In the same gulf, there is the island of Tylos,[485] covered with a forest[486] on the side which looks towards the East, where it is washed also by the sea at high tides. Each of the trees is in size as large as the fig; the blossoms are of an indescribable sweetness, and the fruit is similar in shape to a lupine, but so rough and prickly, that it is never touched by any animal. On a more elevated plateau of the same island, we find trees that bear wool, but of a different nature from those of the Seres;[487] as in these trees the leaves produce nothing at all, and, indeed, might very readily be taken for those of the vine, were it not that they are of smaller size. They bear a kind of gourd, about the size of a quince;[488] which, when arrived at maturity, bursts asunder and discloses a ball of down, from which a costly kind of linen cloth is made.
(11.) This tree is known by the name of gossypinus:[489] the smaller island of Tylos, which is ten miles distant from the larger one, produces it in even greater abundance.
CHAP. 22.—THE TREE CALLED CYNA. TREES FROM WHICH FABRICS FOR CLOTHING ARE MADE IN THE EAST.
Juba states, that about a certain shrub there grows a woolly down, from which a fabric is manufactured, preferable even to those of India. He adds, too, that certain trees of Arabia, from which vestments are made, are called cynæ, and that they have a leaf similar to that of the palm. Thus do their very trees afford clothing for the people of India. In the islands of Tylos, there is also another tree, with a blossom like the white violet[490] in appearance, though four times as large, but it is destitute of smell, a very remarkable fact in these climates.
CHAP. 23.—A COUNTRY WHERE THE TREES NEVER LOSE THEIR LEAVES.
There is also another tree similar to the preceding one, but with a thicker foliage, and a blossom like the rose. This flower shuts[491] at night, and, beginning to open towards sun-rise, appears in full blow by mid-day; the natives are in the habit of saying that in this way it goes to sleep. The same island bears also the palm, the olive, the vine, and the fig, with various other kinds of fruit. None of the trees in this island lose their leaves;[492] it is abundantly watered by cool streams, and receives the benefit of rain.
CHAP. 24.—THE VARIOUS USEFUL PRODUCTS OF TREES.
Arabia, which is in the vicinity of these islands, requires that we should make some distinction in its vegetable products, seeing that here the various parts of trees which are employed for useful purposes are the root, the branches, the bark, the juices, the gum, the wood, the shoots, the blossoms, the leaves, and the fruit.