290 ESSAYS anv OBSERVATIONS 
and perhaps fome others, particularly con- 
cerning the amours of thefe trees; for which 
fee Pliny (x), and Caffianus Baffus (y). 
39. Bur I cannot omit the opinion of He- 
rodotus, the moft ancient author, who has left 
any thing concerning the ufefulnefs of the 
male, to the female palm-tree; ‘‘ In Baby- 
“« Joms agris, fays he, palmae magna ex parte 
*< fructiferae proveniunt; ex quibus non folum 
<< cibum, vinum, et mel conficiunt, fed eti- 
‘“am eodem modo quo ficus curantur. Pal- 
<¢ marum enim, quas Graeci mafculus vocant, 
*« fructus palmis olandiferis alligant, ut earum 
‘© fructum maturet cu/ex fubiens, ne ex ar- 
“‘ bore is defluat. Ferunt enim pa/marum ma- 
“res (z) culices in fructu, quemadmodum 
*‘caprifici.”” Thus Herodot, as rendered by 
Bod. a Stapel (a). Whoelfewhere (4) quotes a 
famous traveller for fuch a culture of this 
tree, as confirms Herodot’s opinion (c). 
AGAIN 
(x) L. 13. c. 4. 
() In Theoph. p. 103. 
(z) Yure. 
(2) In THEOPH. p. 115. 
(4) P. 103. 
(c) “ Agricolae etiamnum, ut refert doétiflimus Guit- 
rand, in Arabia, Egypto, Mefopotamia, Iudaea, Phoenicia, et 
« tota Syria, volentes cavere ne foeminae, aut fterilitatis nox- 
~ ? ? 
am 
