Pmidanus. dioecia monandria. 741 



Pine-apple. 1 have never known this phmt cultivated with 

 any other view than for fences, nor do I yet know any other 

 species, or even variety of this gemis. 



The drawing- of the Mellore, or bread fruit of the Nicobar 

 Islands in the third voUnne o( the Asiatic Researches, was 

 taken from the ripe fruit brought from those Islands by Colo- 

 nel Kyd. From this drawing and description there is every 

 reason to tliink it is the fruit of the female plant of Pundanus 

 odoratissimus. The size, from thirty-five to forty feet in 

 height, to which it rises on those Islands, is much greater than 

 1 ever saw it on the Coromandel coast, or in Orissa, or Ben- 

 gal, w hich, however, is not a sufficient reason to make it a 

 different species. 



Extract of a letter from Colonel Hardwicke, dated Mau- 

 ritius, November 1811. This plant is of extensive use in most 

 parts of the Island, for its leaves, which are employed for 

 the purpose of package bags for the transportation of coffee, 

 suo-ar, and grain from one place to another, and for expor- 

 tation. Hedge rows, or avenues are formed of it round 

 plantations, or along the sides of the many roads which inter- 

 sect them ; and the leaves, as fast as they attain maturity 

 are cut till the tree arrives at its full growth, when the pro- 

 duction of new leaves being- slower, and less useful, younger 

 plants are resorted to, to supply the wants of the planter. The 

 preparation of the leaves for working into matting is simple 

 and short. As soon as gathered, the spines on their edges and 

 dorsal nerve are stripped off, and the leaf divided into slips 

 of the breadth proper for the use they are required for ; this 

 operation is performed with the blade of a common straight 

 knife, they are then laid in the sun for a few hours to dry ; 

 when required for working into mats the slips are passed un- 

 der the blade of a knife applied with a moderate pressure to 

 remove all asperities on their surface, which gives them a po- 

 lish and makes them plain and more convenient to the hands. 

 One negro employed in the foregoing- preparation, w ill sup- 

 ply slips fast enough to keep eight others at work ; and each 



