The Tartars fleece it, and make themselves caps of the skin. The pulp that is within the fruit is very much like the flesh of crabs. Cut it, and the blood gushes out, as from a wounded animal. This lamb feeds itself upon all the grass that grows around it, and when it has eaten it all up, it dries and dies away. But what perfects the similitude between the Borametz and a lamb is that the wolves are very greedy of this fruit, which no other animals ever care for.”----The elder Darwin, in his poem on ‘The Loves of the Plants,’ makes the following allusion to the Barometz:-- “Cradled in snow and fanned by Arctic air, Shines, gentle Barometz! thy golden hair; Rooted in earth, each cloven hoof descends, And round and round her flexile neck she bends; Crops the gray coral Moss and hoary Thyme, Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime, Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam, Or seems to bleat, a _vegetable Lamb_.” =BASIL.=--The English name of the _Ocymum basilicum_ is derived from the Greek _basilikon_, royal, probably from its having been used in some royal unguent, bath, or medicine.----Holy Basil, or _Tulasî_ (_Ocymum sanctum_), is by the Hindus regarded as a most sacred herb, and they have given one of its names to a sacred grove of their Parnassus, on the banks of the Yamuna. This holy herb is grown in pots near every temple and dwelling of devout Hindus. It is sacred to Vishnu, Kushna, and Lakshmi, but all the gods are interested in it. Narada, the celestial sage, has sung the praises of the immortal plant, which is perfection itself, and which, whilst protecting from every misfortune those who cultivate it, sanctifies and guides them to heaven. For this double sanctity it is reared in every Hindu house, where it is daily watered and worshipped by all the members of the household. Perhaps, also, it was on account of its virtues in disinfecting and vivifying malarious air that it first became inseparable from Hindu houses in India as the protecting spirit or Lar of the family. The pious Hindus invoke the divine herb for the protection of every part of the body, for life and for death, and in every action of life; but above all in its capacity of ensuring children to those who desire to have them. Among the appellations given to the _Tulasî_ are--“propitious,” “perfumed,” “multi-leaved,” “devil-destroying,” &c. The root is made into beads, which are worn round the neck and arms of the votaries of Vishnu, who carry also a rosary made of the seeds of the Holy Basil or the Sacred Lotus. De Gubernatis has given some interesting details of the _Tulasî_ cultus:--“Under the mystery of this herb,” he says, “created with ambrosia, is shrouded without doubt the god-creator himself. The worship of the herb _Tulasî_ is strongly recommended in the last part of the _Padmapurâna_, consecrated to Vishnu; but it is, perhaps, no less adored by the votaries of Siva; Krishna, the popular incarnation