papa* HOltTUS JAMAICEN^IS 7 



succeeded by small fruit'* The flowers of the,icrna!e papaya also come out from be- 

 tween the leaves, towards the upper part of the plant, upon very short footstalks, sit- 

 ting, close to the stem : they are large and bell shaped, composed of six petals, 

 and are commonly yellow ; when these fall away, the germen swells to a large fleshy 

 fruit, of the size oi a small melon. These fruits arc of different for ns : some angular, 

 and compress 'I at both ends; others oval, or globular; and some pyramidal. The 

 fruit, as well as the whole plant, abounds with a milky acrid juice, which is esteemed 

 good for the ringworm ; the stem and footstalks arc- hollow in the middle; and of so 

 Boft a substance that the stroke of an axe would cm tnrough the body. The leaves are 

 used b) negroes for washing oznaburg clothes. The fruit, when ripe, has a pleasant 

 juicy flavour, and frequently eaten like musk melons, t A'hii h it is inferior in flavour, 

 w th pepper, sugar, and salt. In a green state they'mak* a ;ood pickle >)r preserve. 

 It is easily propagated by seeds aim laser-, and aln ws wild in Jamaica. The 



se ds have a sharp biting taste, much like that of n ustard, and ate said to bring away 

 worms in children. 1 lie tree lives but a Few year-, and never shoots into branches un- 

 less broken. Water impregnated wtth the miiky juice makes ail sons of meat washed 

 in it tender, but eight or ten minute s steeping will make it so sot; that ii will drop to 

 pieces from the spil before it is roasted, or turn to rags in boilirrg. If the meat be 

 rubbed with the juice, it is said Lo have the i ne effect, and for these pi rposes the 

 juice of the wild papaw, the prosoposa, has been found much mor< powerful than the 

 other. Mr. Antho.n Robinson observes, that having one daj eat heartily at dinner, he 

 took as a desert, by way of curiosity, one oi the wild papaws, and, in the space of an 

 hour, the sensation of fuliness was entirely go ic which he imputed to the quick : iges- 

 tion caused by the dissolvent nature of this fruit, lie was Informed that the Spaniards 

 used the papaya as a cure for dry belly-ache, by eating the seeds and all the pulpy p 1 1, 

 and supposed die cure was effected by its power in dissolving- the tuick viscous juice, 

 which lines the inside of the bowels in that disorder. 



The male and female trees may be propagated by layers. They grow wild in most 

 parts of tne island. Tne long mango papaw makes a pickle little interior to the F^st 

 India mango. The rounder fruit, when ripe, is boiled and eaten with a y ki'id of 

 fleali meat, and is looked upon as perfectly wholesome ; but eaten raw it contains an 

 acrid juice, very injurious to the intestines ; and so penetrating is this fluid in. the 

 green unriptWruit, that, boiled with the hardest salt meat, it will render it perfectly 

 soft and tender, t It is said to cause the like effect on hogs, wiio, if fed with it for any 

 considerable time, are subject to have their guts excoriated with its acrimony. 



The green fruit, thoroughly boiled, squeezed, and dulcified, with a little sugar and 

 lemon juice, is frequent!) used as a substitute for apples in sauce and tarts, and re- 

 sembles them so exactly in tast as scarcely to be distinguished. 



The negroes are possessed with an opinion of the good or bad qualities of particular 

 trees, when planted near any habitation, as to the effects their neighbourhood may oc- 

 casion to the inhabitants. This opinion seems to be well founded ; for as trees, (espe- 

 cially in this climate) have a very extensive atmosphere, and diffuse a fragrant or disa- 

 greeable 



There have been instances of male anJ female flowers produced on one plant. Dr. Hill mentions having 

 Been this in Loi-f! Pctres stoTe in England. Dr. Mart} n notices that there is frequently small fn; t en the 

 male trees, and the .teas from the female fruit of lives, that had'no male trees in the stove with them, grew 

 a? weil as any other. 



< To tkUact the corrosive juice they should tie soaned for some time in salt and water. 



