pfaat Tsorc, Isegc?^^/, aai. Isijric/', 425 



tlie present day, the Indians rep^ard it with superstitious veneration. 

 They esteem it, says Schoolcraft, so important and divine a grain, 

 that their story-tellers invented various tales in which this idea is 

 symbolised under the form of a special gift from the Great Spirit. 

 The Ojebwa-Algonquins, who call it Mon-da-min, or the Spirit's 

 grain or berry, cherish a legend, in which the stalk in full tassel is 

 represented as descending from the sky, under the guise of a 

 handsome youth, in response to the prayers of a young man offered 



up at his fast of virility. Among the American colonists, the 



husking of the Maize was always accompanied with a rustic cere- 

 mony and gathering of the villagers. Longfellow tells us how — 



" In tlie golden weather the Maize was husked, and the maidens 

 Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover; 

 But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the cornfield. 

 Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover." 



MALLOW. — The ancient Romans had some kind of Mallow 

 (Malva) served up as vegetables, and the Egyptians, Syrians, and 

 Chinese also use them as food. In Job's days, these plants were 

 eaten by those wandering tribes who, as the patriarch says, " cut 

 up Mallows by the bushes, and Juniper-roots for their meat." The 

 Mallow formed one of the funeral flowers of the ancients, with whom 

 it was customary to plant it around the graves of departed friends. 

 The plant yields a fibre capable of being woven into a fabric ; and 

 there is an Eastern tradition that Mahomed was so delighted with 

 the texture of a robe made of this material, that he forthwith 

 miraculously turned the Mallow into a Pelargonium. The seeds 

 of the Mallow are called by country children, cheeses. Clare 

 recalls the days of his childhood, when he and his playmates sat — 



" Picking from Mallows sport to please, 

 The crumpled seed we call'd a cheese." 



Pliny ascribes a magical power to Mallows. He says, " Whosoever 

 shall take a spoonful of any of the Mallows shall that day be free 

 from all the diseases that may come unto him ; " and he adds, 

 that it is especially good against the falling sickness. The same 

 writer, quoting Xenocrates, attributes to the seed of Mallows the 

 power of exciting the passions. Gerarde, writing of the Malva 

 crispa, commends its properties in verse : — 



"If that of health you have any speciale care, 

 Use French Mallowes, that to the body holsome are." 



MANCHINEEL.— The Manchineel-tree {Hippomane Maiici- 

 nclla) is one of ill repute. Its exhalations are stated to cause certain 

 death to those who sleep beneath its foliage. It abounds in a 

 white milky juice, which is highly poisonous; a single drop causing 

 instant pain if it touches the human skin. 



MANDRAKE. — The Atropa Mandragora derives its name 

 from Atropos, the eldest of the all-powerful Parcae, the arbiters of 

 the life and death of mankind. Clothed in sombre black robes, and 



