsule  that  contained  seeds  which  were  taken  out,  and 
that  which  remained  was  carded  like  wool." 

Strabo,  who  records  this  (lib.  xv.  cap.  21),  referring  to  it 
in  another  paragraph,  writes  : — "  Nearchus  says  that  their 
(the  natives')  fine  clothing  was  made  from  this  wool,  and 
that  the  Macedonians  used  it  for  mattresses  and  the 
stuffing  of  their  saddles."* 

Theophrastus,  the  disciple  of  Aristotle,  writing  about 
B.C.  306,  says  t : — 

"  The  trees  from  which  the  Indians  make  their  clothes 
have  leaves  like  those  of  the  black  mulberry,  but  the  whole 
plant  resembles  the  dog-rose.  They  are  planted  in  rows 
on  the  plains,  so  as  to  look  like  vines  at  a  distance." 

In  another  passage  of  the  same  book  (cap.  9)  he 
writes :  — 

"  In  the  Island  of  Tylos,  which  is  in  the  Arabian  Gulf,t 

*  Unfortunately  the  Journal  and  Narrative  of  Nearchus,  written  B.C. 
325-324,  are  lost,  as  are  also  those  of  Aristobulus,  who  seems  to  have 
been  a  very  accurate  observer ;  and  we  are  indebted  to  Strabo  and 
Arrian  for  the  summaries  and  extracts  from  them  that  we  possess. 
Strabo's-  '  Geographia '  was  completed  A.D.  21,  about  three  years 
before  his  death.  Fabius  Arrianus  wrote  his  'Historia  Indica]  and 
lPeriplus  Mar  is  Erythrcei]  which  contain  valuable  particulars  of 
Alexander's  expedition,  about  A.D.  131-135. 

f  '  De  Historia  Plantarum]  lib.  iv.  cap.  4. 

J  Theophrastus  is  in  error  in  placing  Tylos  in  the  Arabian  Gulf 
(which  we  now  call  the  Red  Sea)  ;  it  was  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  is 
now  known  as  Bahrsin.  The  ancients,  however,  gave  to  the  whole  of 


48  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

the  wool-bearing  trees,  which  grow  there  abundantly,  have 
leaves  like  the  vine,  but  smaller.  They  bear  no  fruit,  but 
the  pod  containing  the  wool  is  about  the  size  of  a  spring 
apple  ("fjLfj\ov"),  whilst  it  is  unripe  and  closed,  but  when  it 
is  ripe  it  opens :  the  wool  is  then  gathered  from  it,  and 
woven  into  cloths  of  various  qualities — some  inferior,  but 
others  of  great  value." 

This  description  by  Theophrastus  is  remarkably  correct 
as  applied  to  the  herbaceous  variety  of  the  cotton-plant, 
from  which  the  chief  supply  of  cotton  for  spinning  and 
weaving  into  cloth  has  always  been  obtained.  In  its  mode 
of  growth — branched,  spreading,  and  flexible — it  may  well 
be  likened  to  the  dog-rose  ;  and  its  palmate  leaves  bear  a 
close  resemblance  to  those  of  the  black  mulberry,  which 
differ  little  from  the  leaves  of  some  varieties  of  the  vine. 
The  remark  relative  to  the  mode  of  cultivation  is  also 
exactly  applicable  to  the  cotton-plant,  which  is  set  in  rows 
about  four  feet  asunder,  and  the  plants  about  two  feet 
apart,  so  that  a  field  of  it  resembles  a  vineyard  when  seen 
from  a  distance. 

Pomponius  Mela,  the  author  next  in  order  of  time,  also 
writes  in  his  account  of  India  *  of  the  "  trees  that  produce 
wool  used  by  the  natives  for  clothing." 

Then  comes  Pliny,  who,  incompetent  and  worthless  as  a 
naturalist,  though  admirable  as  a  writer,  obscured  this 
subject,  as  he  did  many  others.  In  his  '  Natural  History  'f 

the  sea  between  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  north  of  Mogador,  and  the 
west  shores  of  India  the  name  of  the  "  Erythraean  Sea,"  from  King 
Erythros,  of  whom  nothing  more  is  known  than  the  name,  which,  in 
Greek,  signifies  "  red."  From  this  casual  meaning  of  the  word  it 
came  to  be  believed  that  the  water  of  this  sea  differed  in  colour  from 
that  of  others,  and  that  it  was  consequently  more  difficult  to  navigate. 

*  De  Situ  Or&is,  lib.  iii.  cap.  7. 

t  *  Naturalis  His  tor  ia^  A.D.  77. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          49 

he  mentions  cotton  in  four  different  paragraphs,  and  in 
every  one  of  them  inaccurately.  He  confuses  cotton  with 
flax,  and  the  fabrics  woven  of  it  with  linen,  and  treats  of 
silk  as  a  downy  substance  scraped  from  the  leaves  of  trees. 
And,  in  transcribing,  or  translating,  the  passage  from  Theo- 
phrastus  relating  to  the  "  wool-bearing  trees,"  he  distorts 
the  author's  words,  and  states  that  "  these  trees  bear  gourds 
the  size  of  a  quince,  which  burst  when  ripe,  and  display 
balls  of  wool  out  of  which  the  inhabitants  make  cloths  like 
valuable  linen."  Pliny  therefore  seems  to  have  been  the 
author  of  the  "  gourd  "  portion  of  the  story  which  after- 
wards obtained  currency  in  Western  Europe. 

I  shall  quote  one  more  ancient  mention  of  the  "  fleece- 
bearing  plant,"  because  the  author  of  it  gives  a  more  exact 
description  than  any  previous  writer  of  that  portion  of  it 
from  which  the  wool  is  taken. 

Julius  Pollux,  who  wrote  about  a  hundred  years  later 
than  Pliny,  says  in  his  '  Onomasticon ' : — 

"  There  are  also  Byssina  and  Byssus,  a  kind  of  flax.  But 
among  the  Indians  a  sort  of  wool  is  obtained  from  a  tree. 
The  cloth  made  from  this  wool  may  be  compared  with 
linen,  except  that  it  is  thicker.  The  tree  produces  a  fruit 
most  nearly  resembling  a  walnut,  but  three-cleft.  After 
the  outer  covering,  which  is  like  a  walnut,  has  divided  and 
become  dry,  the  substance  resembling  wool  is  extracted, 
and  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  cloth." 

This  remark,  of  the  pericarp  of  the  cotton-pod,  in  some 
species  of  Gossypium,  being  three-cleft,  is  in  accordance 
with  fact,  and  is  not  noticed  by  any  previous  writer. 

In  tracing  the  development  of  these  early  and  truthful 
accounts  of  the  cotton-plant  into  the  complete  fable 
of  the  compound  plant-animal,  the  "Vegetable  Lamb  of 
Scythia,"  we  shall  find  it,  as  in  the  case  of  some  other 

E 


50  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

myths  of  the  Middle  Ages,  attributable  to  two  principal 
causes  : — 

i.  The  misinterpretation  of  ambiguous  or  figurative 
language  ;  2.  The  similarity  of  appearance  of  two  actually 
different  and  incongruous  objects. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  which  I  believe  has  not  hitherto  been 
noticed  in  connection  with  this  subject,  that  the  Greek 
word  "  fjLTj\ov  "  (melon),  very  fitly  used  by  Theophrastus  in 
the  passage  quoted  (p.  48)  to  describe  the  form  and  ap- 
pearance of  the  unripe  cotton-pod,  may  be  equally  correctly 
translated  "  a  fruit,"  "  an  apple,"  or  "  a  sheep  "  :  the  adjective 
"  eapwov,"  which  is  also  used,  means  "  vernal "  ;  therefore 
the  phrase  may  be  regarded  as  signifying  either  that  the 
vegetable  wool  was  taken  from  a  "  spring  apple  "  growing 
upon  a  tree,  or  from  a  "  spring-sheep  "  (or  lamb)  growing 
upon  a  tree.  Although  I  believe  that  the  mistake  originated, 
as  I  shall  presently  explain,  in  the  actual  and  substantial 
resemblance  between  cotton  wool  and  lamb's  wool,  rather 
than  in  the  verbal  identity  of  an  appellative  noun,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  this  ambiguous  phrase  of  convertible 
interpretation  may,  in  some  measure,  have  contributed  to 
convey,  many  centuries  later,  to  readers  of  a  dead  language 
who  knew  nothing  of  the  plant  referred  to,  an  erroneous 
idea  of  the  nature  of  "  the  fleeces  that  grew  on  trees."  It 
would  seem  so  much  more  likely  that  a  soft  fleece  of  white 
wool  should  grow  upon  a  young  lamb  yeaned  in  spring-time 
than  inside  a  fruit  like  an  apple  in  the  partly-formed  and 
unripe  condition  in  which  it  is  found  in  spring,  that  students 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  as  they  pondered  doubtfully  over  this 
word  of  double  meaning,  would  probably  prefer  the  first 
interpretation,  and  translate  the  passage  of  Theophrastus 
as  a  statement  that  the  wool  was  taken  from  a  "  spring- 
sheep,"  or  lamb,  growing  upon  a  tree  which  bore  no  other 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          51 

fruit.  It  is  also  probable  that  this  use  of  the  Greek  word 
"  melon  "  gave  rise  to  the  report  in  later  times  that  the  seed 
of  the  plant  which  bore  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb  "  was  like 
that  of  a  melon  or  gourd. 

We  may  next  take  into  account  the  prevalence  amongst 
many  tribes  and  nations  in  both  hemispheres  of  the  custom 
of  using  figurative  language  in  relation  to  the  objects  and 
occurrences  of  their  daily  life. 

A  very  striking  and  remarkable  proof  is  given  us  by 
Herodotus  that  the  Scythians  of  the  North- West,  who 
carried  both  the  cotton  and  the  rumour  of  the  lamb- 
plant  into  Muscovy,  were  in  the  habit  of  speaking  thus 
figuratively  and  metaphorically.  He  writes  (lib.  iv. 
cap.  2)  : — 

"The  part  beyond  the  north,  the  Scythians  say,  can 
neither  be  seen  nor  passed  through,  by  reason  of  the 
feathers  shed  there  ;  for  the  earth  and  air  are  full  of  feathers, 
and  it  is  these  which  interrupt  the  view." 

Further  on  (lib.  iv.  cap.  31)  he  also  observes : — 

"  With  respect  to  the  feathers  with  which  the  Scythians 
say  the  air  is  filled,  and  on  account  of  which  it  is  not  possible 
either  to  see  further  upon  the  continent,  or  to  pass  through 
it,  I  entertain  the  following  opinion.  In  the  upper  parts  of 
this  country  it  continually  snows — less  in  summer  than  in 
winter,  as  is  reasonable.  Now,  whoever  has  seen  snow 
falling  thick  near  him  will  know  what  I  mean  ;  for  snow 
is  like  feathers,  and  on  account  of  the  winter  being  so 
severe  the  northern  parts  of  this  country  are  uninhabited. 
I  think,  then,  that  the  Scythians  and  their  neighbours  call 
the  snow  feathers,  comparing  them  together." 

Herodotus  was,  of  course,  right  in  this  interpretation. 

Who  can  doubt  that  the  people  who  would  thus  realisti- 
cally describe  snow  as  feathers  would  probably  describe 

E  2 


52  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

the  white  wool  of  the  cotton-pod  as  "  tree-lamb's-wool,"  the 
produce  of  a  "  lamb-plant,"  or  "  plant-lamb  "  ? 

The  growth  and  development  of  the  story  of  "  the 
Scythian  Lamb  "  from  the  similarity  of  appearance  of  two 
really  different  objects  may  be  best  explained  by  com- 
paring it  with  another  Natural-history  myth,  which  ran 
curiously  parallel  with  it.  I  allude  to  the  fable  that  Sir 
John  Mandeville  tells  us  he  related  to  his  Tartar  ac- 
quaintances, viz.  that  of  the  "  Barnacle  Geese  " — which  has 
never  been  surpassed  as  a  specimen  of  ignorant  credulity 
and  persistent  error. 

From  the  twelfth  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
it  was  implicitly  and  almost  universally  believed  that  in 
the  Western  Islands  of  Scotland  certain  geese,  of  which  the 
nesting-places  were  never  found,  instead  of  being  hatched 
from  eggs,  like  other  birds,  were  bred  from  "  shell-fish  " 
which  grew  on  trees.  Upon  the  shores  where  these  geese 
abounded,  pieces  of  timber  and  old  trunks  of  trees  covered 
with  barnacles  were  often  seen  which  had  been  stranded  by 
the  sea.  From  between  the  partly  opened  shells  of  the 
barnacles  protruded  their  plumose  cirrhi,  which  in  some 
degree  resemble  the  feathers  of  a  bird.  Hence  arose  the 
belief  that  they  contained  real  birds.  The  fishermen 
persuaded  themselves  that  these  birds  within  the  shells 
were  the  geese  whose  origin  they  had  been  previously 
unable  to  discover,  and  that  they  were  thus  bred,  instead 
of  being  hatched,  like  other  birds,  from  eggs.  As  the  tale 
spread  to  a  distance,  it  gained  by  repetition,  like  the  story 
of  "  The  Three  Black  Crows  "  amusingly  told  by  Dr.  John 
Byrom.*  The  trees  found  upon  the  shore  were  soon 
reported  to  be  trees  growing  on  the  shore ;  that  which 
grew  on  trees  people  soon  asserted  to  be  the  fruit  of  trees  ; 
*  See  Appendix  G. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          53 

and  thus,  from  step  to  step,  the  story  increased  in  wonder 
and  obtained  credit.  It  was  discussed  during  many 
centuries  by  philosophers  and  men  of  learning,  who,  one 
after  another,  accepted  the  evidence  in  its  favour,  until  Sir 
Robert  Moray,  F.R.S.,  in  1678,  reported  to  the  Royal 
Society  that  he  had  examined  these  barnacles,  and  that 
in  every  shell  that  he  had  opened  he  had  "  found  a  little 
bird — the  little  bill,  like  that  of  a  goose  ;  the  eyes  marked  ; 
the  head,  neck,  breast,  wings,  tail,  and  feet  formed,  the 
feathers  everywhere  perfectly  shaped  and  blackish-coloured, 
and  the  feet  like  those  of  other  water-fowl."  This  nonsense 
was  published  in  the  *  Philosophical  Transactions  '  (No.  137, 
January  and  February,  1678)  under  the  auspices  of  the 
highest  representatives  of  science  in  this  country.  The  old 
botanist  Gerard  had  previously  (in  1597)  had  the  audacity 
to  assert  that  he  had  witnessed  the  transformation  of  the 
"  shell-fish  "  into  geese.* 

In  like  manner  the  "  wool-bearing  plant "  of  Ctesias, 
Nearchus,  Aristobulus,  and  Theophrastus,  the  plant  of 
which  Herodotus  wrote  that  "  it  bore  as  its  fruit  fleeces 
which  surpassed  those  of  lambs  in  beauty  and  excellence," 
was  soon  reported  to  be  "a  plant  bearing  fruit  within  which 
was  a  little  lamb  having  a  fleece  of  surpassing  beauty  and 
excellence."  As  it  was  evident  that  a  living  lamb  must 
take  food,  the  "  lytylle  best "  was,  in  the  next  version, 
kindly  placed  upon  a  stalk,  and  so  balanced  thereon  as  to 
be  able  to  bend  downward,  and  browze  upon  the  sur- 
rounding herbage.  Of  course  the  lamb,  if  it  fed  on  grass, 
must  have  digestive  and  other  organs,  like  those  of  lambs 
ordinarily  begotten,  so  these  were  liberally  bestowed  upon 
it  with  as  much  particularity  as  that  exercised  by  Sir 

*  *  See  '  Sea  Fables  Explained,'  by  the  Author,  2nd  edition,  p.  114. 
Clowes  and  Sons,  Limited. 


5  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

Robort  Moray  in  enumerating  the  "  parts  and  features  " 
of  the  "little  tree-bird."*  The  transformation  of  the 
wondrous  "  plant-animal  "  from  "  a  little  lamb  with  a  white 
fleece  disclosed  by  the  bursting  of  a  ripe  seed-pod  growing 
on  a  stalk "  into  "  a  lamb  growing  on  a  stalk  attached  to 
its  navel,  and  browzing  on  the  herbage  within  its  reach," 
vastly  increased  the  difficulty  of  identifying  it.  Like  the 
barnacle  geese,  it  was  discussed  by  philosophers  and  sought 
for  by  travellers ;  but  its  features  had  been  distorted 
beyond  recognition,  and,  instead  of  endeavouring  to  find 
its  original  portrait  in  the  pages  of  old  historians  and 
geographers,  enquirers  looked  for  fresh  information  con- 
cerning it  in  the  misleading  tales  of  successive  travellers. 
At  last,  as  we  have  seen,  another  "  vegetable  lamb  "  crossed 
the  trail  of  the  original  lost  one,  in  the  shape  of  the  two 
Chinese  toy-dogs  laid  before  the  Royal  Society  by  Sir 
Hans  Sloane  and  Dr.  Breyn.  That  distinguished  body  of 
savants  unfortunately  accorded  their  recognition  to  the 
wrongful  claimant,  and  ever  since  then  botanists  and 
antiquarians  have  regarded  the  problem  as  solved,  and  have 
been  satisfied  that  in  these  few  rude  models  of  "  tan-coloured 
dogs  "  they  have  found  the  true  and  original  "  snow-white  " 
"  Vegetable  Lamb  of  Scythia." 

The  contented  acceptance  by  botanists  and  other  re- 
presentatives of  science,  down  to  the  present  day,  of  three 
or  four  trumpery  toys  artificially  and  roughly  fashioned  by 

*  The  figures  of  the  ancient  partly  human,  partly  piscine  deities, 
from  which  originated  the  belief  in  mermaids,  similarly  passed  through 
various  mutations.  The  first  idea  was  that  of  a  man  coming  out  of  the 
mouth  of  a  fish.  Subsequently,  the  form  was  that  of  a  man  clad  in  the 
skin  of  a  fish— wearing  it  as  a  mantle — the  head  of  the  fish  covering 
that  of  the  man,  like  a  cap  or  helmet.  And  so  on,  till  a  being  was 
developed  the  upper  half  of  whose  body  was  human,  and  the  lower 
half,  from  the  waist  downwards,  that  of  a  fish. 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          55 

the  Chinese  from  the  rhizomes  of  a  fern  which  does  not 
grow  in  Tartary  or  Scythia,  and  brought  to  Europe  by 
travellers  at  rare  intervals,  as  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
origin  of  a  rumour  which  spread  from  Asia  all  over  Europe 
and  attracted  the  attention  of  learned  men  of  all  countries 
for  many  centuries,  is  not  the  least  remarkable  circumstance 
in  the  history  of  the  legend  of  the  "  Scythian  Lamb." 

Well  might  the  old  historians  consider  worthy  of  record 
the  reports  they  had  heard  of  the  existence  of  the  "  wool- 
bearing  tree,"  for,  as  Dr.  Ure  has  remarked,*  "  it  would  be 
universally  regarded  as  a  miracle  of  vegetation  did  not 
familiarity  blunt  the  moral  feelings  of  mankind.  This  class 
of  plants,  largely  distributed  over  the  torrid  zone,  affords 
to  the  inhabitants  a  spontaneous  and  inexhaustible  supply 
of  the  clothing  material  best  adapted  to  screen  their 
swarthy  bodies  from  the  scorching  sun,  and  to  favour  the 
cooling  influence  of  the  breeze,  as  well  as  cutaneous  exhala- 
tion. While  the  tropical  heats  change  the  soft  wool  of  the 
sheep  into  a  harsh,  scanty  hair,  unfit  for  clothing  purposes, 
they  cherish  and  ripen  the  vegetable  wool,  with  its  more 
slender  and  porous  fibres,  admirably  suited  for  clothing  in 
a  hot  climate,  as  the  grosser  and  warmer  animal  fibres  are 
in  a  cold  one.  No  sooner  does  the  cotton  pod  arrive  at 
maturity  than  its  swollen  capsules  burst  with  an  elastic 
force,  in  gaping  segments,  in  order,  as  it  were,  to  display 
to  the  most  careless  eye  their  white  fleecy  treasure,  and  to 
invite  the  hand  of  the  observer  to  pluck  it  from  the  seeds, 
and  to  work  it  up  into  a  light  and  beautiful  robe.  Thus 
held  forth  from  the  extremity  of  every  bough,  by  its 
resemblance  to  sheep's  wool  it  could  not  fail  to  attract 
attention." 

Such  keen  observers  as  the  ancient  conquerors  of  India 
*  '  The  Cotton  Manufacture  of  Great  Britain,'  p.  71. 


56  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OP  TARTARY. 

would  have  been  sure  to  notice  with  surprise  and  interest 
the  wonderful  vegetable  product  which  could  be  compared 
to  nothing  so  aptly  as  to  the  white,  soft  wool  of  a  little 
lamb,  to  appreciate  its  value  and  usefulness,  and  to  admire 
the  fabrics  manufactured  from  it.  And,  as  these  fabrics 
gradually  found  their  way  northward  from  India  by  the 
great  caravan  routes,  either  by  Samarcand,  or  by  the  passes 
of  the  Hindu  Kush,  by  Bokhara  and  Khiva,  through 
Turkestan  and  Tartary  into  Russia,  in  one  direction,  and 
by  Egypt  to  the  countries  on  the  Mediterranean  in  another, 
the  sensation  they  would  cause  is  not  difficult  to  realise. 
We  can  imagine  how  the  newly-arrived  trader,  as  he 
displayed  his  goods,  would  be  eagerly  questioned  by  in- 
tending purchasers  of  the  novel,  soft,  white  or  coloured 
cloths,  so  well  suited  to  their  requirements,  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  raw  material  of  which  they  had  been  woven.  We 
can  "picture  to  ourselves  their  astonishment  when  he 
explained  to  them  that  the  delicate,  white,  flossy  fibres  from 
which  his  fabrics  were  made,  of  which  he,  perhaps,  showed 
them  a  sample,  and  which  looked  so  like  lamb's  wool,  was 
the  produce  of  a  plant,  the  fruit  of  which  burst  open  when  it 
became  ripe,  and  exposed  to  view  the  white  wool  within  it. 
And  we  can  easily  understand  how  the  fame  of  this  spread, 
and  was  carried  into  distant  lands,  and  how  this  "  vegetable 
lamb's  wool "  was  discussed  and  talked  about  in  countries 
where  it,  and  the  yarn  spun  from  it,  and  the  cloths  woven 
from  it,  had  not  yet  penetrated. 

Now,  let  us  complete  our  identification  of  the  cotton-pod 
of  India  as  "  the  Vegetable  Lamb  "  of  the  fable  by  showing 
its  right  to  the  title  of  "  the  Scythian  Lamb." 

There  is  probably  no  race  of  men,  or  rather  aggregate  of 
races,  mentioned  prominently  in  history,  of  whom,  and  of 
whose  country  so  little  has  been  definitely  known  as  of  the 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          57 

ancient  Scythians.  They  have  been  generally  and  vaguely, 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  correctly,  regarded  as  represented 
in  modern  times  by  the  numerous  hordes  of  Tartars  in- 
habiting the  lands  north  of  the  mountains  of  the  Caucasus, 
and  part  of  central  and  northern  Asia.  So  exclusively 
have  they  been  identified  with  these  tribes  that  the  terms 
Tartary  and  Scythia  have  been  looked  upon  as  synony- 
mous, and  thus  "  the  Scythian  Lamb  "  has  been  called  also 
the  "Tartarian  Lamb,"  or  "the  Vegetable  Lamb  of 
Tartary." 

Under  the  name  of  "  Scythia  "  was  included  (as  may  be 
seen  on  any  good  classical  map)  a  vast  territory,  partly  in 
Europe  and  partly  in  Asia,  extending  from  the  25th  to 
the  1 1 6th  degree  of  East  longitude.  The  European  portion 
of  it  was  comparatively  a  small  province,  known  as 
"  Scythia  Parva,"  and  comprised  those  districts  of  Silistria 
and  Bessarabia  bordering  the  western  shores  of  the  Black 
Sea,  south  of  the  mouths  of  the  Danube.  Scythia  in  Asia, 
which  was  separated  from  Scythia  Parva  by  the  two 
Sarmatias,  included  the  whole  of  Turkestan,  Thibet,  Mon- 
golia, and  Siberia.  It  was  bounded  on  the  West  by  the 
Ural  Mountains  and  river,  and  extended  northward  through 
then  unknown  regions  to  the  Arctic  Circle,  and  southward 
to  the  Himalayas.  But  still  further  south,  beyond  the 
western  Himalayas — the  Hindu-Kush — was  another  part 
of  Scythia,  known  as  "  Indo-Scythia."  This  stretched 
southward  to  the  Erythrean  Sea  (the  Arabian  Sea),  and 
was  that  part  of  India  now  called  Scinde  and  the  Punjab. 
Through  it  flowed  the  Indus  and  the  Hydaspes,  and  it  was 
on  the  banks  of  the  latter  river,  at  Bucephalia  (either  the 
present  Jhelum,  or  Jubalpore,  eighteen  miles  lower),  that 
Alexander's  admiral  collected  the  flotilla  whichhe  conducted 
down  the  Hydaspes  to  its  confluence  with  the  Indus,  and 


58  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

along  the  whole  course  of  that  great  river,  and  made  his 
way  by  its  lower  mouth  into  the  open  water  of  the  Arabian 
Sea.  Then  and  there  it  was — from  the  time  of  their  arrival 
in  the  country,  during  the  war  with  Pontus  and  other 
Indian  princes,  and  on  their  ten  months'  voyage  homeward 
— that  Alexander  and  his  commodore  Nearchus  saw  the 
native  population  of  Indo-Scythia  "  clad  in  garments  the 
material  of  which  was  whiter  than  any  other,  or  at  any  rate 
appeared  so  in  contrast  with  their  wearers'  swarthy  skin," 
and  which  were  "  made  of  the  wool  like  that  of  lambs,  which 
grew  in  tufts  and  bunches  upon  trees." 

Although  more  than  two  thousand  years  have  passed 
since  then,  Nearchus's  description^  this  costume — "  a  shirt, 
or  tunic,  reaching  to  the  middle  of  the  leg,  a  sheet  folded 
about  the  shoulders,  and  a  turban  rolled  round  the  head  " 
— would  be  almost  equally  accurate  at  the  present  day. 
Its  wearers  may  be  congratulated  that  fashion  has  left 
unchanged  and  unspoiled  an  apparel  so  serviceable  and 
well-suited  to  the  climate  of  the  country  and  the  habits  of 
its  people ! 

As  the  "  fleeces  of  vegetable  wool,  softer  and  whiter  than 
that  of  the  lamb,"  came  from  Indo-Scythia,  the  supposed 
plant-animal  that  bore  them  was  first  called  "  the  Scythian 
Lamb." 

As  time  passed  on,  the  name  of  Scythia  in  Asia  became 
merged  in  that  of  Tartary.  From  the  time  that  the 
Mahometans  became  masters  of  Egypt  and  Constantinople, 
as  no  Christian  was  allowed  to  pass  through  their  domin- 
ion to  the  East,  intercourse  with  India  by  the  two  most 
direct  roads  ceased  entirely.  Cotton  goods  and  other 
merchandise  from  India  were  therefore  conveyed  by  the 
trading  caravans  before  mentioned.  The  dep6t  to  which 
they  were  generally  forwarded  was  Samarcand,  as  was 


THE  FABLE  AND  ITS  INTERPRETATION.          59 

correctly  related  to  Guillaume  Postel  by  Michel,  the  Arabic 
interpreter  (p.  13).    There  they  met  the  great  caravan  travel- 
ling from  the  East  into  Russia,  and,  on  the  journey,  passed 
through  part  of  Scythia   in  Asia.     In   each   district   the 
caravan  was  joined  by  hosts  of  Tartar  traders   carrying 
with  them  the  wool  of  their  sheep,  the  hair  of  their  goats, 
and  the  skins  of  both,  the  soft,  curly  skins  of  their  lambs, 
and  droves   of  hardy   colts,  the  produce  of  their  mares, 
whose  milk  was,  and  still  is,  to  them  as  important  an  article 
of  diet  as  that  of  cows  is  to  ourselves.     As  the  Tartar 
merchants  brought  with  the  fleeces  of  their  sheep,  goats, 
and  lambs   the  fleeces  also  of  "the  fine  white  wool  that 
grew  on  trees  "  and  the  piece-goods  made  from  it,  "  the 
vegetable  lamb  "  from  which  it  was  supposed  to  have  been 
sheared  became  also  in  this  manner  identified  with  Tartary, 
in  the  same  way  as  were  Indian  spices  with  "  Araby,"  through 
which  they  sometimes  passed  in  transit,  but  where  they 
never  grew.     It  thus  became  known  as  "  the  wool  of  the 
Tartarian  Lamb,"  and  travellers  whose  curiosity  concerning 
the  far-famed  "  zoophyte  "  was  subsequently  aroused  sought 
for    it   in    the    dominions   of   the  "Great   Cham."     But, 
just  as  when  ^Eneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini,  afterwards  Pope 
Pius  II.,  sought  in  Scotland  for  the  "  goose-bearing  tree," 
which  he  eagerly  desired  to  see,  upon  being  told  that  it 
grew  much  further  north,  complained  that  "miracles  will 
always  flee  farther  and  farther  away  "  ;  so  when  any  pains- 
taking traveller  in  Tartary  endeavoured  to  investigate  the 
subject  of  the  strange  "  plant-animal,"  he  was  sure  to  learn 
(unless  he  allowed  himself  to  be  cunningly  hoaxed  by  the 
skin  of  a  natural  lamb,  or  the  fruit  of  another  plant)  that 
the   object  of  his  search  was  non-existent  in  its  reputed 
birthplace,  and  that  he  must  look  for  it  elsewhere. 

Thus  the  story  of  the  "  Scythian  "  or  "  Tartarian  Lamb  " 


60  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

grew,  and  was  exaggerated  and  distorted,  until  all  traces  of 
its  origin  were  so  obliterated  that  even  men  of  thought  and 
learning  have  been  unable  to  recognise  in  the  misleading 
descriptions  given  of  it  the  plant  which,  excepting  corn,  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  valuable  to  mankind.  For,  as  I  have 
said,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  clear  and  indubitable  that  the 
fruit  which  burst  when  ripe  and  disclosed  within  it  "  a  little 
lamb  "  was  the  cotton  pod,  and  that  the  soft,  white,  delicate 
fleece  of  "  the  Vegetable  Lamb  of  Scythia  "  was  that  which 
we  still  call  "  Cotton  Wool." 


FIG.  7.— THE  REAL  "VEGETABLE  LAMB"— A  COTTON  POD. 

(Gossypium  herbaceum.) 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  COTTON   AND   ITS   INTRODUCTION 
INTO  EUROPE. 

IN  the  preceding  pages  I  have  referred  to  the  introduction 
of  cotton  into  the  countries  north  and  west  of  the  Indus 
in  so  far  only  as  the  expressions  of  old  writers  relating  to 
it  have  seemed  to  afford  a  clue  to  the  origin  of  the  fable  of 
"  the  Scythian  Lamb."  But  I  venture  to  think  that  a 
brief  account  of  its  botanical  affinities,  and  of  its  spread 
and  distribution  amongst  various  nations,  may  form  an 
appropriate  and  acceptable  sequel  to  the  story  of  the  wild 
rumours  that  preceded  by  many  centuries  its  arrival  in 
Western  Europe. 

The  cotton  plant,  Gossypium,  is  one  of  the  Malvacece — 
allied  to  the  mallow.  There  are  several  varieties  of  it,  but 
only  three  principal  distinctions  require  notice — namely, 
the  herbaceous,  the  tree,  and  the  shrub  species.  The  first 
and  most  useful,  Gossypium  herbaceum,  is  an  annual  plant, 
cultivated  in  the  United  States,  India,  China,  and  other 
countries.  It  grows  to  a  height  of  from  eighteen  to 
twenty  inches,  and  has  leaves,  which  being  somewhat  lobed, 
of  a  bright  dark  green  colour,  and  marked  with  brownish 
veins,  were  not  inaptly  compared  by  Theophrastus  with 
those  of  the  black  mulberry  and  the  vine.  Its  blossoms 
expand  into  a  pale  yellow  flower,  and  when  this  falls  off  a 
three-celled,  triangular  capsular  pod  appears.  The  pod 


64  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

increases  to  the  size  of  a  large  cob-nut  or  small  medlar, 
and  becomes  brown  as  the  woolly,  fruit  ripens.  The  ex- 
pansion of  the  wool  then  causes  the  pod  to  burst,  and  it 
discloses  a  ball  of  snow-white  (in  some  species,  yellowish) 
down  consisting  of  three  locks — one  in  each  cell — enclosing 
and  firmly  adhering  to  the  seeds.  As  the  pods  ripen  the 
cotton  is  gathered  by  hand,  and  is  exposed  to  the  sun  till 
it  is  perfectly  dry  ;  the  seeds  are  then  separated  from  it, 
and  it  is  packed  into  bales  for  future  use  or  exportation. 
In  the  United  States  it  is  planted  in  rows,  four  feet  asunder, 
and  the  seeds  are  set  in  holes  eighteen  inches  apart. 

The  shrub  cotton  grows  in  almost  every  country  where 
the  annual  herbaceous  cotton  is  found.  Its  duration  varies 
according  to  the  climate.  In  some  places,  as  in  the  West 
Indies,  it  is  biennial  or  triennial  ;  in  others,  as  in  India, 
Egypt,  &c.,  it  lasts  from  six  to  ten  years ;  in  the  hottest 
climates  it  is  perennial ;  and  in  the  cooler  countries  it 
becomes  an  annual. 

The  tree-cotton,  Gossypium  arbor eum,  grows  in  India, 
Egypt,  China,  the  interior  and  western  coast  of  Africa, 
and  in  some  parts  of  America.  As  the  tree  only  attains  to 
a  height  of  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet,  it  is  difficult  to 
distinguish  the  tree  cotton  and  the  shrub  cotton  when 
referred  to  by  travellers. 

The  cotton  plant,  in  all  its  varieties,  requires  a  sandy 
soil.  It  flourishes  on  the  rocky  hills  of  Hindostan,  Africa, 
and  the  West  Indies,  and  will  grow  where  the  soil  is  too 
poor  to  produce  any  other  valuable  crop. 

Cotton  has  always  been  regarded  as  indigenous  to  India, 
and  as  the  characteristic  clothing  material  of  that  country, 
as  flax  is  of  Egypt,  silk  of  China,  and  the  wool  of  sheep 
and  goats  of  Northern  Asia. 

The  uncertain  nature  of  Hindoo  chronology  prevents  our 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  65 

even  guessing  at  the  period  when  cotton  was  first  spun  and 
woven  in  India  ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  was  so 
used  from  the  earliest  ages  of  Hindoo  civilization.  As 
Dr.  Robertson  remarks,  in  his  '  Historical  Disquisition  on 
British  India' — "Whoever  attempts  to  trace  the  opera- 
tions of  men  in  remote  times,  and  to  mark  the  various 
steps  of  their  progress  in  any  line  of  exertion,  will  soon 
have  the  mortification  to  find  that  the  period  of  authentic 
history  is  extremely  limited,  and  if  we  push  our  enquiries 
beyond  the  period  when  written  history  commences  we 
enter  upon  the  region  of  conjecture,  of  fable,  and  of 
uncertainty." 

The  earliest  mention  of  cotton  with  which  we  are 
acquainted  is  found,  according  to  Dr.  Royle,*  in  the  first 
book  of  the  Rig  Veda,  Hymn  105,  verse  8,  which  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  composed  fifteen  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era.  It  is,  however,  a  mere  allusion  to  "  threads 
in  the  loom,"  and  although  it  probably  does  refer  to  cotton, 
the  evidence  .of  this  is  only  circumstantial.  But  in  '  The 
Sacred  Institutes  of  Manu/  which  date  from  800  B.C., 
cotton  is  referred  to  so  repeatedly  as  to  imply  that  it 
was  in  common  use  at  that  time  in  India.  Dr.  Royle 
says,  on  the  authority  of  Professor  Wilson,  that  cotton 
and  cotton-cloth  are  mentioned  in  that  book  by  the 
Sanscrit  names  "  Kurpasa  "  and  "  Karpasum"  and  cotton- 
seeds as  "  Kurpas-asthi"  The  common  Bengali  name 
"  Kupas,"  indicating  cotton  with  the  seed,  which  is  still  in 
general  use  all  over  India,  and  may  even  be  occasionally 
heard  in  Lancashire,  is,  no  doubt,  derived  from  the  Sanscrit, 
from  which  also  comes  the  Latin  " carbasus" 

It  is  evident  that  the  manufacture  of  cotton  in  India 

• 

*  '  On  the  Culture  and  Commerce  of  Cotton  in  India  and  else- 
where,' by  J.  Forbes  Royle,  M.D.,  F.R.S.  London.  1851. 

F 


66  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

must  date  from  a  very  remote  period  indeed,  for  long 
before  the  time  of  Herodotus  the  processes  of  weaving  and 
dyeing  it  had  attained  to  a  degree  of  excellence  which 
indicates  considerable  previous  experience  ;  and  a  large 
export  trade  in  white  and  coloured  cotton  fabrics  had  even 
then  been  established. 

From  India  manufactured  cotton  seems  to  have  reached 
Persia  in  very  early  times,  for  the  word  "  Karpas  "  occurs 
in  the  book  of  Esther  (chap.  i.  v.  6),  in  the  description  of 
the  decorations  of  the  palace  of  Shushan  during  the  right 
royal  festivities  given  there  by  King  Ahasuerus,  B.C.  519. 
In  the  verse  referred  to  we  are  told  that  there  were  "  white, 
green,  and  blue  .hangings."  The  word  corresponding  with 
" green "  in  the  Hebrew  is  "Karpas"  in  the  Septuagint 
and  Vulgate,  carbasinus,  and  should  be  rendered  "  cotton- 
cloth";  so  that  the  hangings  of  the  palace  of  Ahasuerus 
were  of  white  and  blue  striped  cotton,  such  as  may  be  seen 
throughout  India  at  the  present  day.  Bishop  Heber 
describes  the  Hall  of  Audience  of  the  Emperor  of 
Delhi,  as  having  these  striped  curtains  hanging  in  festoons 
about  it. 

Mattrasses,  also,  of  this  striped  material,  stuffed  and 
padded  with  coarse  cotton,  are  still  used  in  India  as  a 
substitute  for  doors  and  window-shutters,  to  keep  out  the 
heat,  and  are  known  as  "  purdahs."  Aristobulus  reported 
that  Susiana  had  when  he  was  there  "an  atmosphere 
so  glowing  and  scorching  that  lizards  and  serpents  could 
not  cross  the  streets  of  the  city  at  noon  quickly  enough 
to  prevent  their  being  burned  to  death  mid-way  by  the 
heat "  ;  that  "  barley  spread  out  in  the  sun  was  roasted, 
as  in  an  oven,  and  hopped  about "  (like  parched  peas)  ;  and 
that  u  the  inhabitants  laid  earth  to  the  depth  of  three  and 
a  half  feet  on  the  roofs  of  their  houses  to  exclude  the 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  67 

suffocating  heat,"  so  that  it  is  not  improbable  that  these 
blue  and  white  striped  "  purdahs  "  were  used  in  the  palace 
of  Shushan  in  the  time  of  Ahasuerus. 

Strabo  frequently  mentions  this  palace  of  Shushan,  or 
Susa,  which  was  in  the  province  of  Susis,  or  Susiana,  at  the 
head  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  He  tells  us  that  when  Alexander 
the  Great  became  master  of  Persia  he  transferred  to  this 
residence  of  the  Persian  Monarchs  everything  that  was 
precious  in  the  land,  although  the  palace  was  already 
almost  filled  with  treasures  and  costly  materials.  Strabo 
has  further  been  quoted  as  mentioning  that  cotton  grew  in 
Susiana  and  was  there  manufactured  into  cloths,  but 
although  I  have  searched  his  chapters  many  times  I  can 
find  no  such  statement.  It  is  most  probable,  however,  that 
before  his  time  cotton  did  grow  and  was  manufactured  in 
Susiana,  and  that  it  was  first  introduced  by  the  Macedonians. 
They  certainly  brought  into  culture  there  before  the  time 
of  Strabo  another  valuable  plant :  for  we  have  the  distinct 
statement  of  the  latter  that  "the  vine  did  not  grow  in 
Susiana  before  the  Macedonians  planted  it  both  there  and 
at  Babylon." 

Amidst  the  hurry  of  war  and  the  rage  for  conquest 
Alexander  always  kept  in  view  the  future  pacification  of 
an  invaded  country  ;  its  products,  therefore,  were  habitually 
ascertained  and  carefully  noted,  with  a  view  to  the  increase 
of  revenue  and  the  development  of  commerce.  But,  beyond 
this,  the  great  Macedonian  conqueror,  wherever  he  went, 
employed  a  numerous  corps  of  scouts,  and  searchers,  and 
men  of  science,  to  collect  specimens  of  the  curious  animals, 
plants,  and  minerals  to  be  found  on  the  march.  These  he 
sent  home  from  time  to  time  to  his  great  preceptor  Aristotle, 
who  was  thus  assisted  to  produce  a  work  on  Natural  History 
which,  for  general  accuracy  of  description  and  extent  of 

F  2 


68  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

knowledge,  is  a  wonderful  monument  of  scientific  observa- 
tion. 

When  by  the  refusal  of  his  soldiers  to  proceed  further 
than  the  banks  of  the  Hyphasis  (the  modern  Beyah), 
Alexander  found  himself  obliged  to  yield  to  their  wish  to 
be  led  back  to  Persia,  he  determined  to  sail  down  the 
Indus  to  the  ocean,  and  from  its  mouth  to  proceed  by  the 
Erythrean  Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  that  a  communication 
by  sea  might  be  opened  with  India.  His  intention  was 
that  the  valuable  commodities  of  that  country  should  thus 
be  conveyed  through  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  interior  parts 
of  his  Asiatic  dominions,  and  that  by  the  Arabian  Gulf 
they  should  be  carried  to  Alexandria  (the  site  of  which  he 
had  most  judiciously  selected),  and  thence  distributed  to 
the  rest  of  the  world. 

With  this  object  in  view,  he  ordered  a  numerous  fleet  of 
boats  and  river-craft  to  be  built  and  collected  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hydaspes,  at  Bucephalia  (either  the  modern  Jhelum, 
or  Jubalpore,  some  eighteen  miles  lower  down  the  stream), 
and,  when  nearly  two  thousand  vessels  of  various  shape  and 
size  had  been  got  together,  he  commenced  his  voyage 
down  the  Hydaspes  to  the  Indus.  The  conduct  of  the 
flotilla  was  committed  to  Nearchus,  an  officer  worthy  of 
that  important  trust,  though  Alexander  himself  accom- 
panied him  in  his  navigation  down  the  river.  The  army 
numbered  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men  and  two 
hundred  elephants.  One  third  of  the  troops  were  embarked 
on  the  boats,  whilst  the  remainder,  marching  in  two 
columns,  one  on  the  right,  and  the  other  on  the  left  side  of 
the  river,  accompanied  them  in  their  progress.  Retarded 
by  various  military  operations  on  land,  as  well  as  by  the 
slow  advance  of  such  a  fleet  as  he  conducted,  Alexander 
did  not  reach  the  sea  until  more  than  nine  months  after 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  69 

the  commencement  of  his  journey.  Having  safely  accom- 
plished this  arduous  undertaking,  he  led  the  main  body  of 
his  army  back  to  Persia  by  land.  The  command  of  the 
fleet,  with  a  considerable  body  of  troops  on  board  of  it, 
remained  with  Nearchus,  who,  after  a  coasting  voyage  of 
seven  months,  brought  it  safely  up  the  Persian  Gulf  into  the 
Euphrates. 

Alexander's  expedition  into  India  was  no  less  an 
intelligent  exploration  than  a  successful  invasion,  and  the 
western  world  is  more  indebted  than  is  generally  under- 
stood to  the  original  genius,  conspicuous  foresight,  political 
wisdom,  and  indefatigable  exertions  of  that  remarkable 
man.  It  was  from  the  memoirs  of  his  officers  that  Europe 
derived  its  first  authentic  information  concerning  the 
climate,  soil,  inhabitants  and  productions  of  India,  and 
amongst  the  last  not  the  least  beneficial  to  man  was 
cotton. 

Although  Scylax  of  Caryandra,  an  emissary  of  Darius 
Hydaspes,  had  descended  the  Indus  to  the  sea  about  a 
hundred  and  eighty  years  previously  (B.C.  509),  other 
nations  had  derived  no  benefit  from  his  investigations. 
But  his  report  of  the  fertility,  high  cultivation,  and 
opulence  of  the  country  he  had  passed  through  inflamed 
his  master's  greed,  and  made  Darius  impatient  to  become 
possessor  of  a  territory  so  valuable.  This  he  soon  accom- 
plished, and  though  his  conquests  seem  not  to  have 
extended  beyond  the  districts  watered  by  the  Indus,  he 
levied  a  tribute  from  it  which  equalled  in  amount  one-third 
of  the  whole  revenue  of  the  Persian  Monarchy. 

Until  Alexander  became  master  of  Persia  no  commercial 
intercourse  seems  to  have  been  carried  on  by  sea  between 
that  country  and  India.  The  ancient  rulers  of  Persia,  induced 
by  a  peculiar  precept  of  their  religion  which  enjoined 


70  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

them  to  guard  with  the  utmost  care  against  the  defile- 
ment of  any  of  the  "  elements,"  and  also  by  a  fear  of  foreign 
invasion,  obstructed  by  artificial  works  near  their  mouths 
the  navigation  of  the  great  rivers  which  gave  access  to  the 
interior  of  the  country.  As  their  subjects,  however,  were 
no  less  desirous  than  the  people  around  them  of  possessing 
the  valuable  productions  and  elegant  manufactures  of  India, 
these  latter  were  conveyed  to  all  parts  of  their  dominions 
by  land  carriage.  The  goods  destined  for  the  northern 
provinces  were  borne  on  camels  from  the  banks  of  the 
Indus  to  those  of  the  Oxus,  down  the  stream  of  which  they 
were  carried  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  distributed,  partly  by 
land  and  partly  by  navigable  rivers,  through  the  different 
countries  bounded  on  the  one  hand  by  the  Caspian,  and  on 
the  other  by  the  Euxine,  or  Black  Sea ;  whilst  those  of 
India  intended  for  the  southern  and  interior  districts 
were  transported  by  land  from  the  Caspian  Gates  to  some 
of  the  great  rivers,  by  which  they  were  dispersed  through 
every  part  of  the  country.  This  was  the  ancient  mode  of 
intercourse  with  India,  whilst  the  Persian  Empire  was 
governed  by  its  native  princes  ;  and,  as  Robertson  says,  "  it 
has  been  observed  in  every  age  that  when  any  branch  of 
commerce  has  got  into  a  certain  channel,  although  it 
may  not  be  the  best  or  most  convenient  one,  it  requires 
long  time  and  persistent  efforts  to  give  it  a  different 
direction."* 

Alexander  of  Macedon  was  not  a  man  likely  to  permit 
the  existence  of  impediments  in  the  way  of  that  which  he 
knew  to  be  highly  conducive  to  national  progress  and 
prosperity — namely,  the  expansion  of  commerce  and 
facility  of  communication.  On  his  return,  therefore,  from 
India  to  Susa,  he,  in  person,  surveyed  the  course  of  the 
*  Robertson's  '  Historical  Disquisition  Concerning  India.' 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  71 

Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and  gave  directions  for  the  removal 
of  the  cataracts  and  dams,  which  had  so  long  rendered  the 
upper  waters  of  these  rivers  inaccessible  from  the  sea. 
His  wise  plans  and  splendid  schemes  were  cut  short  by 
his  early  death,  B..C.  324 ;  but  his  surviving  generals, 
though  they  quarrelled  with  each  other,  did  their  best  to 
carry  out  his  policy  and  the  measures  which  he  had 
concerted  with  so  much  sagacity. 

His  successor,  Seleucus,  entertained  so  high  an  opinion  of 
the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  commercial  intercourse 
with  India  that  he  organized  another  expedition,  which  must 
have  been  very  successful,  though  no  particulars  of  it  have 
come  down  to  us.  He  also  sent  to  Sandracottus,  King 
of  the  Prasii,  an  ambassador,  Megasthenes,  who  penetrated 
to  Palebothra  (the  modern  Allahabad),  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Jumna  and  the  Ganges. 

Meanwhile  Ptolemy  Soter,  another  of  Alexander's  gene- 
rals, who  had  enjoyed  his  confidence  and  entered  into  his 
plans  more  thoroughly  than  any  of  his  other  officers,  took 
possession  of  Egypt,  and  strove  to  secure  for  Alexandria  the 
advantage  of  the  trade  with  India.  Some  say  that  it  was  he 
who  erected  the  lighthouse  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  of 
Alexandria  which  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  seven  wonders 
of  the  world,  who  built  there  the  magnificent  temple  of 
Serapis,  and  who  founded  the  celebrated  library  and  museum 
for  the  benefit  of  learning  and  the  cultivation  of  science.* 

His  son,  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  completed  those  works, 
and,  further  to  attract  the  Indian  trade  to  Alexandria, 
commenced  to  form  a  canal,  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
feet  wide,  and  forty-five  feet  deep,  between  Arsinoe  (Suez) 
and  the  eastern  branch  of  the  Nile,  by  means  of  which  the 
productions  of  India  might  be  conveyed  to  Alexandria 
*  See  Appendix  H. 


72  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

entirely  by  water.  But  this  work  was  never  finished,  and 
as  the  navigation  of  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Arabian 
Gulf  (the  Red  Sea)  was  so  difficult  and  dangerous  as  to  be 
greatly  dreaded,  Ptolemy  built  a  city,  which  he  called 
Berenice,  further  down  the  west  coast  of  that  sea,  about 
lat.  24°.  This  new  city  soon  became  the  chief  port  of  com- 
munication between  Egypt  and  India.  Goods  landed  there 
were  carried  by  camels  across  the  desert  of  Thebais  to 
Coptos,  a  distance  of  about  320  English  miles,  and  from 
there  down  the  Nile  to  Alexandria,  whence  they  were 
transhipped  to  the  various  countries  on  the  Mediterranean. 

Thus  by  the  exploits  and  far-sighted  policy  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great  were  the  then  civilized  nations  of  Europe 
made  practically  acquainted  with  calicoes,  muslins,  and 
other  piece-goods — clothing  materials  which  they  had 
never  previously  seen,  although  probably  for  more  than 
two  thousand  years  these  had  been  woven  in  the  simple 
looms  of  India  from  the  soft,  white,  "vegetable-lamb's 
wool  that  grew  on  trees  "  ;  and  had  during  that  long  period 
supplied  the  principal  raiment  of  a  population  of  many 
millions. 

As  the  Persians  had  an  unconquerable  dislike  of  the  sea, 
the  seat  of  intercourse  with  India  was  the  more  easily 
established  in  Egypt,  and  it  is  remarkable  how  soon  and 
how  regularly  the  commerce  with  the  East  came  to  be 
carried  on  by  the  channel  in  which  the  sagacity  of  Alex- 
ander had  destined  it  to  flow. 

The  Egyptian  merchants  took  on  board  their  cargoes  of 
Indian  produce  at  Patala  (now  Tatta)  on  the  lower  Delta 
of  the  Indus,  at  Barygaza  (now  Baroche,  on  the  Nerbuddah) 
and  in  the  Gulf  of  Cambay,  and  probably  also  at  Kurrachee 
and  Surat.  As  their  vessels  were  of  small  burden,  and  as 
they,  themselves,  though  sufficiently  acquainted  with  astro- 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  73 

nomy  to  make  some  use  of  the  stars,  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  mariner's  compass,  the  prudent  merchantmen  crept 
timidly  along  within  sight  of  land,  following  the  outline  of 
every  bay,  and  skirting  the  shores  of  Persia  and  Arabia  and 
the  western  coast  of  Lower  Egypt  to  Berenice.  Though 
the  course  was  tedious  and  the  voyage  prolonged,  the  traffic 
prospered,  and  was  thus  carried  on  for  more  than  three 
centuries.  When  Egypt  was  conquered  by  Julius  Caesar, 
B.C.  30,  and,  after  the  battle  of  Actium,  became  a  Roman 
province  under  Augustus,  it  continued  undisturbed.  The 
taste  for  luxury  at  Rome  gave  a  new  impetus  to  commerce 
with  India,  and  at  this  time  four  hundred  sailing  craft  were 
engaged  in  the  trade. 

About  A.D.  50,  an  important  discovery  was  made  which 
greatly  facilitated  intercourse  between  Egypt  and  the  East, 
and  diminished  the  time  occupied  by  the  voyage.  Hippalus, 
the  commander  of  a  vessel  trading  with  India,  noticed  the 
periodical  winds  called  the  "monsoons," or  "trade- winds," and 
how  steadily  they  blew  during  one  part  of  the  year  from  the 
east,  and  during  the  other  from  the  west.  Having  observed 
this  to  occur  regularly  every  year,  he  ventured  to  relinquish 
the  slow  and  circuitous  coasting  route,  and  stretched  boldly 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Arabian  Gulf  across  the  ocean,  and 
was  carried  by  the  western  monsoon  to  Musiris,  on  the 
Malabar  coast.  This  was  one  of  the  greatest  achievements 
in  navigation  in  ancient  history,  and  opened  the  best 
communication  between  East  and  West  that  was  known 
for  fourteen  hundred  years  afterwards. 

Arrian  (who  wrote  A.D.  131)  says  that  at  that  date 
Indian  cottons  of  large  width,  fine  cottons,  muslins,  plain 
and  figured,  and  cotton  for  stuffing  couches  and  beds,  were 
landed  at  Aduli  (the  present  Massowah),  and  that  Bary- 
gaza  was  the  port  from  which  they  were  chiefly  shipped. 


74  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

The  Romans  also  established  an  intercourse  by  land, 
by  way  of  Palmyra  ("  Tadmor  in  the  Wilderness  "),  which 
by  means  of  this  trade  rose  to  great  opulence ;  but  even 
after  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government  from  Rome  to 
Constantinople,  in  the  year  329,  the  Roman  Empire  was 
still  supplied  with  the  productions  of  India  by  way  of 
Egypt.  The  trade  that  might  have  been  carried  on 
between  India  and  Constantinople  by  land  was  prevented 
by  the  Persians. 

The  Indo-Egyptian  maritime  traffic  established  by  Alex- 
ander, and  encouraged  by  Ptolemy  Lagus  and  his  son,  pros- 
pered for  nearly  a  thousand  years.  It  survived  the  downfall 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  A.D.  476,  and  lasted  until  the  con- 
quest of  Egypt  by  the  Mahometans  under  Amru  Benalas, 
the  general  of  Caliph  Omar,  A.D.  634. 

As  no  communication  was  carried  on  between  Mahome- 
tans and  Christians,  the  capture  of  Alexandria  by  the 
Saracens  prevented  the  nations  of  Europe  obtaining  the 
products  of  India  through  Egypt,  and  this  valuable  route 
of  international  communication  was  abruptly  stopped. 

I  have  devoted  some  space  to  a  description  of  the  first 
maritime  trade  with  India,  established  by  the  wisdom  of 
Alexander,  and  suddenly  arrested  by  Mahometan  bigotry, 
because  the  history  of  that  commerce  is,  more  or  less,  the 
history  of  the  cotton  trade,  and  explains  how  the  use 
of  cotton  and  its  progress  westward  were  gradually 
developed  and  subsequently  checked. 

It  will  be  convenient  to  make  this  date — the  commence- 
ment of  "  the  dark  ages  " — a  halting-place  from  which  to 
mark  how  far  cotton  and  the  fabrics  made  from  it  were 
appreciated  by  the  nations  who  were  chiefly  benefited  by 
the  sea-carriage  of  Indian  products  in  general. 

The    very    ancient   Egyptians   were    apparently   unac- 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  75 

quainted  with  cotton.  At  one  time  there  was  considerable 
discussion  concerning  the  substance  from  which  the  swath- 
ing bandages  of  the  mummies  were  woven,  and  some 
savants-  claimed  to  have  discovered  cotton  amongst  them. 
But  the  microscope  quickly  decided  that  question,  for  the 
character  and  appearance  of  the  fibres  of  cotton  and  flax  are 
so  markedly  different  that  any  young  microscopist  may  dis- 
tinguish one  from  the  other  with  ease.  It  was  found  that  in 
every  case  these  bandages  were  made  of  linen.  Negative 
evidence  to  the  same  effect  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that 
no  pictures  or  other  similitude  of  the  cotton  plant  has 
been  found  in  Egyptian  tombs,  whereas  accurate  represen- 
tations of  flax  occur,  in  its  different  stages  of  growth, 
harvest,  and  manufacture.* 

The  circumstance  mentioned  by  Herodotus,  that  King 
Amasis  of  Egypt,  in  sending  as  a  gift  to  Sparta  a  corselet 
padded  with  cotton  and  ornamented  with  gold  thread, 
thought  it  a  fit  present  from  a  King,  and  in  dedicating  a 
similar  one  to  Minerva  in  her  temple  at  Lindus  considered 
it  an  offering  worthy  of  the  goddess,  shows  that  it  was  at 
that  period  a  novelty  and  a  rarity.  The  first  knowledge 
of  cotton  in  Egypt  may,  I  think,  be  correctly  assigned  to 
that  date — about  B.C.  550.  Linen  was  the  principal  cloth- 
ing material  of  the  Egyptians,  and  the  manufacture  of  it 
from  flax  by  them  is  probably  of  as  great  antiquity  as  the 
growth  and  wearing  of  cotton  in  India.  The  embalmed 
bodies  of  their  dead  were  wrapped  in  it  during  successive 

*  In  the  Grotto  of  El  Kab  are  paintings  representing,  amongst 
other  scenes,  a  field  of  corn  and  a  crop  of  flax.  Four  persons  are 
employed  in  pulling  up  the  flax  by  the  roots  ;  another  binds  it  into 
sheaves  ;  a  sixth  carries  it  to  a  distance  ;  and  a  seventh  separates  the 
linseed  from  the  stem  by  means  of  a  four-toothed  "  ripple,"  which  he 
uses  just  in  the  same  way  as  it  is  now  used  in  Europe.  See  Hamilton's 
]  Plate  xxiii.,  and  Yates's  '  Textrinum  Antiquorum]  p.  255, 


76  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

ages  through  a  period  of  more  than  two  thousand  years, 
and  their  priests  wore  it  during  the  same  period,  its  clean 
white  texture  being  accepted  as  a  semblance  of  purity, 
whereas  wool,  taken  from  a  sheep,  was  deemed  a  profane 
attire. 

Flax  and  linen  are  frequently  referred  to  in  the  Bible. 
The  earliest  mention  of  the  former  is  in  Exodus  ix.  31,  in  the 
account  of  the  plague  of  hail  that  devastated  Lower  Egypt 
B.C.  1491,  and  destroyed,  when  they  were  nearly  ripe  for 
harvest,  the  two  most  important  crops  of  the  Egyptians — 
that  of  the  barley  on  which  they  relied  for  food  for  them- 
selves and  for  export  to  other  nations,  and  the  flax  on  which 
they  depended  for  their  clothing  and  manufacturing  employ- 
ment. For  flax  was  not  only  used  for  wearing  apparel, 
but  the  coarser  kinds  were  employed  for  making  sail-cloths, 
ropes,  nets,  and  for  other  purposes  for  which  hemp  is 
generally  used. 

It  is  surprising  that  notwithstanding  the  comparative 
proximity  of  Egypt  to  India,  cotton,  which  had  been  for 
ages  so  extensively  manufactured  in  the  latter  country, 
should  have  remained  so  long  unknown  or  unappreciated 
by  a  people  to  whom  it  would  have  furnished  a  cheaper 
and  more  comfortable  article  of  dress  than  the  flax-plant. 
But  it  is  certain  that  linen  was  held  in  favour  and  the  use  of 
it  prevailed  in  Egypt  till  the  Christian  era,  although  the 
cotton  fabrics  imported  into  Berenice  were  gradually  coming 
into  more  general  wear.  Pacatus  mentions  that  Mark 
Antony's  soldiers  wore  cotton  in  Egypt,  and  says  that 
they  felt  so  much  discomfort  from  the  heat  that  they 
could  hardly  tolerate  light  cotton  clothing,  even  in  the 
shade. 

From  a  passage  in   Pliny's    Natural    History  (lib.    xix. 
cap.  i)  it  would  appear  that  the  cotton  plant  was  cultivated 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  77 

in  Upper  Egypt  in  his  day  (A.D.  77),  and  this  has  been 
accepted  as  genuine  and  quoted  by  Dr.  Ure  *  and  others. 
But  Mr.  Yates,  in  his  (  Textrinum  Antiquorum'  (p.  459), 
shows  good  reason  for  believing  that  the  paragraph  was 
interpolated  in  the  text  of  one  of  the  MSS.  of  Pliny's 
work,  after  having  been  originally  an  annotation  in  the 
margin  of  an  earlier  copy.  This  explanation  clears  up  an  . 
otherwise  involved  and  disconnected  passage,  and  there  are 
other  reasons  besides  those  given  by  Mr.  Yates  for  believing 
that  his  surmise  is  correct. 

Abdollatiph,  an  Arabian  physician  who  visited  Egypt  at 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  does  not  mention  cotton  in 
the  account  which  he  wrote  (A.D.  1203),  of  the  plants  of  that 
country ;  and  Prospero  Alpini,  the  Paduan  physician  and 
botanist,  who  some  four  centuries  later  directed  his  atten- 
tion to  the  natural  history  of  Egypt,  says  t  that  the 
Egyptians  then  imported  cotton  for  their  use,  that  the 
herbaceous  kind  (Gossypium  herbaceum),  from  which  cotton 
was  obtained  in  Syria  and  Cyprus,  did  not  grow  in  Egypt, 
but  that  the  tree  kind  (G.  arbor eum)  was  cultivated  as  an 
ornamental  plant  in  private  gardens,  and  in  very  small 
quantities,  its  down  not  being  used  for  spinning. 

Belon,  who  was  in  Egypt  about  thirty  years  before 
Alpini,  makes  no  mention  of  cotton  growing  there ;  but 
says  that  he  found  it  in  Arabia,  at  the  north  of  the  Arabian 
Gulf,  near  Mount  Sinai. 

It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  up  to  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  Egyptians  were  importers,  not 
cultivators,  of  cotton. 

From  a  passage  in  the  comedy  *  Pausimachus '  of  Cecilius 
Statius  (who  died  B.C.  169),  quoted  by  Mr.  Yates  in  the 

*  '  The  Cotton  Manufacture  of  Great  Britain.' 
f  '  De  Plantis  ^Egypti]  cap.  18. 


78  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

work  already  referred  to,  the  Greeks  seem  to  have  been 
acquainted  with  muslins  and  calicoes  brought  from  India  200 
years  before  Christ ;  and  about  a  century  later  the  Romans 
adopted  the  Oriental  custom  of  using  cotton-cloth  as  a 
protection  from  the  sun's  rays.  Ornamental  coverings  for 
tents  were  made  from  it,  and  awnings  of  striped  and  coloured 
calico  were  spread  over  the  theatres,  and  gave  welcome  shade 
to  the  spectators.  It  was  also  used  for  sail-cloth.  Cotton 
fabrics  are  frequently  mentioned  by  the  poets  of  the 
Augustan  age,  and  by  writers  of  a  later  date  ;  but  the  finer 
qualities  are  almost  always  referred  to  in  a  manner  which 
indicates  that  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  they  were 
regarded  rather  as  an  expensive  and  curious  production 
than  as  an  article  of  common  use.  Their  dress  was  almost 
entirely  woollen,  which,  as  they  frequently  used  the  bath, 
was  always  comfortable  ;  and,  for  cooler  wear,  as  Mr.  Yates 
truly  observes,  "  there  appears  no  reason  why  cotton  fabrics 
should  have  been  used  in  preference  to  linen.  The  latter 
is  more  cleanly,  more  durable,  and  much  less  liable  to  take 
fire  ;  and  amongst  the  ancients  it  must  have  been  much  the 
cheaper  of  the  two."  In  Rome  and  Athens  the  finest 
woven  goods  were  extravagantly  dear,  for  the  body  of  the 
people  were  practically  excluded  from  manufacturing  work. 
This  was  principally  carried  on  by  slaves  for  the  benefit  of 
their  masters,  for  all  the  great  men  had  large  establishments 
of  slaves  who  understood  the  art  of  manufacturing  most  of 
the  articles  necessary  for  ordinary  use.  The  importation 
of  cotton  and  piece-goods  into  ancient  Greece  and  Rome 
was  therefore  comparatively  inconsiderable. 

With  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  into  which  Greece 
had  previously  been  absorbed,  art  and  science  in  Europe 
sank  into  a  death-like  trance  which  lasted  for  many  cen- 
turies. We  will  therefore  trace  the  progress  of  the  Indian 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  79 

cotton  trade  in  other  directions  during  the  long  period  that 
elapsed  before  science  and  art  revived. 

As  India  carried  on  a  very  important  manufacture  of 
cotton  for  home  consumption,  as  well  as  for  her  large 
exports,  it  might  be  supposed  that  China  would  have  been 
led  to  participate  in  the  advantages  offered  by  it.  But, 
as  in  Egypt  flax  had  been  for  many  ages  the  raw 
material  principally  used  for  the  clothing  of  the  population, 
so  in  China  fabrics  woven  from  the  web  of  the  silkworm 
were,  from  the  earliest  times,  used  for  the  dress  of  all  classes 
of  the  people.  By  authorities  of  high  repute  in  China  we 
are  informed  that  Si-Hing,  wife  of  the  Emperor  Hoang-Ti, 
began  to  breed  silkworms  about  2,600  years  before  Christ, 
and  that  the  mulberry  tree  was  cultivated  to  supply  them 
with  food  four  hundred  years  afterwards. 

India  was  the  country  of  cotton  ;  Egypt,  of  flax  ;  China, 
of  silk  ;  and  in  the  two  latter  countries  (especially  in  the  case 
of  the  exclusive  Chinese)  vested  interests  for  a  long  time 
barred  the  way  against  the  adoption  of  the  new  foreign 
material.  Cotton  vestments  and  robes  of  honour  were 
occasionally  presented  to  the  Chinese  emperors  by  foreign 
ambassadors,  and  were  highly  appreciated  and  admired. 
The  Emperor  Ou-Ti,  whose  reign  commenced  B.C.  502,  had 
one  of  these  robes  ;  but  it  was  not  till  fifteen  hundred  years 
later  that  cotton  began  to  be  cultivated  in  China  for  manu- 
facturing purposes.  Towards  the  end  of  the  seventh 
century  the  herbaceous  species  was  grown  in  the  gardens  of 
Pekin,  but  only  for  the  sake  of  its  flowers.  When  the 
country  was  conquered  by  the  Mongolian  Tartars,  A.D.  1280, 
the  emperors  of  that  dynasty  took  all  possible  pains  to 
extend  the  culture  of  cotton,  and  imposed  an  annual  tribute 
of  it  on  several  provinces.  The  cultivators,  merchants, 
weavers,  and  wearers  of  silk  (which  included  the  whole 


So  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

nation)  regarded  this  as  a  dangerous  innovation  seriously 
affecting  their  rights  and  habits,  and  zealously  tried  to 
maintain  the  established  usages  of  the  people.  Eventually, 
however,  their  prejudices  were  overcome,  and  at  present 
nine  persons  out  of  ten  in  China  are  clad  in  cotton  raiment. 
Returning  to  the  dark  ages  of  Europe,  and  the  rise  of 
the  Mahometan  power  there,  we  find  that  by  the  end  of  the 
seventh  century  the  cultivation  and  manufacture  of  cotton 
in  Arabia  and  Syria  had  become  an  important  industry, 
and  had  also  crept  along  the  northern  coast  of  Africa. 
When,  therefore,  the  Saracens  and  Moors  invaded  Spain 
and  wrested  it  from  the  Goths  (A.D.  712)  they  brought  with 
them  a  knowledge  of  the  plant  and  its  uses.  Being  well 
skilled  in  agriculture,  they  immediately  introduced  in  the 
conquered  territory  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  sugar,  rice, 
and  the  mulberry — the  latter  being  in  favour  for  the  use  of 
its  leaves  as  food  for  the  silkworm.  Looms  were  put  to 
work  in  almost  every  town,  and  the  growth  and  weaving  of 
cotton  were  carried  on  with  great  and  increasing  success 
until  the  fifteenth  century.  Barcelona  was  celebrated  for 
its  cotton  sail-cloth,  of  which  it  supplied  a  great  quantity 
to  ship-owners,  and  stout  cotton  stuffs  like  fustian  were  also 
qualities  for  which  the  Spanish  looms  were  famous.  Cotton 
paper,  too,  seems  to  have  been  first  made  by  the  Spanish 
Arabs,  although  about  the  same  time  it  was  substituted  for 
papyrus  in  Egypt.  A  paper  was  likewise  manufactured  in 
Spain  from  linen  rags  which  was  much  admired  by  the 
literary  men  of  the  time.  But  the  religious  antipathy 
which  existed  between  the  Moors  and  Christians  prevented 
the  spread  of  these  and  other  Oriental  arts  ;  so  that  when 
the  Moorish  domination  in  Spain  was  crushed  by  the  con- 
quest of  Grenada,  in  1492,  the  manufactures  which  the 
Moors  had  introduced  and  fostered  relapsed  into  barbarous 


COTTON  AND   THE  COTTON  TRADE.  81. 

neglect.  The  cotton  plant  is  still  found  growing  wild  in  some 
parts  of  the  Peninsula.  Under  the  influence  of  the  Moors 
cotton  was  cultivated  in  Greece,  Italy,  Sicily  and  Malta,  but 
upon  their  expulsion  from  Europe  its  growth  was  transferred 
to  the  African  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 

During  the  sway  of  the  Mahometans  the  passage  of 
Indian  commodities  to  North- Western  and  Central  Europe 
was  so  effectually  barred  by  them  that  the  trade  dwindled, 
and  the  demand  for  the  products  of  the  East  almost  ceased. 
When  the  route  through  Egypt  was  closed,  the  Persians, 
who  by  that  time  had  learned  the  advantages  of  commer- 
cial intercourse  with  other  nations,  seized  the  opportunity 
of  diverting  the  traffic  of  the  Persian  Gulf  by  the  Euphrates 
and  Tigris  to  Bagdad,  and  thence  across  the  Desert  of 
Palmyra  to  the  Mediterranean  ports.  But  as  Constantinople 
was  also  in  the  hands  of  the  Caliphs,  the  roads  to  Europe 
were  long  and  difficult.  The  greater  part  of  the  goods 
from  India  had,  as  I  have  mentioned  (p.  58),  to  be  carried 
by  land  on  the  backs  of  camels  with  the  great  caravans 
which,  from  time  immemorial,  have  been  the  chief  means  of 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  nations  of  Eastern, 
Central,  and  Northern  Asia,  and  the  countries  to  the  south 
and  west  of  them. 

Besides  the  two  great  caravans  of  pilgrims  and  merchants 
which,  annually  starting  from  Cairo  and  Damascus,  met  at 
Mecca,  exchanged  their  merchandize  there,  and  dis- 
seminated it  on  their  return  in  every  country  they  passed 
through,  there  were  others  consisting  entirely  of  merchants 
whose  sole  object  was  commerce.  These  at  stated  seasons 
set  out  from  different  parts  of  Persia  by  ancient  routes,  on 
journeys  of  enormous  length — those  for  the  East  visited 
India,  and  even  the  furthest  extremities  of  China.  Their 
average  rate  of  travel  was  eighteen  miles  per  day ;  and  as 

G 


82  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

the  time  of  their  departure  and  their  route  were  both 
known,  they  were  met  by  the  people  of  all  the  countries 
through  which  they  passed,  for  the  purpose  of  sale,  pur- 
chase, or  barter.  Hence  the  establishment,  as  commercial 
gathering-places,  of  the  great  fairs,  of  which  that  still  held 
annually  at  Nijni  Novgorod  is  a  well-known  example. 
The  value  of  the  trade  thus  carried  on  was  far  beyond  the 
conception  of  any  one  who  has  not  given  especial  attention 
to  the  subject.  That  between  Russia  and  China,  which 
has  only  been  discontinued  within  the  last  few  years,  has 
been  very  important.  In  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great, 
though  the  capitals  of  the  two  empires  were  six  thousand 
three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  miles  apart,  and  the  route 
lay  for  more  than  four  hundred  miles  through  an  unin- 
habited desert,  caravans  travelled  regularly  from  one  to 
the  other.  Tedious  as  this  mode  of  conveyance  appears,  it 
sufficed  for  the  traffic  in  Eastern  produce  at  a  period  when 
the  whole  of  Europe  had  but  little  time  or  taste  for  the 
refinements  of  life,  and  but  little  means  of  purchasing  them. 
Nations  were  at  that  time  frequently  at  war,  the  feudal 
barons  kept  their  vassals  under  arms,  a  soldier's  career  was 
the  only  means  of  acquiring  distinction,  and  luxuries  ob- 
tained by  commerce  were  looked  upon  as  effeminate  and 
degrading. 

The  arts  and  sciences  first  revived  in  Italy.  The  republics 
of  Venice  and  Genoa  turned  their  attention  to  commerce, 
and,  in  the  year  1204,  the  Venetians,  under  Dandolo,  and 
assisted  by  the  soldiers  of  the  fourth  crusade,  took  the  city 
of  Constantinople  from  the  Greeks,  and,  for  a  time,  had  the 
advantage  of  carrying  on  the  Indian  trade.  They  only 
held  it,  however,  for  fifty-seven  years;  for,  in  1261,  the 
Greeks,  under  Michael  Palaeologus,  and  aided  by  the 
Genoese,  recovered  possession  of  the  city,  and  Genoa  ac- 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  83 

quired  the  privileges  which  Venice,  for  a  short  time,  had 
enjoyed.  The  Venetians  then,  setting  aside  their  religious 
scruples,  made  a  treaty  with  the  Mahometans,  and  obtained 
the  produce  of  India  through  Egypt. 

The  progress  of  the  cotton  trade,  which  had  for  so  long 
been  restricted,  now  became  more  rapid.  In  the  fourteenth 
century  the  fustians  and  dimities  of  Venice  and  Milan  were 
much  esteemed,  especially  in  Northern  Europe.  Half  a 
century  later  the  manufacture  was  established  in  Saxony 
and  Suabia,  whence  it  made  its  way  into  the  Netherlands. 
At  Bruges  and  Ghent  a  large  trade  arose,  especially  in  the 
fustians  which  were  manufactured  in  Prussia  and  Germany, 
and  were  exported  thence  to  Flanders  and  Spain. 

At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century'  two  events  took  place 
within  a  few  years  of  each  other  which  formed  an  impor- 
tant epoch,  not  only  in  the  history  of  the  cotton  trade,  but 
in  the  history  of  the  world — namely,  the  discovery  of 
America  by  Columbus,  and  that  of  the  passage  to  India 
round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  by  Vasco  da  Gama.  The 
commerce  of  Genoa  having  been  supplanted  by  the 
Venetians,  Christopher  Columbus,  a  Genoese,  conceived 
the  plan  of  sailing  to  India  by  a  new  course.  It  having 
been  admitted  by  philosophers  that  the  world  was 
globular,  he  rightly  argued  that  any  point  on  it 
might  be  reached  by  sailing  westward,  as  well  as  by 
travelling  eastward.  He  therefore  laid  his  scheme,  first, 
before  the  Council  of  the  Republic  of  Genoa,  and  after- 
wards before  the  King  of  Portugal ;  but,  as  it  was  un- 
favourably received  by  both,  he  persuaded  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  of  Spain  to  grant  him  two  ships,  and  with  these 
he  sailed  westward  in  search  of  India,  on  the  3rd  of  August, 
1492.  On  his  arrival,  thirty  days  afterwards,  at  one  of  the 
Bahamas,  the  first  land  he  saw  after  crossing  the  Atlantic, 

G  2 


84  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

his  vessels  were  surrounded  by  canoes  filled  with  natives 
bringing  cotton  yarn  and  thread  in  skeins  for  exchange. 
And  when  he  landed  in  Cuba,  which  he  at  first  supposed 
to  be  the  mainland  of  India,  he  saw  the  women  there 
wearing  dresses  made  of  cotton  cloth,  and  also  found  in  use 
strong  nets  made  of  cotton  cords,  which  the  inhabitants 
stretched  between  poles  and  in  which  they  slept  at  night. 
These  were  called  "  hamacas,"  whence  comes  our  word 
"hammock."  The  people  there  had  also  so  great  a 
quantity  of  spun  cotton  on  spindles  that  it  was  estimated 
there  was  12,000  Ibs.  weight  of  it  in  a  single  house.  Oviedo 
says  the  same  of  Hayti,  and,  at  the  discovery  of  Guada- 
loupe,  the  same  year,  cotton  thread  in  skeins  was  found 
everywhere,  and  looms  wherewith  to  weave  it.  There,  as 
well  as  at  Hayti  and  Cuba,  the  idols  were  made  of  cotton, 
and,  in  1520,  Fernando  Magalhaens  found  the  natives  of 
Brazil  using  cotton  for  stuffing  beds.  The  growth  and 
manufacture  of  cotton,  which  were  the  first  things  brought 
to  the  notice  of  Columbus  in  the  "  West  Indies,"  and  which 
were  soon  afterwards  found  existing  in  various  parts  of 
South  America,  had  apparently  been  handed  down  to 
those  who  practised  them  from  a  time  far  away  in  the  past. 
The  Eastern  Hemisphere  is  popularly  regarded,  even  at 
the  present  day,  as  possessing  a  monopoly  of  antiquity,  or, 
at  any  rate,  of  ancient  civilization.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  the  mental  process  by  which  this  notion  is 
produced.  In  the  first  place  the  mind  is  hardly  prepared 
to  receive  the  idea  that  the  inhabitants  of  countries  of  the 
existence  of  which  we  have,  comparatively,  so  recently 
become  aware  as  the  continent  of  America  should  have 
attained  to  a  high  degree  of  civilization  long  before  the 
natives  of  Britain  emerged  from  savage  barbarism.  This 
feeling  found  expression  in  the  distinctive  appellations 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  85 

given  respectively  to  the  two  hemispheres,  the  "Old 
World"  and  the  "New  World."  Secondly,  the  only 
written  historical .  records  that  have  come  down  to  us  from 
the  remote  past  relate  to  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa.  But 
the  oldest  authentic  history  is  only  yesterday's  news  in 
comparison  with  the  age  of  the  world,  and  that  which  was 
called  "  the  New  World  "  is  as  old  as  the  rest  of  the  globe, 
and,  apparently,  was  populated. at  quite  as  early  a  period. 
For  in  Mexico  and  Central  America  are  found  unmistakable 
proofs  of  the  greatness  and  culture  of  former  dwellers  in  the 
land.  Immense  piles  of  cyclopean  masonry,  of  inconceivable 
grandeur,  and  incalculable  antiquity ;  mounds  and  pyramids 
as  massive  as  those  of  Egypt,  huge  reservoirs  for  water, 
aqueducts,  ruins  of  public  buildings,  temples  and  palaces, 
tell  of  a  powerful  and  wealthy  nation,  skilled  in  engineering 
and  other  sciences,  and  in  all  the  important  arts  of  civilized 
life.  These  were  followed  by  successive  races,  differing 
from  each  other  in  habits,  laws,  arts,  manufactures  and 
religious  worship.  But  all  have  passed  away  and  out  of 
memory  as  completely  as  if  they  had  never  been.  We 
know  nothing  of  their  wars  or  dynasties,  their  prosperity 
or  decay.  Their  works  are  their  sole  history.  Only  their 
ruined  monuments  remain  to  show  that  they  once  existed ; 
and  these  are  sometimes  found  in  forest  solitudes  so  far 
from  the  habitations  of  those  who  now  occupy  their  terri- 
tories, that  the  traveller  who  unexpectedly  comes  upon  them 
is  startled,  like  Crusoe  by  the  foot-print,  to  find  that  man 
has  been  there. 

In  Peru,  too,  the  companions  of  Pizarro  •  found  every- 
where evidence  of  a  vast  antiquity,  and  of  the  former 
existence  of  a  people  fully  equal  to  the  Romans  in 
grandeur  of  conception  and  skill  in  construction  of  their 
marvellous  public  works.  The  remains  of  the  capital  city 


86  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

of  the  Chinus  of  Northern  Peru  cover  not  less  than  a 
hundred  and  twenty  square  miles.  Tombs,  temples  and 
palaces  arise  on  every  hand,  ruined  for  centuries,  but  still 
traceable ;  immense  pyramidal  structures,  some  of  them 
half  a  mile  in  circuit ;  prisons,  furnaces  for  smelting  metals, 
and  all  the  structures  of  a  busy  city  may  still  be  found  there. 
Ciega  de  Leon  mentions  having  seen  at  Teahuanaca  great 
buildings,  and  stones  so  large  and  so  overgrown  that  it  was 
incomprehensible  how  the  power  of  man  could  have  placed 
them  where  they  were.  In  another  place  he  saw  enormous 
gateways  made  of  masses  of  stone,  some  of  which  were 
thirty  feet  long,  fifteen  feet  high,  and  six  feet  thick.  The 
ancient  Peruvians  made  considerable  use  of  aqueducts, 
which  they  built  with  great  skill  of  hewn  stones  and 
cement.  One  of  these  aqueducts  extended  four  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  across  sierras  and  rivers.  Their  roads, 
macadamized  with  broken  stone  mixed  with  lime  and 
asphalte,  were  described  by  Humboldt  as  "  marvellous,"  and 
he  said  that  none  of  the  Roman  roads  he  had  seen  in  Italy, 
in  the  south  of  France,  or  in  Spain,  had  appeared  to  him 
more  imposing  than  the  great  road  of  the  ancient  Peruvians 
from  Quito  to  Cuzco,  and  through  the  whole  length  of  the 
empire  to  Chili. 

These  were  the  works  of  men  who  lived  thousands  of 
years  before  the  times  of  the  Incas,  and  amongst  their 
manufactures  was  that  of  cotton. 

In  1831,  Lord  Colchester  brought  from  ancient  tombs  at 
Arica,  in  Peru,  and  placed  in  the  British  Museum,  some 
mummy-cloths  woven  of  cotton,  the  fibres  of  which  seen 
under  the  microscope  are  very  tortuous,  and  resemble  those 
of  Gossypium  hirsutum,  which  is  probably  the  primitive 
cotton  plant  of  South  America.  The  cultivation  and 
manufacture  of  cotton,  therefore,  in  the  "  New  World " 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  87 

seems  to  have  been  at  least  coeval  with  the  similar  use  of 
it  in  India. 

When  Pizarro  conquered  Peru,  in  1532,  he  found  the 
cotton  manufacture  still  existent  and  flourishing  there,  for 
the  works  of  the  Peruvians  in  cotton  and  wool  (the  latter 
chiefly  that  of  the  vicuna)  exceeded  in  fineness  anything 
known  in  Europe  at  that  time.  He  also  learned  that,  from 
the  foundation  of  the  empire,  at  an  unknown  date,  the 
dress  of  the  Inca,  or  Sovereign,  had  always  been  made  of 
cotton,  and  of  many  colours,  by  the  "  Virgins  of  the  Sun." 

When  Cortez  and  his  comrades  conquered  Mexico  in 
1519,  the  people  had  neither  flax,  nor  silk,  nor  wool  of 
sheep.  They  supplied  the  want  of  these  with  cotton,  fine 
feathers,  and  the  fur  of  hares  and  rabbits.  The  use  of 
cotton,  which  had  long  previously  existed,  as  is  known  from 
Aztec  hieroglyphics,  was  as  common  and  almost  as  diver- 
sified amongst  the  Mexicans  as  it  is  now  amongst  the 
nations  of  Europe.  They  made  of  it  clothing  of  every  kind, 
hangings,  defensive  armour,  and  other  things  innumerable. 
Cortez  was  so  struck  by  the  beautiful  texture  of  some 
articles  that  were  presented  to  him  by  the  natives  of  Yucatan, 
that  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  in  Mexico  he  sent  home 
to  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  amongst  other  rich  presents, 
a  variety  of  cotton  mantles,  some  all  white,  and  others 
chequered  and  figured  in  divers  colours.  On  the  outside 
they  had  a  long  nap,  like  a  shaggy  cloth,  but  on  the  inside 
they  were  without  any  colour  or  nap.  A  number  of  "  under- 
waistcoats,"  "handkerchiefs,"  "counterpanes,"  and  "carpets" 
of  cotton  were  also  sent  to  Europe  by  Cortez. 

Columbus's  great  discovery  was  not  immediately  turned 
to  account,  so  far  as  the  cotton  trade  was  concerned, 
although  it  was  destined  to  be  most  valuable  to  that 
industry  at  a  later  period.  Astonishing  as  was  his  success, 


88  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

and  great  and  extensive  as  were  its  results  in  rinding  a 
"  New  World  "  hardly  inferior  in  magnitude  to  one-third  of 
the  habitable  surface  of  the  globe,  he  had  not  achieved 
exactly  that  which  was  the  original  object  of  his  voyage — 
the  discovery  of  a  westerly  course  to  India.  When,  there- 
fore, only  six  years  afterwards,  a  direct  sea  route  to  the 
East,  by  sailing  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  was  found, 
the  exploit  was  for  some  time  regarded  as  the  more 
important  of  the  two,  because  its  probable  effects  were  more 
easily  perceptible. 

The  Portuguese,  who  had  explored  the  west  coasts  of 
Africa  which  lay  nearest  to  their  own  country,  and  had 
made  several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  find  a  passage  east- 
ward, determined  to  make  another  vigorous  effort  to 
surmount  the  difficulty.  Accordingly,  on  the  8th  of  July, 
1497,  a  small  squadron  sailed  from  the  Tagus,  under  the 
command  of  Vasco  da  Gama.  After  a  long  and  dangerous 
voyage  this  navigator  rounded  the  promontory  which  had 
for  several  years  been  the  object  of  the  hopes  and  dread  of 
his  countrymen,  and  skirting  the  south-east  coast,  arrived 
at  Melinda,  about  two  degrees  north  of  Zanzibar.  There 
he  found  a  people  so  far  civilized  that  they  carried  on  an 
active  commerce,  not  only  with  the  nations  on  their  own 
coast,  but  with  the  remote  countries  of  Asia.  Taking  some 
of  these  natives  on  board  his  ships  as  pilots,  he  sailed  across 
the  Indian  Ocean,  and  on  the  22nd  of  May,  1498,  landed 
at  Calicut,  on  the  Malabar  coast,  ten  months  and  two  days 
after  his  departure  from  Lisbon. 

Vasco  da  Gama  during  his  short  stay  at  Melinda  had  little 
time  for  inquiring  into  the  condition  of  the  cotton  trade 
of  the  country  on  whose  shores  he  had  landed,  and  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  forced  upon  his  attention  as  it  was 
on  that  of  Columbus.  But  when  Odoardo  Barbosa,  of 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  89 

Lisbon,  visited  South  Africa  eighteen  years  afterwards  (in 
1516),  he  found  the  natives  wearing  clothes  of  cotton.  In 
1 590,  cotton  cloth  woven  on  the  coast  of  Guinea  was  imported 
into  London  from  the  Bight  of  Benin,  and  modern  travellers 
in  the  interior  of  Africa  concur  in  the  opinion  that  cotton 
is  indigenous  there,  and  in  stating  that  it  is  spun  and  woven 
into  cloth  in  every  region  of  that  continent.  From  the 
beauty  of  the  dye  and  the  designs  in  some  of  the  cotton 
dresses,  it  is  justly  inferred  to  be  a  manufacture  of  very 
ancient  standing.  We  have  evidence,  therefore,  that  in 
Africa,  as  well  as  in  Asia  and  America,  the  cotton  plant  had 
a  separate  centre  of  indigenous  growth,  and  that  from  a 
very  remote  period  its  vegetable  wool  was  manufactured 
into  useful  and  ornamental  articles  of  clothing.* 

The  Portuguese  took  every  possible  precaution  to  secure 
the  prize  which  by  the  courage  and  perseverance'  of  their 
admiral  they  had  been  enabled  to  grasp,  and  to  maintain 
the  rights  which  priority  of  discovery  was,  in  those  days, 
supposed  to  confer.  A  chain  of  forts  or  factories  was 
established  for  the  protection  of  their  trade  ;  whilst  for  the 
extension  of  it  they  took  possession  of  Malacca,  and  their 
ships  visited  every  port  from  the  Cape  to  Canton. 

The  Venetians  saw  with  alarm  the  ruin  that  impended 
over  them  through  the  successful  rivalry  in  trade  of  the 
Portuguese,  but  were  powerless  to  prevent  a  competition 
against  which  their  merchants  were  unable  to  contend. 
They  therefore  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Turks  under  the 
Sultans  Selim  and  his  successor,  Solyman  the  Magnificent, 
and  incited  them  to  send  a  fleet  against  the  prosperous 

*  The  cotton  plant  was  also  found  indigenous  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  the  Galapagos,  etc.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  cotton  found 
in  the  Bornean  Archipelago  had  not  been  carried  eastward  from 
India. 


90  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

Portuguese.  They  even  allowed  the  Turks  to  cut  timber 
in  the  forests  of  Dalmatia  with  which  to  build  their  ships  ; 
and  when  twelve  of  these  were  finished,  Solyman  manned 
them  with  his  Janissaries,  and  sent  them  to  harass  the 
Indian  trade.  The  Portuguese  met  them  with  undaunted 
bravery,  and,  after  several  conflicts,  vanquished  the  Ottoman 
squadron,  and  remained  masters  of  the  Indian  Ocean. 

The  immediate  effect  of  direct  communication  with  the 
East  by  sea  was  the  lowering  of  the  prices  of  Indian  pro- 
duce. Commerce  naturally  sought  the  cheapest  market. 
The  trade  of  Venice  was  annihilated,  and  the  stream  of 
wealth  that  had  flowed  to  her  treasury  was  dried  at  its 
source.  The  merchandize  of  India  was  shipped  from  the 
most  convenient  ports,  and  conveyed  cheaply,  safely,  and 
directly  to  Lisbon,  and  thence  was  distributed  through 
Europe.  '  A  plentiful  supply  of  Indian  goods  at  reasonable 
rates  caused  a  rapid  increase  in  the  demand  for  them,  and 
amongst  the  trades  to  which  this  gave  an  impetus  was  that 
in  cotton. 

Up  to  this  period  no  cotton  was  woven  in  England  ;  the 
small  quantity  that  was  used  for  candle-wicks,  &c.,  came 
either  from  Italy  or  the  Levant.  Linen  was  first  woven  in 
England  in  1253,  by  Flemish  hands;  but  for  nearly  a 
century  afterwards  almost  all  the  cotton,  woollen  and  linen 
fabrics  consumed  there  were  manufactured  on  the  continent, 
and  a  great  quantity  of  British  wool  was  exported  to 
Flanders  and  Holland.  Edward  III.,  however,  gave 
encouragement  to  foreign  skill,  and  in  1328  some  Flemings 
settled  in  Manchester,  and  commenced  the  weaving  of 
certain  cloths,  which,  though  composed  of  wool,  were  known 
as  "  Manchester  cottons,"  and  thus  paved  the  way  for  the 
great  cotton  manufacture  for  which  that  part  of  Lancashire 
is  now  famous. 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  91 

In  1560,  England  imported,  through  Antwerp,  cotton 
brought  from  Italy  and  the  Levant,  as  well  as  that  carried 
from  India  to  Lisbon  by  the  Portuguese,  and  showed 
some  anxiety  to  compete  in  its  manufacture  with  foreign 
countries.  An  impulse  was  given  to  this  ambition  in  1585 
by  a  fresh  influx  of  Flemish  workpeople,  who,  driven  from 
their  own  country  to  escape  the  cruelties  of  the  Duke  of 
Alba  during  the  religious  persecution  of  the  Low  Countries 
by  the  Spaniards,  found  an  asylum  in  England,  and  brought 
with  them  the  skill  in  workmanship  which  adjoining  States 
had  long  envied. 

India,  however,  continued  far  in  advance  of  every 
European  country  in  the  spinning  and  weaving  of  cotton  to 
nearly  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  activity 
of  the  trade  in  her  piece  goods  was  looked  upon  as  ruinous 
to  the  home  manufacturer,  though  most  profitable  to  the 
merchant,  and  we  find  Daniel  Defoe,  in  1708,  thus  la- 
menting, in  his  '  Weekly  Review,'  the  preference  for  Indian 
chintz,  calico,  &c. 

"  It  crept,"  he  says,  "  into  our  houses,  our  closets,  our  bed- 
chambers ;  curtains,  cushions,  chairs,  and,  at  last  beds  them- 
selves were  nothing  but  calicoes  and  Indian  stuffs,  and,  in 
short,  almost  everything  that  used  to  be  made  of  wool  or 
silk,  relating  either  to  the  dress  of  the  women  or  the  furniture 
of  our  houses,  was  supplied  by  the  Indian  trade.  .  .  .  The 
several  goods  brought  from  India  are  made  five  parts  in  six 
under  our  price,  and,  being  imported  and  sold  at  an  ex- 
travagant advantage,  are  yet  capable  of  underselling  the 
cheapest  thing  we  can  set  about." 

The  Portuguese  remained  in  undisturbed  possession  of 
the  lucrative  trade  with  India  till  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  the  United  Provinces  of  the  Low  Countries 
challenged  their  pretensions  to  an  exclusive  right  of  com- 


92  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

merce  in  the  .East;  and  in  1595,  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  was  formed.  The  English  soon  followed,  and 
five  years  later  (in  1600)  the  British  East  India  Company 
was  incorporated  by  Royal  Charter.  It  immediately 
obtained  from  the  native  princes  permission  to  establish 
forts  and  factories,  and  in  1624  was  invested  with  powers 
of  government.  The  Portuguese  monopoly  and  predomi- 
nance in  the  East  was  overturned  and  crushed,  and  England 
and  Holland  attained  supremacy  in  naval  power  and 
commercial  wealth. 

The  cotton  trade  did  not  so  quickly  benefit  by  this  as 
might  have  been  expected.  It  remained  stationary  for 
more  than  a  century  afterwards.  But  in  1738  commenced 
the  history  of  those  wonderful  inventions  which  by  giving 
the  power  of  almost  unlimited  production  to  our  people 
revolutionized  the  manufacturing  world.  England,  which 
two  centuries  ago  imported  only  £5000  worth  of  raw  cotton, 
now  pays  more  than  £40,000,000  (forty  million  pounds) 
sterling  every  year  for  her  supply  for  twelve  months  ;  *  and 
as  this  supply  is  drawn  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  she 

*  The  importation  of  cotton  into  Liverpool  and  London  in  1886 

was  as  follows  : — 

Ibs. 


•2-2,8^2,4.00 

1  7  7,  -2  4.O,OOO 

West  India,  etc. 
Surat      . 

9,529,910 

14.8  ^06  700 

26,720,200 

Bengal  and  Rangoon  . 

32,324,600 

Total     .      .      .  1,741,625,290 

The  prices  of  the  different  kinds  of  cotton  vary  according  to  their 
respective  qualities,  and  are  also  influenced  by  the  fluctuations  of  their 
market  value.  During  1886  the  best  Egyptian  cotton  was  sometimes 
sold  as  high  as  J^d.  per  lb.,  and  the  inferior  as  low  as  3! */.  per  lb. 

The  total  value  of  the  cotton  imported  during  1886  was,  as  I  have 
said,  rather  over  ^40,000,000  sterling. 


COTTON  AND  THE  COTTON  TRADE.  93 

can  appreciate  the  effect  upon  her  cotton  trade  of  the  various 
maritime  discoveries  mentioned  in  these  pages.     From  the 
country  discovered  by  Columbus,  and  populated  chiefly  by 
her  own  offspring,  England  receives  by  far  the  largest  portion 
of  her  requirements.   The  route  round  Cape  Horn,  discovered 
by  Fernando  Magalhaens  in   1520,  has  its  advantages  as 
another  road  to  the  colonies  and  Eastern  possessions  of  Great 
Britain.    The  course  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  by  which 
Vasco  da  Gama  navigated  his  ships  to  Calicut,  was  for  three 
and    a   half  centuries  the   main   road  between    India  and 
Western  Europe  for  personal  intercourse,  as  well  as  the  con- 
veyance of  heavy  goods,  such  as  cotton  ;  and,  though  long, 
it  was  direct,  and  comparatively  cheap.     But  the  superiority 
of  the  first  sea-route  originally  established  by  the  foresight 
and  genius  of  the  great  Macedonian  conqueror  was  demon- 
strated in  1845,  when  Lieutenant  Waghorn,  a  young  officer 
in  the  service  of  the  East  India  Company,  with  invincible 
ardour,  and  determined  perseverance  against  official  obstruc- 
tion and  innumerable  obstacles,  once  more  made  Egypt  the 
causeway  between  Europe  and  India.     Alexandria,  built  on 
a   site   admirably  chosen   by  its   founder   as   a   centre  of 
commercial   traffic,    and    placed   by  the   prudence   of  his 
engineers  just  sufficiently  far  from  the  outflow  of  the  Nile 
to  be  free  from  the  danger  of  its  harbour  being  silted  up  by 
the  sediment  of  that  muddy  river,  again  became  the  port  of 
arrival  and  departure  :  but  increased  skill  in   seamanship 
and  the  command  of  steam  power  having  diminished  the 
risk  and  difficulty  of  navigating  the  upper  part  of  the  Red 
Sea,    Suez,   the    ancient    Arsinoe,   was    selected    for    the 
corresponding  depdt,  as  offering  a  shorter  passage  by  land 
from  sea  to  sea  than  the  old  road  by  Berenice,  Coptos,  and 
the  Nile.     Waghorn  bravely  carried  out  his  scheme  in  the 
face  of  the  most  vexatious  opposition  and  discouragement. 


94  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

He  built  at  his  own  expense  eight  halting-places  in  the 
desert  between  Cairo  and  Suez,  provided  carriages  for 
passengers,  and  placed  small  steamers  on  the  Nile  and  on 
the  canal  of  Alexandria.  At  last  the  British  and  the  Indian 
authorities,  who  had  thrown  every  obstacle  in  his  way,  with 
an  obstinate  perversity  which  would  be  almost  incredible 
if  it  were  unique,  graciously  consented  to  countenance 
his  plans,  and  to  allow  the  mail  bags  to  and  from  India 
to  reach  their  destination  six  weeks  earlier  than  by 
their  former  journey.  Thus  Thomas  Waghorn  brought 
England  and  her  Eastern  possessions  by  that  much  nearer 
to  each  other,  and  for  this  achievement  deserves  the 
gratitude  of  his  countrymen  and  an  honourable  place  in 
history. 

The  new  route  was,  however,  unsuitable  to  the  enormous 
traffic  in  merchandize  to  and  from  the  East.  The  un- 
loading of  cargoes  at  Alexandria  or  Suez,  their  "  portage  " 
across  the  desert,  and  their  re-shipment  on  other  vessels  at 
the  further  side  of  the  Isthmus,  was  too  tedious,  laborious, 
and  expensive  to  be  practicable  ;  therefore  the  "  Overland 
Route  "  was  chiefly  used  for  the  rapid  conveyance  of  the 
European  mails,  passengers,  and  light  goods,  whilst  the 
heavy  merchandize,  such  as  cotton  bales,  was  conveyed, 
round  the  Cape  as  before. 

In  1869,  a  feat  of  engineering  was  completed,  the 
importance  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  exaggerate.  By 
the  cutting  of  a  deep  and  wide  canal  through  the  narrow 
strip  of  land  which  had  previously  barred  the  passage  by 
sea  round  the  north-eastern  corner  of  Africa,  a  water-way 
was  opened  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Red  Sea, 
by  which  large  ships  can  pass  from  one  sea  to  the  other 
without  unloading  their  cargoes.  All  honour  to  M.  de 
Lesseps,  who,  in  spite  of  difficulties  apparently  insur- 


COTTON  AND   THE  COTTON  TRADE.  95 

mountable,  successfully  accomplished  this  work  !  He  had 
to  contend  against  grave  political  considerations,  national 
prejudices  and  jealousies,  religious  fanaticism,  vested 
interests,  and  the  faithless  treachery  and  grasping  avarice 
of  local  officials.  It  appears  to  me  that  amidst  political 
complications,  conflicting  interests,  the  war  of  tariffs,  and 
financial  arrangements,  the  credit  and  appreciation  most 
justly  due  to  the  author  of  the  Suez  Canal  have  been 
but  grudgingly  given.  But  his  posthumous  fame  will 
be  lasting,  and  his  name  will  be  renowned  in  the  future 
amongst  those  of  the  great  path-finders  and  road-makers 
of  the  world,  whose  discoveries  and  achievements  have 
largely  benefited  mankind. 

The  white  fleeces  of  the  wool  that  Alexander  and  his 
admiral  saw  growing  on  trees  in  India  is  again  conveyed  to 
Europe  by  the  route  planned  for  it  by  the  great  chieftain 
of  Macedon.  The  water-way  which  he  possibly  suggested, 
and  which  the  son  of  his  general  and  confidant,  Ptolemy, 
endeavoured,  but  failed,  to  cut,  has  been  successfully  laid 
open.  And,  although  we  now  draw  our  chief  supply  of 
cotton  from  the  western  country  discovered  by  Columbus, 
one  result  of  increased  facility  of  communication  with  the 
East,  in  conjunction  with  perfection  of  machinery,  is  that 
the  vegetable  wool  coming  therefrom,  after  giving  em- 
ployment to  thousands  of  our  people,  and  adding  to 
our  national  prosperity,  is  returned  by  the  same  route, 
manufactured  into  various  fabrics  wherewith  to  clothe  the 
people  who  cultivated  it. 

The  subject  of  this  chapter  being  the  cotton  trade,  I  need 
offer  no  apology  for  regarding  so  many  of  the  great  events 
of  history  from  the  point  of  view  of  their  influence,  espe- 
cially, upon  cotton  as  an  article  of  commerce.  Although, 
however,  cotton  is  but  a  small  item  amongst  the  products 


96  THE  VEGETABLE  LAMB  OF  TARTARY. 

of  India,  the  lesson  which  its  history  forces  upon  all 
Englishmen  (without  distinction  of  religious  creed,  social 
rank,  or  political  party)  concerning  the  country  from  which 
it  was  first  received  in  Europe  and  Asia  is,  that  the 
possession  of  India  confers  wealth  and  power  on  her 
European  rulers,  and  that  Egypt  is  the  highway  to  it. 
The  nation  that  holds  India  must  grasp  it  firmly  lest  it 
be  snatched  from  its  keeping,  must  guard  carefully  and 
hold  strongly  the  road  to  it,  and  must  be  prepared  to  fight 
for  either  or  both,  if  necessary,  against  any  combination  of 
enemies.  For  now,  as  in  times  gone  by,  jealous  eyes  are 
fixed  upon  it,  and  their  owners  only  await  an  opportunity 
to  put  in  practice  that  which  Wordsworth  makes  his  Rob 
Roy  call 

"the  good  old  rule, 

the  simple  plan, 

That  he  shall  take  who  has  the  power, 
And  he  shall  keep  who  can ! " 


(    97     ) 


APPENDIX. 


A  (p.  2). 
SIR  JOHN  MANDEVILLE. 

Sir  John  Mandeville,  or  Maundeville,  was  of  a  family  that  came 
into  England  with  the  Conqueror.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a 
man  of  learning  and  substance,  and  had  studied  physic  and 
natural  philosophy.  He  was  also  a  good  and  conscientious  man, 
and  was,  moreover,  the  greatest  traveller  of  his  time.  John  Bale, 
in  his  catalogue  of  British  writers,  says  of  him  that  "  he  was  so 
well  given  to  the  study  of  learning  from  his  childhood  that  he 
seemed  to  plant  a  good  part  of  his  felicitie  in  the  same ;  for  he 
supposed  that  the  honour  of  his  birth  would  nothing  availe  him 
except  he  could  render  the  same  more  honourable  by  his  know- 
ledge in  good  letters.  He  therefore  well  grounded  himself  in 
religion  by  reading  the  Scriptures,  and  also  applied  his  studies  to 
the  art  of  physicke,  a  profession  worthy  a  noble  wit ;  but  amongst 
other  things  he  was  ravished  with  a  mighty  desire  to  see  the 
greater  parts  of  the  world,  as  Asia  and  Africa.  Having  provided 
all  things  necessary  for  his  journey,  he  departed  from  his  country 
in  the  yeere  of  Christ  1322,  and,  as  another  Ulysses,  returned 
home  after  the  space  of  thirty-four  years,  and  was  then  known  to 
a  very  few.  In  the  time  of  his  travaile  he  was  in  Scythia,  the 
greater  and  lesser  Armenia,  Egypt,  both  Libyas,  Arabia,  Syria, 
Media,  Mesopotamia,  Persia,  Chaldea,  Greece,  Illyrium,  Tartarie 
and  divers  other  kingdoms  of  the  World,  and  having  gotten  by 
this  means  the  knowledge  of  the  languages,  lest  so  many  and 
great  varieties  and  things  miraculous  whereof  himself  had  been 
an  eie-witness  should  perish  in  oblivion,  he  committed  his  whole 
travell  of  thirty-four  yeeres  to  writing  in  three  divers  tongues— 

H 


98  APPENDIX. 

English,  French,  and  Latine.  Being  arrived  again  in  England, 
having  seen  the  wickedness  of  that  age,  he  gave  out  this  speech  ; — 
1  In  our  time,'  he  said,  '  it  may  be  spoken  more  truly  than  of  old 
that  virtue  is  gone ;  the  Church  is  under  foot ;  the  clergie  is  in 
erreur ;  the  Devill  raigneth,  and  Simone  beareth  the  sway.' " 

A  man  who  in  the  first  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  could 
conceive,  and  for  thirty-four  years  persist  in  carrying  out,  the 
intention  of  travelling  from  one  country  to  another  over  a  great 
part  of  the  habitable  globe,  must  have  possessed  remarkable 
qualifications.  Indeed,  his  achievements  were  so  extraordinary, 
and  his  narrative  agrees  in  so  many  particulars  with  that  of 
the  travels  of  Marco  Polo,  that  it  has  been  suggested  that  he 
may  never  have  gone  to  the  East  at  all,  but  compiled  his  book 
from  the  journals  of  his  predecessor.  But  it  seems  to  me 
impossible  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Halliwell's  opinion 
that  this  suggestion  is  wholly  unjustifiable,  and  that,  after  perusal 
of  the  volume,  the  judgment  of  any  impartial  reader  would  re- 
pudiate such  a  supposition.  Sir  John  Mandeville  met  with 
credit  and  respect  in  his  own  day,  and  the  transcriber  on  vellum 
of  a  small  folio  MS.  copy  of  his  book,  written  in  double  columns 
certainly  not  more  than  twenty  years  after  his  death,  prefaces  it 
in  a  manner  which  shows  that  he  entertained  no  doubt  con- 
cerning it. 

There  are  several  editions  of  Sir  John  Mandeville's  account  of 
his  'Voiages.'  The  most  useful  to  the  general  reader  are, 
ist,  that  printed  in  London,  in  1725,  from  a  manuscript  in  the 
Cottonian  collection;  2nd,  a  reprint  of  the  above,  with  a  few 
notes  by  Mr.  J.  O.  Halliwell,  and  various  illustrations,  which  are 
fac-simile  copies  by  F.  W.  Fairholt,  from  the  older  editions  and 
manuscripts  in  the  Harleian  collection,  published  by  Lumley  in 
1837  ;  and,  3rd,  a  reprint  of  this  later  edition,  published  by 
F.  S.  Ellis,  in  1866. 

Sir  John  Mandeville  died  at  Liege  on  the  i7th  of  November, 
1371.  His  fellow-townsmen  of  St.  Albans  appear  to  have  believed 
that  his  body  was  brought  home  to  the  place  of  his  birth,  and 
buried  in  St.  Albans  Abbey,  for  the  following  doggrel  verses  were 
inscribed  as  his  epitaph  on  one  of  the  pillars  there  : — 


SJX  JOHN  MANDEVILLE.  99 

"All  ye  that  pass  by,  on  this  pillar  cast  eye, 
This  Epitaph  read  if  you  can  ; 
'Twill  tell  you  a  Tombe  once  stood  in  this  room 
Of  a  brave,  spirited  man, 

Sir  John  Mandevil  by  name,  a  knight  of  great  fame, 
Born  in  this  honoured  Towne  ; 
Before  him  was  none  that  ever  was  knowne 
For  travaile  of  so  high  renowne. 

As  the  Knights  in  the  Temple  cross-legged  in  Marble, 
In  armour  with  sword  and  with  shield, 
So  was  this  Knight  grac'd  which  Time  hath  defac'd 
That  nothing  but  Ruines  doth  yield. 
His  travailes  being  done,  he  shines  like  the  Sun 
In  heavenly  Canaan. 

To  which  blessed  place  the  Lord,  of  His  grace, 
Bring  us  all,  man  after  man." 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  Sir  John  Mandeville  was 
buried  in  the  Abbey  of  the  Gulielmites  in  the  town  of  Liege, 
where  he  died ;  for  Abrahamus  Ortelius,  in  his  '  Itinerarium 
Belgise'  (p.  16),  has  printed  the  following  epitaph  there  set  over 
him  : — 

"  Hie  jacet  vir  nobilis  Dominus  Johannes  de  Mandeville,  aliter 
dictus  ad  Barbam,  Miles,  Dominus  de  Campdi,  natus  de  Anglid, 
medicine  professor,  devotissimus  orator,  et  bonorum  largissimus 
pauper ibus  erogator ;  qui  toto  quasi  orbe  lustrato  Leodii  diem  viti  sui 
clausit  extremum  Anno  Domini  1371,  Mensis  Novembris  die  17." 

Ortelius  adds,  that  upon  the  same  stone  with  the  epitaph  is 
engraven  a  man  in  armour  with  a  forked  beard,  treading  upon  a 
lion,  and  at  his  head  a  hand  of  one  blessing  him,  and  these  words 
in  old  French  :  "  Vos  ki  paseis  sor  mi,  pour  I* amour  Deix  proies 
por  mi" — that  is,  "  Ye  that  pass  over  me,  for  the  love  of  God  pray 
for  me."  There  is  also  a  void  place  for  an  escutcheon,  whereon, 
Ortelius  was  told,  there  was  formerly  a  brass  plate  with  the  arms 
of  the  deceased  knight  engraven  thereon — viz.,  a  Lion  argent  with  a 
Lunet  gules,  at  his  breast,  in  a  Field  azure,  and  a  Border  engraled 
or.  The  clergy  of  the  Abbey  also  exhibited  the  knives,  the  horse- 
furniture,  and  the  spurs  used  by  Sir  John  Mandeville  in  his 
travels.  John  Weever,  in  his  '  Ancient  Funeral  Monuments ' 

H   2 


ioo  APPENDIX. 

(p.  568),  says  that  he  saw  the  above  epitaph  at  Liege,  and  also 
the  following  verses  hanging  near  by  on  a  tablet : — 

"AUud 

Hoc  jacet  in  tumulo  cui  totus  patria  vivo 
Orbis  erat :  totium  quern  peragrasse  ferunt 
Anglus,  Equesque  fuit ;  num  ille  Britannus  Ulysses 
Dicatur,  Graio  clarus,  Ulysse  magis. 
Moribus,  ingenio,  candor e,  et  sanguine  clarus, 
Et  vere  cultor  Religionis  erat 
Nomen  si  queer  as  est  Mandevil,  Indus,  Arabsque, 
Sat  no  turn  dicit  Jinibus  esse  sms" 


B  (p.  8). 
ODORICUS  OF  FRIULI. 

Odoricus  did  not  write  his  account  of  his  travels  with  his  own 
hand,  but  dictated  it  to  his  brother  friar,  William  de  Solanga,  who 
wrote  it  as  Odoricus  related  it.  Having  "testified  and  borne 
witness  to  the  Rev.  Father  Guidolus,  minister  of  the  province  of 
S.  Anthony,  in  the  Marquesate  of  Treviso  (being  by  him  required 
upon  his  obedience  so  to  do),  that  all  that  he  described  he  had 
seen  with  his  own  eyes,  or  heard  the  same  reported  by  credible 
and  substantial  witnesses,"  Odoricus  prepared  to  set  out  on 
another  and  a  longer  journey  "  into  all  the  countries  of  the 
heathen."  He,  therefore,  determined  to  present  himself  to  Pope 
John  XXI I.,  and  to  obtain  his  benediction  on  his  missionary 
enterprise.  Accordingly,  at  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1331,  he  left  Utina  with  this  intention.  On  his  way,  however, 
he  was  met,  near  Pisa,  by  an  old  man  who,  hailing  him  by  his 
name,  told  him  that  he  had  known  him  in  India,  and  warned 
him  to  return  to  his  monastery,  "for  that  in  ten  days  thence 
he  would  depart  from  this  present  world."  Having  said  this, 
he  vanished  from  sight.  Odoricus  obeyed  the  admonition,  and 
returned  to  Utina  "  in  perfect  health,  feeling  no  crazednesse  nor 
infirmity  of  body.  And  being  in  his  convent  the  tenth  day  after 


ODORICUS—VON 


the  forsayd  vision,  having  received  the  Communion,  and  prepared 
himself  unto  God,  yea,  being  strong  and  sound  of  body,  he 
happily  rested  in  the  Lord,  whose  sacred  departure  was  signified 
to  the  Pope  aforesaid  under  the  hand  of  the  public  notary  of 
Utina."  Odoricus  died  January  i4th,  1331,  and  was  beatified. 


C  (p.  n). 

SlGISMUND    VON    HERBERSTEIN. 

Sigismund  von  Herberstein  was  born  at  Vippach,  in  Styria,  in 
1486.  He  distinguished  himself  so  greatly  in  the  war  against  the 
Turks  that  the  Emperor  entrusted  him  with  various  missions, 
and  made  him  successively  commandant  of  the  Styrian  cavalry, 
privy  councillor,  and  president  of  finance  of  Austria.  During  two 
periods  of  residence  at  Moscow,  in  all  about  sixteen  months,  as 
ambassador  from  the  Emperor  Maximilian  to  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Muscovy,  Vasilez  Ivanovich,  he  earnestly  studied  and  sagaciously 
observed  everything  that  came  under  his  notice,  and  neglected 
nothing  which  could  instruct  or  profit  him.  His  work  on  Russia, 
above  referred  to,  is  universally  regarded  as  the  best  ancient 
history  of  that  State.  He  renounced  public  life  in  1555,  and 
died  in  1556. 


D  (p.   14). 

JULIUS    CAESAR    SCALIGER. 

Julius  Caesar  Scaliger,  born  in  1484,  probably  at  Padua,  was  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  many  great  writers  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  He  was  a  man  of  real  talent,  but  of  unbounded  vanity 
and  unscrupulous  ambition.  Originally  baptized  "  Jules,"  he 
added  "  Caesar  "  to  his  name,  and,  to  enhance  his  own  merits  by 
the  eclat  of  high  birth,  made  for  himself  a  false  genealogy,  and 


iOrfeS*  fti  •     :  :\  ^  APPENDIX. 

asserted  that  he  was  the  hero  of  adventures  in  which  he  had  taken 
no  part.  In  order  to  force  himself  into  notice  he  attacked 
Erasmus,  and  in  two  harangues,  which  the  latter  disdained  to 
answer,  used  towards  him  the  grossest  invectives.  Scaliger  next 
directed  his  insolent  hostility  against  Girolamo  Cardano.  Jealous 
of  the  fame  of  the  great  Pavian  physician  and  mathematician,  he, 
in  a  critique  containing  more  insults  than  arguments,  ferociously 
assailed  Cardano's  treatise,  "  De  Subtilitate"  ;  and  so  exaggerated 
was  the  estimate  he  formed  of  the  effect  of  his  diatribes  on  the 
objects  of  his  malice,  that  when  Erasmus  died,  and  a  false 
rumour  of  the  decease  of  Cardano  was  spread  abroad,  he  believed, 
or  affected  to  believe,  that  the  death  of  both  had  been  caused  by 
his  conduct  towards  them,  and  in  the  course  of  a  fulsome  eulogy 
expressed  his  regret  for  having  deprived  the  world  of  letters  of 
two  such  valuable  lives.  Scaliger  died  in  1558,  aged  seventy- 
five  years. 


E  (p.  21). 
JANS  JANSZOON  STRAUSS,  OTHERWISE  JEAN  DE  STRUYS. 

Jean  de  Struys,  in  1647,  shipped  at  Amsterdam  as  sailmaker's 
mate  on  board  a  vessel  bound  to  Genoa.  On  arriving  there  the 
ship  was  bought  by  the  Republic,  equipped  as  a  privateer,  and 
sent  to  the  East  Indies.  She  was,  however,  captured  by  the 
Dutch,  and  Struys  took  service  on  board  a  ship  belonging  to  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company,  and  after  visiting  Siam,  Japan, 
Formosa,  &c.,  he  returned  to  Holland  in  1681.  Having  stayed 
at  home  with  his  father  for  four  years,  he  went  to  sea  again,  but 
finding  at  Venice  an  armed  flotilla  on  the  point  of  departure  to 
fight  the  Turks,  he  joined  it,  was  several  times  taken  prisoner, 
and  as  often  escaped  or  was  rescued.  In  1657  he  returned  to 
Holland,  was  married,  and  led  a  quiet  life  for  ten  years,  but 
hearing  that  the  Tzar  was  fitting  out  at  Amsterdam  some  vessels 
to  go  to  Persia  by  the  Caspian  Sea,  "  nothing,"  to  use  his  own 
words,  "could  hold  him  back."  He  therefore  started  in  a  vessel 


JEAN  DE  STRUYS—JOHN  BELL.  103 

bound  to  the  Baltic,  landed  at  Riga,  and  found  his  way  overland, 
through  Moscow  and  by  the  Oka  and  Volga  to  Astrachan.  In 
June,  1670,  the  fleet  in  which  he  served  set  sail  for  the  Caspian. 
His  vessel  went  ashore  on  the  coast  of  Daghestan,  and  he  was 
made  prisoner  and  taken  to  the  Kan  or  Tchamkal  of  Bayance,  by 
whom  he  was  sold  as  a  slave  to  a  Persian.  After  passing  through 
the  possession  of  several  masters  he  was  bought  by  a  Georgian, 
an  ambassador  to  the  King  of  Poland,  who  allowed  him  to 
purchase  his  freedom.  On  the  $oth  of  October,  1671,  he  joined 
a  caravan  travelling  to  Ispahan,  made  his  way  to  the  coast, 
embarked  for  Batavia,  and,  after  innumerable  adventures,  arrived 
in  Holland  in  1673,  and  retired  to  Ditmarsch,  where  he  died  in 
1694.  His  memoirs  of  his  life  were  published  in  Dutch,  at 
Amsterdam,  in  1677,  and  translated  into  German  in  the  following 
year,  and  into  French  in  1681. 


F  (p.   28). 
JOHN  BELL  OF  AUTERMONY. 

Furnished  with  letters  of  introduction  to  Dr.  Areskine,  chief 
physician  and  privy  councillor  to  the  Czar  Peter  I.,  Bell  "  em- 
barked at  London  in  July,  1714,  on  board  the  Prosperity  of 
Ramsgate,  Captain  Emerson,  for  St.  Petersburg."  As  the  Czar 
was  about  to  send  an  ambassador,  Artemis  Petronet  Valewsky, 
to  "the  Sophy  of  Persia,  Schach  Hussein,"  Bell,  by  the  good 
offices  of  Dr.  Areskine,  obtained  an  appointment  in  his  suite, 
and  set  out  from  St.  Petersburg  on  the  i5th  of  July,  1715.  He 
kept  a  diary,  and  was  evidently  an  enlightened,  discriminating 
and  careful  observer. 


104  APPENDIX. 

G  (p.  52). 

THE  THREE  BLACK  CROWS. 
BY  DR.  JOHN  BYROM. 

The  following  is  the  story  referred  to  in  the  text.  It  well 
illustrates  the  process  by  which  the  first  rumour  concerning  cotton 
— that  "  wool  as  white  and  soft  as  that  of  a  lamb  grew  on  trees  " 
— was  exaggerated  to  a  statement  that  "  lambs  grew  on  certain 
trees,"  and  were,  therefore,  partly  animal  and  partly  vegetable. 

Two  honest  tradesmen,  meeting  in  the  Strand, 

One  took  the  other  briskly  by  the  hand. 

"  Hark  ye,"  said  he,  "  'tis  an  odd  story  this 

About  the  crows  !  "     "I  don't  know  what  it  is," 

Replied  his  friend.     "  No  ?     I'm  surprised  at  that, — 

Where  I  come  from  it  is  the  common  chat ; 

But  you  shall  hear  an  odd  affair  indeed  ! 

And  that  it  happened  they  are  all  agreed  : 

Not  to  detain  you  from  a  thing  so  strange, 

A  gentleman  who  lives  not  far  from  'Change, 

This  week,  in  short,  as  all  the  Alley  knows, 

Taking  a  vomit,  threw  up  three  black  crows  ! " 

"  Impossible  !  "    "  Nay,  but  'tis  really  true  ; 

I  had  it  from  good  hands,  and  so  may  you." 

"  From  whose,  I  pray  ?  "     So,  having  named  the  man, 

Straight  to  inquire  his  curious  comrade  ran. 

"  Sir,  did  you  tell  ?  "—relating  the  affair— 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  did  ;  and,  if  'tis  worth  your  care, 

'Twas  Mr. — such  a  one — who  told  it  me  ; 

But,  by-the-bye,  'twas  two  black  crows,  not  three  /  " 

Resolved  to  trace  so  wonderous  an  event, 

Quick  to  the  third  the  virtuoso  went. 

"  Sir," — and  so  forth.     "  Why,  yes  ;  the  thing  is  fact, 

Though  in  regard  to  number  not  exact ; 

It  was  not  two  black  crows,  'twas  only  one  / 

The  truth  of  which  you  may  depend  upon  ; 

The  gentleman  himself  told  me  the  case." 

"  Where  may  I  find  him  ?  "    "  Why  in—"  such  a  place. 

Away  he  went,  and  having  found  him  out, 

"  Sir,  be  so  good  as  to  resolve  a  doubt ; " 


THE  THREE  CROWS— ALEXANDRINE  LIBRARY.  105 

Then  to  his  last  informant  he  referred, 

And  begged  to  know  if  true  what  he  had  heard. 

"  Did  you,  sir,  throw  up  a  black  crow  ?  "    "  Not  I  !  " 

"  Bless  me,  how  people  propagate  a  lie  ! 

Black  crows  have  been  thrown  up,  three,  two,  and  one; 

And  here,  I  find,  all  comes  at  last  to  none  / 

Did  you  say  nothing  of  a  crow  at  all  ?  " 

"  Crow  ? — crow  ? — perhaps  I  might ;  now  I  recall 

The  matter  over."     "  And  pray,  sir,  what  was't  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  was  horrid  sick,  and  at  the  last 

I  did  throw  up,  and  told  my  neighbours  so, 

Something  that  was— as  black,  sir,  as  a  crow? 


H  (p.   71). 
THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  ALEXANDRINE  LIBRARY. 

This  magnificent  collection,  founded  by  Ptolemy  Soter,  and 
added  to  by  his  successors,  was  twice  partially  dispersed  before  its 
total  destruction  by  the  Saracens.  A  great  portion  of  it  was 
burned  during  the  siege  of  Alexandria  by  Julius  Caesar,  B.C.  48. 
The  lost  volumes  were  in  some  measure  replaced  by  Antony, 
who  (B.C.  36)  presented  to  Cleopatra,  the  library  of  the  Kings  of 
Pergamus.  At  the  death  of  Cleopatra,  Alexandria  passed  into  the 
power  of  the  Romans,  and  this  second  collection  was  partly 
destroyed  by  fire  when  the  Emperor  Theodosius  I.  suppressed 
paganism,  A.D.  390.  The  Alexandrine  Library  met  its  memorable 
fate  in  638,  when,  after  a  vigorous  resistance  for  fourteen  months, 
the  city  was  taken  by  Amru,  the  general  of  Caliph  Omar. 
Abdallah,  the  Arabian  historian,  and  favourite  of  Saladin  (1200), 
gives  the  following  account  of  this  catastrophe.  "  John  Philo- 
ponus,  surnamed  the  Grammarian,  being  at  Alexandria  when  the 
Saracens  entered  the  city,  was  admitted  to  familiar  intercourse 
with  Amru,  and  presumed  to  solicit  a  gift,  inestimable  in  his 
opinion,  but  contemptible  in  that  of  the  barbarians, — and  that 
was  the  royal  library.  Amru  was  inclined  to  gratify  his  wish, 
but  his  rigid  integrity  scrupled  to  alienate  the  least  object  without 


io6  APPENDIX. 

the  consent  of  the  Caliph.  He  accordingly  wrote  to  Omar, 
whose  well-known  answer  is  a  notable  example  of  ignorant 
fanaticism.  *  If,'  said  he,  *  these  writings  of  the  Greeks  agree 
with  the  Koran  they  are  useless,  and  need  not  be  preserved ;  if 
they  disagree  with  the  book  of  God  they  are  pernicious,  and 
ought  to  be  destroyed.'  The  sentence  of  destruction  was 
executed  with  blind  obedience  j  the  volumes  of  paper  or  parch- 
ment were  distributed  to  the  4,000  baths  of  the  city ;  and  so 
great  was  their  number  that  six  weeks  was  barely  sufficient  time 
for  the  consumption  of  this  precious  fuel." 


107 


INDEX. 


AHASUERUS,  cotton  hangings  in  the  palace  of,  at  Shushan,  66 
Alexander  the  Great,  descent  of  the  Indus  and  Hydaspes  by,  68 
„  „         sagacity  and  wise  policy  of,  67,  72 

„  „        opens  up  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  71 

„  „        selects  the  site  of  Alexandria,  68 

„  „        Europe  indebted  to,  for  the  introduction  of  cotton, 

72 
Alexandria  made  the  centre  of  the  Indian  trade,  72 

„          Lighthouse,  Library,  and  Temple  of  Serapis  at,  71 
„         destruction  of  the  Library  of — Appendix  H,  105 
Amasis  II.,  Corslet  padded  with  cotton  presented  to  Sparta  by  King,  46 
Aristobulus  mentions  "  a  tree  bearing  wool,  which  was  carded,"  47 

„          report  by,  of  the  great  heat  at  Susiana-Shushan,  66 
Arrian's  account  of  the  cotton  trade  in  his  day,  73 

BARNACLE  Geese,  the  fable  of,  compared  with  that  of  the  Barometz,  52 
Barometz  the,  described  by  Sir  John  Mandeville,  2 

.\  „  „           Claude  Duret,  5,  16 

„  „  „           Talmudical  writers,  6 

„  „  „           Odoricus  of  Friuli,  8 

„  „  „           Fortunio  Liceti,  n 

„  „  „           Juan  Eusebio  Nieremberg,  1 1 

„  „  „           Sigismund  von  Herberstein,  1 1 

„  „  „           Guillaume  Postel,  13 

„  „  „           Michel,  the  Interpreter,  13 

„  „  „           Giralomo  Cardano,  13 

„  „  „           Julius  Caesar  Scaliger,  14 

„  „  „           Antonius  Deusingius,  15 

„  „  „           Athanasius  Kircher,  21 

„  „  „          Jean  de  Struys,  21 

„  „  in  verse  by  Guillaume  de  Saluste,  Sieur  du  Bartas,  17 

„  „  „           Joshua  Sylvester,  translator  of  the  above,  18 

„  „  „           Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin,  35 

„  „  „           Dr.  De  la  Croix,  36 

„  „  sought  for  by  Dr.  Engelbrecht  Kaempfer,  23 

„  „  „  „  John  Bell,  of  Autermony,  28,  Appendix  F> 
103 

„  „  „            „  the  Abbe  Chappe  d'Auteroche,  30 


io8  INDEX. 

Barometz,  origin  of  the  word,  23 

„        the  fable  of  the,  i 

„  „  „      compared  with  that  of  the  "  Barnacle  Geese," 

52 

„  „  „      its  various  phases  and  transformations,  I,  53 

Bartas,  the  Sieur  du,  lines  by,  on  the  Barometz,  17 
Bell,  John,  seeks  ineffectually  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb,"  28 
Borametz.     See  Barometz. 
Breyn,  Dr.,  describes  to   the   Royal   Society  his   Chinese   artificial 

«  Lamb,"  30 

British  Museum,  specimen  of  the  "  Scythian  Lamb  "  in,  24,  43 
Buckley,  Mr.,  Chinese  articles  presented  to  the  Royal  Society  by,  27 

„        „      his  Chinese  dog  fashioned  from  rhizome  of  a  fern,  27 

CANAL  from  Suez  to  the  East  Nile  commenced  by  Ptolemy  Phila- 

delphus,  71 
„          „  „        Aden,  constructed  by  De  Lesseps,  94 

Cape  route,  the,  discovered  by  Vasco  da  Gama,  83,  88 

Cardano  describes  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb,"  13 

„       exposes  the  unreasonableness  of  believing  the  fable,  14 

Central  America,  ancient  use  of  cotton  in,  85,  86 

Chappe  d'Auteroche,  the  Abbe  seeks  for  the  "  Barometz,"  30 

Chinese  artificial  dogs  made  from  root-stocks  of  ferns,  27,  28,  34,  39,  44 

Columbus  finds  cotton  in  use  in  America,  84 

Cotton,  its  use  of  great  antiquity  in  India,  65 
„      reaches  Persia  from  India,  66 

„      hangings  of,  in  the  palace  of  Ahasuerus  at  Shushan,  66 
„      found  in  use  in  India  by  Alexander  the  Great,  58 
,,      piece-goods  introduced  into  Europe  by  the  Macedonians,  72 
„       shipped  from  Patala  and  Barygaza  to  Aduli,  72 
„       conveyed  by  a  circuitous  coasting  route,  73 
„  „          in  a  straight  course  by  Hippalus,  73 

„  „          by  the  Romans  via  Palmyra,  74 

„      the  trade  in,  through  Egypt,  checked  by  the  Saracens,  74 
„       ancient  Egyptians  unacquainted  with,  75 

„      breast-plate  padded  with,  sent  by  King  Amasis  to  Sparta,  46,  75 
„       Mark  Antony's  soldiers  wear,  in  Egypt,  76 
„       Egyptians,  till  the  I7th  century,  importers,  not  growers  of,  77 
„       in  Rome  and  Greece  manufactured  by  slaves,  78 
„      vestments  presented  to  ancient  Emperors  of  China,  79 
„      manufactured  by  the  Moors  and  Saracens  in  Spain,  80 
„      paper  made  from,  by  the  Spanish  Arabs,  80 
„       manufacture  in  Spain  relapsed  after  the  conquest  of  Grenada,  80 
„      conveyed  by  Tartar  caravans  from  India  to  Europe,  56,  57,  58, 
81,  82 


INDEX.  109 

Cotton  conveyed  again  through  Egypt  by  the  Venetians,  82 

„       manufacture  in  Saxony,  the  Netherlands,  and  Germany,  83 
„      found  by  Columbus  in  daily  use  in  the  West  Indies,  84 
„  „         Magalhaens  in  use  in  Brazil,  84 

„      used  by  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  85,  86 
„      mummy  cloths  brought  from  ancient  Peruvian  tombs,  86 
„      imported  into  England  in  the  i6th  century  through  Antwerp,  91 
„       statistics,  92 

„      now  crosses  from  India  by  the  route  planned  by  Alexander,  95 
Cotton-plant,  the,  described  by  Theophrastus,  47 

„  „  „  Pomponius  Mela,  48 

Julius  Pollux,  49 
„          botany  of  the,  63 
„          the,  indigenous  to  India,  64 

j,  „     noticed  in  India  by  Alexander  and  his  army,  58 

„          culture  of  the,  in  China  encouraged  by  the  Mongols,  79 
„  „  „  Arabia  and  Syria,  77 

„  „  „  Spain  by  the  Saracens  and  Moors,  80 

„  „  „  „        relapsed   after  the  conquest  of 

Grenada,  80 

„         the,  still  grows  wild  in  the  Peninsula,  81 
Cotton-wool  the  fleece  of  the  "  Scythian  Lamb,"  62 
Ctesias  writes  of  the  "  trees  that  bear  wool,"  46 


DANIELOVITSCH,  Demetrius,  describes  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb"  to  Von 

Herberstein,  12 

Darwin,  Dr.  Erasmus,  lines  by,  on  the  "  Barometz,"  35 
De  la  Croix,  Dr.,  Latin  lines  by,  on  the  Barometz,  36 
Deusingius,  Antonius,  disbelieves  the  animal-plant  monstrosity,  15 
Dicksonia  barometz  a  tree-fern,  40 

„  „         toy  dogs  made  from  rhizomes  of,  by  the  Chinese, 

4i 

„  „          does  not  grow  in  Tartary  or  Scythia,  44 

Duret,  Claude,  describes  the  "  Barometz,"  3 

„          „         avows  his  entire  belief  in  the  rumour,  16 

EAST  India  Company  incorporated,  92 

Egypt,  the  route  from  India  to  Europe  planned  by  Alexander,  68,  93, 95 

„       conquest  of,  by  the  Saracens,  7 

„      the  country  of  flax,  75,  79 

„      the  high  road  to  India  to  be  guarded,  96 
Egyptian  maritime  traffic  with  the  East  lasted  1000  years,  74 
Egyptians,  the  ancient,  unacquainted  with  cotton,  75 

„          till  the  1 7th  century  importers  not  growers  of  cotton,  77 


i  io  INDEX. 

FERNS,  models  of  dogs  made  of,  by  the  Chinese,  27,  28,  34,  39,  44 

„      their  economic  value,  40,  41 
Flemish  weavers  settle  in  Manchester,  90 

GENERAL  belief  in  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb,"  2 

HEBREW,  ancient,  version  of  the  fable,  6 

Herberstein,  Sigismund  von,  describes  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb,"  1 1 
Herodotus  writes  of  trees  bearing  for  their  fruit  fleeces  of  wool,  46 
Hippalus  notices  the  monsoons,  73 

INDIA,  use  of  cotton  in,  mentioned  by  Herodotus,  46 

„  „  „  „       Ctesias,46 

„  „  „  „       Nearchus,  46 

„  „  „  „       Aristobulus,  47 

„  „  „  „        Strabo,  47 

„      the  Indo-Scythia  of  the  ancients,  57 

„       cotton  indigenous  to,  64 

„      trade  with  opened  by  Alexander  via  Egypt,  68 

„  „        via  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  71 

„  „        restored  to  Egypt  by  the  Venetians,  82 

„      the  Cape  route  to,  discovered  by  Vasco  da  Gama,  83,  88 
Indo-Scythia,  identical  with  Scinde  and  the  Punjaub,  57 

JAPANESE  artificial  mermaids  compared  with  Chinese  toy-dogs,  42,  54 
Jaduah,  or  Jeduah,  the,  7 

KIRCHER,  Athanasius,  declares  the  Barometz  to  be  a  plant,  21 
Kaempfer,  Dr.  Engelbrecht,  searches  ineffectually  for  the  Vegetable 

Lamb,  23 
„  „  „          suggests  that  the  fable  refers  to  Astrachan 

lamb  skins,  23 

LAMB,  the  "  Scythian,"  why  so  called,  56 

„        „          „  see "  Barometz." 

„        „  "  Tartarian,"  why  so  called,  59 

„        „          „  see "  Barometz." 

„        „  Vegetable,  its  fleece  cotton  wool,  60 

„        „          „  see "  Barometz." 

Lesseps,  De,  constructs  the  Suez  Canal,  94 
Liceti,   Fortunio,   says  the  "  Vegetable   Lamb "  was   "  as  white  as 

snow,"  ii 
Loureiro,  Juan  de,  describes  the  making  of  artificial  dogs  from  ferns,  44 

MAGALHAENS,  Fernando,  discovers  the  route  round  Cape  Horn,  84 
Manchester,  Flemish  weavers  settle  in,  90 


INDEX.  in 

Mandeville,  Sir  John,  describes  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb,"  2 

„          „         „      biographical  sketch  of  —  Appendix  A,  97 
Mela,  Pomponius,  describes  the  cotton-plant,  48 
Mermaids,  Japanese,  compared  with  Chinese  dogs,  42,  54 
Mexicans,  the  ancient,  use  of  cotton  by,  85  86 
Michel,  the  Interpreter,  describes  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb  "  and  its  uses, 

13 

Monsoons,  the,  noticed  by  Hippalus,  73 
Museum,  British,  supposed  "  Scythian  Lamb  "  in  the,  24,  43 
„         Natural  History.     See  Museum,  British. 
„        Hunterian,  R.  Coll.  Surgeons,  supposed  Scythian  Lamb  in  the, 
43 

NEARCHUS  mentions  the  "  wool-bearing  trees,"  46 

„         descent  of  the  Indus  by,  68 
Nieremberg,  on  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb,"  1  1 

ODORICUS  of  Friuli  describes  the  "  Vegetable  Lamb,"  8 

„  „      curious  incident  in  the  life  of  —  Appendix  B,  100 

PERUVIANS,  the  ancient,  use  of  cotton  by,  86,  87 

Pliny  confuses  cotton  with  flax,  48 

Pollux,  Julius,  describes  the  cotton-plant,  49 

Postel,  Guillaume,  informs  von   Herberstein  of  the   "wool-bearing 

plant,"  13 

Ptolemy  Soter  follows  Alexander's  policy  and  takes   possession  of 
Egypt,  71 

„         „        founds  the  lighthouse,  library  and  temple  at  Alex- 
andria, 71 

„      Philadelphus  commences  a  canal  from  Suez  to  the  East  Nile, 


ROYAL  Society,  supposed  "  Scythian  Lamb  "  laid  before  the,  by  Sir 

Hans  Sloane,  24 
Royal  Society,  supposed  "Scythian  Lamb"  laid  before  the,  by  Dr. 

Breyn,  30 

SALUSTE,  Guillaume  de,  Sieur  du  Bartas.    See  "  Bartas." 

Scaliger,    Julius    Caesar,   attacks    Cardano    on  the    subject   of   the 

"  Barometz,"  14 
Scythian  Lamb,  the,  why  so  called,  56 

„  „        „    see  "  Barometz." 

Scythians,  the,  describe  snow  as  "  feathers,"  5  1 
Scythia-Indo  the  same  as  Scinde  and  the  Punjaub,  57 
in  Asia  identical  with  Tartary,  57 


ii2  INDEX. 


cythia  Parva  idei 


Scythia  Parva  identical  with  certain  districts  of  Silistria  and  Bessarabia, 

57 

Shushan,  cotton  hangings  in  the  palace  of  Ahasuerus  at,  66 
Sloane,  Sir  Hans,  lays  before  the  Royal  Society  a  supposed  "  Scythian 
Lamb,"  24 

„         „         „      identification  of  the  above  by,  unsatisfactory,  28 

„         „         „      bequest  by,  to  the  Nation,  43 
Strabo  mentions  the  "  wool-bearing  trees,"  47 
Strauss  Jans  Janszoon.     See  "  Struys." 
Struys,  Jean  de,  mentions  the  "  Barometz,"  21 

„  „        doubts  the  "  animal  "  version  of  the  story,  22 

Suez  Canal  completed  by  De  Lesseps,  94 

TALMUDICAL  writers  mention   the   "Barometz,"  under  the  name  of 

"Jaduah,"7 

Tartary  identical  with  Scythia  in  Asia,  57 

Tartar  caravans,  cotton  conveyed  by,  to  Europe,  56,  57,  58,  81,  82 
Tartarian  Lamb,  the,  why  so  called,  59 
„  „          „    see "  Barometz-" 

Theophrastus  writes  of  the  cultivation  of  the  "  wool-bearing  tree,"  47 

„  exactly  describes  the  cotton-plant,  48 

Trees,  wool-bearing,  described  by  Herodotus,  46 

„  „  „  Ctesias,  46 

„  „  „  Nearchus,  46 

„  „  „  Aristobulus,  47 

„  „  „  Strabo,  47 

„  „  Theophrastus,  47 

„  „  „  Pomponius  Mela,  48 

„  „  „  Pliny,  48 

„  „  „  Julius  Pollux,  49 

VASCO  DA  GAMA  opens  the  Cape  route  to  India,  83,  88 
Vegetable  Lamb,  the,  its  fleece  cotton  wool,  60 
„  „          „     see "  Barometz." 

WAGHORN,  Lieut.,  opens  the  route  across  the  desert,  93 
Wool-bearing  trees.    See  Trees,  wool-bearing. 

ZAVOLHA,  the,  a  renowned  Tartar  horde,  12,  14 


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