87 



CHAPTEE V. 



SPICES. 



"Now gentle gales, 

 Fanning their odoriferous wings, disperse 

 Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole 

 Those balmy spoils ; as when to them who sail 

 Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past 

 Mozambic, off a sea north-west winds blow 

 Sabean odours from the spicy shore 

 Of Araby the blest ; with such delay 

 Well pleased, they slack their course, and many a league, 

 Cheer'd with the grateful smell, old ocean smiles." 



By the term Spices, a variety of substances are understood. 

 " The spices of Arabia " have, from the remotest ages, been 

 proverbial ; nevertheless, with all its spice-bearing celebrity, 

 Arabia sends no spices to us, and it is doubtful if any are 

 now yielded by that country. There is reason to believe 



