MOUNT HELICON. 135 
Funs:i in his class of vee'etables : we noticed a chap, 
. . .IV. 
white mushroom that is not considered eatable in 
England. Many however of the Fungus tribe 
are much esteemed in foreisrn countries as 
luxurious food, which the inhabitants of our 
country consider as poisonous ^ In Russia, 
they are almost ail eaten indiscriminately, salted, 
and thus kept for winter use. It is observed by 
Martyn, that many have suffered disease, and 
some even death, from eating voraciously or 
incautiously oi funguses; but that it is doubtful 
whether many of them be really poisonous, in 
the strict and proper sense of the word'. The 
other plants, as we ascended the mountain, were. 
Thyme, Sage, and Balm; with few or no trees, 
excepting the Fallonia Oak, appearing as a 
shrub. In the lower parts of Helicon, as about 
the Monastery of St. Nicholo, and in sheltered 
places nearer to the summit, the Vallonia grows 
to a tree of considerable magnitude. Wherever 
the naked surface of the mountain was dis- 
closed, we found the rocks to consist of lime- 
stone. A craggy narrow path, along which our 
horses proceeded with difficulty, conducted 
us to the heights above Sagara, or Sacra, 
whence the mountain has received its modern 
(2) See Martyji's eilii. of MUkf's Diet. vol. 1, Part 2. (Aiticl^ 
Funp;us.] Lond. 130;. 
(3) Ibid. 
