at
sallied forth every evening to the adjacent islands, to procure an
elephant or rhinoceros for its nightly repast; but when a ship chanced
to pass that way, his griffinship had no occasion to fly so far for a
supper. Attracted by the tree, the doomed vessel remained motionless
on the waters, until the wretched sailors were, one by one, devoured
by the monster. When the nuts ripened, they dropped off into the
water, and, carried by winds and currents to less dangerous
localities, were picked up by mariners, or cast on some lucky shore.
What is this but an Eastern version--who dare say it is not the
original?--of the more classical fable of the dragon and the golden
fruit of the Hesperides?

Time went on. Vasco de Gama sailed round the Cape of Good Hope, and a
new route was opened to Eastern commerce. The Portuguese, who
encountered the terrors of the Cape of Storms, were not likely to be
daunted by a griffin; yet, with all their endeavours, they never
succeeded in discovering the precious tree. By their exertions,
however, rather more of the drug was brought to Europe than had
previously been; still there was no reduction in its estimated value.
In the East, an Indian potentate demanded a ship and her cargo as the
price of a perfect nut, and it was actually purchased on the terms; in
the West, the Emperor Rodolph offered 4000 florins for one, and his
offer was contemptuously refused; while invalids from all parts of
Europe performed painful pilgrimages to Venice, Lisbon, or Antwerp, to
enjoy the inestimable benefit of drinking water out of pieces of
nut-shell! Who may say what adulterations and tricks were practised by
dishonest dealers, to maintain a supply of this costly medicine? but,
as similar impositions are not unknown at the present day, we may as
well pass lightly over that part of our subject.

The English and Dutch next made their way to the Indian Ocean; yet,
though they sought for the invaluable Tree of Solomon, with all the
energy supplied by a burning thirst for gain, their efforts were as
fruitless and unsuccessful as those of the Portuguese. Strange tales,
too, some of these ancient mariners related on their return to Europe:
how, in the clear waters of deep bays, they had observed groves of
those marvellous trees, growing fathoms down beneath the surface of
the placid sea. Out of a mass of equally ridiculous reports, the only
facts then attainable were at length sifted: these were, that the tree
ha