ACOONS HORTUS JAMATCENSIS. 137 



-marble mortar and pestle, with which we beat all the junks of p-ith out, having first cut 

 it into small pieces, with knives, which we did as easily as it' they ii-id been turnips. 

 We squeezed this pith twice over, that we might obtain tbe more. We liad much more 

 liquor than the last, and it seemed to be very much thickened with sago, hut it diJlerecl 

 r.Hich in taste, being sourish like whey, without any of the sweetness of the hist, and I 

 thought it had a small touch of bitterisli. This having stood all night, on being de- 

 canted or poured carefully off the next morning, yielded not one grain of farina. 1 

 ordere:! a liltie of the ItquGr to be boded down, which r.pon tasting from time to time 

 I perceived increase in bitterness, and therefore ordered the liquor to be thrown away. 

 On my returning to Chiswic, I was told ihat-the water remaining, ;dter being jioured 

 off the sago, had been Jjolled, according to my directi(jns, till, at last, it became black, 

 bitter, and pitchy. We hail another cabbage-tree ctit dovvii, which I found was sappy 

 and heavy, and, by the size of the cabbage, judged it to he too young, but not so 

 young as the last. The juice tasted sour like the last, and yielded next morning a tri- 

 fling quantity of sago. At Lougville park I tried the pith of the small thatch tree, 

 which had a greater quantity of ligneous longitudinal fd)res, and was of a brownish co- 

 lour. This being put in a towel, and water poured thereon, the meal or farina, which 

 nvas free and unconnected, presently passed through the strainer. This 1 gave not 

 -time to settle, but directed the water to be evaporated from it over a slo\v fire ; but, ii^ 

 -the end, it became bitter, black, and pitchy, Anollier cabbage-tree cut down, ap- 

 peared to be pretty old, as I judged from the trunk. The fibres were reddish brown, 

 and all ligneous, with very little soft pith, which seemed to be in grains. This was 

 beaten well in a wooden mortar with a pestle of the same, and the liquor obtained from 

 it was not ill-tasted, of a reddish hue, and, when strained and evaporated, produced 

 a powder of the same colour. A little of this was boiled as sago with cinnamon, which, 

 being sweetened, was very tasty, but had nothing of the viscous quality of the sago. 

 From the upper trunk of the same tree I found the pith veiy succulent; and the licjuor 

 obtained from it was very sweet, like that of young maiz, as the first ; 1 know not wiiat 

 quantity of sago it yielded, nor what c|uality. Another cablxige-tree cut down seemed 

 ^ very old one, being little short of one hundred feet in length. Four jnnks from the 

 top were cut off ; the uppermost containing the most pdth, white, and \ery light, but 

 -the fibres ligneous : the othcT three jnnks continued to increase thence downward, in- 

 creasing the rigidity of the fibres, but decreasing in cjuantity of pith. The colour too 

 t receded from its whiteness to a reddish cast in fibres and pith." 



Cacao See Chocolate Nut. 

 Caccos See Water Lily. 



CACOONS, OR MAFOOTOO WYTHE. MIMOSA, 



Cl. 23, OR. 1. Polygamia mnnoecia. Nat. Oil. T.omentaceie. 



This was so named by Tournefort from miimts mutabilis, on account of the shiftino- 

 or moving qualities of tlie leaves of many of the species. 



Gen. char. Calyx a one-leafed perianth, five-toothed, very small ; corolla one 

 petal, funnel-form, half five-cleft, small ; the stamens are capillary- filaments, 

 very long, with incumbent anthers ; the pistil has an oblong germ ; filiform style 



T shorter 



