GALLKSIO'S TREATISE ON THE C-lTtlfS FAMILY. 



57 



runt in acquisitions Hicrnxalcm Autiaclicr ct Lao- 

 (licew ac Tortoscc : /Solinuiit anlem tlGindbru^ (;,- 

 mream et Assur per se cepenuit" 



This honorable testimony is confirmed by all i 

 historians, and chiefly by Morigottc, whose words 

 I will presently give. It is well known, besides, i 

 that during the whole of these expeditions they i 

 ceased not to support with their fleets the efforts 

 of the Crusaders, and that in the ninth Crusade, 

 in 1243, they transported to Egypt the King, ISt. 

 Louis, with thirty -two galleys and seven vessels, 

 and had an important part, in the taking of Da- 

 mietta. 



Here are the words of Morisotte : Capti* P/H.K- 

 niciw et Syrian littoribus, urbibu&que quocumque 

 Saraceni fugere, quacumque erupere, ibi prcesto 

 Genuemi* cum xalidis dassibus f tie re, iwc qui. 

 Genuensibus resisteret post Saracenos invem'ebatur, 

 i<i Pisani, Venetique hostes defuissent. MOHISOTUS. 

 Hist., bk. 2, c. 23, p. 514. 



According to all these facts, il is evident that 

 the Genoese had, more than all others, facilities 

 for seeing and for bringing to their beautiful 

 shores the lemon and orangtT trees.- 



Those sailors who manned the war vessels 

 were the same persons who, after giving some 

 months to tillage, quitted their families to man 

 merchant vessels to go into Palestine, sometimes 

 as traders, sometimes as pilgrims, or disguised as 

 Mussulmen with the caravans into the interior 

 of Persia, and even to India. 



Such people, at once farmers, warriors, trad- 

 ers, and adventurers, could not neglect a branch 

 of industry so suited to the climate of the coun- 

 try they inhabited, and which was congenial to 

 the taste for agriculture and for commerce 

 forming the base of their characters. Above 

 all, this conjecture accords EO well with facts 

 which we have stated, that we can ha/ard it 

 without fear of paradox. 



They were, besides, the only European people 

 to whom the naturalization of this tree could be 

 profitable, they being for a long time the only 

 ones engaged in the commerce of the Agrnrni. 

 Tbis trade was carried on chiefly by the garden- 

 ers of Nervi and San Remo. 



Nervi has been celebrated for its seedsmen, 

 who provided for a long time, and still supply, 

 these trees to the orangeries of Europe ; and to 

 them we are principally indebted for the varieties 

 multiplied by seed, and for the novelties which i 

 have gratifie'd the curiosity and taste of amateurs, i 

 The trade in the fruits was monopolized by the | 

 inhabitants of St. Remo, who have for many j 

 years supplied the citrons used at the Passover j 

 by the Jews of Italy, France, and Germany. | 

 From their country have come the perfumes and 

 essences, as well as the citric acid, used in the 

 arts. From thence are obtained the lemons for I 

 the table, the different fruits for the confectioner, ' 

 and the sweet oranges have been also for cen- j 

 turies an almost exclusive product of their beau- 

 tiful valleys. 



One may read, in proof of this, what, is said by ! 

 Olivier de Serres, Ferraris, Judoco Hondio, Mr- 

 rula, Matioli, Gallo, Alberti, Volcamerius, Com- 

 melinus, Giustiniani, Abram Hortelius, Antoine 

 Mangini, and an infinity of others. Writers of 

 all times have deposed in favor of the almost ex- 

 clusive trade by the Genoese in the ngrumi. 

 We have seen what Silvaticus hns said, who 



wrote about the middle of the thirteenth cen 

 tury. His testimony is confirmed by writers of 

 the fourteenth century. The first 'is Brasilus, 

 and the second is Bloudus Flavius. The Geo- 

 graphical and Statistical Description of Italy, by 

 Blondus, is, perhaps, the most antique work 6l' 

 tins kind known in Europe since the revival of 

 letters. (It dates from 1450.) This author, who 

 was of Forli, and unacquainted with the part of 

 Italy this side of Tuscany, had recourse to his 

 'friends for completing his description. He pro- 

 cured that of Liguria, of Brasilus. This learned 

 Genoese, known by several memoirs relating to 

 the history of his country, wrote then aa epistle 

 entitled Descripti? ora: Liguslic(i>.,i\ work valuable 

 for the exactitude, precision, and erudition with 

 which it is written, and which Hlondus copied 

 almost literally. 



In this description (which was also printed) 

 he lauds RapaJlo and St. Remo for the culture 01 

 ag ru mi and palm trees, with which those valleys 

 were covered. 



Giustiniani succeeded very closely these two 

 authors. He wrote, in 1500, a history of Genoa, 

 preceded by a description of that beautiful coast 

 known as Rinem di Genova. 



In this he notices the territory of St. Remo, 

 on account of the vast number of these trees, 

 from which the fruit was sent into all Europe. 



This testimony is repeated in the works of Al- 

 berti, of Matioli", and of Gallo. The first wrote, 

 in 1528, a voyage to Italy, made five years be 

 fore. The second published, in 1544, his disser- 

 tation upon the works of Dioscorides, and the 

 third gave, in 1560, a treatise upon agriculture, 

 highly esteemed entitled le died Giornate. 

 These all say clearly that Liguria had been of 

 old celebrated for its trade in agrumi. Many 

 other writers attest to the same. See Hondio, 

 in his Nova Italm hodierruc Descriptw, p. 73, and 

 Gualdo Priorato, in his description of Genoa, 

 published at Cologne in 1668, pp. 20, 70, &c. 



It would be useless to quote the words of 

 Ferraris, of Volcamerius, and a host of others, 

 where the same truth is repeated. I shall only 

 observe that the number of these trees hud be- 

 come so prodigious in the territory of St. Remo, 

 and the exportation of these fruits so consider- 

 able, that in 1585 the municipal council of that 

 city thought it a duty to subject this commerce 

 to special police laws! A magistrate was desig- 

 nated to direct it, and express rules were formed 

 for sustaining it. 



One sees by these rules that the yearly export 

 of lemons alone amounted to several millions of 

 fruits, and that St. Remo supplied nearly all 

 France, Germany, and many other parts of Eu- 

 rope. I reserve for my fifth chapter this curious 

 paper, which gives an idea of these fruits and 

 their trade. 



The extent and antiquity of this trade form, 

 doubtless, a strong presumption for attributing 

 to this people (of St. Remo) the acclimatization 

 of this tree, the presumption acquiring still more 

 force, when we consider their commercial posi- 

 tion at the time when this event must have taken 

 place; but 1 think 1 shall be able to present data 

 still more decisive for establishing this opinion. 



The sweet orange tree was not yet in Europe 

 jit the end of the fourteenth century ; at the be 

 ginning of the sixteenth it was already very 



