Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1899-01-20
TIE TARTARIAN LAMB.
A Strange Plant that Closely Resem-
bles an Animal.


bles an Animal.
Among the strange stories to he found
IN the narratives of early travellers,
few are stranger than that of the veg
etable lamb of Tartary. This story, as
believed by the reading public, and
even by the naturalists of two cen
turies ago. is so marvellous, and so OBJ
viously absurd that we wonder how the
most credulous could have believed ii
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 creature half-animal, half
plant to which the natives give the
name of barometz, meaning "lttle
lamb" To obtain ~ the Tartars sow
in the ground a seed like that of
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.
1t grows on a stalk about three feet
in height, being. according to one YER
sion, rooted to the ground by it's four
feet, while another account raises the
whole lamb, feet and all, from the
ground on single stem, on which it is
able to turn, and also to bow itself
downwardS to the herbs on which it
feeds. 1t lives as long as there is grass
or herbage around it, but when it has
consumed all within its reach, it dies,
and Withers away. Its skin is covered
with very white down. as fine as silk
and is greatly priced by the Tartars,
who pull it off, and wear it as a cover
for the head.
Inside, it is composed of flesh and
bones, and when wounded it gives out
a liquid resembling blood. Wolves are
said to be the only animals that will
eat it, and they are very fond of it.
Specimens of this remarkable produc-
tion were looked upon as the rarest
treasures in the collections of the curl
Gus in days gone by. Two different
specimens have been described iu the
philosophical Transactions" and
third has its portrait given in an en-
craving in Darwin's Flower Garden"
and its history told in the florid verse
of that work.
The lamb" is a natural production,
greatly helped, in the development of
the particulars in which it most resem-
bles that creature, by the ingenuity of
the natives. The body Is a portion of
the creeping stem of a species of fern
which generally grows as erect as a
tree. This stem is densely covered with
beautiful, jointed silky hairs, of a 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 surface. The
fronds reach height Of twelve or four
teen feet, and have long bare stalk
before the leaf is spread out The Tar
tar takes suitable part of this creep
Ing stem for body, deprives 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 q
stump for the tail, and then, turning it
upside down, trims the stem, and so
produces this marvel of the early eX-
plorers. The fern, known to botanists
as the cibotium barometz, is native
of Eastern Asia; 1t has been introduced
into our conservatories, where 1t -four
ishes, producing, after a few years
growth good specimens Of the "lamb."
The silky hairs of this fern form a
favorite remedy among the Chinese for
checking the flow of blood by applying
them to a wound, in the same way as
felt or cobwebs are used by some peo-
| pie In this country. The more fbrous
and elastic hairs of several species of
the same group, natives of the Sand
wich Islands, are largely exported from
these islands to California and Austria
liza for stuffing cushions and for similar
purposes.-Philadelphia Times.