BOOK XIII. xxMi. 106-110 



marching to and fro through Africa. The wood is 

 of a black colour, and is in demand for making 

 melodious flutes, wliile out of the root are devised 

 knife-handles and other short implements. 



This is the nature of the lotus-tree in Africa. But Kimired 

 the same name also belongs to a herbaceous plant, 

 as well as to a colewort " in Egypt belonging to the 

 class of marsh-plants. Ihis springs up when the 

 flood waters of the Nile retire ; it resembles a bean 

 in its stalk and in its leaves, which grow in large, 

 thick clusters, although they are shorter and more 

 slender than the leaves of a bean. The fruit grows 

 on the head of the plant and resembles the fruit of 

 the poppy in its indentations and in every other way ; 

 it contains grains hke millet-seeds. The natives pile 

 these heads in heaps to rot, and then separate the 

 seeds by washing and dry them and crush them, and 

 use them to make bread. There is a further remark- 

 able fact reported, that when the sun sets these 

 poppies shut up and fold their leaves round them, 

 and at sunrise open again, this going on till they 

 ripen and the flower, which is white, falls off. A 

 further point reported is that in the Euphrates both 

 the head itself and the flower at the evening go on 

 submerging till midnight, and disappear entirely 

 into the depth so that they cannot be found even 

 by plunging the hand in, and then return and by 

 degrees straighten up again, and at sunrise come 

 out of the water and open their flower, and still 

 go on rising so that the flower is raised up quite a 

 long way above the water. The lotus has a root of 

 the size of a quince, enclosed in a black skin Hke the 

 shell of a chestnut ; inside it has a white body, agree- 

 able to eat raw but still more agreeable when boiled 



163 



