74 Voyage of the Novara. 



for wheat, it is not produced in sufficient quantity to meet 

 one quarter of the consumption of the inhabitants. In the 

 year 1854, wheat, to the amount of 216,918 bushels, was 

 imported from the north of Africa alone, a quantity nearly 

 twice as great as that which the island produces. Wheat 

 and maize, or Indian corn, are also imported from the 

 Azores, and some ports of the Mediterranean ; an impor- 

 tation which is likely rather to increase than decrease. 



The potato belongs to that small class of vegetables which 

 grow at considerable elevations, and, by proper irrigation and 

 dressing of the ground, three harvests may be obtained in 

 the course of the year. 



The Inhame [not the Yam (Dioscorea alata) of the West 

 Indies and South America, but a kind of grume ( Colocasia 

 esculentdy] grows in large quantities near to rivers and water 

 conduits, where the ground is humid. It is much sought 

 for by the people, on account of its cheapness, though rather 

 a coarse kind of food, which, as Cordeyro naively says, 

 *'picao algum tanto na garganta" (scratches the throat). 



Sweet potatoes ( Convolvulus edulis, Lin.), water-melons, 

 gourds, as well as all kinds of European garden vegetables, 

 are found throughout the year in the market, though not of 

 a particularly good quality. Oranges, lemons, bananas, 

 guavas, pine-apples, figs, apricots, and peaches, are abun- 

 dant during the summer season, and on higher ground even 

 apple and pear-trees are to be met with. 



On the *' Desertas," three uninhabited little islands south- 



