FICUS 139 



In the time of Pliny, many varieties were in cultivation. 

 The Latin word Carica was first used to designate the 

 dried fig of Caria, a strip of country in Asia Minor 

 opposite Rhodes, an esteemed variety of the fruit cor- 

 responding to the Smyrna fig of modern times. 



"In a diploma granted by Chilperic II, king of the 

 Franks, to the monastery of Corbie, A. D. 716, mention 

 is made of 'Karigas' in connection with dates, almonds 

 and olives, by which we think dried figs (Caricce) were 

 intended. Dried figs were a regular article of trade 

 during the middle ages, from the southern to the north- 

 ern parts of Europe. In 1380 the citizens of Bruges, in 

 regulating the duties which the 'Lombards,' i. e. 

 Italians, had to pay for their imports, quoted also figs 

 from Cyprus and from Marbella, a place south-west 

 of Malaga. 



"In England, the average price between A. D. 1264 

 and 1398 was about l%d per lb., raisins and currants 

 being 2%d." 



The tri-lobed leaf of ficus is synonymous with primi- 

 tive religions, and it has occupied a more or less con- 

 spicuous place in symbolic worship, from the earliest 

 date. Let us quote: 



"Near Cairo, at a fountain wherein the Virgin Mary 

 washed her infant's clothes, a lamp was, three centuries 

 ago, kept burning in her honor in the hollow of an old 

 fig tree, which had served them as a place of shelter, 

 according to the 'Itinerario de Antonio Tenreio.' 

 From Cultus Arborum, privately printed, author un- 

 named. 



"When thou has turned yonder lane, goatherd, where 

 the oak trees are, thou wilt find an image of a fig tree 

 wood, newly carven; three legged it is, the bark still 



