LOTUS. 355 



Strabo, in his 17th book, informs us, that Syrtis as well 

 as Menynx was said to be Lotophagitis. The compass 

 of the gulf, says this geographer, where the lotus 

 grows, is almost one thousand six hundred furlongs ; the 

 breadth of the mouth six hundred : by the capes there 

 are islands near to the main land. It is thought, con- 

 tinues he, that Menynx was the country of the Lotophagi, 

 or those that feed on the lotus-trees, of which country 

 Homer makes mention ; and there are certain monuments 

 seen, and Ulysses's altar, as well as abundance of lote- 

 trees, the fruit of which is exceedingly sweet. 



Pliny has furnished us with an account of the lotus- 

 tree, in his 13th book, c. 17. According to this author, 

 the finest trees of this kind grew on two large sand- 

 banks on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, not far from 

 Leptis and Carthage. He mentions them as being the 

 size of pear-trees, but states that Cornelius Nepos de- 

 scribed them as shrubs. The leaves, says Pliny, are 

 thick, cut, and indented : otherwise they are like those of 

 the ilex or holm-tree. There are many varieties of this 

 fruit, but he describes the generality of them as being of 

 the size of a bean, and of the colour of saffron ; yet, says 

 he, before it is quite ripe, the fruit changes into a variety 

 of colours like grapes. It grows thick among the branches 

 of the tree, in the manner of myrtle-berries, and not, 

 says he, like cherries. This fruit in Africa, continues 

 Pliny, is so sweet and pleasant, that it has given the 

 name both to a nation and country, as the people are 

 called Lotophagi ; and so welcome are all strangers there, 

 and so well contented with their entertainment, that they 

 forget their own native soil, for the love they have for 

 this fruit, when once they have taken to it. By report, 

 (adds this author) those who eat of it, are free from all 

 diseases of the stomach, 



Those lotuses were accounted the best that had no 

 2 A 2 



