144 THE CHIRIMOYA. [1839. 



of every variety are raised on the coast, and in the woody 

 districts. 



Of figs there are two kinds, — the higos and the brevas. 

 The pulp of the former is red, and that of the latter white. 

 Fig-trees grow wild in every section of the country. No one 

 thinks of drying the fruit, as the almost perpetual summer 

 furnishes a constant succession of figs. The mulberry tree 

 also flourishes without cultivation, but its fruit is so little 

 esteemed in comparison with others more tempting to the 

 appetite, that the birds are left to enjoy it with impunity. 

 Quinces are rare on the coast, but are plentiful in the que- 

 bradas. Among the other fruits are the patta, resembling 

 the pear in shape, which dissolves like butter on the tongue, 

 and has a not unpleasant bitter taste ; the tuna, the product 

 of different varieties of cactus, which is almost the only indi- 

 genous fruit in the Sierra ; the pacay, a white, soft and flaky 

 substance, contained in the seed pods of the prosopis dulcis, 

 which is extremely sweet; the lucuma, a dry, fibrous, yel- 

 low-colored fruit, inclosed with its kernel in a gray-brown 

 husk; the pepino, or Peruvian cucumber, a fruit produced 

 by a small plant grown in the fields, the pulp of which is 

 solid, juicy, and highly-flavored ; and the mani, or earth 

 almond, an oily kernel contained in a shrivelled husk, which 

 is roasted and crushed, and then eaten with sugar. 



Pine-apples are not much cultivated on the coast. They 

 were formerly brought to Lima, in considerable abundance, 

 from the Montana de Vitoc; but since the era of steam navi- 

 gation on the Pacific coast, they have been brought, in much 

 less time, from Guayaquil, and, consequently, they are gra- 

 in lly allowed to ripen before being cut. Cocoa palms are 

 tolerably abundant in the northern provinces, and the date 

 palm grows excellently well about Yea at the south. 



But the just pride and boast of the Peruvian, is the chiri- 

 moya ; beyond question excelling all other tropical fruits in 

 the delicacy of its flavor. The tree which produces this rich 

 fruit is from fifteen to twenty feet high, and has a broad flat 

 top. Its foliage is of a pale green color. In Lima and its 



