THE HISTORY OF THE COWPEA. 57 



pears to have been confined largely to the countries of the north and 

 the cities belonging to the Hanseatic League. Very little seems to 

 have been written concerning the commerce of Prague, but the Bo- 

 hemians are a Slavic people and it is not improbable that they had 

 some trade with the other Slavic peoples of P^urope. At least no 

 explanation of the occurrence of Vigna iinguiculata at Prague before 

 it was known at Vienna seems so plausible as that it came by one of 

 the caravan routes to Russia and thence to Prague. De Candolle 

 (Origin of Cultivated Plants, 39) says Slum sisarum " came perhaps 

 from Siberia into Russia, and thence into Germany," and inclii>es to 

 the view that it was not known to the ancient (Ireeks and Romans. 

 This species is considered to be a native of the Altai region of Silx>ria 

 and northern Persia. The caravan route from India and (^hinn to 

 Russia passed through the latter region. 



The figure in Rinio, 1415 (I)e Simplicibus), referred to by Koer- 

 nicke, the writer has not seen, but in the Vienna Dioscorides Codex, 

 dating from about the fifth century, the figure of the plant supposed 

 to be the phasiolus of Dioscorides shows a several-flowered raceme. 

 It also shows what appear to l)e mature pods and, while not strictly 

 erect, they are not j^endulous like those of Vigna unguiculata. The 

 word " lubia " is written in Arabic on the parchment and the figure 

 corresj^onds verv closely with the description of Dollchos labia. 

 Forskal saj's the latter species was known among the Arabs as ^^Luhia 

 haeledi'''' (common lubia). Dioscorides was probabh' born at Ana- 

 zarba, a j^lace in southeastern Asia Minor near the eastern extremity 

 of the Mediterranean, but he is supposed to have traveled and it is 

 not known where the plants he described ma}' have been seen. 



Koernicke believes the species to have come originally from central 

 Africa, as it grows wild there. This, however, is not necessarily con- 

 clusive. There are other instances, especially in the Troi:)ics, of 

 plants appearing indigenous to countries in which they are known not 

 to be native. The facts given by Koernicke indicate rather that the 

 species has been introduced into central Africa, for he gives no name 

 in the native language, but says it is known to the natives by the Ara- 

 bian names " lubiah " and " ollaich." Seeds of this plant have never 

 been found in the monuments of ancient Egypt, and the origin of 

 the word " lubia " indicates that the plant to which it was applied 

 came into Arabia and Egypt from the east. Lubia, lubiya, or lobiya 

 probably was not derived from the Greek word AoySo?, wdiich prima- 

 rily means any projection like the lobe of the ear, but appears to be 

 of Persian origin and came to India through the Persians. Sir 

 George Watt, 1890 (Diet. Econ. Prod. India, 3: 184), says: "No 

 name like lobiya is given to any pulse by the aboriginal races of 

 Indian or by those of Aryan origin. It occurs purely among the 



102— VI 



