Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/86

 woolly grape—"so that we not be surprised at the wool-bearing trees of the Seres or the Indians." These latter were cotton; the former were mulberry trees with silkworm cocoons bred on them. cf. Virgil, (Georgics, II, 121.)

"Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres."

Pliny (XXIII, 4) says again: "Omphacium heals ulcerations of the humid parts of the body, such as the mouth, tonsillary glands, etc. The powerful action of omphacium is modified by the admixture of honey or raisin wine. It is very useful, too, for dysentery, spitting of blood, and quinsy."

And in XXIII, 39: "The most useful of all kinds of oil (other than olive) is omphacium. It is good for the gums, and if kept from time to time in the mouth, there is nothing better as a preservative of the whiteness of the teeth. It checks profuse perspiration."

7. Wheat.—Triticum vulgare, Villars, order Gramineae. The cultivation of wheat, says Dr Candolle, is prehistoric. It is older than the most ancient languages, each of which has independent and definite names for the grain. The Chinese grew it 2700 B. C. It was grown by the Swiss lake-dwellers about 1500 B. C., and has been found in a brick of one of the Egyptian pyramids dating from about 3350 B. C.

Originally it was doubtless a wild grass which under cultivation assumed varying form. In the early Roman Empire vast quantities of wheat were raised in Sicily, Gaul, North Africa, and particularly Egypt, for shipment to Rome. Later a great wheat area was opened up in what is now Southern Russia, which finally supplanted Egypt in the markets of Constantinople, after Alexandria and Antioch fell into Saracen hands. The trade in wheat as described in the Periplus is interesting. It shows that South Arabia, Socotra and East Africa had wheat not only from Egypt but also from India, which has not usually been considered as a wheat country at that time. Watt (op. cit., p.1082) thinks wild rice (Oryza coarctata) may have been intended, but the Periplus distinguishes between wheat and rice as coming from India. The Hindus might certainly have had the seed from Egypt and cultivated it, but Watt notes the complete absence, so far as known, of wild wheat in modern India.

7. Wine.—The fermented juice of Vitis vinifera, Linn., order Vitaceae. The culture of the vine seems to have begun in Asia Minor and Syria, but within the period of written history it is almost universal. It introduction was ascribed to the gods: by the Greeks to Dionysos, the Romans to Bacchus, the Egyptians to Osiris; or in the case of the Hebrews, to the patriarch Noah. The vine and the