CHAPTER XXIV. 



SUNDRIES. 



THE collection of sundry articles contained in vol. vi. 

 pp. 574-610 is very various in character. It is more copious, 

 considering the narrower limits of the enquiry, in these two 

 volumes than in any two which have preceded them, for though 

 the tables in the third volume (pp. 544-582) occupy rather 

 more space, it will be remembered that that list embraces the 

 evidence of 182 years, the present of 120 only. But as we 

 more nearly approach modern times, the evidence on the 

 principal objects which are illustrated by the facts which 

 have been collected becomes more copious, and residual 

 objects, which do not need separate treatment, though they 

 may have deserved it at an earlier date, become more nu- 

 merous, and, as I hope to be able to show, more suggestive 

 and instructive. It will moreover be found that some of the 

 material which, as facts accumulated, I deemed to deserve 

 a separate examination, are further illustrated in the present 

 collection. This is particularly the case with minor agri- 

 cultural products, of which I did not at first imagine there 

 would be sufficient evidence to justify a special investigation. 

 In a work of this kind there is inevitably a residue of facts, 

 and sometimes a part of this residue becomes considerable 

 enough to be treated as a principal topic. 



I purpose in this chapter to divide the information which 

 I have collected into groups, and to handle the facts which come 

 or appear to come under separate heads, in so far as such a 



