THE COASTS OF SICILY. 5 



a precaution which either betrayed an adherence 

 to the manners of a bygone age, or the necessity 

 of being prepared for the chance of existing danger. 

 To crown all, the cultivation of the potato* had not 



* Botanists call this plant the Solanum tuberosum. We would 

 observe here that the tubers, or tubercles, which we eat, are not the 

 roots of the plant, as is generally supposed, but true subterranean 

 stems or branches, which are enlarged at different parts, and which 

 owe their nutritive properties to the great quantity of amylaceous 

 matter or starch which they contain. We will extract from M. 

 Duchartre's work, the following historical details in reference to 

 the origin and the progress of the cultivation of the potato in 

 Europe : 



" The potatoe was known from time immemorial in Peru, where 

 the inhabitants designated it by the name of papas, but the true 

 place of its origin has not yet been precisely determined. It was 

 introduced into Europe about three centuries ago, for it would 

 appear that Captain John Hawkins first brought it to Ireland in 

 1565, having procured a few roots at Santa Fe de Bogota. These 

 plants were, however, entirely neglected ; but the celebrated navigator, 

 Francis Drake, who had been the companion of Hawkins, fully 

 comprehending the importance which this acquisition might prove 

 to Europe, carried some of these plants to Virginia, from whence he 

 afterwards conveyed them to London in 1586, and this circumstance 

 has led to the belief that the potatoe was a native of Virginia. 

 Drake gave his specimens to his own gardener, and amongst others 

 to the botanist Clusius, who was the first to recognise the botanical 

 character of the plant. The new plant was, however, entirely 

 forgotten, until Sir Walter Raleigh, finding it again in Virginia, 

 brought a large number back with him to England in the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century, and this time the introduction of the 

 plant proved definitely successful. 



" Still the cultivation of the potatoe made very slow progress, and 

 a convincing proof of its scarcity is shown by the fact, that in 1616 

 a dish of these vegetables appeared at the table of the King of 

 France as a rarity of high price. It did not penetrate into Germany 

 till 1G50, and until the close of the eighteenth century was only 

 cultivated in limited districts. It was through the efforts of Par- 

 mentier that it became generally diffused in France ; and probably 



B 3 



