14 THE SWEET POTATO. 



growth and perfection, they are believed to be the 

 most profitable sort of Root for ordinary Provision." 



"They are used in great quantities to make the 

 Drink called Mobby." 



Further on, he says that "They are common at 

 Velez-Malaga, whence ten or twelve Caravels are 

 loaded with them every year to Sevil." He gives 

 Thevet as authority for the statement that "people 

 feed with them in Trinidad" ; and Lopez de Gomara 

 for: "These Eoots were by Colon brought from the 

 West Indies into Europe, in his first voyage, to show 

 the different Productions of the one and the other." 



Under: Convolvulus radice tuberosa, esculenta, 

 minore, purpurea, Cat., p. 54, batatas Ind. Or., part 

 6, p. 85, Red Spanish batatas, he describes a very 

 young plant of another tuber, as large as one's 

 finger, of deep red or purple color, resembling the 

 sweet potato in foliage, and containing an abundance 

 of latex, which dyes of a purple color." No sweet 

 potato is known to the writer in which the latex is 

 colored anything but white, and no other reference 

 has been found to a latex which dyes purple. The 

 purple color of the purple stems and tubers of some 

 varieties, however, does stain when they are handled. 



Feuillee, 1725 (Hist, des Plantes, Tome HI, p. 16), 

 accepts Ray's nomenclature. Convolvulus Indicus, 

 vulgo Patates dictus, and states that the sweet pota- 

 toes were quite common in Europe. He compares 

 their flavor to that of the chestnut — which is cor- 

 rect — and says that they are common and in use 

 throughout America. 



Catesby, in his Nat. Hist, of Carolina, defines the 

 sweet potato as: "Convolvulus radice tuberoso, 

 esculento — the Virginian Potato. He resided in the 

 Carolinas from 1723-1726, and was very familiar 



