G52 ZINGIBERACE^. 



Melle (Meli or Melly), formerly extending over the upper Niger reo-ion, 

 about in 4"" E. long., and then inhabited by the Mandingos, now by the 



Fulbe or Fullan. Messena 



In that 



region AmomwTii Melegiieta may be indigenous, or the spice, being 



---^ —J, .^j ..^^ .-. Melle, .^..._...... 



name in allusion to the latter. 



History — There is no evidence that the ancients were acquainted 

 w^ith the seeds called Orains of Paradise; nor can we find any reference 

 to them earlier than an incidental mention under their African name, 

 in the account^ of a curious festival held at Treviso in a.d. 1214: it 

 was a sort of tournament, during which a sham fortress, held by twelve 

 noble ladies and their attendants, was besieged and stormed by assail- 

 ants armed with flowers, fruits, sweetmeats, perfumes, and spices, 

 amongst which last figu.Y0—3felegeta3 ! 



After this period there are many notices, showing the seeds to have 

 been in general use. Nicolas Myrepsus,^ physician at the court of the 

 Emperor John III. at Nicoea, in the 13th century, prescribed Meveyerai] 

 and his contemporary, Simon of Genoa,^ at Rome, names the same drug- 

 as Melegete or MelegeUe. Gvana Paradisi are enumerated among spices 

 sold at Lyons ^ in 1245, and were used about the same time by the 



Mydd 



5 



They 



Of 



o 



also occur as Grey n Paradijs in a tariff of duties levied at Dordrecht 

 in Holland *5 in 1358. And again among the spices used by John, kin_ 

 of France, when in England, a.d. 1859-GO, Grainne de Faradis is re- 

 peatedly mentioned.'' 



In the earliest times the drug was conveyed by the long land 

 journey from the Mandingo country through the desert to the 

 Mediterranean port, Monte di Barca (Mundibarca), on the coast of 

 Tripoli. There the spice was shipped by the Italians, and being the 

 produce of an unknown region and held in great esteem, it acquired 

 the name of Grains of Paradise,^ or also, as already stated at page 

 650, that of Semi7ia Cardamomi Majoris. That they came froui 

 Melli is expressly stated also by Leonhard Fuchs.o Small quantities of 

 the cbug still reach Tripoli in the same way. 



Towards the middle of the 14th century, there began to be direct 

 commercial intercourse with tropical Western Africa. Margry" relates 

 that ships were sent thither from Dieppe in 13G4, and took cargoes of 

 ivory and malaguette from near the mouth of the river Cestos, now 

 Sestros. A century later the coast was visited by the Portuguese 

 who termed it Terra de malaguet The celebrated Columbus also 

 who traded to the coast of Guinea, called it Costa di Manigwm^ 



r this period the spice became a monopoly of the kings ot 



J 



} 



Portugal. 



1 Rolandini Patavini Chronica~V ertz, " j/, jaygon Myddfai (see Appendix) 283. 



^\'ommentaGer7mniaiJu6torica; scripforrs 286 -f-J -^ -^ 



XIX. 1866) 45-46.-Yet qd/ala, occurring « gartoriua unci Lappeubcrg, GeschcMe 



L^ ' P^«^*% means grains of para- der Deulschcn JIansa, ii. 448. ..., 



In. n :• ,r , ^ »o"et (I'Arcq, 219, 266-see p. oi-^, 



-ifetompomtioneMecUcamentorumjde note 2. ,„,m 



B^hodiek d. la. Vercim, Stuttgart, xvi. dicamentorum ralionc, libr. iv. Lugclu"'. 



XXUl 



1556. 50. 



^0 Quoted at p. 5S9, note 4 



