©Y^oac^rouy pPanty. 127 



a profusion of fruit resembling Figs. The leaves of this tree are 

 so large and so far apart, that a man could easily wrap himself up 

 in them ; hence it is supposed that our first parents, after losing 

 their innocence, clothed themselves with the leaves of a tree of 

 this species. 



The island of Ferro, one of the Canaries, is said to be with- 

 out rivers, fountains, and wells. However, it has a peculiar tree, 

 as Metellus mentions, surrounded by walls like a fountain. It 

 resembles the Nut-tree ; and from its leaves there drops water 

 which is drinkable by cattle and men. A certain courtesan of the 

 island, when it was first subdued, made it known to the Spaniards. 

 Her perfidy, however, is said to have been discovered and punished 

 with death by her own people. 



Bishop Fleetwood gives the following description, by Her- 

 mannus Nicolaus, of what he calls the Distillatory Plant : — " Great 

 are the works of the Lord, says the wise man ; we cannot consider 

 them without ravishment. The Distillatory Plant is one of these 

 prodigies of nature, which we cannot behold without being struck 

 with admiration. And what most surprises hie is the delicious 

 nectar, with which it has often supplied me in so great abundance 

 to refresh me when I was thirsty to death and unsufferably weary. 

 . . . But the greatest wonder of it is the little purse, or if you 

 will, a small vessel, as long and as big as the little finger, that is 

 at the end of each leaf. It opens and shuts with a little lid that 

 is fastened to the top of it. These little purses are full of a cool, 

 sweet, clear cordial and very agreeable water. The kindness this 

 liquor has done me when I have been parched up with thirst, 

 makes me always think of it with pleasure. One plant yields 

 enough to refresh and quench the thirst of a man who is very 

 dry. The plant attracts by its roots the moisture of the earth, 

 which the sun by his heat rarifies and raises up through the stem 

 and the branches into the leaves, where it filtrates itself to drop 

 into the little recipients that are at the end of them. This delicious 

 sap remains in these little vessels till it be drawn out ; and it 

 must be observed that they continue close shut till the liquor be 

 well concocted and digested, and open of themselves when the 

 juice is good to drink. 'Tis of wonderful virtue to extinguish 

 speedily the heats of burning fevers. Outwardly applied, it heals 

 ring-worms, St. Anthony's Fire, and inflammations." 



pfanfi^ Searloo' Sriit>cr'\'^ii\oni> alit) iJiaureiS. 



Gerarde has told us that in the root of the Brake Fern, the 

 figure of a spread-eagle may be traced ; and Maundevile has 

 asserted that the fruit of the Banana, cut it how you will, exhibits 

 a representation of the Holy Cross. L. Sarins, in his Chronicles 

 to the year 1559, records that, in Wales, an Ash was uprooted 

 during a tempest, and in its massive trunk, rent asunder by the 



