Rar OES 
a 
The Natural Hiftory of JAMAICA 
j 
oliorum comes the Fruit, at firft about the Bienefs i P, 
but afterwards as big as the Capréficus; they ape ricer aS 
round, green on the outfide, and are withia full of red Grains or Sede 
i Sei i Figs, pu they are ofan infipid Tafte, : 
ne whole Lree and Fruit, inevery Part, when br is mi 
yields a wheyifh Juice. : broken; is milky, or 
’Tis very frequent to fee thefe Trees creep up any other old Tree 
and to take hold of it, fqueezing it. by various Anaftomofes, till it pulls 
it down and confumes it, throwing down from its Branches a great many 
long, ftraight, round Threads or Filaments, of a greenifh brown Colour 
about theold Tree, which in Time increafe. much bigger, uniting among 
themfelves and fticking to the other Parts of the Tree, whence the Wood 
becomes hollow, when the Tree falls, and. they themfelves fail, falling 
down and difturbing Travellers in the Paths thro’ the Woods, the Top 
of the Tree in fuch a Cafe becoming a Roos. 
uintus Curtivs makes mention of one Sort of this in his Ninth Book, 
Pliny in his Twelfth Book, Chap. V. and Strabo in his Fifth Book; but 
a gah to be larger than that there defcrib’d by them, or Theo- 
braftus. : ai 
a : to be met with in barren rocky Grounds thro’ all Places of the 
Ifland. | | 
There are large Trees naturally in Dominica, delighting fu much ia 
Equality and Multiplication, that having grown to a definite Stature, with- 
out Defire of over-topping others, they willingly let down their Boughs, 
which being come to the Earth, again take’ Root, as it were to, con- 
tinue the Succeffion of their decaying Progenitors. In the Skirts of 
their Country unpaffably woody; a natural Defence is left fo. Layfield 
ap. Purchas, lib. 4. p. 1158. By this Paflage muft be meant this Fig- 
Tree, or, the Mangrove-Tree before defcribed. 
-» Another Sort of Withes we have but they are made of the Gum of 
Trees, which falls from the Boughs Drop atter Drop, one hanging by 
another, till they touch the Ground ; from which they receive fome Nou- 
rifhment, which gives them Power to grow larger, and if it hapens that 
three or four of them come down {fo near to one another as to touch, 
and the Wind twift them together, they appear fo like Ropes that it 
cannot be difcerned five Paces off whether it be a. Rope or a Withe, 
Ge. Ligon. p.98. | | 
Wild-Fig-Trees were taken Notice of by Sméth’sObfl. p. 5,6. in Bara 
bados. . ; 
Trees growing in a Number of Roots which defcend from the Top 
of the Branches, which are forty or fifty Foor high, and take Root 
again, fo that the Tree fheweth like a Woodltack, of Milward p. 525. 
bib. 4. Cap. 14. | i 
Pyrard, p. 3. p. 21. faw this Tree in the Maldives. A 
And Kyivet, ap. Purchas, lib. 6. cap. 7. §s 2, po 1026: at St. Sebafians in 
Brajile, dio silt es ofbb 
Il. Ficus Indica maxima, cortice candicante, folio oblonga. Cat, Fam. p. 189. 
Raz. Hift. Vol. 3. Dendr. p. 16. 
There is a Sort of this Fig-Tree differing from that before defcrib’d, 
in the Bark, which is of a lighter Colour, being almoft. white, 
growing as high, and feemingly the fame in every thing, altho’ J 
cannot be pofitive that ever I faw it ftrike down ‘Threads as the 
former. : 4 
e 
