ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. iii. 4-5 



1 Some say that the lotos - is shrubby and much 

 branched, though it has a stout ^ stem ; and that the 

 stone in the fruit is large, while the outside is not 

 fleshy but somewhat leathery ; and that to eat it is not 

 so much sweet as palatable ; and that the wine which 

 they make out of it does not keep more than two 

 or three days, after which it gets sour ; and so that 

 the fruit* found in the Lotus-eaters' country is 

 sweeter, while the wood in the Cjrenaica is better ; 

 and that the country of the Lotus-eaters is hotter ; 

 and that the root is much blacker than the Avood, 

 but of less close grain, and of use for fewer purposes ; 

 for they use it only for dagger handles and tessellated 

 work/ while the wood is used for pipes and many 

 other things. 



In the part of Libya where no rain falls they say 

 that, besides many other trees, there grow tall and 

 fine date-palms ; however they add that, where the 

 date-palm is found, the soil "^ is salt and contains 

 water, and that at no great depth, not more than 

 three fathoms. They say also that tlie water is in 

 some places quite sweet, but in others quite close 

 by it is brackish ; that where however other things 

 grow, the soil is dry and waterless ; and that in 

 places even the wells are a hundred fathoms deep, 

 so that they draw water by means of a windlass 

 worked by beasts. Wherefore it is wonderful how 

 at any time digging to such depths was carried out. 

 Such, they say, is the s}>ecial character of the water 

 supply which feeds the date-palms in the district 

 also of the temple of Zeus Amnion. Further it is 

 said that in the land where no rain falls thyme ' is 



' firiKoW-nfiara : lit. ' pieces glued on '; c/. Pliu. I.e. 



« cf. Hdt. 3. 183. 



" eifioy niBas.H.; Oci/u/ov UMV^AId, cf. 6. 2. 3. 



X 2 



