842 CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



Ruel ii. 2) with the " Turcicum frumentum " brought into Europe "avorum nostrorum astate," the 

 seeds triangular and resembling beech-nuts; the account by John Bruyerinus in 1530 corresponds : 

 buckwheat is mentioned in a German bible printed in 1522 (Beckm. 426), and according to Conrade 

 Heresbach (writing before 1576) came from Northern Asia: is described also by Tragus, Dodoens, 

 Caesalpinus, and Bauhin hist. ii. 994; continues under cultivation in Western Europe, and was seen by 

 Sestini in the environs of Constantinople (Sibth.). Farther East, is known to grow in Siberia around 

 Lake Baikal (Ledeb); was observed by Royle under cultivation in Northern Hindustan, but devoid 

 of a Sanscrit name ; by Kaempfer, and Thunberg, cultivated and growing spontaneously throughout 

 Japan. By European colonists, was carried to Northeast America, where it continues abundantly cul- 

 tivated in our Northern and Middle States j and to Ceylon, having there according to Moon 32 no 

 native name. 



"The same year" (Acost, Clavig. ii., and Humb. atl. pict), Axajacatl succeeded by Tizoc, 

 seventh Mexican emperor. 



"In this year" (Burm. hist., and Mason 27) the Talaing general Thameinparau at the head of 

 an army erecting an iron post on the Chinese frontier, to mark the boundary of the Peguan Empire. 

 On his way back lie was captured by the Burmese. 



" 1478 A. D." (Blair), expulsion from Florence of Laurence de Medici; under an anathema from 

 pope Sixtus IV., "which greatly distressed learning." The Medicean Library had been collected 

 through the agency of John Lascaris. 



" The same year " (Pouchet) publication of the " Livre de Nature:" the first printed work on 

 Natural History. ' 



" In this year " (Grey transl. C. Zeno 38), Hassan Beg succeeded by Yakoob, now king of Persia. 



"Sept. 4th, 1479" (Major pr. H. 129), the Canary Islands and Granada confirmed by treaty to 

 Spain; and the African coast "from Cape Non" with the seas and islands as far as the Indies, to 

 Portugal. 



•' 14S0 A. D." (Grey transl. C. Zeno 10), Otranto in Southern Italy captured by the Turks and 

 a great part of Apulia ravaged : but being called away by war in Asia, a garrison only was left behind, 

 — which at the end of a year surrendered. 



"In this year" (Galvan.), Alfonso V. succeeded by John II., "thirteenth" king of Portugal 

 (Camoens iv. 61). 



|-The same year" (Humb. atl. pict., Clavig. giving 1482), Tizoc succeeded by Ahuitzotl, eighth 

 Mexican emperor.* 



•• 14S1 A. D." (Galvan., & Major), by John II. of Portugal, the castle of Mina built, and Diego 

 d'Azambuxa appointed to the command. 



About this time, Martin Behaim voyaging to West Africa to procure " malagueta " — (Yule 

 cath. i. 89). A globe was constructed at Nuremberg "in 1492 " under his instructions (Stanley edit. 

 Magell. 58). : 



Amomum grandi/lorum of Western Equatorial Africa. A Scitamineous plant : its seeds included 

 perhaps in the "malagueta" procured by Martin Behaim, — being grey or lead-coloured, much less 

 polished than paradise-grains with a totally different flavour, resembling and equalling camphor 

 in warmth and pungency (Lindl.) : A. grandiflorum is known to grow in Sierra Leone (J° E. Smith 

 exot. ii. p. 11 1). 



Amomum melegueta of Western Equatorial Africa. Probably included in the "malagueta" 

 procured by Martin Behaim, — for according to Yule cath. i. 88, its seeds continue to be exported 

 from certain parts of the West African coast. 



* Cheiranthodendron pentadactylum of Southern .Mexico. Called hand tree from its flowers 

 resembling the human hand ; and a stock planted by a " king " of Toluca at his residence — Ion- con- 

 tinued the only one known, and is described by Cervantes (Humb. ii. 6). Recently, the tree has 

 been found indigenous in Southern Mexico. 



Taxodium distichum of Carolina, the Lower Mississippi, and Texas. The deciduous or bald 

 cypress is a lofty tree, filling swamps, and known from early times : stocks planted in a warden in 

 Mexico before the Spanish invasion are mentioned by Humboldt (F. A. Mx.) ; and according to 

 Kunth, the tree grows in the temperate portion of Mexico at the elevation of "870 to 1190 " East- 

 ward, "cypress" were seen by Amadas and Barlow in i 5 ,S 4 on Roanoke Island- and stocks eighty 

 feet without a branch, by Strachey on James river : T. distichum is known to grow alon°- the Atlantic 

 as tar as 39 at the capes of the Delaware (F. A. Mx.) ; was observed by myself from" about 38° to 

 33 ; by Catesby 1. pi. 11, and Elliot, in South Carolina; by Chapman, in "deep swamps Florida 

 and northward ; " by Darby, in Louisiana and to 34 on Red river ; by Short, in Kentucky 3S bein" 

 its Northern limit on the waters of the Mississippi according to Nuttall. ° 



