140 PLINY'S KATUKAL HISTORY. [Book XIX. 



till many ages after the time of Homer ; indeed, not before the 

 first war that the Carthaginians waged in Spain. This, too, 

 is a plant that grows spontaneously, 62 and is incapable of being 

 reproduced by sowing, it being a species of rush, peculiar to a 

 dry, arid soil, a morbid production confined to a single country 

 only ; for in reality it is a curse to the soil, as there is nothing 

 whatever that can be sown or grown in its vicinity. There is 

 a kind of spartum grown in Africa, 63 of a stunted nature, and 

 quite useless for 'all practical purposes. It is found in one 

 portion of the province of Carthage 64 in [Nearer Spain, though 

 not in every part of that ; but wherever it is produced, the 

 mountains, even, are covered all over with it. 



This material is employed by the country-people there for 

 making 65 their beds ; with it they kindle their fires also, and 

 prepare their torches; shoes 66 also, and garments for the shep- 

 herds, are made of it. As a food for animals, it is highly in- 

 jurious, 67 with the sole exception of the tender tops of the 

 shoots. When wanted for other uses, it is pulled up by the 

 roots, with considerable labour ; the legs of the persons so em- 

 ployed being protected by boots, and their hands with gloves, 

 the plant being twisted round levers of bone or holm-oak, to 

 get it up with the greater facility. At the present day it is 

 gathered in the winter, even ; but this work is done with the 

 least difficulty between the ides of May 68 and those of June, 

 that being the period at which it is perfectly ripe. 



CHAP. 8. THE MODE OF PREPARING SPARTUM, 



"When taken up it is made into sheaves, and laid in heaps 

 for a couple of days, while it retains its life and freshness ; on 

 the third day the sheaves are opened out and spread in the sun 



62 Although, as Fee says, this is still the fact, it is a plant which would 

 readily admit of cultivation. Varro, however, De Re Rust. B. i. c. 23, 

 speaks of it in conjunction with hemp, flax, and rushes, as being sown. 



63 This kind, Fee thinks, may possibly have been identical with the 

 Spartum Lygeum of Linnaeus, false esparto, or alvarde. 



64 At the'present day it is only in the provinces on the Mediterranean 

 that spartum is found ; the other provinces producing nothing but alvarde. 



65 It is still used in the southern parts of Spain for the same purposes, 



66 The shoes now made of it are known as " espartenas" and u alpar- 

 gatas." 



37 It is not dangerous in itself, but is too tough to be a favourite 

 article of food with cattle. 



<* Fifteenth of May and thirteenth of June. 



