THE USES OF FERNS. 
89 
ployed in perfuming the cocoanut oil of the South Sea 
Islands. 
Deserving of especial mention in this place is the vegeta- 
ble curiosity called the Barometz, or Tartarian or Scythian 
lamb, of which marvellous tales have been told. This 
lamb consists merely of the decumbent shaggy rhizome 
of a kind of Fern, which is no doubt the Cibotium glau- 
cescens. The rhizome of this plant, when turned upside 
down, the bases of four of its fronds being retained as legs, 
may, by a little manipulation, be made to resemble not 
inaptly some small animal, and may fairly rank as a 
vegetable curiosity. 
The ^^traveller's tale" on this subject is, that, on an 
elevated, uncultivated salt plain, of vast extent, west of 
the Volga, grows a wonderful plant, with the shape and 
appearance of a lamb, having feet, head, and tail dis- 
tinctly formed, and its skin covered with soft down. The 
‘^lamb" grows upon a stalk about three feet high, the 
part by which it is sustained being a kind of navel ; it 
turns about and bends to the herbage, which serves for its 
food ; and when the grass fails, it dries up, and pines away. 
The real facts are, that the rhizome of this plant, as al- 
ready stated, does present a rude appearance of an animal ; 
