I2£ APPENDIX.' 



rians, but the reafon of that value, or the ufe of the planr r 

 I have never yet been able to comprehend. I fuppofe it was. 

 an adventitious plant, which the curiofity and correfp.m- 

 dence of the princes of tha:. flare had probably brought 

 from fome part of Negroland, where the goats are broufing; 

 upon it at this day with indifference enough, unconfeious 

 of the price it bore in the time of the Ptolemies. 



HiiRODOTus * Theophraftus -)% and Ariftotle £, all men- 

 tion this animal under the name of £*##, yuXou S^ttoS^, or, 

 two-footed rats. This animal is found in moll: of the parts 

 of Arabia and- Syria, an every part of the fouthern deferts 

 of Africa, but no where fo frequently, and in fuch num- 

 bers, as in the Cyrenaicum, or Pentapoiis. In my unfor- 

 tunate journey there, I employed the Arabs, together with 

 my fervants, to kill a number with flicks, fo as that the 

 fkins might not be injured by mot. I got them drefTed in 

 Syria and in Greece, and fewed together, making ufe of 

 the tail as in ermine for the lining of a. cloak, and they 

 had a very good effect ; the longer they wore, the gloffiei" 

 and finer appearance the fkins made. The Jerboa is very 

 fat and well-coloured ; the buttocks, thighs, and part of 

 the back, are roafted and ate by the Arabs. I have eaten 

 them ; they are not difcinguilhable from a young rabbit 

 either in colour or tafte ; they have not even the ftrong 

 tafle the rabbit has. Some writers have confounded thefe 

 wo animals together; at leafl they have miflaken this for 



the 



*" Herod. Melp. fed. 192. t Theoph. apud Elian. Hift. Anira. lib. XT. cap. 26. 



£ Arift.de Mareb. Egypt, lib. yi. 



