Transcriber’s Notes: Italic texts in the original work have been transcribed as _text_. Small capitals in the original work have been transcribed as ALL CAPITALS. Depending on the hard- and software used and their settings, not all characters and symbols may display as intended. More Transcriber’s Notes may be found at the end of this text. [Illustration: Planta Tartarica Boromez. THE “BAROMETZ,” OR “TARTARIAN LAMB.” _After Joannes Zahn._] THE VEGETABLE LAMB OF TARTARY; _A Curious Fable of the Cotton Plant._ TO WHICH IS ADDED A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF COTTON AND THE COTTON TRADE. BY HENRY LEE, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S., SOMETIME NATURALIST OF THE BRIGHTON AQUARIUM, AND AUTHOR OF ‘THE OCTOPUS, OR THE DEVIL-FISH OF FICTION AND OF FACT,’ ‘SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED,’ ‘SEA FABLES EXPLAINED,’ ETC. ILLUSTRATED. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 1887. _All Rights reserved._ LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. THE FABLE AND ITS INTERPRETATION 1 CHAPTER II. THE HISTORY OF COTTON AND ITS INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE 63 APPENDIX 97 INDEX 107 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FIG. PAGE THE “BAROMETZ,” OR “TARTARIAN LAMB.”--_After Joannes Zahn_ _Frontispiece_ 1.--THE VEGETABLE LAMB PLANT.--_After Sir John Mandeville_ 3 2.--PORTRAIT OF THE “BAROMETZ,” OR “SCYTHIAN LAMB.”--_After Claude Duret_ 9 3.--ADAM AND EVE ADMIRING THE PLANTS IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. THE “VEGETABLE LAMB” IN THE BACKGROUND.--_Fac-simile of the Frontispiece of Parkinson’s “Paradisus”_ 19 4.--RHIZOME OF A FERN, SHAPED BY THE CHINESE TO REPRESENT A TAN- COLOURED DOG, AND LAID BEFORE THE ROYAL SOCIETY BY SIR HANS SLOANE AS A SPECIMEN OF THE “BAROMETZ,” OR “TARTARIAN LAMB.”--_From the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ vol. xx., p. 861_ 25 5.--ROUGH MODEL OF A TAN-COLOURED DOG, SHAPED BY THE CHINESE FROM THE RHIZOME OF A FERN, AND SUBMITTED TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY BY DR. BREYN AS A SPECIMEN OF THE “SCYTHIAN VEGETABLE LAMB,” OR BORAMETZ.--_From the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ No. 390_ 31 6.--THE “BORAMETZ,” OR “SCYTHIAN LAMB.”--_From De la Croix’s ‘Connubia Florum’_ 37 7.--A COTTON-POD 61 PREFACE.