Foreign Vegetables. 299 
«* Years fince any was found in that Country, 
<c and for a long Time no other Lafer has been 
“ brought to us, than that which grows abundantly 
ec in Perfia or Media , and Armenia ; but it is much 
“ inferior to the Cyrenaick , See." 
3. Becaufe many Authors have told us that the 
beft Silphium , namely the Cyrenaick , had a pleafant 
Smell and Tafte : Wherein it feems to have been 
vaftly different from our Ajfa Fcetida , which has a 
Smell fo deteftable to the Inhabitants of Europe > 
that they give it the Name of Stercus Diabolic the 
Devil's Dung. 
But we mu ft obferve, that *if Silphium was fo 
much efteemed by the Cyrcneans , Greeks and Latins , 
it is now no lefs by the Perfeans , and almoft all the 
People of Afia : For by thefe it is called Cibus Deo - 
rum^ the Food of the Gods ; and to procure it they 
undergo the greateft Fatigue, in wandering for 
many Days together over the Tops of wild Moun- 
tains, expofed to the moft fcorching Rays of the 
Sun. 
Nor was Silphium more grateful to the Palate than 
Affa Fcetida ; fince the Scent which it difperfed was 
fo foetid and ftrong, that by fome it was called 
K dxo<r(Aov (puldgiov, the finking Plant. The Indians , 
on the other Hand, who eat Afa Fcetida familiarly 
in their Food, think that it has a fweet Swell, and a 
moft exquifite Tafte. 
Moreover, we are not to decide upon this Point 
according to our Tafte; for it is evident that many 
Things were agreeable to former Ages, both in 
Tafte and Smell, which are now thought unpleafant 
and foetid. On the contrary, we know that the 
Smell of the Citron was deteftable to moft of the 
Ancients. This ftrange Diverfity of Taftes is like- 
wife obfervable at prefent. Many, for Inftance, 
have an extreme Averfion to Garlick, infomuch that 
the 
