BROOM. 157 



tanning leather, and of being manufactured 

 into cordage or coarse cloth. Pliny tells us, 

 (Book xix. Chap. 2.) that the shepherds in 

 Spain clothed themselves with it, and covered 

 their dwellings with the branches ; made 

 themselves shoes with it ; and that it formed 

 their fuel and their torches ; and he affirms, 

 that no cordage is so durable in salt water as 

 that made from the fibres of the broom. He 

 states, that it rather improves in the water 

 than decays ; although, for dry purposes, it is 

 not so lasting as ropes made from hemp. It 

 appears to have been universally employed in* 

 his time for nautical purposes. 



This author also tells us, (Book xix. 

 Chap. 1.) that in Asia, they steeped the 

 broom in water for ten days, to obtain the 

 fibres more easily ; of which they made their 

 fishing nets, because they endured the water 

 without rotting better than other nets. 



It is well known how eagerly the inha- 

 bitants of the hive hunt for their sweets in 

 the gay blossoms of the broom ; which in 

 ancient times, when honey was the domes- 

 tic sweet, and sugar was only known as a 

 medicine, it was of the utmost importance, 

 as we have already noticed under the head of 

 Thyme ; but to which we shall add what 



