54 History of Nature. [BOOK V. 



400 Miles, from the Fountain of the Sun ; and principally 

 for five Cities, Berenice, Arsinoc, Ptolemais, Apollonia, and 

 Gyrene itself. Berenice standeth upon the outermost Horn 

 of Syrtis, called formerly the City of the above-named Hes- 

 perides, according to the wandering Tales of Greece. And 

 before the Town, not far off, is the River Lethon, the sacred 

 Grove where the Gardens of the Hesperides are reported to 

 be. From Leptis it is 385 Miles. From it is Arsinoe, usually 

 named Teuchira, 43 Miles : and from thence 22 Miles, 

 Ptolemais, called in old time Barce. And then 250 Miles 

 off, the Promontory Phycus runneth out through the Cretic 

 Sea, distant from Taenarus, a Promontory of Laconia, 350 

 Miles : but from Greta itself 125 Miles. And after it Gyrene, 

 1 1 Miles from the Sea. From Phycus to Apollonia is 24 

 Miles: to Cherrhonesus, 88: and so to Catabathnus, 216 

 Miles. The Inhabitants there bordering are the Marmaridae, 

 stretching out in Length almost from Paraetonium to the 

 Greater Syrtis. After them the Ararauceles : and so in the 

 very Coast of Syrtis, the Nesamones, whom formerly the 

 Greeks called Mesammones, by reason of the Place, as 

 seated hi the midst between the Sands. The Cyrenaic 

 Country, for the Space of 15 Miles from the Sea-shore, is 

 fruitful for Trees : and for the same Compass within the 

 Land, for Corn only: but then for 30 Miles in Breadth, and 

 250 in Length, for Laser. 1 After the Nasamones live the 

 Hasbitae and Masae. Beyond them the Hammanientes, 11 

 Days' Journey from the Greater Syrtis to the West ; and even 

 they also every Way are compassed about with Sands : but 



1 The plant that yielded the Cyrenaic juice called Laser, was the 

 Silphion of the Greeks, and the Laserpitium of the Romans (Thapsia 

 Silphion, Viviani), and agrees tolerably well with the rude figures struck 

 on the Cyrenean coins. It would appear, however, that the Cyrenaic 

 juice becoming scarce, the ancients employed some other substance of 

 similar, though inferior properties, as a substitute, and to both of them 

 they applied the term Laser. Pliny (lib. xix. c. 3) says, " For a long 

 time past the only Laser brought to us is that which is produced abun- 

 dantly in Persia, &c., but it is inferior to the Cyrenaic." Now it is not at 

 all improbable that the Laser of Persia may have been our Asafcedita 

 (Ferula Asafatdita, Li*.)Wern. Club. 



