Chap. 14-] THE PEPPER-TREE. 1 1 1 



the bowels. Alexander issued strict orders, forbidding any- 

 one in the expedition to touch this fruit. 



CHAP. 13. INDIAN TREES, THE NAMES OF WHICH ARE UNKNOWN. 



INDIAN TREES WHICH BEAR FLAX. 



The Macedonians 44 have made mention of various other 

 kinds of trees, the greater part of which, however, are without 

 names. There is one which resembles the terebinth 45 in every 

 respect, except the fruit, which is very similar to the almond, 

 though less in size, and remarkable for its extreme sweetness. 

 This tree was met with in Bactria, and some persons looked 

 upon it as a variety of the terebinth, rather than as bearing a 

 strong resemblance to it. As to the tree from which they 

 manufacture a kind of linen 46 cloth, in leaf it resembles the 

 mulberry-tree, while the calix of the fruit is similar to the 

 dog-rose. 47 This tree is reared in the plains, and there is no 

 sight throughout the cultivated parts of the country that is 

 more enchanting than the plantations of it. 



CHAP. 14. (7.) THE PEPPER-TREE. — THE VARIOUS KINDS OF 



PEPPER — BREGMA ZINGIBERI, OR ZLMP1BERI. 



The olive-tree 48 of India is unproductive, with the sole 

 exception of the wild olive. In every part we meet with trees 

 that bear pepper, 49 very similar in appearance to our junipers, 



44 See Theoplirastus, B. iv. c. 5. 



45 Dalechamps and Desfontaines are of opinion, that the pistachio, or 

 Pistacia terebiuthus of Linnaeus, is here alluded to ; but Fee considers that 

 there are no indications to lead to such a conclusion. 



46 It is not improbable that he may here allude to the cotton-tree, of 

 which further mention is made in c. xxi. of the present Book. 



47 Fee is of opinion thatCynorrhodon here means, hot the dog-rose, but 

 the gall which is formed on the tree by the sting of the Cynips bedeguar. 



48 Fee expresses himself at a loss to conjecture what trees are here meant 

 by Pliny. 



49 Fee remarks, that there are many inaccuracies in the account here 

 given by Pliny of the pepper-tree, and that it does not bear any resem- 

 blance to the j uniper-tree. The grains, he says, grow in clusters, and not 

 in a husk or pod ; and he- remarks, that the long pepper and the black pep- 

 per, of which the white is only a variety divested of the outer coat, are 

 distinct spe3ies. He also observes, that the real long pepper, the Piper 

 longum of Linnaeus, was not known to the ancients. 



