of the Canella alba. IOI 
of whofe parts of fruétification he has annexed another drawing 
on the fame plate (fig. 3), though lefs accurate and diftinguifhable. 
The tree is pretty common in moft parts of the Weft-India Iflands, 
and is frequently found near the fea-coaft, but then feldom exceed- 
ing I2 or 15 feet: in the inland woods it attains a more confidera- 
. ble height. TM 
"The whole tree is very aromatic, and when in bloffom perfumes 
the whole neighbourhood. The flowers dried, and foftened again 
in warm water, have a fragrant odour, nearly approaching to that 
of mufk, The leaves have a ftrong fmell of laurel. The berries, 
after having been fome time green, turn blue, and become at laft of. 
a: black gloffy. colour, and have a faint aromatic tafte and fmell. 
They are when ripe, as well as the fruit of feveral kinds of laurel, 
very agreeable to the #7 hite-bellied and Bald- -pate Pigeons (Columba 
Famaicenfis & leucocephala), which feeding greedily upon them, acquire 
that peculiar flavour fo much admired in the places where they are 
found. 
This bark, together with the fruit of Capficum, were formerly 
common ingredients in the food and drink of the Caraibs, the an- 
cient natives of the Antilles; andeven at prefent it makes a necef- 
fary addition to the meagre pot of the Negroes. 
It is not neceflary to expatiate further upon the medicinal quali- 
ties of this bark, as it has been for ages in high repute, and occupies 
in the prefent Pharmacopoeia the room of the old bark of Winter, 
which by the London Committee was thrown out of the New 
Materia Medica, as a drug not lefs rare than hitherto imperfe&ly 
known; and there is no doubt that Canella alba may with advantage - 
be fubftituted in its room. 3 
The 
