102 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



but of the British flora, and unfortunately it is becoming 

 scarcer on the Suffolk coast. It may still be seen, as we 

 have noticed, on the Minsmere dunes, and at Walbers- 

 wick and at Landguard Point it is fairly plentiful, but 

 it is not so common as it used to be, and in places, as 

 along the shore near Lowestoft, it has almost entirely 

 disappeared. In former days it was much sought after 

 for its medicinal properties, and until quite recently its 

 roots were candied as a sweetmeat in Essex and Suffolk. 

 Sir Thomas Browne, the famous Norwich antiquary, 

 speaks of the " eryngo diggers " in the seventeenth 

 century ; and Gerard, in his Herbal, gives minute 

 directions as to the proper way of " conditing " the 

 roots. The root, we learn, " is of the bignesse of a man's 

 finger, so very long as that it cannot be all plucked up 

 but very seldome, set here and there with knots, and of 

 taste sweet and pleasant." The directions for condit- 

 ing are too lengthy for full quotation. Suffice it to say 

 that a syrup must be prepared consisting of a " pinte of 

 cleer water, a pound of sugar, the white of an egge, a 

 saucer full of rose-water, a spoone full of cinnamon 

 water, and a grain of muske," into which the roots 

 " pilled clean as ye pil parsneps " must be placed, " then 

 set them on the fire in a faire broad pan untill they be 

 very hot, but let them not boile at all," after which 

 " remoove them with a wooden slice on to some royal 1 

 papers, which you must put into a stove or hot-house 

 to harden." Thus condited, " the roots are exceeding 

 good to be given to old and aged people that are con- 

 sumed and withered with age and other sorts of people. ' ' 

 The wide sandy warren lying between Benacre Broad 

 and the sea, and protected from the high tides by an 

 undulating ridge of sandhills, present? a somewhat 



