. 
sad 
106 = ‘The Natural Hifory of Jamaica. * 
Pee Ne ar ee 
rn 
and eaten whilft hot. -Many forts of Cakes are made of it, the Bread will 
not kecp paft two or three days, growing mufty, and fpoiling the Teeth. 
A Drink is made of it, and its Flour corrects ftinking warer. All which he 
knew, having cultivated it twenty years. ‘J Jb 
The Juice of the Stalks or top affords a kind of Honey or Sugar, arid 
they with the Leaves afford a fuftenance for Cattle, and materials for Judian 
Baskets. The Jzdians made intoxicating Drinks of this at Afexéco, and 
other parts, before the Europeans knew them. ‘This Grain was tratsfplanred 
from Brafile to St. Thomas by the Portuguef?, and from thence to Guinea. 
It is be{t preferv’d fom Weavils in its Husk. 
It is now ufed many ways, Rofted before it be quite ripe, Raw made into 
Meal, into Cakes, or Boil’d, madeinto Mault or otherwife for Drink. 
Fo. dos Santos a PPortnenefe Writer tells us how about Sofala they make it 
into both Meat and Drink.’ But ‘tis agreed upon that it affords very little 
Nourifiment,’and it hurts the Teeth, fo that it ‘is feldom now ufed bur by 
Slaves, and as Food for Horfes, Cattle, and Poultry, for upon it they 
‘thrive very much. Formerly /Zariot tells us ont Man’s Labour in a day, in 
twenty five Yards Square of Ground fed a Man fora year. : 
V. Gramencininum miritimum {picatim quartwn’CiB. Cat.p.29.  Granitn 
caninum fpitatum foliis trevibus maritimum, Bob: hiff. Ox. part. 3. p.178. An 
Gramen caninum maritimum [picatum foliis angnftis longioribns. Ejufd. ib’ 2 
I could not obferve any difference between this Grafs defcrib’d by Ca/par 
:Byabine, and that here, it being only alittle larger, wwhich T'take to be a vie 
-fiety from the Soil. : nH : 
oivit grew! every where *byy the: Sea‘ fide, creeping-very fat, and covering: 
see | ers. 
large pieces of Ground. 
=i fhe Vertues:are the fame with thofe of the Gramen caninum. Park. 
eo Vib: Gramen- [pica brizie fingulari, locuftis majoribus; villofis; purpurafeentilns. 
Cat. p. 30 Tab. 64: Fig. t.°' 
7o"This-hasfome {mall fibrous Robts.ftem whence rifes 4 frequently. genict- 
lated comprefs'd. Culmusoupwards' of itwo*Foot high. Jt-has hard,’ yellowith 
gteen coloured, narrow, inineInches long Leaves," upto the top'of the Stalk, 
out of the 4/eof whiclrgo:Branches, on the tops of ‘which flands' one coni- 
refs'd Spike “of ‘about three quarters‘of an Inch long, made up of large, 
yellow Chaff, hairy atthe énd, about fix or feven Locuffe,. prerty large, being 
plac’d on each fide'of the Spike, fomething like thofe of the Gramen (pica bri=2 
moajus C. Bi prods only the Glume or locufle are larger, hairy, and there is but 
ore Spike onthe top of seach Branch; whichas well-as the reft'of the Plant, 
is inclining to a purple or'réd colour. 292 \< - OVOS 3 
colt grows in the Savanaas g efpeciallythofe about Seven Plantations: 
NAW Gramen paniceummuximum, fpita divifa, ariflis: armatitn® Cat. p30. 
Panicum ouleare, {pica mulriplici, longis ariftis Circumuallata. Tonracf. El. p 4x6, 
Mofepesgy 62.8 Séotth Gralgyo. coogi ner ah ! 
‘The Stalk ‘or Culvaus® of ‘this rifes Rraight wp “about ‘four or: five Foot 
high, being fometimes branched, and: having feveral protuberant Joints;-the 
faternedium, or {pace. between them, being fix Inches in length ¢ it is as thick 
as‘ones Finger; Jand is impart filled with aiwhite fpungy Subftance, at every 
Joint is an® arundinaceous’ Leaf, taking‘its beginning from the Jower, and 
covering the saternodium to the next Joint,“ and there ftands out a’ praffie Leaf 
a Foot long; !and-an Inch broad at ’thesbeginning, whence it tapers to the 
end. ‘The topor Spike is a’Foot long; and is divided into feveral Spikes, ‘a- 
bout an Inch and an‘halfelong, each of which has @ great many Seeds fer = 
the 
