GALLESIO'S TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY. 



43 



never atfects the pulp, the principal part of this 

 fruit. These two peculiarities would seem suffi- 

 cient proof that the thyam of Pliny is not the 

 lemon. 



LlLSearc/t for the Malice Country of 

 the Lemon and Orange Trees Originally from 

 India Passage into Arabia, Syria and Egypt 

 Brought to Europe by the Crusaders Etymol- 

 ogies of their Names Progress ' of their Culture 

 Origin of Orangeries. 



The orange and lemon trees were unknown to 

 the Romans, therefore they could only have been 

 indigenous in a country where this great people | 

 had never penetrated. We all know the vast ' 

 extent of this Empire, yet commercial relations 

 extend themselves always far beyond political 

 bounds. If these trees had been cultivated in 

 places open to the traffic of the Romans, their 

 fruits would have become at once the delight of 

 the tables of Rome, given up to luxury. They 

 could not then have been cultivated at this pe- 

 riod, except in the remote parts of India, beyond 

 the Ganges. 



The north of Europe and of Asia, it is true, 

 were equally unknown to the Romans, but their 

 climates were not at all suited to these plants. 



The interior and west coasts of Africa, al- 

 though in great part deserts and destitute of the 

 moisture necessary to the orange, enclosed, nev- 

 ertheless, fertile districts where it might have 

 thriven. But the state of culture of the tree at 

 the present time in that country, and the historic 

 facts proving to -us that it was not naturalized 

 there till long after, make us certain that it was 

 entirely unknown there as well as in Europe. 



It is true, that at the time of the discovery of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, the Portuguese found 

 many citrous and bigarades upon the eastern 

 coast of Africa, and "in the part of Ethiopia 

 where Romans had never penetrated ; but they 

 found these trees only in gardens, and in a state 

 of domesticity, and we do rot know but that the 

 Arabs, who had cultivated them in Egypt, in 

 Syria, and in Barbary, had penetrated into these 

 countries in the first years of their conquests. 



There remains, then, for us, only to seek the 

 native country of the orange in Southern Asia 

 that, is to say, in those vast countries known un- 

 der the general name of East Indies. But these 

 regions were in part known to the Romans, who, 

 since the discovery of the monsoons made by 

 llippalus, carried their maritime commerce as far 

 as Muziro (Massera; an island off the southeast 

 coast of Arabia, Trans.} by way of the Red Sea, the 

 navigation of which employed a great number of 

 vessels, and whose commerce, according to Pliny, 

 should have been valued at fifty million sester- 

 ces ($2,000,000, T.) per annum. "Their fleets had 

 penetrated even to Portum (Hebenitarnm, which 

 appears to have been the present Ceylon; and, 

 although these voyages cost them five years of 

 fatigue and danger, nevertheless, the thirst for 

 gold and the luxury of Rome had multiplied to 

 the last degree the vessels engaged in this trade. 

 \Ve must believe, then, that' the lemon and 

 orange did not exist in all that part of the coun- 

 try this side the Indus, and perhaps uA even in 

 all the part lying between that river and the 

 Ganges; otherwise, these fruits would have been 



extolled by the Roman merchants where the 

 citron was so much valued ; and we should find 

 at least some mention made of them in narra- 

 tives and voyages descended to us from those 

 ajicient times. 



fc If we consult the description of the coasts of 

 India from the river Indus to the Euphrates, 

 which we have in the voyage of Nearchus, one 

 of Alexander's captains ; that of the Troglodytes, 

 and coasts of the Indian Sea, by Arianus; the 

 voyage of lambolus, reported by Diodorns of 

 Sicily, where he gives a description of an isle of 

 the Indian Sea, unknown before him, where he 

 had been thrown by a storm ; or, iinallv, the 

 Indian voyage by Pliny, we find not the least 

 indication of either orange, or even citron ; yet 

 Nearchus carefully notes the plants found in his 

 course, and speaks of palms, myrtles and vines ; 

 of wheat ; and generally of all the trees of Asia, 

 except the olive.* Arianus enlarges upon the 

 vegetable productions of those districts, giving 

 the description of those found in public roads', 

 lambolus saw, in the unknown island, which 

 appears to have been Sumatra, a grain that we 

 recognize as maize ; which has been introduced 

 into Europe since the passage round the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



We must, then, admit that the lemon and 

 orange-trees could not have orignated but in the 

 regions beyond the Ganges, and that, in early 

 centuries of the empires of the Ciesars, they had ' 

 not yet been brought from those climates where 

 they were indigenous. They increased perhaps 

 still without culture in the midst of woods, the 

 hand of man not having yet appropriated them 

 as ornaments for his garden. But this event 

 could not long be delayed. The beauty of the 

 tree, and the facility with which it reproduced 

 itself, would naturally- extend the culture to ad- 

 joining provinces; and the European, quick to 

 seize the productions of all the rest of the globe, 

 would not fail to enrich himself from these re- 

 gions. 



Facts prove that this result has been reached, 

 but we know not the date of this passage, or the 

 circumstances favoring it.f We will now make 

 this the object of our researches. 



The Romans at the time of Pliny had extend- 

 ed their commerce on the side of India, as far as 

 it was ever carried during the empire ; the pow- 

 er of Rome, instead of increasing, onlv became 

 weaker from this period; and the fall of the 

 western portion was accompanied in Europe by 

 the decay of letters, arts, agriculture, and com- 

 merce. 



In this general overturn, the Greeks preserved, 

 it is true, with a taste for arts and luxury, some 

 relations with India, but trade with those coun- 

 tries had never taken other course than by way 

 of the Red Sea, and this was closed from the 

 seventh century by the Arabian invasion of 



* Of all the trees of Asia. This is UK expression of the 

 text : it is clear In- means of the Asia known at that time. 



; It is surprisinir that, so little effort, has been made to 

 learn the history of the o ran ire. while so nianv less agree- 

 able lives have'heen sou-lit out. Sprenirel. even. who has 

 labored so much for bis learned work on the Hisiorv of 

 Botany \Ill<f<>it<t /,'* i In rhiiriu . Ainstelodaini. 1SOV). is si'leui 

 upon all concerning this plant. lie has. however, drawn 

 from nearly all the writers who have furnished mo the data 

 thrown together in this hook : and he shows a profound 

 acquaintance with authors who can throw li^ht upon thi~ 

 ^ubject. 



