412 HORTUS JAMAICENSfS, iuvtm 



the dye is tbat is principally required, and the shorter and less laborious the process, . 

 the more useful and valuable it ought to be esteemed ; and therefore, without detract- 

 ing any thing from the merit of Mr. Macquer's'discovery^ we must presume that the 

 preparation of the jui'-e, invented by Mr. lliz, which strikes at once the perfect colour 

 with all the lustre that the dye naturally possesses, is, by reason of, its simplicity,, 

 cheapness, and facility of the process, very far superior, exclusive of its biui^ tie 

 production of a British colony, and obtainable, wiih a vast annual saving to the na- 

 tional stock of riches, and general balance of trade. 



" The juice of the fruit is probably reducible to a consistence, by exposure to the 

 air and sun, like the juice of aloes ; but the difficulty was-to fix and render it undis- 

 chargeable (without injury to the colour), from the principles of the mixture witji.^ 

 which it is combined for the dyer's purpose ; and a process to this effect constitutes 

 tlie chief merit of the discovery made by Mr. Riz." Lo)ig; p. 731. 



It is much to be regretted that Mr. Riz's ingenious discovery, noticed in the above 

 extract, still remains a secret, and is now, perhaps, for ever lost ! 



3. TUNA. 



*" Opuntia viajor spinosu caulesctns, foliis atrovirentihus longis et an- 



gust is paidiilis, Jlore rubra. Sloane, v. 2, p. 154, t. 224, f. 2, 

 N lb&N 12. Britchiatus tt articulatus, articulis oblongo ovatis 

 compressus, caudice tereto erecto ferocissimo, aculeis bracheorum 

 hievibus confertis. Browne, p. 237v 



rroliferotjs-jointed ; joints ovate-oblong; spines subulate. 



This grows a!x)ut nine feet high, and is called the great Indian fig, or upright 

 prickly pear \ it has a straight tapering stem, about six inches in diameter, very thick- 

 set with tufts, star- fashion, of whitish prickles. In trees nine feet high the stem is 

 eight feet long, and the leaves come out at top one out of another, hanging dowwards 

 towanls the ground ; they are like the leaves of the foregoing species, but of a deeper. 

 green, lonyer, and. narrower. The fruit and flowers are also similar, but smaller, and 

 of a red colour. 



4. ALATUS. WI.VGEDi- 



dpuntia non spinosa miriiina caulescens, foliis pilosis strictissimis, e 

 cr('nlsJolioriiinfrud.inn ct flonni proferens. Sloane, v. 2, p. 159. 

 Mitis minor, s-armentn Jlexili ivtundo ; Jrondibus longis compressis 

 crcvMtis, (id crenasfioridis. Browne, p. 237. 

 Stem npriiiht, compressed; branches opposite, bit'arious, compressed; spineg 

 bristle-shaped. 

 This has a round, ash-coloured, flexile stem, from which issue several leaves, which . 

 at (irst are very hairy, and grow to a foot in length, and an inch broad in the middle, 

 (iecreasing to both extremes;, liiey are of a pale green colour, have a nerve running- 

 thmugh tfieir midiilcs, and ronnd indentures on their edges, out of which proceed the 

 flower's, succeeded by small comircssed fruit. The stalk, when cleared of its succu- 

 lent parts, shewed the reticulated fibres common to plants of this kind. Sloane. 



5. PENDULUS. PENDiJLOUS. 



Viscum ramalis et foliis longis densissimis striatis et ndiatis. Sloane, 



V. 



