THE 



FRUIT OF THE LOTUS-TREE 



OP 



THE ancients has been made so interesting 

 to us, by the inimitable pens of Homer and 

 Ovid, as well as the mention made of it by 

 Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, and other authors 

 of antiquity, that I am induced to give their 

 accounts of this celebrated fruit ; although it 

 is now either entirely lost, or so much dege- 

 nerated, as not to be known by their descrip- 

 tions. 



Some authors suppose it to have been a 

 fabulous fruit, and only to be found in the 

 poet's imagination. This idea is absurd. 

 Ovid has described it as particularly, or more 

 so, than any other fruit mentioned in his Me- 

 tamorphoses. 



The Lotus-tree was evidently a native of 

 Africa ; and in all probability was improved, 

 by being cultivated on the sands of the 

 coast, where, not being indigenous, it has 

 been lost from the neglect of the inhabitants, 



