ESPARTO. 113 



which they, ascend trees, as by a ladder, when they 

 want to get honey out of them. For this purpose, 

 they first tie a noose round the trunk, in which they 

 put one foot, then they fasten another noose higher 

 up, and when mounted on that, untie the former, and 

 so on*." 



The bark of very many trees is advantageously 

 employed as material for cordage. Among- these 

 may be classed the Linden, or Lime-tree, of European 

 production. Its inner bark is manufactured into 

 elastic strong ropes, which are much used and 

 valued in some parts of the continent of Europe. 



Another plant of European growth used to be held 

 in esteem by the ancients for the manufacture of 

 cordage, but it has now fallen nearly into disuse, and 

 except in the countries of its production is scarcely 

 known even by name. This is the Stipa tenacissima, 

 which grows in Spain and Africa, and is at present 

 called there Sparto or Esparto. It is supposed by 

 Beckmann to be identical with the spartum of the 

 Latins as described by Pliny t, and which, according 

 to him, was first applied to useful purposes by the 

 Carthaginians in their first war in Spain. At that 

 period, in the part of Spain called by the ancients 

 Spartarius Campus, which includes the territory 

 reaching from the confines of Granada to the city of 

 Murcia, it was growing so abundantly that the 

 mountains were covered with it, and it continues 

 to be produced in the same district at the present 

 time. This plant is found wild in so poor a soil 

 and in places so barren as scarcely to produce anjr 

 other spontaneous vegetation. The inhabitants of 

 the country in which it is native formerly manu- 

 factured it into many useful domestic articles, mat- 

 tresses, shoes, and even rustic clothing. Baskets, 

 * Travels vol. i. f Lib, xix. cap. 2. 



