630 A. E. Verrlll— The Bermuda Islands. 



clusters around the trunk just below the leaves ; it is not very highly- 

 prized, but is sometimes cooked as a vegetable. 



The sap of this tree contains a vegetable ferment, called papain, 

 which has the power of digesting meat.* This has recently become 

 an article of commerce. It has long been known to the natives of 

 the West Indies that meat wrapped up in its leaves, or treated with 

 the juice of the fruit, would soon become tender. The leaves are 

 also popularly considered an excellent remedy for the rheumatism, 

 applied externally. 



The Fig Tree. (Ficus carica L.) 



The earliest accounts (1612) do not mention the fig as growing 

 wild on the islands, though wild figs are recorded a little later. The 

 fig tree grew so rapidly there that the wild figs referred to by 

 Governor Butler may well have been derived from seeds planted 

 there in 1609 or 1610, by Somers' men, or even from those planted 

 in 1616, by Governor Tucker. It was stated that the fig trees would 

 bear fruit the second year from planting. But it is not improbable 

 that the wild figs first noticed may have been introduced, like the 

 olive, previous to 1609, by the Spanish shipwrecks or by the pirate 

 crews. (See p. 633.) 



The fig is not native of the West Indies, but probably was intro- 

 duced there very soon after their discovery. If not already there, 

 fig trees were introduced by the Edwin, very soon after the settle- 

 ment of Bermuda. Governor Butler states that Governor Tucker, 

 in 1616, was engaged in setting out fences of figs and pomegranates. 

 They seem to have increased very rapidly, and the fruit was men- 

 tioned as abundant in 1620. The drying of figs for food is recorded 

 in 1623. 



In 1618 a public order was passed, requiring Capt. Thos. Stokes, 

 commander of King's Castle, to lay out a highway, twelve feet wide, 

 from Tucker's Town to the landing at the eastern end of the Island, 

 at Castle Point, for military purposes, in reaching the fort.f He 



* See Trans. Conn. Acad., vol. xi, pp. 1-14. Observations on the Digestion of 

 Proteids with Papain, by G. B. Mendel and F. P. Underbill. 



f Governor Lefroy thought that this order indicated that there was then land 

 connection from the point to the island, which has been since worn away by the 

 sea. But this was not the case, for Captain Stokes was also paid for the use of 

 his boat in crossing from the point to the Castle Island, which is only a short 

 distance. Moreover, Norwood's map of 1626 shows the channel as it still 

 exists. 



