of Pococke's Travels. 5 
nico" might induce a suspicion of its having been obtained from 
thence; but no Europæans were settled in that island previous 
to the year 1635, nor do we know that the tree, being a native 
of North America, would grow in so hot a climate. : 
How the Liquidambar Styraciflua travelled to Cyprus, must 
therefore remain unexplained ; for we have not even a legend to 
help us, like that of the staff of Joseph of Arimathea at Glas- 
tonbury. That so great a novelty should have acquired consi- 
derable reputation in the garden of a Cyprian convent, so as to 
have even supernatural properties attributed to it, may not so 
much excite our wonder. Its celebrity indeed appears to have 
declined between the periods of Dr. Pococke's visit and Dr. Sib- 
thorp's, but the tree itself still flourished. Dr. Sibthorp, like his 
predecessor, found it forming seed ; yet it does not appear to have 
scattered its progeny over the neighbourhood, as, in so fine a cli- 
mate, it might have been expected to have done, though I have 
never heard of its bringing any seed to perfection in England, 
where it rarely even blossoms. Sa 
d remain, &c. XE er L di 
Norwich, Feb. 20, 1815. sip 4000 dE. SMITH 
