i.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 31 



mountain heights, and cold localities. It spreads 

 out its branches from the very root of the tree, 

 adhering to its sides like so many arms. Its wood 

 is much valued for the construction of rafters, and 

 of other articles requiring strength and durability. 



This would apply to the Scotch Fir of our 

 island, but as the latter does not extend much 

 into the southern parts of Europe, the Corsican 

 Pine, Pinus laricio, is more probably the one 

 intended. 



It seems to be the same which Theophrastus e 

 calls TrevKr) iSaia, and which he there distinguishes 

 from TrevKr) TrapaXia?, the Pinaster. 



Next we find noticed by Pliny the Lariat, which 

 commentators in general consider the same as the 

 Larch of the present day, a tree not known in 

 Greece. It abounded in turpentine, as does our 

 Larch, from whence the Venice turpentine is chiefly 

 derived, but the durability ascribed to its timber 

 is greater than the moderns are wont to attribute 

 to the Larch. 



Lastly, Pliny notices the Tceda as a Fir which 

 yields more resin than any other excepting the 

 Pitch-tree, and was on that account used for torches 

 in religious ceremonies. The term Pinus tceda is 

 applied by modern botanists to a Fir indigenous in 

 North America, and extending from Florida to 

 Virginia, called the Frankincense Pine, also re- 

 markable for the quantity of turpentine which it 

 affords. 



e Lib. iii. c. 8. 



