242 



VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



rard says he reared several plants from the seeds ; 

 and it is mentioned amongst the trees that bore fruit 

 in the orano-erv of Charles I. 



The Fig — Ficus carica. 



The traditions of the Greeks carried the origin ofthe 

 fig back to the remotest antiquity. It was probably 

 known to the people of the East before the Cerealia 

 (wheat, barley, &c.) ; and stood in the same relation 

 to men living in the primitive condition of society 

 as the banana does to the Indian tribes of South Ame- 

 rica, at the present day. With little trouble of cultiva- 

 tion, it sjipplied their principal necessities; and offered, 

 not an article of occasional luxury, but of constant 

 food, whether in a fresh or a dried state. As we pro- 

 ceed to a more advanced period of the history of the 

 species, we still find the fig an object of general 

 attention. The want of blossom on the fig-tree 

 was considered as one of the most grievous calami- 

 ties by the Jews. Cakes of figs were included in 

 the presents of provisions by which the widow of 

 Nabal appeased the wrath of David *. In Greece, 

 when Lycurgus decreed that the Spartan men should 

 dine in a common hall, flour, wine, cheese, and figs 

 * 1 Samuel, chap, xxv., v. 18, 



