FERNS AND TRUFFLES. 381 



the human frame, what oats or beans are to the horse. They have 

 a song in praise of this root, which I have once or twice heard 

 chanted on occasions of festivals, by a troop of young women who 

 carry baskets of the food intended for the guests." (" Shortland's 

 New Zealand.") 



I ought not to omit noticing the Tuber cibarium, a plant of the 

 mushroom family, growing under ground, which furnishes the 

 famous truffle, so celebrated in the annals of cooking, of which 

 immense quantities are imported, chiefly from the South of France. 

 It is common also in Italy and Germany, and is often found in 

 Northamptonshire, and some other of our own counties. The 

 " kemmayes," a desert plant of the truffle kind, is a great favorite 

 with the Arabs. 



In Terra del Fuego the only vegetable food of the natives, 

 besides a few berries of a dwarf arbutus, is a species of globular 

 bright yellow fungus (Cyttaria Darwinii,) which grows in va*st 

 numbers on the beech trees. In its tough and mature state it is 

 collected in large quantities by the women and children, and eaten 

 uncooked. It has a slightly sweet mucilaginous taste, with a faint 

 smell like that of a mushroom. 



