410 HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. m7>uw 



])<o?^aiU taste, Imt should be eaten sparingly, as it is apt to I)incr tlie body. If one of 

 UK- tiift:; of prickles be cut off, and the largest licld by llie point before the inoutli, 

 with :! sufldcn blast of brealb, the small downy ])ricldes about its root will be sent off,. 

 r, 'j lighting (Ml any one jie;;:-; will even work their way through the elothes to the- 

 suil;, toi'meating tieavly as iiuich as cowitch. Sloaiic, isc. 



2. COeilRXIUFIT.R. COCHINEAIj. 



Opinilia viaxima, folio ohlongo rotundo majore, sjiiiuilis ohfusis, i)tol~ 

 libiis (7 ill jioct'u films ohsilo, fiore striis nihris varfci^iifo. Sloane, 

 V. 2, p. 152. Bracifialiis at articutatus suhiitermis major, articidls 

 ohlmtiiis ct Icnifer roDipressin. Browne, p. 237. 

 Proliforoiis-jcinteil ; joints ovate-oblong, almost unarmed.. 



This, which i.s supposed to be the sort on which the cochineal insect feeds, i . in all. 

 respects similar to the former; but it grows higher, eight cr nine feet from the ground, 

 and all its i)ar;s pro[)ortionately larger. This lias no jirickles, but, instead of them,, 

 small oblong protulK'i'aiices. The llowcrs are streaked wiih red or purpje. Tlie fol-- 

 lowing observations^ on the abo^e twospecies of I'actus, are from Long's History of 

 Janjaica : 



" There are several varieties of this ])lant in .Tamaica; but the s])ecies I shall parti- 

 cularly refer to, are ^vhat is called the prickly/ pear, vvitli broad fleshy leaves, dotted 

 vith spikes; and the cochineal ('(.-(//w, whose ie;'.ves- are larger, more succulent, and- 

 fVi e from spikes. The former sort is abundant in all the south-side ]>arts of the island, 

 growing in dry, hot, rocky, situations, and in very sleiile soils ; the other seems not 

 to be a native, and requires a better soil ; but although this is probably the INIexicaa 

 plant, called bv some opuntia maxima,^- it is certain that the cochineal is found upoi>. 

 l)oth species indiil'erentl}-. It is well known that diese plants bear a succulent fruit or. 

 beny at the extremities of their leaves, filled with a j aice of a delicate red colour, and. 

 agreeable taste. This juice is the natural food of the cochineal insect, which owes to 

 it tlie value aad property it possesses as a dye in some ol our principal nianufacrures. 

 The cxuvire and animal salts of the insect are, from the minuteness of its [nu'ts^ inse- 

 perable from J;he essential principles of the dye ; whence it fodows, that such a hete-- 

 rogeneous mixture mtist necessarily destroy the brilliancy of cohnir inherent to the- 

 ^uice of this I'niit; and that die juice itselt, which alone contains the dying principle, 

 must, if unmixed and brought to consistence, yield a ti'ue jxirfect colour, lively and 

 brilliant, as we find it m its natural stale. 



" Upon this hypothesis, Mr. David lliz, an ingenious gentlsman of Kingston, in. 

 this island, proceeded in several experiments,, to obtain fnjin die ])lant- artificiallv, 

 what nature acci)mi)lished. in the insect, and at lengdi happily succi>eded by inspissat- 

 ing the juice ; but the means he used are not yet communicated to the public. En- 

 coiu'agetl b\- this discovery, he wi'nt to England with seventy-six processes, diticrentlv 

 iiKuiufactured, to try which would answer best as a substitute to die cochineal. Aiter 



" X<itliov tlic Iciif nor fiiiit of tliis spcrits li;ivr any p^o^^Ip. Tlic flowers aie of a very boantifiil tc\ or 

 crinisiiii. Tlii.s is pciiiM-.illy ciillici tlie true cncli'ti:'. phiiif. Tlie insert that fecil* upos it Is of ;i silvery e- 

 Innr, larger, more p!innj>. iiU'I yit'Uls a irrrater qn^ntity of the <lye. Tlie <!it]'ei-cnee in point of "goodness, ob- 

 servable ill tlie eoeliiiieisl, .is entirely owiii;; to tlic plant it fcoil.s upon. The priekly plants, so ahiniilant in 

 Juniaiea, arc eovereil with the same species ot* insect; l)nt, not bcin;; the proper foo.l for it, ^ve iiml it iu. 

 general iliminiitive, liavinu %eiv lit<tle red ti letiire in its hoiiy. I have scca sevctil of tlie true COcUiiieal 

 plauts, growing iu Lungville Gaideu, in the parisU at" Claifudon. . 



