CHAP. 7. (2.)—THE NATURE OF SPARTUM.
For the fact is that spartum862 did not begin to be employed till many ages after the time of Homer; indeed, not before the first war that the Carthaginians waged in Spain. This, too, is a plant that grows spontaneously,863 and is incapable of being reproduced by sowing, it being a species of rush, peculiar to a dry, arid soil, a morbid production confined to a single country only; for in reality it is a curse to the soil, as there is nothing whatever that can be sown or grown in its vicinity. There is a kind of spartum grown in Africa,864 of a stunted nature, and quite useless for all practical purposes. It is found in one portion of the province of Carthage865 in Nearer Spain, though not in every part of that; but wherever it is produced, the mountains, even, are covered all over with it.
This material is employed by the country-people there for making866 their beds; with it they kindle their fires also, and prepare their torches; shoes867 also, and garments for the shepherds, are made of it. As a food for animals, it is highly injurious,868 with the sole exception of the tender tops of the shoots. When wanted for other uses, it is pulled up by the roots, with considerable labour; the legs of the persons so employed being protected by boots, and their hands with gloves, the plant being twisted round levers of bone or holm-oak, to get it up with the greater facility. At the present day it is gathered in the winter, even; but this work is done with the least difficulty between the ides of May869 and those of June, that being the period at which it is perfectly ripe.