224 IfORTUS JAMAICE NSIS. tmiabdw 



oblong, versatile : germ sabre-shaped, bowed, three-cornered ; legume one-celled, 

 containing from three to six seeds. Linneus placed this tree in the class triandria, but 

 later botanists have more properly assigned it that of monadelphia. The timber 

 of the tamarind, although it is a tree of quick growth, is heavy, firm, and hard, 

 and may be converted into many useful parts of building The fruit is used 

 bo in foo and medicine; the ulp is connect 1 to the seeds by numerous 

 toi strings; as a medicine, Dr. Gqllen was of opinion that it is best pre- 



ser i,i the pods, The use of this fruit was first learned from the Arabians, 



i; contains a larger proportion of acid with saccharine matter, than is usually 

 ' in the acid dulcet fruits, an 1 is therefore nut only employed as a laxa- 



tive, but also for abating thirst and heat in various inflammatory complaints, and for 

 correcting putrid disorders, especially those if a bilious kind ; in which the cathartic, 

 ant: Frisjerant qualities of the fruit have been found equally useful. When 



. ,a axative it may be of advantage to join it with manna, or purgatives 

 of a sweet ki id, b liich its use is rendered safer and more effectual. Three drachm* 

 of . ; . pulp are usn illy sufficient to open the body ; but, to prove moderately cathartic, 

 one or two ounces are require I. The leaves are sometimes used i:i sub-acid infusions j 

 and \ unassays, a decoction of them kills the worms in children The fruit is fre- 

 qu ""'. made an ingredient in punch, and seldom fails to open the body; mixed with 

 a lecoction of borrage it is reputed excellent in allaying heat of urine, proceeding 

 fr >m a venereal cause. A good vinegar may be made from the fruit ; a very agreeable 

 cooling rink is made by simply mixing water with a few spoonfuls of it when preserved. 



This tree is exceedingly common in Jamaica, grows to a vast bulk, and thrives well 

 in the savanna lands, but best in deep, rich, brick, mould. 



The fruit, or pods, are gathered in June, July, and August, attaining sooner to ma- 

 tu tj in some parts than in others. The usual method of preparing the fruit for ex- 

 portation is as follows: .Tne pods are gathered when full ripe, which is known by their 

 fragility, or easy breaking on a small pressure, between the finger and thumb. The 

 fruit taken out ol the pod, an ! cleared from the shelly fragments i-, placed in lay* rs, 

 in a cask, and the boiling syrup from the teacke or first copper in the boiling house, just 

 before it begins to granulate, is poured in, till the cask is filled; the syrup pervades 

 every part quite to the bottom, and, when cool, the cask is headed for sale. The moie 

 elegant method is, with sugar well clarified with eggs, till a clear transparent syrup is 

 ned, which gives the fruit a much pleasanter fl ivour. 



The East-India tamarind differs not from that of the West-Indies, but the pulp of 

 the fruit is preserved without sugar, and exported to Europe in tins form, which is 

 better adapte I for an ingredient in medicinal compositions. 



The dut\ payable in Great- Britain upon the sugar preserved tamarind is so high, 

 that it cannot answer as a remittance ; but, if sent as a drug, that is, the pulp carefully 

 separated from the seeds, put in jars and we!; covered from the air by a covering of 

 oiled paper, and waxed cloth, it might be a profitable article of remittance. The pulp 

 winhl possibly be better secured from mouldiness, by giving it a gentle heatin an oven, 

 bv which the cinder parts may be evaporated, and die \ irtue of what remains not in the 

 least diminished Long, p. 7J9. 



A better mode than the usual of preparing preserved tamarinds is to put alternate 

 layers of tamarinds and pqwdered sugar in a stone jar; In this means the tamarinds 

 preserve their coloulc and taste tr f, re agreeably. The seeds too, of tamarinds thus pre- 

 pared^ 



