PRISONER'S HONEY
from the Natural History of Pliny the Elder:
"... there is another kind of honey; its effect is attributed to the flowers
called exile's rose, which are found in sacred places from Pontus to Baetica. One who consumes these
flowers departs and does not return."
[more]
"One who instead consumes the honey is translated to another
place, which is not often pleasant, and where wounds may be acquired as readily
as diseases of many kinds. But as the saying has it, the prisoner does not
choose the day of his release. Consequently in certain prisons there is an
arrangement with the guards, who will convey this prisoner's honey to those
prisoners whose family can arrange it. The prisoners eat of this wicked treat
and leave the prison behind for so long as its effects remain, returning
afterwards unfailingly to their cells. They do not eat in their absence, and so
the guards profit doubly, from the bribes of the prisoners' family and from the
sale of the food. Of the stings of the bees that harvest these flowers, I will
relate a curious story..."[less]
PRISONER'S HONEY
Stamford Raffles, first appointed Resident of Singapore, personal correspondence, 1821:
"...we have, I fear, at last determined the final cause of our poor Leopold's sad
disappearance. You will recall that I sent by the Borneo a very considerable
collection of plants and seeds for the Horticultural Society..."
[more]
"...I learn too late that the Society has identified one variety as the sinister exile's rose of the
Bosphorus. Sophia had long admired their colour and, ignorant of their nature,
we had permitted them to flourish in the gardens here about the
Government-house... ...although here they call it 'lion's rose'. Singapura is
Lion City in the Sanskrit, and the island was named for a beast supposed to have
been seen here by the Palembagnese prince who founded the ancient city. There
are of course no lions here, though many tigers. I would not mention this except
that when I dream of Leopold, as still I often do, it has always seemed to me
that there is an great cat present, the colour of sunset, which is also the
colour of the roses..."[less]