TEElsS A^D TErFFLES, 



381 



the liuraan frame, what oats or beans are to the horse. They have 

 a song in praise of this root, which I have once or twice heard 

 chanted on occasions of festivals, hj a troop of yonng women who 

 carry baskets of the food intended for the guests." — (" Shortland's 

 jS"ew Zealand.") 



I ought not to omit noticing the Tuher cibariiim, a plant of the 

 mushroom .family, growing under ground, which furnishes the 

 famous truffle, so celebrated in the annals of cooking, of which 

 immense quantities are imported, chiefly from the South of France. 

 It is common also in Italy and Grermany, and is often found in 

 Northamptonshire, and some other of our own counties. The 

 " kemmayes," a desert plant of the truffle kind, is a great favorite 

 with the Arabs. 



In Terra del Euego the only vegetable food of the natives, 

 besides a few berries of a dwarf arbutus, is a species of globular 

 bright yellow fungus {Cyttaria Darwinii^ which grows in vast 

 numbers on the beech trees. In its tough and mature state it is 

 collected in large (Quantities by the women and children, and eaten 

 uncooked. It has a slightly sweet mucilaginous taste, with a faint 

 smell like that of a mushroom. 



