Chapter VI: Appendix: A (p. 2)

SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.

Sir John Mandeville, or Maundeville, was of a family that came into England with the Conqueror. He is said to have been a man of learning and substance, and had studied physic and natural philosophy. He was also a good and conscientious man, and was, moreover, the greatest traveller of his time. John Bale, in his catalogue of British writers, says of him that “he was so well given to the study of learning from his childhood that he seemed to plant a good part of his felicitie in the same; for he supposed that the honour of his birth would nothing availe him except he could render the same more honourable by his knowledge in good letters. He therefore well grounded himself in religion by reading the Scriptures, and also applied his studies to the art of physicke, a profession worthy a noble wit; but amongst other things he was ravished with a mighty desire to see the greater parts of the world, as Asia and Africa. Having provided all things necessary for his journey, he departed from his country in the yeere of Christ 1322, and, as another Ulysses, returned home after the space of thirty-four years, and was then known to a very few. In the time of his travaile he was in Scythia, the greater and lesser Armenia, Egypt, both Libyas, Arabia, Syria, Media, Mesopotamia, Persia, Chaldea, Greece, Illyrium, Tartarie and divers other kingdoms of the World, and having gotten by this means the knowledge of the languages, lest so many and great varieties and things miraculous whereof himself had been an eie-witness should perish in oblivion, he committed his whole travell of thirty-four yeeres to writing in three divers tongues--English, French, and Latine. Being arrived again in England, having seen the wickedness of that age, he gave out this speech;--‘In our time,’ he said, ‘it may be spoken more truly than of old that virtue is gone; the Church is under foot; the clergie is in erreur; the Devill raigneth, and Simone beareth the sway.’”

A man who in the first part of the fourteenth century could conceive, and for thirty-four years persist in carrying out, the intention of travelling from one country to another over a great part of the habitable globe, must have possessed remarkable qualifications. Indeed, his achievements were so extraordinary, and his narrative agrees in so many particulars with that of the travels of Marco Polo, that it has been suggested that he may never have gone to the East at all, but compiled his book from the journals of his predecessor. But it seems to me impossible to doubt the correctness of Mr. Halliwell’s opinion that this suggestion is wholly unjustifiable, and that, after perusal of the volume, the judgment of any impartial reader would repudiate such a supposition. Sir John Mandeville met with credit and respect in his own day, and the transcriber on vellum of a small folio MS. copy of his book, written in double columns certainly not more than twenty years after his death, prefaces it in a manner which shows that he entertained no doubt concerning it.

There are several editions of Sir John Mandeville’s account of his ‘Voiages.’ The most useful to the general reader are, 1st, that printed in London, in 1725, from a manuscript in the Cottonian collection; 2nd, a reprint of the above, with a few notes by Mr. J. O. Halliwell, and various illustrations, which are _fac-simile_ copies by F. W. Fairholt, from the older editions and manuscripts in the Harleian collection, published by Lumley in 1837; and, 3rd, a reprint of this later edition, published by F. S. Ellis, in 1866.

Sir John Mandeville died at Liege on the 17th of November, 1371. His fellow-townsmen of St. Albans appear to have believed that his body was brought home to the place of his birth, and buried in St. Albans Abbey, for the following doggrel verses were inscribed as his epitaph on one of the pillars there:--

“All ye that pass by, on this pillar cast eye,
This Epitaph read if you can;
‘Twill tell you a Tombe once stood in this room
Of a brave, spirited man,
Sir John Mandevil by name, a knight of great fame,
Born in this honoured Towne;
Before him was none that ever was knowne
For travaile of so high renowne.
As the Knights in the Temple cross-legged in Marble,
In armour with sword and with shield,
So was this Knight grac’d which Time hath defac’d
That nothing but Ruines doth yield.
His travailes being done, he shines like the Sun
In heavenly Canaan.
To which blessed place the Lord, of His grace,
Bring us all, man after man.”

There is no doubt, however, that Sir John Mandeville was buried in the Abbey of the Gulielmites in the town of Liege, where he died; for Abrahamus Ortelius, in his ‘Itinerarium Belgiæ’ (p. 16), has printed the following epitaph there set over him:--

“_Hic jacet vir nobilis Dominus Johannes de Mandeville, aliter dictus ad Barbam, Miles, Dominus de Campdi, natus de Angliâ, medicine professor, devotissimus orator, et bonorum largissimus pauperibus erogator; qui toto quasi orbe lustrato Leodii diem viti sui clausit extremum Anno Domini 1371, Mensis Novembris die 17._”

Ortelius adds, that upon the same stone with the epitaph is engraven a man in armour with a forked beard, treading upon a lion, and at his head a hand of one blessing him, and these words in old French: “_Vos ki paseis sor mi, pour l’amour Deix proies por mi_”--that is, “Ye that pass over me, for the love of God pray for me.” There is also a void place for an escutcheon, whereon, Ortelius was told, there was formerly a brass plate with the arms of the deceased knight engraven thereon--viz., a Lion _argent_ with a Lunet _gules_, at his breast, in a Field _azure_, and a Border engraled _or_. The clergy of the Abbey also exhibited the knives, the horse-furniture, and the spurs used by Sir John Mandeville in his travels. John Weever, in his ‘Ancient Funeral Monuments’ (p. 568), says that he saw the above epitaph at Liege, and also the following verses hanging near by on a tablet:--

“_Aliud
Hoc jacet in tumulo cui totus patria vivo
Orbis erat: totium quem peragrasse ferunt
Anglus, Equesque fuit; num ille Britannus Ulysses
Dicatur, Graio clarus, Ulysse magis.
Moribus, ingenio, candore, et sanguine clarus,
Et vere cultor Religionis erat
Nomen si quæras est Mandevil, Indus, Arabsque,
Sat notum dicit finibus esse suis._”

B (p. 8).

ODORICUS OF FRIULI.

Odoricus did not write his account of his travels with his own hand, but dictated it to his brother friar, William de Solanga, who wrote it as Odoricus related it. Having “testified and borne witness to the Rev. Father Guidolus, minister of the province of S. Anthony, in the Marquesate of Treviso (being by him required upon his obedience so to do), that all that he described he had seen with his own eyes, or heard the same reported by credible and substantial witnesses,” Odoricus prepared to set out on another and a longer journey “into all the countries of the heathen.” He, therefore, determined to present himself to Pope John XXII., and to obtain his benediction on his missionary enterprise. Accordingly, at the commencement of the year 1331, he left Utina with this intention. On his way, however, he was met, near Pisa, by an old man who, hailing him by his name, told him that he had known him in India, and warned him to return to his monastery, “for that in ten days thence he would depart from this present world.” Having said this, he vanished from sight. Odoricus obeyed the admonition, and returned to Utina “in perfect health, feeling no crazednesse nor infirmity of body. And being in his convent the tenth day after the forsayd vision, having received the Communion, and prepared himself unto God, yea, being strong and sound of body, he happily rested in the Lord, whose sacred departure was signified to the Pope aforesaid under the hand of the public notary of Utina.” Odoricus died January 14th, 1331, and was beatified.

C (p. 11).

SIGISMUND VON HERBERSTEIN.

Sigismund von Herberstein was born at Vippach, in Styria, in 1486. He distinguished himself so greatly in the war against the Turks that the Emperor entrusted him with various missions, and made him successively commandant of the Styrian cavalry, privy councillor, and president of finance of Austria. During two periods of residence at Moscow, in all about sixteen months, as ambassador from the Emperor Maximilian to the Grand Duke of Muscovy, Vasilez Ivanovich, he earnestly studied and sagaciously observed everything that came under his notice, and neglected nothing which could instruct or profit him. His work on Russia, above referred to, is universally regarded as the best ancient history of that State. He renounced public life in 1555, and died in 1556.

D (p. 14).

JULIUS CÆSAR SCALIGER.

Julius Cæsar Scaliger, born in 1484, probably at Padua, was one of the most celebrated of the many great writers of the sixteenth century. He was a man of real talent, but of unbounded vanity and unscrupulous ambition. Originally baptized “Jules,” he added “Cæsar” to his name, and, to enhance his own merits by the éclat of high birth, made for himself a false genealogy, and asserted that he was the hero of adventures in which he had taken no part. In order to force himself into notice he attacked Erasmus, and in two harangues, which the latter disdained to answer, used towards him the grossest invectives. Scaliger next directed his insolent hostility against Girolamo Cardano. Jealous of the fame of the great Pavian physician and mathematician, he, in a critique containing more insults than arguments, ferociously assailed Cardano’s treatise, “_De Subtilitate_”; and so exaggerated was the estimate he formed of the effect of his diatribes on the objects of his malice, that when Erasmus died, and a false rumour of the decease of Cardano was spread abroad, he believed, or affected to believe, that the death of both had been caused by his conduct towards them, and in the course of a fulsome eulogy expressed his regret for having deprived the world of letters of two such valuable lives. Scaliger died in 1558, aged seventy-five years.

E (p. 21).

JANS JANSZOON STRAUSS, OTHERWISE JEAN DE STRUYS.

Jean de Struys, in 1647, shipped at Amsterdam as sailmaker’s mate on board a vessel bound to Genoa. On arriving there the ship was bought by the Republic, equipped as a privateer, and sent to the East Indies. She was, however, captured by the Dutch, and Struys took service on board a ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company, and after visiting Siam, Japan, Formosa, &c., he returned to Holland in 1681. Having stayed at home with his father for four years, he went to sea again, but finding at Venice an armed flotilla on the point of departure to fight the Turks, he joined it, was several times taken prisoner, and as often escaped or was rescued. In 1657 he returned to Holland, was married, and led a quiet life for ten years, but hearing that the Tzar was fitting out at Amsterdam some vessels to go to Persia by the Caspian Sea, “nothing,” to use his own words, “could hold him back.” He therefore started in a vessel bound to the Baltic, landed at Riga, and found his way overland, through Moscow and by the Oka and Volga to Astrachan. In June, 1670, the fleet in which he served set sail for the Caspian. His vessel went ashore on the coast of Daghestan, and he was made prisoner and taken to the Kan or Tchamkal of Bayance, by whom he was sold as a slave to a Persian. After passing through the possession of several masters he was bought by a Georgian, an ambassador to the King of Poland, who allowed him to purchase his freedom. On the 30th of October, 1671, he joined a caravan travelling to Ispahan, made his way to the coast, embarked for Batavia, and, after innumerable adventures, arrived in Holland in 1673, and retired to Ditmarsch, where he died in 1694. His memoirs of his life were published in Dutch, at Amsterdam, in 1677, and translated into German in the following year, and into French in 1681.

F (p. 28).

JOHN BELL OF AUTERMONY.

Furnished with letters of introduction to Dr. Areskine, chief physician and privy councillor to the Czar Peter I., Bell “embarked at London in July, 1714, on board the _Prosperity_ of Ramsgate, Captain Emerson, for St. Petersburg.” As the Czar was about to send an ambassador, Artemis Petronet Valewsky, to “the Sophy of Persia, Schach Hussein,” Bell, by the good offices of Dr. Areskine, obtained an appointment in his suite, and set out from St. Petersburg on the 15th of July, 1715. He kept a diary, and was evidently an enlightened, discriminating and careful observer.

G (p. 52).

THE THREE BLACK CROWS.

BY DR. JOHN BYROM.

The following is the story referred to in the text. It well illustrates the process by which the first rumour concerning cotton--that “wool as white and soft as that of a lamb grew on trees”--was exaggerated to a statement that “lambs grew on certain trees,” and were, therefore, partly animal and partly vegetable.

Two honest tradesmen, meeting in the Strand,
One took the other briskly by the hand.
“Hark ye,” said he, “’tis an odd story this
About the crows!” “I don’t know what it is,”
Replied his friend. “No? I’m surprised at that,--
Where I come from it is the common chat;
But you shall hear an odd affair indeed!
And that it happened they are all agreed:
Not to detain you from a thing so strange,
A gentleman who lives not far from ‘Change,
This week, in short, as all the Alley knows,
Taking a vomit, threw up three black crows!”
“Impossible!” “Nay, but ‘tis really true;
I had it from good hands, and so may you.”
“From whose, I pray?” So, having named the man,
Straight to inquire his curious comrade ran.
“Sir, did you tell?”--relating the affair--
“Yes, sir, I did; and, if ‘tis worth your care,
‘Twas Mr.--such a one--who told it me;
But, by-the-bye, ‘twas _two_ black crows, _not three_!”
Resolved to trace so wonderous an event,
Quick to the third the virtuoso went.
“Sir,”--and so forth. “Why, yes; the thing is fact,
Though in regard to number not exact;
It was not _two_ black crows, ‘twas only _one_!
The truth of which you may depend upon;
The gentleman himself told me the case.”
“Where may I find him?” “Why in--” such a place.
Away he went, and having found him out,
“Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt;”
Then to his last informant he referred,
And begged to know if true what he had heard.
“Did you, sir, throw up a black crow?” “Not I!”
“Bless me, how people propagate a lie!
Black crows have been thrown up, _three_, _two_, and _one_;
And here, I find, all comes at last to _none_!
Did you say nothing of a crow at all?”
“Crow?--crow?--perhaps I might; now I recall
The matter over.” “And pray, sir, what was’t?”
“Why, I was horrid sick, and at the last
I did throw up, and told my neighbours so,
Something that was--_as black_, sir, _as a crow_.”

H (p. 71).

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ALEXANDRINE LIBRARY.

This magnificent collection, founded by Ptolemy Soter, and added to by his successors, was twice partially dispersed before its total destruction by the Saracens. A great portion of it was burned during the siege of Alexandria by Julius Cæsar, B.C. 48. The lost volumes were in some measure replaced by Antony, who (B.C. 36) presented to Cleopatra, the library of the Kings of Pergamus. At the death of Cleopatra, Alexandria passed into the power of the Romans, and this second collection was partly destroyed by fire when the Emperor Theodosius I. suppressed paganism, A.D. 390. The Alexandrine Library met its memorable fate in 638, when, after a vigorous resistance for fourteen months, the city was taken by Amru, the general of Caliph Omar. Abdallah, the Arabian historian, and favourite of Saladin (1200), gives the following account of this catastrophe. “John Philoponus, surnamed the Grammarian, being at Alexandria when the Saracens entered the city, was admitted to familiar intercourse with Amru, and presumed to solicit a gift, inestimable in his opinion, but contemptible in that of the barbarians,--and that was the royal library. Amru was inclined to gratify his wish, but his rigid integrity scrupled to alienate the least object without the consent of the Caliph. He accordingly wrote to Omar, whose well-known answer is a notable example of ignorant fanaticism. ‘If,’ said he, ‘these writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran they are useless, and need not be preserved; if they disagree with the book of God they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed.’ The sentence of destruction was executed with blind obedience; the volumes of paper or parchment were distributed to the 4,000 baths of the city; and so great was their number that six weeks was barely sufficient time for the consumption of this precious fuel.”

INDEX.

Ahasuerus, cotton hangings in the palace of, at Shushan, 66
Alexander the Great, descent of the Indus and Hydaspes by, 68
„ „ sagacity and wise policy of, 67, 72
„ „ opens up the Euphrates and Tigris, 71
„ „ selects the site of Alexandria, 68
„ „ Europe indebted to, for the introduction of
cotton, 72
Alexandria made the centre of the Indian trade, 72
„ Lighthouse, Library, and Temple of Serapis at, 71
„ destruction of the Library of--Appendix H, 105
Amasis II., Corselet padded with cotton presented to Sparta by King,
46
Aristobulus mentions “a tree bearing wool, which was carded,” 47
„ report by, of the great heat at Susiana-Shushan, 66
Arrian’s account of the cotton trade in his day, 73

Barnacle Geese, the fable of, compared with that of the Barometz, 52
Barometz the, described by Sir John Mandeville, 2
„ „ „ Claude Duret, 5, 16
„ „ „ Talmudical writers, 6
„ „ „ Odoricus of Friuli, 8
„ „ „ Fortunio Liceti, 11
„ „ „ Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, 11
„ „ „ Sigismund von Herberstein, 11
„ „ „ Guillaume Postel, 13
„ „ „ Michel, the Interpreter, 13
„ „ „ Girolamo Cardano, 13
„ „ „ Julius Cæsar Scaliger, 14
„ „ „ Antonius Deusingius, 15
„ „ „ Athanasius Kircher, 21
„ „ „ Jean de Struys, 21
„ „ in verse by Guillaume de Saluste, Sieur du Bartas, 17
„ „ „ Joshua Sylvester, translator of the above,
18
„ „ „ Dr. Erasmus Darwin, 35
„ „ „ Dr. De la Croix, 36
„ „ sought for by Dr. Engelbrecht Kaempfer, 23
„ „ „ „ John Bell, of Autermony, 28, Appendix F,
103
„ „ „ „ the Abbé Chappe d’Auteroche, 30
Barometz, origin of the word, 23
„ the fable of the, 1
„ „ „ compared with that of the “Barnacle
Geese,” 52
„ „ „ its various phases and transformations, 1,
53
Bartas, the Sieur du, lines by, on the Barometz, 17
Bell, John, seeks ineffectually the “Vegetable Lamb,” 28
Borametz. _See_ Barometz.
Breyn, Dr., describes to the Royal Society his Chinese artificial
“Lamb,” 30
British Museum, specimen of the “Scythian Lamb” in, 24, 43
Buckley, Mr., Chinese articles presented to the Royal Society by, 27
„ „ his Chinese dog fashioned from rhizome of a fern, 27

Canal from Suez to the East Nile commenced by Ptolemy Philadelphus, 71
„ „ „ Aden, constructed by De Lesseps, 94
Cape route, the, discovered by Vasco da Gama, 83, 88
Cardano describes the “Vegetable Lamb,” 13
„ exposes the unreasonableness of believing the fable, 14
Central America, ancient use of cotton in, 85, 86
Chappe d’Auteroche, the Abbé seeks for the “Barometz,” 30
Chinese artificial dogs made from root-stocks of ferns, 27, 28, 34,
39, 44
Columbus finds cotton in use in America, 84
Cotton, its use of great antiquity in India, 65
„ reaches Persia from India, 66
„ hangings of, in the palace of Ahasuerus at Shushan, 66
„ found in use in India by Alexander the Great, 58
„ piece-goods introduced into Europe by the Macedonians, 72
„ shipped from Patala and Barygaza to Aduli, 72
„ conveyed by a circuitous coasting route, 73
„ „ in a straight course by Hippalus, 73
„ „ by the Romans viâ Palmyra, 74
„ the trade in, through Egypt, checked by the Saracens, 74
„ ancient Egyptians unacquainted with, 75
„ breast-plate padded with, sent by King Amasis to Sparta, 46,
75
„ Mark Antony’s soldiers wear, in Egypt, 76
„ Egyptians, till the 17th century, importers, not growers of,
77
„ in Rome and Greece manufactured by slaves, 78
„ vestments presented to ancient Emperors of China, 79
„ manufactured by the Moors and Saracens in Spain, 80
„ paper made from, by the Spanish Arabs, 80
„ manufacture in Spain relapsed after the conquest of Grenada,
80
„ conveyed by Tartar caravans from India to Europe, 56, 57, 58,
81, 82
conveyed again through Egypt by the Venetians, 82
„ manufacture in Saxony, the Netherlands, and Germany, 83
„ found by Columbus in daily use in the West Indies, 84
„ „ Magalhaens in use in Brazil, 84
„ used by the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians, 85, 86
„ mummy cloths brought from ancient Peruvian tombs, 86
„ imported into England in the 16th century through Antwerp, 91
„ statistics, 92
„ now crosses from India by the route planned by Alexander, 95
Cotton-plant, the, described by Theophrastus, 47
„ „ „ Pomponius Mela, 48
„ „ „ Julius Pollux, 49
„ botany of the, 63
„ the, indigenous to India, 64
„ „ noticed in India by Alexander and his army, 58
„ culture of the, in China encouraged by the Mongols, 79
„ „ „ Arabia and Syria, 77
„ „ „ Spain by the Saracens and Moors, 80
„ „ „ „ relapsed after the conquest of
Grenada, 80
„ the, still grows wild in the Peninsula, 81
Cotton-wool the fleece of the “Scythian Lamb,” 63
Ctesias writes of the “trees that bear wool,” 46

Danielovich, Demetrius, describes the “Vegetable Lamb” to Von
Herberstein, 12
Darwin, Dr. Erasmus, lines by, on the “Barometz,” 35
De la Croix, Dr., Latin lines by, on the Barometz, 36
Deusingius, Antonius, disbelieves the animal-plant monstrosity, 15
Dicksonia barometz a tree-fern, 40
„ „ toy dogs made from rhizomes of, by the Chinese, 41
„ „ does not grow in Tartary or Scythia, 44
Duret, Claude, describes the “Barometz,” 3
„ „ avows his entire belief in the rumour, 16

East India Company incorporated, 92
Egypt, the route from India to Europe planned by Alexander, 68, 93, 95
„ conquest of, by the Saracens, 7
„ the country of flax, 75, 79
„ the high road to India to be guarded, 96
Egyptian maritime traffic with the East lasted 1000 years, 74
Egyptians, the ancient, unacquainted with cotton, 75
„ till the 17th century importers not growers of cotton, 77

Ferns, models of dogs made of, by the Chinese, 27, 28, 34, 39, 44
„ their economic value, 40, 41
Flemish weavers settle in Manchester, 90

General belief in the “Vegetable Lamb,” 2

Hebrew, ancient, version of the fable, 6
Herberstein, Sigismund von, describes the “Vegetable Lamb,” 11
Herodotus writes of trees bearing for their fruit fleeces of wool, 46
Hippalus notices the monsoons, 73

India, use of cotton in, mentioned by Herodotus, 46
„ „ „ „ Ctesias, 46
„ „ „ „ Nearchus, 46
„ „ „ „ Aristobulus, 47
„ „ „ „ Strabo, 47
„ the Indo-Scythia of the ancients, 57
„ cotton indigenous to, 64
„ trade with opened by Alexander viâ Egypt, 68
„ „ viâ the Euphrates and Tigris, 71
„ „ restored to Egypt by the Venetians, 82
„ the Cape route to, discovered by Vasco da Gama, 83, 88
Indo-Scythia, identical with Scinde and the Punjab, 57

Japanese artificial mermaids compared with Chinese toy-dogs, 42, 54
Jadua, or Jeduah, the, 7

Kircher, Athanasius, declares the Barometz to be a plant, 21
Kaempfer, Dr. Engelbrecht, searches ineffectually for the Vegetable
Lamb, 23
„ „ „ suggests that the fable refers to Astrachan
lamb skins, 23

Lamb, the “Scythian,” why so called, 56
„ „ „ see “Barometz.”
„ „ “Tartarian,” why so called, 59
„ „ „ see “Barometz.”
„ „ Vegetable, its fleece cotton wool, 60
„ „ „ see “Barometz.”
Lesseps, De, constructs the Suez Canal, 94
Liceti, Fortunio, says the “Vegetable Lamb” was “as white as snow,” 11
Loureiro, Juan de, describes the making of artificial dogs from ferns,
44

Magalhaens, Fernando, discovers the route round Cape Horn, 84
Manchester, Flemish weavers settle in, 90
Mandeville, Sir John, describes the “Vegetable Lamb,” 2
„ „ „ biographical sketch of--Appendix A, 97
Mela, Pomponius, describes the cotton-plant, 48
Mermaids, Japanese, compared with Chinese dogs, 42, 54
Mexicans, the ancient, use of cotton by, 85, 86
Michel, the Interpreter, describes the “Vegetable Lamb” and its uses,
13
Monsoons, the, noticed by Hippalus, 73
Museum, British, supposed “Scythian Lamb” in the, 24, 43
„ Natural History. _See_ Museum, British.
„ Hunterian, R. Coll. Surgeons, supposed Scythian Lamb in the,
43

Nearchus mentions the “wool-bearing trees,” 46
„ descent of the Indus by, 68
Nieremberg, on the “Vegetable Lamb,” 11

Odoricus of Friuli describes the “Vegetable Lamb,” 8
„ „ curious incident in the life of--Appendix B, 100

Peruvians, the ancient, use of cotton by, 86, 87
Pliny confuses cotton with flax, 48
Pollux, Julius, describes the cotton-plant, 49
Postel, Guillaume, informs von Herberstein of the “wool-bearing
plant,” 13
Ptolemy Soter follows Alexander’s policy and takes possession of
Egypt, 71
„ „ founds the lighthouse, library and temple at Alexandria,
71
„ Philadelphus commences a canal from Suez to the East Nile, 71

Royal Society, supposed “Scythian Lamb” laid before the, by Sir Hans
Sloane, 24
Royal Society, supposed “Scythian Lamb” laid before the, by Dr. Breyn,
30

Saluste, Guillaume de, Sieur du Bartas. _See_ “Bartas.”
Scaliger, Julius Cæsar, attacks Cardano on the subject of the
“Barometz,” 14
Scythian Lamb, the, why so called, 56
„ „ „ see “Barometz.”
Scythians, the, describe snow as “feathers,” 51
Scythia-Indo the same as Scinde and the Punjab, 57
„ in Asia identical with Tartary, 57
„ Parva identical with certain districts of Silistria and
Bessarabia, 57
Shushan, cotton hangings in the palace of Ahasuerus at, 66
Sloane, Sir Hans, lays before the Royal Society a supposed “Scythian
Lamb,” 24
„ „ „ identification of the above by, unsatisfactory, 28
„ „ „ bequest by, to the Nation, 43
Strabo mentions the “wool-bearing trees,” 47
Strauss Jans Janszoon. _See_ “Struys.”
Struys, Jean de, mentions the “Barometz,” 21
„ „ doubts the “animal” version of the story, 22
Suez Canal completed by De Lesseps, 94

Talmudical writers mention the “Barometz,” under the name of “Jadua,”
7
Tartary identical with Scythia in Asia, 57
Tartar caravans, cotton conveyed by, to Europe, 56, 57, 58, 81, 82
Tartarian Lamb, the, why so called, 59
„ „ „ see “Barometz.”
Theophrastus writes of the cultivation of the “wool-bearing tree,” 47
„ exactly describes the cotton-plant, 48
Trees, wool-bearing, described by Herodotus, 46
„ „ „ Ctesias, 46
„ „ „ Nearchus, 46
„ „ „ Aristobulus, 47
„ „ „ Strabo, 47
„ „ „ Theophrastus, 47
„ „ „ Pomponius Mela, 48
„ „ „ Pliny, 48
„ „ „ Julius Pollux, 49

Vasco da Gama opens the Cape route to India, 83, 88
Vegetable Lamb, the, its fleece cotton wool, 60
„ „ „ see “Barometz.”

Waghorn, Lieut., opens the route across the desert, 93
Wool-bearing trees. _See_ Trees, wool-bearing.

Zavolha, the, a renowned Tartar horde, 12, 14

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
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Transcriber’s Notes:

Page 24, footnote [14]: The footnote anchor was missing in the source document, anchor [14] has been inserted where it seems to fit best.

The original language has been retained, including inconsistencies in spelling, except as mentioned below. Inconsistent lay-out has not been changed either.

Page 102, ... he returned to Holland in 1681: this seems unlikley in the context, possibly the year should be 1651.

Changes made to the original text:

Footnotes and illustrations have been moved.

Some wrong or missing punctuation has been corrected or added, some minor typographical errors have been corrected silently.

Several index entries have been changed to make their spelling conform to that used in the text.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, by Henry Lee