OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 



133 



1274 B. C. = " 8th year of Ramessu III.," a fleet having been prepared, the enemy defeated in 

 the earliest naval combat on record ; represented on the main hall of the great temple at Medinet 

 Abu ; and (on comparing the historical account in Manetho and the statement of the Egyptian priests 

 to Germanicus, Tacit, ii. 60) the two foreign nations fighting the Egyptians should be the Phoenicians, 

 and people of Cyprus. The foreign ships were probably built of timber from Syria and the neighbour- 

 ing portion of Asia Minor. The Egyptian ships are similar in form ; and one of them, — a few years 

 later may have brought Danaus into Greece ; the celebrated " pentekontoros " or first large galley 

 seen by the Greeks. 



1273 B. C. (= 747 -|- " 526 years " of Berosus in Alex. Polyhist., and Euseb. i. 4. p. 18, Berosus 

 using the Era of Nabonassar and placing Phul and Sennecherib afterwards), accession over Babylon 

 of the Assyrians : — a series of " forty-five " successive kings. (See below Sosares.) 



" In the reign of Crotopus " (Tat., and Clem Alex.), the conflagration through Phaethon ; a his- 

 torical person — (according to Hellanicus, and Apollodorus). 



As the sisters of Phaethon were transformed into poplars, whose tears along the " Eridanum by us 

 called Padum" become amber (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 506, Diodor. v. 23, and Pliny xxxvii. 11), this fossil 

 gum of the shores of the Baltic may now have first reached the Mediterranean countries : the trans- 

 fer to the Po of the name of the Rhine " erithanon " (see Choerilus) indicates the route across 

 Switzerland through the Greek or St. Gothard pass ; and bits of amber have been found among debris 

 of Swiss lake-villages of the Stone age : — also, in prehistoric tombs in Italy between Albano and 

 San Marino (see Troyon p. 254 and 288) ; the palace of Menelaus (according to Homer) was orna- 

 mented with amber; " elfiktron " or amber is mentioned by Hesiod (Hygin. 154), Herodotus iii. 115, 

 and Timaeus (Plin. iv. 27) ; and the amber district on the Baltic, was visited by sea by Pytheas from 

 Massilia. Among the Orientals, I found amber in request in Egypt, highly prized to the present day. 



Of other foreign articles brought into Switzerland in connexion possibly with the amber traffic, 

 Oriental nephrite from Turkestan in Asia, white coral from the Mediterranean, and serpentine and 

 flint chiefly from France, have been found among debris of early lake- villages (Troyon p. 288). 



Trapa natans of Eastern Asia. Called in Britain water-nut or saligot, in France " saligot " 

 (Prior, and Nugent), in Germany " wassernuss," in Italy " castagna acquatica" or " tribolo acqua- 

 tica " (Lenz), in China " lin-kio " (Cibot) : possibly introduced into Switzerland as early as this date, 

 for remnants occur in the debris of lake-villages, — and the plant no longer grows in that country 

 (Haller 527, and Troyon p. 279) ; since the days of Lyte 536, has also disappeared from Britain, and 

 when once transported to a new locality is known to maintain itself for a long series of years (A. 

 Dec. g. b. 634 and soc. vaud. 1859) : tne " trivolos Snuthros " was eaten as bread by the Thracians 

 (Dioscor., and Plin. xxii. 12) ; is described by Theophrastus iv. 9. ' as growing not in all waters but 

 in the deep pools of rivers : T. natans is termed " castaneas ferrarienses " by Hermolaus Barbarus 

 (Spreng.), " tribuloides vulgare aquis innascens " by Tournefort inst. 655; is described by Lobel 

 hist. 324, and Camerarius pi. 715 ; is known to occur in Italy and middle Europe as far as Denmark 

 (Pers., and Fries); and was observed by Sibthorp in Greece. Farther East, is known to grow 

 around Caucasus and in Siberia (A. Dec.) ; was observed by Royle abounding in the lakes of Cash- 

 mere (Graham); by Cibot, under cultivation ih China (mem. Chin. iii. 451); and by Thunberg in 

 Japan, the roots cooked and eaten. Was observed by Grant at "2° N. in the Nile," also around the 

 margin of Lake Victoria N'yanza, the nuts eaten by wild boars, gathered also by the Waganda, but 

 the name " singara " indicates introduction from Hindustan (see T. bicornis). 



The above Greek legend seems to imply that the basin of the Po was already dyked out and 

 planted with poplars ; — a very conspicuous feature in the landscape to the present day, P. nigra 

 being rendered unnaturally tall by pruning, preventing the growth of large branches : an art known 

 perhaps in the days of Homer od. vii. 106, who speaks of the " make'thnes " high-tapering "aig£i- 

 roio," clearly implied in "procerissimas populos " of Cicero, and " populus " devoid of shade of 

 Pliny xvii. 18 : the "populus fluviali consita ripa " planted on the river-bank, is mentioned by Ovid. 



Populus tremula of Europe and Northern Asia. Called in Britain aspen, by Chaucer "aspe," 

 in Anglo-Saxon " jesp " or " Eepse," in Germany " aspe," in Old High German " aspa," in Old Norse 

 "espi " (Prior), in France "tremble " (Nugent), in Italy "tremolo " or "tremula" or " populo mon- 

 tano " (Lenz) ; used occasionally for piles or posts of the early lake-villages of Switzerland (Troyon 

 p. 16), and perhaps already planted along the Po, — where I found the tree rendered tall with the 

 preceding, so as to be distinguished only on near inspection : the industrious ever-moving leaves of 

 the " makSthnes aigfiiroio " of Homer od. vii. 106 seem to belong here, as well as the leaf-stalk " tre- 

 mulo populis et iisdem solis inter se crepitantia " of Pliny xvi. 38 : P. tremula is known to grow from 

 Italy throughout middle and Northern Europe (Engl. bot. pi. 1909, and Lenz) ; was observed by Sib- 

 thorp from Boeotia to mount Athos, by him and Belon, in the environs of Constantinople ; by Clot- 

 Bey and Figari, in the gardens of Egypt ; is known to grow wild throughout Northern Asia, or 

 according to A. Decandolle two-thirds around the Subarctic circuit of the Globe. 



