236 'THE Pl.AN'r WORtD 



radish tree" (^Moriyiga pterygosperma),\v&x^ called "Marunggai." In 

 the East Indies its tender young leaves and young pods are eaten like 

 greens or string beans. Its ripe seeds yield the ben-oil of commerce. 

 The first time I ever saw this tree was during a cruise on the Central 

 American coast. At Corinto, Nicaragua, there was a row of the trees 

 along the water front, which the natives kept trimmed pretty closely, 

 feeding the branches to horses and cattle, which seem to be very fond of 

 them. The roots are often used for horse-radish, but they are inferior 

 to the genuine horse-radish in flavor. 



Another introduced tree is the "Papaya" iCarica papaya). The 

 fruit of the Guam tree is not so large as that grown in Samoa. It has 

 always seemed strange to me that it was introduced into Samoa under 

 an assumed name. The natives there call it "Mummy-apple," a name 

 intended for " Mammee-apple," which is correctly applied to the fruit 

 of Mammea americaJia, a tree belonging to the Guttiferae, and allied 

 to the genus Calophyllum to which the "Palo Maria" of this island 

 belongs. The Papaya is a graceful tree, with the habit of growth of a 

 palm. Its straight, slender, fleshy trunk bears a crown of large pal- 

 mately-lobed leaves with long petioles. (See plate.) The staminate and 

 pistillate flowers are borne on separate trees, though occasionally trees are 

 found with hermaphrodite flowers. These bear fruit on long pedicels, while 

 the ordinary fruitof the female flowers is sessile. The fruit is melon-shaped. 

 A remarkable feature of this tree is that if the milky juice of the unripe 

 fruit or of the leaves be rubbed on meat it will make it tender. By 

 experiment it has been found that this juice is more efficacious than 

 pepsin in dissolving albumen and muscular fibre ; and from the half-ripe 

 fruits a proteolytic ferment has been derived called ' ' papain, ' ' which differs 

 from pepsin in that its action on proteids goes on in neutral or alkaline 

 solutions as well as in acid solutions. The natives recognize the difference 

 in the staminate and pistillate trees, calling the former ' * macho ' ' and the 

 latter "hembra." 



Complaints having been recently made that certain natives were tres- 

 passing upon pasture lands belonging to Don Vicente Herrero and Don 

 Justo Dungca, I examined into the matter and found that both Don 

 Vicente and Don Justo have large tracts granted for grazing purposes. 

 Don Vicente has an area of sixteen square miles, and I do not know how 

 large Don Justo 's tract is. I have been informed that their herds of 

 cattle are very small. It seems a pity that they should refuse to sell a 

 hectare or two to men anxious to utilize it for agricultural purposes. 

 Some of the natives have complained that when declarations were made 

 with a view of obtaining possessory titles to property, ranchos have been 

 included, in some cases, which have been occupied for many years by 

 the families now living upon them. It seems to me that if a tax be 



