560 pPant Tsorc, Iscge?^^/, cm^ TsLjpic/, 



TAMARIND. — The Taviarindus Indica is in Ceylon dedicated 

 to Siva, as the god of destrucflion. The natives of India have a 

 prejudice against sleeping under the Tamarind, and the acid damp 

 from the tree is known to aflfecfl the cloth of tents that are pitched 

 under them for any length of time. So strong is the prejudice of the 

 natives against the Tamarind-tree, that it is difficult to prevent 

 them from destroying it, as they believe it hurtful to vegetation. It is 

 chiefly cultivated for its seed-pods, which are used medicinally, and 



for food. Dreams connecfted with Tamarinds are of ill omen, 



portending trouble, loss, and disappointment. The Tamarind is 



held to be under the dominion of Venus. 



TAMARISK. — The Tamarix ovientalis is also known as the 

 Tamarisk of Osiris. The ancient Eyptians believed that at the 

 commencement of the world Osiris was born from the midst of chaos, 

 from whence also proceeded his wife Isis, the Queen of Light, 

 and Typhon, the Spirit of Darkness. Osiris was the ruler of all 

 the earth ; but Typhon, being jealous of him, seized him by strategy, 

 nailed him in a chest, and cast it into the Nile, that it might float 

 out to sea. Isis in despair wandered all over the country, searching 

 for the dead body of her husband, and at length heard that the 

 chest had been cast on shore at Byblos, and had there lodged in 

 the branches of a Tamarisk-bush, which quickly shot up and be- 

 came a large and beautiful tree, growing round the chest so that it 

 could not be seen. The king of the country, amazed at the vast 

 size of the Tamarisk-tree, ordered it to be cut down and hewn into 

 a pillar to support the roof of his palace, the chest being still con- 

 cealed in the trunk. Here it was discovered by Isis, who cut 

 open the pillar, and took the coffin with her to Egypt, where she 

 hid it in a remote place ; but Typhon found it, and divided the 

 corpse of Osiris into fourteen pieces. After a long and weary 

 search, in which Isis sailed over the fenny parts of the land in a boat 

 made of Papyrus, she recovered all the fragments except one, 



which had been thrown into the sea. The Tamarix Gallica is called 



the Tamarisk of Apollo : the Apollo of Lesbos is represented with 

 a branch of Tamarisk in his hand. Nicander called the Tamarisk the 

 Tree of Prophecy. In Persia, the Magian priests (who claimed super- 

 natural power) arrived at a knowledge of future events by means 

 of certain manipulations of the mystic haresma, or bundle of thin 

 Tamarisk twigs, the employment of which was enjoined in the 



Zenda vesta books as essential to every sacrifical ceremony. 



Herodotus informs us that the Tamarisk was employed for a 

 similar purpose by other nations of antiquity ; and Pliny states 

 that the Egyptian priests were crowned with its foliage, Ac- 

 cording to tradition, it was from Tamarisk-trees that the showers of 



Manna descended on the famishing Israelites in the desert. At 



the present day, the Manna of Mount Sinai is produced by a variety 



of Tamarix Gallica : it consists of pure mucilaginous sugar. 



Astrologers state that the Tamarisk is under the rule of Saturn. 



