CARIC.E. 



ol:3 



History— Figs were a valued article of food among the anoiont, 

 Hebrews' and Greeks, as they are to the present day in tho warnu-r 

 countries bordering the Mediterranean.' In the time of Pliny many 

 varieties were in cultivation The Latin word Carica was first u'^oc] to 

 designate the dried fig of Caria, a strip of country in Asia .Minor 

 opposite Rhodes, an esteemed variety of the fruit corresponding to the 

 Smyrna fig of modern times. 



In a diploma granted by Chilperic II., king of the Franks, to th 



C 



necticm with dates, almonds and olives, by which we thin 

 (Carkce) were intended.^ Dried figs were a regulai' artic 



monastery of Corbie, A.D, 7lG, mention is made of '* Kavigu^'' in con- 



-„k dried fij^s 



^ „ ticle of trade 



during the middle ages, from the southern to the northern parts of 

 Europe. In ISSO the citizens of Bruges, in regulating the duties 

 which the '^ Lombards," i.e. Italians, had to pay for their imports, 



quoted also figs from Cyprus and from Marbella, a place south-west of 

 Malaga/ 



In England the average price between A.D. 1204 and l.'^OS was 

 about l|d per ib., raisins and currants being 2M^ 



Description — A fig consists of a thick, fleshy, hollow receptacle of 

 a pear-shaped form, on the inner face of w^hich grow a multitude of 

 minute fruits.^ This receptacle, which is provided with an orifice at 

 the top, is at first green, tough and leathery, exuding when pricked a 

 ^^'^y j^^ice. The orifice is surrounded, and almost closed by a number 

 of thick, fleshy scales, near which and within the fig, the male flowers 

 are situated, but they are often wanting or are not fully developed. 

 The female flowers stand further within the receptacle, in the body of 

 which they are closely packed ; they are stalked, have a o-leafod 

 perianth and a bipartite stigma. The ovary, which is generally one- 

 celled, becomes when ripe a minute, dry, hard nut, popularly regarded 

 as a seed. 



As the fig advances to maturity, the receptacle enlarges, becomes 

 softer and more juicy, a saccharine fluid replacing the acrid milky 

 «ap. It also acquires a reddish hue, wddle its exterior becomes 

 purple, brown, or yellow, though in some varieties it continues 

 green. The fresh tig has an agreeable and extremely saccharine taste, 

 l^ut it wants the juiciness and refreshing acidity that characteri;re 

 niany other fruits. 



Ifafi 



jr IS not g 



athered its stalk loses its firmness, the fruit hanfi 



pendulous from the branch, begins to shrivel and become more and more 

 saccharine by loss of water, and ultimately, if the climate is fin-ourable, 

 it assumes the condition oi d^ dried Jig . On the large scale however, figs 

 are not dried on the tree, but are gathered and exposed to the sun and 

 air in lio-ht travs till thev acauire the proper degree o^ dryness. Th^^y 



^Se 



1 r-i. ^ "^ particular 1 Sam. xxv. IS and 

 1 Chron. xii. 40 ; where we read of large 

 snpphea of dried figs being provided for 

 tne use of fighting men. Also Num. xx. 5 ; 



Ua the Riviera of Genoa dried figs 

 eaten with bread are a common winter food 

 «t the peasantry. 



^Pardessus, Diplomata, Chartf^, etc., ii. 

 (1849) 309 



proper aeg 



^Becesse und andi.re Aktm der Hamf-fng^, 



ii. (Leipzig, 1872) 23.5. 

 •Rogers, IIU- of Agncidture and PnetM 



in England, i. (1S6G) C32. 



«Albcrtu8 Magnus, in allusion to the 

 peculiar growth of the fig, remarks that 

 the tree ''fructum autcm orofert sine 

 flore." Page 386 of the work quoted in 

 the Appendix. 



