STUDY XI. I©* 



early in the Spring, fmells very ftrongly of the 

 plumb. It's fmall monopetalous flowers, of a de- 

 licate blue colour, and with lips or incifions, have 

 likewife the form of that fruit. 



By approximations fuch as thefe, the Englilli 

 Navigator Dampier, and Father du Tertre, have 

 given us, as far as I can judge, the moft accurate 

 notions of the fruits and flowers which grow be- 

 tween the Tropics, by referring them to the fruits 

 and flowers of our own climates. Dampier, for 

 example, in order to defcribe the banana, compares 

 it, when dripped of it's thick five-panneled fkin, 

 to a large faufage ; it's fubftance and colour to 

 frefli butter in Winter ; it's tafte, a mixture of 

 apple and of the pear known by the name of the 

 good-chriflian, which melts in the mouth like mar- 

 malade. When this traveller defcribes fome good 

 fruit of the Indies, he fets your mouth a-watering. 

 He pofTefles a naturally found underflanding, fu- 

 perior, at once, to the methodical trammels of the 

 learned, and to the prejudices of the vulgar. He 

 maintains, for inftance, and with truth on his fide, 

 in oppofition to the opinion of molt navigators, 

 that the plantain, or banana, is the king of fruits, 

 without excepting even the cocoa. He informs 

 us, that this is likewife the opinion of the Spa- 

 niards, and that multitudes of families live, be- 

 tween the Tropics, on this pleafant, wholefome, 



and 



