Olfervations refpe&lng the Aya-Vana. 377 



Convinced that he fhould render an important fervice to 

 the French colonies bv introducing the aya-pana, captain 

 Baudin made every effort to obtain it. With great difficulty 

 he procnivd lotne root^, which he caufed to be conveyed on 

 board his veffel, giving orders that the grcateft care fhould 

 be taken ot tnem. When about to leave Brazil, being de- 

 firous to ice in what flate his flips of the ay -pana were, he 

 found that, unfortunately, they no longer exilied : they had 

 been entirely destroyed by fome fowls which had efcaped from 

 the hen-coop. 



Captain Baudin was much afflicted at this lofs ;.and though 

 his dvparture bad been fixed for the next day, he refolved to 

 procure the ay a- puna again, whatever it might cofl : but his 

 demands v tie not complied with, and his offers were even re 

 juied. A love of fciertee, and the defire of being ufeful to 

 his county, induced him then to pafs over certain confidera- 

 tions which, under other circumftances, might have checked 

 him. He remembered that there was a root of aya pana in 

 the window of an inuividual, which had been conftantly re- 

 fufeu 10 him : he formed the project of carrying it off in the 

 night-time. Accompanied therefore bv fome Mors he re- 

 paired to the place, and by means of long poles they threw 

 down the pot which contained the plant. Captain Baudin 

 immediately feized it, returned fpeedilv on board, and at day 

 break proceeded on his voyage, to the I fie of France. 



Scarcely had captain Baudin landed in that French colony 

 when he informed the director ol the garden of the date, that 

 he had procured this valuable plant, with which he propofed 

 to enrich the colony. As the aya-pana is eaiily propagated 

 by flips, the plant was foon multiplied; and at preleiit there 

 is fcarcely a plantation where it is not cultivated. 



1 he properties of the aya-pana, if the information com-, 

 municsted to me, and that fince tranfmitted to nadame 

 Bonaparte and C. Juffieu by captain Auguiiine Baudin him- 

 feif, can be credited, are not belied at the Ifle of France, where 

 this plant enjoys as great celebrity as in its native country. 

 The garden of government i? continually befet by di leafed 

 perfons, who come to folicit a few leaves of the y -pana to 

 cure their maladies. The colonial gazette daily contains 

 fome new proofs of its virtues ; and it is emploved with fuo* 

 cefs not onlv again ff the bite of ferpents, but alio for curing 

 the dropfy, fyphilis in its moft inveterate ft ages, and all forts 

 of wounds. 



Among the great number of cures effected at the Ifle of 

 France bv means of the ara-pana y and announced in the tz;a- 

 zette already mentioned, I iliall feled three or (oi\r, which 



will 



