114 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



from thence it was sent to Vienna, and long 

 maintained the distinction of Levant and 

 Turkey rhubarb. 



This root was first known to the Europeans 

 of modern times in 1535, when the Chinese 

 brought it for sale to the city of Goa, in In- 

 dia.* Valmont Beaumare states, that it was 

 first brought into Europe by some soldiers 

 of the army of Charles the Fifth : this would, 

 in all probability, make its introduction 

 about the same period; as we find that in 

 this year Charles crossed the Mediterra- 

 nean to gather laurels in Africa, and having 

 defeated Barbarossa, and entered Tunis as a 

 victor, he gave liberty to 22,000 Christian 

 slaves, and returned to his own dominions in 

 1535. The disease which the followers of 

 Columbus brought from the New World into 

 Spain, caused dreadful apprehensions and 

 alarm, from the rapidity with which it spread 

 in that country : it is therefore likely that the 

 emperor's army brought this drug out of 

 Africa as a remedy ; for we find the Spanish 

 writings of that day mentioning its virtues for 

 this complaint. Among others, Garcilasso 

 de la Vega, a Toledian poet, (who followed 

 his patron the emperor into Africa, and who 



* NieuhofPs Embassy to China. 



