OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 843 



" 1482 A* D." (voyag. Belg.), Van Ghistele visiting Egypt, found Alexandria one of the most 

 commercial cities in the World : containing resident merchants of all countries, from Barbary, also 

 Spaniards, Catalans, Genoese, Italians, Venetians, Turks, Persians, Tartars, Arabs, and Abyssinians. 

 After proceeding as far as Thebes, he returned; the Egyptian government at this time prohibiting 

 Europeans from going to Abyssinia, or sailing down the Red Sea to Hindustan. — In the following 

 year, Van Ghistele visited Tauris in Persia ; also a great commercial city, situated on one of the routes 

 from Hindustan to the Black Sea. 



"In this year (= 887 A. H." of Ferisht., Elph.), a naval expedition sent by Mahmud of Guzerat ; 

 the pirates of Balsar defeated at sea, and their resort the islands of Jigat and Bet captured. 



" 1483 A. D." (Alst), Mohammed II. succeeded by his son Bajazet II., tenth Turkish sultan. 



"The same year" (Talvi i ), the first printed Slavonic book; a missal in Glagolitic letters. — 

 About seven years later, the first printing in Cyrillic letters. 



"The same year" (H. H. Wils. transl. Vishn. pur. pref. 24), date of one manuscript of the Vayu 

 Purana.* 



1484 A. D. (= " 1409 an. jav.," Raffles xi.), Raden Patah or Panambahan Jimbun succeeded at 

 Demak by his son Pangeran Sabrang Lor, second sultan of Java. 



" In this year" (Alst. p. 308), Wallachia laid waste by the Turks under Bajazet II. 



"Aug. 29th" (Alst., and Nicol.), Sixtus IV. succeeded by cardinal John Baptist Cibo, now Inno- 

 centius VIII., fifty-ninth pope. Charles VIII. ruling France; and Richard III., England. 



"In this year" (Galvan.), Diogo Caon or James Cam sailing along the African coast as far as 

 the mouth of the Congo, where he erected a pillar of stone ; thence to a river near "the Tropicke 

 of Capricorne," setting up other pillars. Returning to the Congo, the king of that country "sent an 

 ambassadour and men of credit into Portugall." From this embassy (according to Caspar Correa 

 voy. Da Gama i. 1, and Barros), information of countries Eastward as far as India was obtained by 

 John II. 



In considering the dimensions of the known World, made "fifteen hours" by Marinus, leaving 

 a deficit of "about eight hours " to complete its spherical shape, Columbus conceived that there must 

 be land Westward : and having already sailed with the Portuguese along the African coast to the 

 Equator, communicated his plan to John II. of Portugal. Who instead of accepting, secretly sent 

 one of his own vessels West : the vessel returned without accomplishing any thing, and Columbus 

 hearing of the affair, left Portugal "about the end" of this year (F. Columb. 4 to 12 and 41) for 

 Spain. 



" The same year" (Alst.), end of the chronicle of Wernerus. 



" 1485, Aug. 22d, Monday" (Blair, and Nicol. p. 328), in England, Richard III. defeated and 

 slain in battle at Bosworth ; ending the civil war between the " Houses of York and Lancaster." He 

 was succeeded by Henry VII. 



In this year (Spreng.), publication at Mayence of the Third edition of the Ortus Sanitatis, under 

 the supervision of Hieronymus of Braunsweig. — Whose work De arte distillandi was published "in 



1500." 



Hepatica triloba of Northern climates. Called in Britain noble liverwort (Prior), in Germany 

 "edel leberkraut" (Trag.) or "gulden klee " (Braunsw.), in France "hepatique" (Nugent): described 

 bv Braunsweig, — Brunfels, Lyte i. 40, and observed by Tragus i. pi. 177 in the woods of Germany as 

 well as in wardens ; termed "ranunculus tridentatus vernus flore simplici CEeruleo " by Tournefort inst. 

 286 ; known to grow wild in various parts of Europe (Pers.) ; and observed by Sibthorp, but the 

 locality not given; by Savi, on the Appenines. Westward, is a frequent vernal flower in North 

 America ; observed by myself from 43° along the Atlantic ; by Schweinitz to 36 in Upper Carolina ; 

 by Elliot,' in the upper district of Carolina and Georgia ; by Chapman, in " Florida and northward ; " 

 by Short, in Kentucky; by Beck, on the Mississippi near St. Louis; by Pursh, from Carolina to 

 Canada, growing according to Hooker as far as 52° ; and observed by Drummond at $f on the Rocky 

 mountains. 



* Momordica dioica of Burmah. A climbing Cucurbitaceous vine called in Telinga " agokara " 

 (J. F. Wats.) or "agakara," in Malabar " erimapasel," in Tamil " paloopaghel " (Drur.), in Burmah 

 "sa-byet" (Mason); probably known in Hindustan as early as this date : — observed by Rheede 

 viii pi f in Malabar; by Graham, "cultivated in the environs of Bombay," the "fruit size of a 

 pigeon's e<*g, knobbed ; " by Roxburgh, Ainslie, hort. beng. 70, Piddington 103, and Wight, as far 

 as^Ben^al "the young fruit and tuberous roots of the female plant eaten by the natives, the roots also, 

 which are mucilaginous, employed medicinally (Rheede, and Drur.). Eastward, was observed by 

 Mason v 471 to 747 indigenous in Burmah, its " small muricated" fruit "occasionally eaten by the 



natives.' 



