FENNEL. 139 



real association in the present day is with salmon ; and it is a 

 remarkable fact that on the coast of Cornwall, where the deli- 

 cious fish called Salmon Peel abounds, the Fennel so desirable 

 for its sauce and garnish is also abundant. I have also found 

 it on waste ground about Warwick. 



Tournefort tails us that the Ferula of the ancients is a 

 species of Fennel ; " it has a hollow stalk full of white marrow, 

 which being well dried takes fire like a match. This fire holds 

 a good while, and consumes the marrow very gently, without 

 damaging the bark, which makes them use this plant in carrying 

 fire from one place to another. Our sailors laid in a good store 

 of it. This custom is of the greatest antiquity, and may help 

 to explain a passage of Hesiod, who, speaking of the fire that 

 Prometheus stole from Heaven, says he brought it in a Ferula. 

 In all probability Prometheus made use of the pith of Ferula 

 instead of a match, and taught men how to preserve fire in the 

 stalks of this plant. The stem is strong enough to be leaned 

 upon, but too light to hurt in striking ; and, therefore, Bacchus, 

 one of the greatest legislators of antiquity, wisely ordained the 

 first men who drank wine to make use of this plant, because, 

 when heated with drinking, they might break each other's 

 heads with ordinary canes. The priests of Bacchus supported 

 themselves on these stalks when they walked ; and Pliny 

 observes that the plant is greedily eaten by asses, though to 

 other beasts of burden it is rank poison. We could not try the 

 truth of this, there being only sheep and goats on the island. 

 The plant is now used for making low stools ; they take the 

 dried stalks, and by placing them alternately in length and 

 breadth, they form them into cubes, fastened at the corners with 

 pegs of wood. These cubes are the visiting stools of the ladies 

 of Amargos. Plutarch and Strabo take notice that Alexander 

 kept Homer's works enclosed in a casket of Ferula, on account 

 of its lightness ; the body of the casket was made of this plant, 

 and then covered with reek stun or skin, set off with ribs of 

 gold, and adorned with pearls and precious stones." 



