Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-12-30
THE TARTARIAN LAMB.
A Strange Plant That Closely Resembles
q Little Lamb.

THE TARTARIAN LAMB.
A Strange Plant That Closely Resembles
Little Lamb.
Among the strange stories to be
found in the narratives of early
travellers few are stranger than
that of the vegetable lamb of Tar
tary. This story, as believed by the
reading public and even by the nat
uralists of two centuries ago, is SO
marvellous and SO obviously absurd
that we wonder how the most cred
ulous could have believed it to be
true.
The story is that, in an elevated
and cultivated salt plain of great
extent west of the river Volga,
there may be found a creature half
animal, half plant, to which the ma
tives give the name of barometz,
meaning little lamb" To obtain
it the Tartars SOW in the ground
seed like that of a melon, from
which, in due time, rises the strange
plant, having the figure of lamb,
with the feet, the hoofs, the ears
and the whole head, except the
horns, of that animal, distinctly
formed.
Itgrows on stalk about three feet
in height, being, according to one
version, rooted to the ground by its
four feet, while another account.
raises the whole lamb, feet and all,
from the ground on a single stem,
on which it is able to turn, and also
to bow itself downward to the herbs
on which it feeds. 1t lives as long
as there is grass or heritage around
it, but when it has consumed all
within its reach it dies and withers
away. It's skin is covered with a
very white down, as fine as silk,
and is greatly priced by the Tartars,
who pull it off and wear it as q
cover for the head.
Inside it is composed of flesh and
bones, and when wounded it gives
out liquid resembling blood.
Wolves are said to be the only ami
mails that will eat it, and they are
very fond of it.
Specimens of this remarkable pro-
duction were looked upon as the
rarest treasures in the collections of
the curious in days gone by. Two
different specimens have been de-
scribed in the Philosophical Trans
actions" and third has it's portrait
given in an engraving in Darwin's
Flower Garden" and its history
told in the ford verse of that work.
The "lamb" is natural produc-
ton, greatly helped in the develop
ment of the particulars in which it
most resembles that creature by
the ingenuity of the natives. The
body is a portion of the creeping
stem of species of fern which gen.
orally grows as erect as tree. This
stem is densely covered with beau
tiful, jointed, silky hairs of rich
| golden color.
On the surface next TO the ground
a few roots are given off, while the
leaves -or fronds, as they are called
in ferns spring from the upper sur
face. The fronds reach a height Of
IL or IA feet, and have long, bare
stalk before the leaf is spread out.
The Tartar takes suitable part of
this creeping stem for body, de:
prives it of the roots and Of all the
leaf stalks except four, which are
intended to be the legs, two short
ones for the ears and stump for
the tail, and then, turning it upside
down, trims the stem, and SO pro-
duces this marvel Of the early ex-
plorers. The fern, known to bota-
nists as the Cibotium barometz, is a
native of eastern Asia. 1t has been
introduced into our Conservatives,
where it flourishes, producing, after
a few years. growth, good speci-
mems of the lamb"
The silky hairs of this fern form
a favorite remedy among the Chi
nese for checking the flow Of blood
by applying them to a wound in
the same way as felt or cobwebs are
used by some people in this country.
The more fibrous and elastic hairs
of several species of the same group,
natives of the Sandwich Islands, are
largely exported from these islands
to California and Australia for stuff
ing cushions and for similar pur.
oses.-Philadelphia Times.
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