114 ^^fg^ifi V49- 



Aiigiift \\\^'-j\^.. Ginfeng is the current 

 French name in Canada^ of a plant, the 

 root of vv^hich, has a very great value in 

 C/ilna^. It has been growing fince times 

 immemorial in the ChJnefe Tartary and in 

 Corea, where it is annually colleded and 

 brought to China. Father Du Halde fitys, 

 it is the moft precious, and the moft ufeful 

 of all the plants in eaftern Tartary, and 

 attracts, every year, a number of people into 

 the deferts of that country. The Man- 

 teclioiix-Tartars call it Or hot a^ that is the 

 moft noble, or the queen of plants-f*. The 

 Tartars and Chinefe praife it very much, 

 and afcribe to it the power of curing feveral 

 dangerous difeafes, and that of reftoring to 

 tlie body new ftrength, and fupplying the 

 lofs cauled by the exertion of the mental, 

 and corporeal faculties. An ounce of 

 Ginfeng bears the furprizing price of (tsKta 

 or eij^ht ounces of filver at PckhiQ-. When 

 the French botanifts in Canada firft faw a 

 figure of it, they remembered to have ittn 



* Botanifls know this plant by the name of Panax quin- 

 qiicfolivjn, foliis ternatis quinatis Linn. Mat. Med. § Ii6. 

 bp. plant, p. iq. 12. Grono-v. F!. Firg. p. 147. See like 

 wife Cafcjhfs Nat. Hill of Cardina. Vol. III. p. 16. t. 16. 

 L^ffifaic Ginf. 51. t. I . Father Charle^joix Hift. de la Nou- 

 vclie Fiance. Tom. IV. p. 308. tig. XIII. and Tom. V. 

 p. 24. 



t PiUr Osk\Fs voyage to China, Vol. I. p. 223. 



