i87 



"At length their wishes have been happily gratifiedjby the per- 

 severing attention of Captain William Bligh, assisted by those in- 

 genious botanists Mr. William Wiles and Mr. Christopher Smith, 

 whose names on this occasion ought also to be recorded, and the 

 Western world put in possession of what will hereafter secure to 

 that part of the globe an inexhaustible fund of good, palatable, 



and wholesome food."* 



Bryan Edwards, the historian of the West Indies, had remarka- 

 ble ideas of its utility, very interesting in the light of its subsequent 

 history in those islands : "The cultivation of these valuable exotics 

 will, without doubt, in a course of years, lessen the dependence of 

 the sugar islands on North America for food and necessaries ; and 

 not only supply subsistence for future generations, but probably 

 furnish fresh incitements to industry, new improvements in the arts, 

 and new subjects of commerce." 



As an illustration of carelessness in the treatment of the history of 

 the breadfruit the records of its introduction into the West Indies may 

 be cited. In practically all the available literature discussing this 

 point, the first introduction has been assigned to Captain Bligh with 

 the date 1793. As this navigator brought an overwhelming majority 

 of seedless plants, the existence of the seeded variety in the West 

 Indies has been somewhat of a mystery, some even going so far as to 

 suggest a reversion to the primitive type by the sterile fruits, with 

 the consequent formation of seeds. The reversion theory is hardly 

 tenable, however, when we find printed records of the seeded va- 

 riety antedating 1793. Bligh, moreover, in claiming the reward 

 of the Society of Arts for his feat made an affidavit stating that 

 but one seeded plant (from Timor) was secured by him. The pro- 

 portion is thus so small, one to seven hundred, that it is obviously 

 inadequate to populate the West Indies even if the records of the 

 seeded sort before 1793 had not been found. 



Tussac, however, in his monumental " Flora des Antilles," buried 

 nearly a hundred years ago the fact that Lord Rodney in 1782! 

 was instrumental in introducing the seeded breadfruit into Jamaica. 

 The fortunes of war had that year thrown into his hands a French 

 vessel laden with useful plants of the East Indies destined for the 

 French West Indian Colonies. In a list of the plants growing in 

 the gardens of Hinton East in Jamaica, Bryan Edwards gives the 

 Jak alone as being introduced by Lord Rodney, while Tussac cre- 

 dits the same sailor with the introduction of both the Jak and 

 breadfruit. The famous No. il mango was also one of the horti- 

 cultural spoils of this ship, which was captured while en route be- 

 tween Mauritius and Santo Domingo. These vegetable aristocrats 

 were intended for the French colonists in Santo Domingo, but were 

 strangely enough enjoyed by her greatest rival, England. Before 

 1792, however, according to a record in the transactions of the 



• Preface, Vol. 12, Trans. Soc. Arts. p. xiii, 



t Sagot (Jonrn. Gent, d'llori dc France, 2 ter. 6 : 38 ; 1872) also records this 

 introduction of the seede^l fruit, presuuiably after Tussac. 



