The tliirteentliBooke of 



which we dedicate to holy ufes^and namely, when wee facrifice and offer oblations^t ojhe gqds, jG. 

 the lewes (a nation above all others noted for contempt an^^nwckerie of the go3^Si e i r wo?" 

 fbip and divine fervice)doe name Chyd^ij p. vile and of no price.] The Dates in^yptcalled 

 Thebaides^as aifo thole in Arabia, beall over-drie and withered, poore5leane5andthin.Parched 

 as they be continually with the heat of the SiinnCja man would deeme they were covered with a 

 , crLiftorlliell,ratherthanwitha skin or pill. Goe further into -Ethiopia, there they be fodric 

 that they will foonc crumble into powdor like meale ; and indeed they make therof their bread, 

 when it is tempered and wrought with water. Thcfe Dates be round^and biggetthan a good ap- 

 ple5 and they grow upon a plant orfhrub which fpreadeth br aunches of a cubit length ^ and the 

 Greekescall them Cycse. They hang three yeares before they be ripe: and evermore you fhall 

 lee upon the tree Dates ripejwhen others come new foorth greeneand firiall , As for theDates H 

 of Thebais in high -(Egypt, fo foone.as they 'be gathered, pr(;fently ihey are put up into barrels, 

 i-vhiles their naturall heat is in them jfor if that courfe were not taken with tliem , itwould foonc 

 exhale and vanifh away : yet will they decay and rot, if they be not baked againc in the oven. As 

 touching all other Dates, they feeme to be the common an d vulgar fort_j {imply called Dates : 

 and yet both the Syrians andKing laba^ hold them for junkets and banketting difhcs. For as in 

 fomepartof Phoenice andCilicia, they bee called Balani, p.glandes ormaft] foweat Rome 

 tearmc them by the very name of their owne countrey Phoenicejand by no other. And even of 

 them there be many kinds ; and thofe different one from another, either in forme,for that feme 

 be round, others long 5 or elfe in colour, whiles there be of them red and blacke tin which re- 

 gard, a man may obferve in them (by report) as great varietie as in figs : howbeit the whi*eft be I 

 the befl and mofl: commended. Great diverfitie there is alfo among them in quaniitie and big- 

 ne(Ie,inlbmuch as ye fliall have many of them that want nothing of a cubit ; and other for them 

 againc no bigger than a beane.Now as touching the Datcsihatbe barrelled upandkept, they 

 be fiich onely as come from fait and fandie grounds, as' in luric, and Cyrenaica in Atfricke : for 

 thofe of iEgypt, Cyprus, Syria, and SeleuciainAflyria, will not keep)2 andbeprcferved; and 

 therefore they mufl: be fpent out of hand : for which, they takd good order to franke their fwine 

 and feed other cattaile fat with them. The true figne to know afaiiltieor aflaleDate, is this, If a 

 cercaine white fpecke or wart which flucke upon it when it grew on thebranch,be ilied and falne 

 off. No w to conclude this treatiie^I think it not araifle to let downe for an example,what did be- 

 tide the fouldiers that wfere of t^lexandt^S2iimi€yVi\\omi\\ eating of greene Dates new ripe, K 

 werechoked,and fodied.IntheGedrofjans cbimtfey, this accident befell unto them, onely by 

 the nature of the fruit it fcife, eat they of itas moderately as they could : but in other partSjtheit 

 gteedie and over-liberall feeding upon thdm,was their bane. For furely new Dates as they come 

 from the tree,arero exceeding pleafaht and delicious,that a man can hardly forbeare and make 

 an end in good time,before he furfet of them and catch a fhrewd turne., 



Chap. V, 

 ^ of the trees in Sjrla* 



BEfides the Date tree, there be other efpeciall trees in Syria proper unto that countrey 5 for ^ 

 in the firff place there are a kind of Nuts there growing, commonly knowrie and called Fi- 

 fticks. And (by report J this vertue they have,either taken as meat or drunk in drinke,To re- 

 fift the fting and biting of ferpents. Alfo our drie * Figs, and a lefTer fort than they named Cot- 

 tana come from thence. Alfo the Damafceneprtines, growing upon the mount Damaftus 3 as 

 alfo the fruit Sebeften,are the commodities of Syria : howfoever they are now familiar here with 

 us in Italy. As for Sebeflen,ihere be wines made thereofin iEgypt . Alfo the'Pho^iicians have 

 a leiTe kind of Cedars much like to theluni{)ei': arid two forts there be thereof, the Lycian and 

 the Phanician, which differinthe leafe: for that Which bath anhard^fharpe, and pr ickie teafc, 

 is called OxycedrusrfuU of braunches it is befides, and fo knurrie, that it is troublefome to 

 the hand. As for the other Cedar, it hath an excellent tell. Both twaine doe beare a fruit of M 

 tbeblgnefTeof Myrtle leaves, a nd fweet in taf^. Moreover, of the greater Cedar there bee two 

 kinds ; that which doth blofrome,beareth no ftuit : and^ontrariwile, that which is fruitfully (be- 

 wethnobioflbme : and in this, the new fruit commeth foorth alwaies befote the oW of tbe 

 fdrmer yeare be ripe and gathered : alfo the f6ed of it is like that of the Cypreflfe* S&me call this 



' " ^^-^ Cedar, 



