ILLUSTRATIONS. 135 



the famous orchilla weed. When the Spaniards discovered the Canary Islands, 

 they sought for it as eagerly as they did for x gold : it was probable, that it was 

 made use of to produce the gertulian purple of the ancients ; and they also had,in 

 their view other vegetable dyes, which we cannot now accurately designate. "The 

 crap plant," says Van der Donk, " for dying red, is not cultivated in New Neth : 

 erland, but it is not to be questioned, thit if it were tried it would yield well." 

 I must repeat my wish, that this curious work may soon see the light. It ap- 

 pears from it, that the country was so remarkably healthy at that time, that it 

 was a strange thing to hear of a person being sick ; that the east wind did not 

 extend far west ; and that the climate was as -mild at that period as it now is 



NOTE 37. 



See Busching's Geography, vol. 1. Temple's Works, vol. 3. Walpoliana. 

 There can be no doubt but that several species of some of these trees existed in 

 a wild state at home, previous to their introduction from foreign countries. It 

 33 presumable, for instance, that the chesnut always grew in Italy, and the cher- 

 ry in France ; but different kinds, on account of their superior excellence ari- 

 sing from cultivation, were imported by the ancient romans. Wherever their 

 arms extended, they availed themselves of the choice fruits of the conquered 

 countries, and the great generals who brought them to Rome took pride in giving 

 them their own names, as in memory of some great service or pleasure they had 

 doue their country j so that not only laws and battles, but several sorts of apples 

 or mala, and of pears, were called Manlian, and Claudian, Pompeian, aud Ti- 

 berian, and by several other such noble names. Thus, in process of time, 

 the inhabitants of Italy, who formerly lived on acorns, made the whole world 

 tributary to their subsistence, as well as to their glory. Humboldt, in his Ac- 

 count of New Spain, (vol. 2.) says, that the prunus avium is indigenous in Germa- 

 ny and France, and has existed from the most remote antiquity in their forests, 

 Hke the robur arid the linden tree j while other species of cherry-trees, which 

 are considered as varieties, become permanent, and of which the fruits are more 

 savoury than the prunus avium have come to those countries through the romasa 

 from Asia Minor, and particularly from the kingdom of Pontus. 



Turnips and carrots are considered indigenous roots of France ; our cauliflow- 

 ers came from Cyprus ; our artichokes from Sicily,'; lettuce from Cos ; and shal- 



?ots. or pschallot*, from Ascalon, The art of gardeoine was introduced into Eng- 



S 



