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wife they will not thrive. They require alfo to be 

 lliadcd from the fun by trees, fo that if thefe are 

 planted at the foot of the Hernandia, or Jack-in-a- 

 box, whofe leaves are very large and afford a good 

 fhade, they will fuccccd better than when they are ex- 

 pofed in fingle pots alone ; and as thefe plants require 

 the fame degree of heat in v>'inter, they will agree well 



together. 



When thefe plants are defigned for propagation in the 

 warm parts of America, there is nothing more re- 

 quired than to make cuttings of about three or four 

 joints in length, which fhould be planted clofe to the 

 Hems of trees, in low marfliy places •, and to keep 

 down other troublefome plants, which, if permitted to 

 grow about the cuttings before they are well rooted, 

 would overbear and deitroy them ^ but after they are 

 eflablifiied, and have faftened their flioots to the ftems 

 of the trees, they are not in much danger of being 

 injured by neighbouring plants, and when the ground 

 is kept clear from weeds, the plants will be much 

 better nouriflicd. 



Thefe plants do not produce flowers until they are 

 grown llrong, fo that the inhabitants affirm. That it 

 is fix or feven years from the planting to the time of 

 their bearing fruit \ but when they begin to flower and 

 fruit, they continue for feveral years bearing, and this 

 without any culture •, and as it is a commodity which 

 beaKs a good price, it is well worth cultivating in fe- 

 veral of the Englifh fettlements, efpecially as they will 

 grov/ on moift v/oody places, where the land is not 



cleared from timber. 



The method ufed to preparethefruit is, when it turns 

 of a yellow colour, and begins to open, to gather it, 

 and lay it in fmall heaps to ferment two or three days, 

 in the fame manner as is praclifed for the Cocoa or 

 Chocolate pods -, then they fpread them in the fun to 

 dry, and when they are about half dried, they flat 

 them with their hands, and afterwards rub them over 

 with the oil of Palma Chrifti, or of the Cocoa ; then 

 they expofe them to the fun again to dry, and ^after- 

 ward they rub them over with oil a fecond time, then 

 they put them in fmall bundles, covering them with 

 .the leaves of the Indian Reed, to preferve them. 

 '_ Thefe plants produce but one crop of fruit in a year, 

 ^which is commonly ripe in May, fit for gathering, 

 for they do not let them remain on the plants to be 

 perfeftly mature, becaufe then they are not fo fit for 

 ufe ; but when they are about half changed yellow, . 

 they efteem them better for keeping, than when they 

 are changed to a dark brown colour, at which time 

 the fruit fplits, and fhcws a great quantity of fmall 

 feeds, which are inclofed within it. While the fruit is 



ii; affords no remarkable fcent, but as it ripens, 



When the 



' • 



4-- 

 i- 





green, 



it emits a moft grateful aromatic odour. 



fruit begins to open, the birds attack them and devour 



all the feeds very greedily, but do not eat any other 





- ,* - 



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part of the fruit. 



The fruit which are brougKt to Europe, are of a dark 



brown colour, about fix inches lono;, and fcarce an 



-w' 



+ 



I 



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u 



- % 



inch broad ; they are wrinkled on the outfide, and 

 full of a vaft number of black feeds, like grains of 

 fand, of a pleafant fmell, like Balfam of Peru. 

 The fruit is only ufed in England as an ingredient in 

 Chocolate, to which it gives a pleafant flavoiir to fome 

 palates, but to others it is very difagreeable ; but the 

 Spanifh phyficians in America ufe it in medicine, and 

 efteem it grateful to the ftomach and brain, for ex- 

 pelling of wind, to provoke urine, to refill poifon, 

 and cure the bite of venomous animals. 

 'As this plant is fo eafily propagated by cuttings, it is 

 very ftrange that the inhabitants of America Ihould 

 negled to cultivate it, efpecially as it is an ingredient 

 in their Chocolate, which is fo much drank all over 

 America; but as the Englifli have in a manner quite 

 negle^fled the culture of the Cocoa, it is no wonder 

 they fhould neglect this, fince the former was culti- 

 vated in great plenty by the Spaniards in Jamaica, 

 while that ifland remained in their poffeffion, fo that 

 the Englifli had art example before them, if they 



would have followed it ; whereas the Vanilla was not 



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fband g;t^Ain<>; there, and iherefure 1; 1^ nor i^ b 



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poled, that the perfoiiS who wne fo iii.Ui-u a, i.) 

 quit the culture of nuiny vaUi;.ble i-I.ku:: i\w.\ -r'K.'.r.- 

 on the fpot, fliould be at die iroiible o/ \\\ivi:,,:,\i^ 

 any new one:^. 



VAPOR I FERGUS fi-niac. cauHng orp.oj.ic:;:^ 

 vapours. 



V A P O U R is by fome deHncd to be a thin veficl- of 

 \vater, or other humid matter, filled or inllated with 

 air, which, being rareHed to a certain deo;ree by the 

 aflion of heat, afcends to a certain heif^hr in the at- 

 mofphere, where it is fufpended till it rcuirns in fonn 

 of rain, fnow, or the like. 



Some ufe the term Vapour indifrerently for all fume 



1 Op 



bod 



kind, or from dry bodies, as fulpliur, &c. but Si'i 

 Ifaac Newton, and other authors, better diilin 



VfUiVa 



between humid and dry fumes, callincr the latte'r ex- 



halations. 



VAPOURS are defined by naturalifts to be thofc 

 watery particIes^ which are fevered from others by tlie 

 motion of the air, and are carried about in it feveral 

 ways according as the wind, or warmnefs of the air 

 ferves ; they rife out of the fea, rivers, lakes, and 

 other waters. 



As to their hanging in the air, we may obferve, in a 

 hot day, when there is no wind ftirring, fuch a com- 

 pany of Vapours to rife outof moift ground, as nuikc 

 thick fogs, which are fomctimes higher, and lonie- 

 times lovvcr, as the multitude and motion of the Va- 

 pours happen to be. They are to be feen as well up- 

 on hi^rh c;rounds as low. 



They are eafily dilnpated by the wind, and particu- 

 larly if it be a drying wind. 



The fun has the fame effeft upon them, and we, com- 

 monly fee, when there are thick fogs about fun rifino-, 

 they difappear a little after it is up. 

 It is evident that fogs confift of aqueous particles ra- 

 refied, becaufe they mightily bedew every thiny- that 



•_ lies op'en to them. Thefe particles, being foundly 

 moved, muft needs fly aloft into the air, but if then- 

 motion be fomething faint, they play about the furfa-^e 

 of the earth ; for this js agreeable to the Jaws of mo- 

 tion, that fuch things as are about the globe of the 



^ earth, the more they are moved, the mere thev re- 



■ "cetfe from tlie center of the earth. 

 '^1 Again, thefe fogs arife out of all places, mountain- 

 ous or champaign, and continue till they are difpell- 

 ed by wind or heat •, but they continue lon^cfi; in the 

 loweit grounds, becaufe thofe places are'fulleft of 

 moifture, and are not fo much expofed to the wind- , 

 but wherever they be when the wind rifes upon diem^ 

 they are difllpated and driven about, till we fee no 

 more of them. 

 So in like manner, the heat of the "fun, by puttino- 



s; 



# ■ _ _ _ fc^^^ 



them into a briflicr motion, either dlfilpates them by 

 rarefa6tion, or raifes them higher, and forms them 

 into clouds. - . 



And whereas fometimes the fogs flink, it is not be- 

 caufe they come from (linking water, but becaufe the 

 Vapours are mixed with fulphureous exhalations 

 which fmell fo. Perhaps thefe exhalations would fiy 



. up direftly to the clouds, if there were no fogs to hold 



. them, and fo would not affe£l the fcnfe of fmellin^ ; 



.but when they are once entangled and blended wiilv 



. the fog, they laftas long as that docs. 

 The clouds are higher than the ibgs ; they hang in 

 the air, and are carried about in it by the winds. Tlie 

 clouds are of various figures, and fometimes fo thin, 

 that the rays of the fun pafs through them, but ac 

 other times they are thick enough to intercept an^l 

 obftruft them ; they alfo appear of feveral colours, as 

 white, red, and fometimes very dark. 

 The thicknefs of the clouds proceeds from the clofe- 

 nefs of the vaporous particles one to another, and tlieir 

 thinnefs from the diftance of thofe particles onefrcm 

 another, of which there are feveral caufcs. When they 

 are very thin, they leave fo many interiticcs, that the 

 rays of the fun dart through theirT in many plac-es, but 



are intercepted in others. 



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