pursued my way towards the East, and, after walking- three 

 hours, found myself in an immense plain. The only inha- 

 bited part, that I could see, consisted of a small village. A 

 rill of clear, pure, and well-tasted water, proceeding from 

 the summit of an adjacent mountain, traversed this village, 

 and diffusing itself over the plain, increased its fertility. 

 Wide fields were enamelled with flowers, whose varied hues 

 and sweet perfume delighted alike the eye and scent. It 

 were difficult for imagination to conceive a sweeter abode, 

 and the inhabitants received me so kindly, and offered me 

 so many marks of friendship, that, attracted also by the 

 simplicity of their manners, I staid for some time in this 

 happy spot. I investigated the productions of its fertile 

 soil and gathered several plants, which sufficed to confer 

 upon me the reputation of a skilful physician in the opinion 

 of the inhabitants, who, fond of life, as all men are, and cre- 

 dulous as to the means of prolonging it, quickly brought 

 me their sick, and begged for medicines. Of these I order- 

 ed but few ; but enquired what they were themselves in the 

 habit of using, and found that the number of their remedies 

 was small, their Pharmacopeia consisting of the seeds of 

 Jambouk-medica*, with the oil extracted from the same 

 fruit, and of Sapotta negro. They bruise the seeds and 

 fruit of the Sapotta, and, mixing them with the oil, com- 

 pose a kind of liniment, with which they rub their wounds, 

 or that part of the body which is the seat of the pain." 



The fruit-bearing plant at His Grace the Duke of North- 

 umberland's, is about ten feet high. Its flowers are pro- 

 duced copiously in the autumnal months, and the fruit 

 ripens in April of the following year. 



Descr. A tall, handsome shrub, with numerous, spread- 

 ing, smooth branches and copious evergreen foliage. The 

 leaves are alternate and bifarious, petiolated, oblong-lance- 

 olate, subcoriaceous, six to eight inches long, glabrous, 

 entire, penninerved, rather obtuse at the point, attenuated 

 at the base. Petiole scarcely an inch long. Peduncles very 

 short, axillary; those producing male-blossoms many-flow- 

 ered ; those with perfect blossoms, single-flowered. Calyx 

 ample, large, cut into five, deep, ovate laciniaB, whose mar- 

 gins and sinuses are revolute, externally slightly silky. 



Corolla 



* The Jambouk-Medic A is the Tacamoka of the Isle of France, and is 

 common at Madagascar, where the natives call it Foura, and also employ u 

 in most of their remedies. Sonnerat. 



