i84 



which, together with the coconut, forms the chief source of food 

 supply of the coral islanders. 



Ferdinand de Quiros, who sailed as chief pilot with Mendana in 

 I595> when that adventurer attempted to colonize his islands of 

 Solomon which he had discovered over a quarter of a century be- 

 fore, noted the breadfruit growing on the island of Santa Chris- 

 tina or Tauta in the Marquesas group. This group of islands was 

 first made known to Europeans through this expedition, and in the 

 harbour of Madre de Dios, Quiros observed the natives and made 

 notes on their food supplies, the following being the first account 

 of the fruit which can be identified with certainty : 



"A fruit growing on large trees, each fruit about the size of a 

 large pine-apple. It is a very good fruit. I have eaten much of it 

 green, roasted and boiled, and ripe. It is so sweet and good a 

 fruit that, in my opinion, there is none superior, having nothing to 

 throw away but a little shell." * 



A letter from Quiros to Don Antonio de Morga, Lt. -General of 

 the Philippines, is the principal source of information regarding 

 this voyage upon which the Spanish chroniclers draw for their lead- 

 ing facts, Figueroa, however, seems to have talked with com- 

 panions of Quiros and Mendana, as on particular points he is con- 

 siderably more detailed, but unfortunately for the history of this 

 voyage only a fragment of his work is to be found. His version 

 is as follows : 



" The trees, mentioned to be in the square, yield a certain fruit 

 which comes to be like the head of a boy, whose colour, when ripe 

 is a clear green, and extremely green when unripe ; the outside 

 appears with cross rays, like the pine-apple ; the figure is not quite 

 round, it is somewhat narrower at the point than at the foot ;t 

 from hence grows a core, which reaches to the middle, and from 

 this core a web. It has no stone or kernel, not anything useless, 

 except the outside, and it is thin, the rest is one mass, with little 

 juice when ripe, and less when green. Much were eaten in every 

 way. It is so delicious that they called it blaiic manger. It was 

 found to be wholesome and very nourishing. The leaves of its 

 trees are large and very jagged, in the manner of papays." 



A search through the later literature of Spanish travel would no 

 doubt bring to light many interesting historical references, but with 

 the beginnings of English naval supremacy in the Elizabethan era 

 her navigators began to play a more important part in the work of 

 exploring the Pacific, and to them the later developments in the 

 history of the breadfruit can largely be traced. The first English- 

 man to report the fruit was Captain Wm. Dampier, who in 1 686 



*A. Dalrymple, " Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the 

 South Pacific Ocean;" Vol. 1. p. 70 London, 1770. 



fThis peculiar ob-pyriform fruit is figured by Captain David Porter, of naval 

 fame, who visited these islands in 1814, during the war of the States with England, 

 in the ship Essex, afterw irds lost in Valparaiso Harbour The coincidence of re- 

 semblance in form is striking and goes far toward proving the accuracy of the old 

 chronicler. 



