52 ARMY OF XENOPHON. 



MRS. F. 



But most of that family* are supposed to be noxious. In 

 1790, when there was an extensive mortality among- those 

 who had eaten the honey collected in the vicinity of Phila- 

 delphia, it was ascertained that the honey was chiefly ex- 

 tracted from the flowers of Kalmia laiifolia, and, as you 

 recollect, it is supposed that the honey which proved so fatal 

 to the Army of Xenophon was collected from the Azalea. 



FREDERICK. 



Do you mean, aunt, in the famous retreat of the Ten 

 Thousand, after the battle of CunaxaTj" 



MRS. F. 



Precisely so. Tournefort, who travelled in Asia Minor, 

 ascertained that Jlzalea pontica, which grows plentifully 

 about Trebizond and its vicinity, produces effects similar to 

 those which Xenophon describes as having been experienced 

 by those among his soldiers who ate of the honey of Trape- 

 zus;t: and Tournefort brings in corroboration of his assertion 

 the testimony of Father Lamberti, a missionary, who observes 

 that the honey collected by the bees from a certain shrub 

 (answering, by his description, to the Azalea pontica,} which 

 grows commonly in Colchis, is highly pernicious, and excites 

 sickness, headachs, &c. He also adds, that the smell of the 

 flower resembles that of the honeysuckle, but is much 

 stronger. 



MARV. 



Did many of Xenophon's army die'? 



MRS. F. 



None. Xenophon relates that those who ate of the honey- 

 comb lost thair senses, and were seized with sickness and 

 giddiness. Those who had taken much, felt as if they had 

 been intoxicated; those who had had more, like mad or dying 

 persons. In this state, they laid down upon the ground: 



* Rhorloraccse. t B. C. 401. 



\. The ancient name of Trebizond. 

 Milne's Botanical Dictionary. 



