THE USES 01 FEKNS. 39 



ployed in perfuming tlie cocoanut oil of the South Sea 

 Islands. 



Deserving of especial mention in this place is the vegeta- 

 ble curiosity called the Barometz, or Tartarian or Scythian 

 Iamb, of which marvellous tales have been told. This 

 "lamb " consists merely of the decumbent shaggy rhizome 

 of a kind of Fern, which is no doubt the Cibotlum (/lau- 

 ccscens. The rhizome of this plant, when turned upside 

 down, the bases of four of its fronds being retained as legs, 

 may, by a little manipulation, be made to resemble not 

 inaptly some small animal, and may fairly rank as a 

 vegetable curiosity. 



The "traveller's tale" on this subject is, that, on an 

 elevated, uncultivated salt plain, of vast extent, west of 

 the Volga, grows a wonderful plant, with the shape and 

 appearance of a lamb, having feet, head, and tail dis- 

 tinctly formed, and its skin covered with soft down. The 

 "lamb'' grows upon a stalk about three feet high, the 

 part by which it is sustained being a kind of navel ; it 

 turns about and bends to the herbage, which serves for its 

 food ; and when the grass fails, it dries up, and pines away. 

 The real facts are, that the rhizome of this plant, as al- 

 ready stated, docs present a rude appearance of an animal ^ 



