AT TACNA. 105 



by no means consent to it, and the result lias been that the 

 sprouts from the origuial stems are cut off as they appear, and 

 sold for " Coliflores ; " while the parent stems are gradually 

 approaching that ligneous state, when neither leaves nor flowers 

 can be produced by them, and unless a new generation from seed 

 be speedily obtained, the Cauliflower, as formerly, will become 

 unknown. 



Lettuce. — Of all European vegetables this is the one which 

 is produced here in the greatest abundance and perfection ; there 

 is but one sort, and it appears a hybrid between our long green 

 Coss and Cabbage kinds ; little care is taken of this plant, it is 

 generally self-sown from the numbers that are allowed to run to 

 seed, which is sold for bird's-meat at Is. the pound, and thus pro- 

 duces heads as large, and nearly as heavy, as our best dwarf 

 Cabbage in Scotland. It is in season all the year round and is in 

 universal use. 



I have now mentioned the principal vegetables of European 

 extraction in cultivation here, and although a few others are now 

 and then met with, they are hardly worthy of a separate notice. 

 We have occasionally, as a paper of seed may chance to arrive, a 

 few Carrots, and they are good of their kind, and seem to agree 

 well with the climate and soil. Radishes I have once or twice 

 seen, but as the growers did not think they had arrived at perfec- 

 tion until they were adorned with a flower several feet in height, 

 it was found that even boiling could not reduce the root to a fit 

 state for mastication, and it was voted into oblivion forthwith. 

 Beet-root, of the Turnip-rooted kind, is to be found in one or two 

 places ; it is boiled and eaten cold with oil and vinegar as a salad. 

 I took it into my head, some months ago, to make a bottle or two 

 of Beet-root pickle, and applied to an old clergyman, a friend of 

 mine, who prides himself on having all foreign plants in his 

 garden, for two roots, for that purpose ; he answered me that they 

 were yet too young, but that he would not forget me at the proper 

 season, and I thought nothing more about the matter. About a 

 fortnight ago he sent his servant, bearing on his shoulder four 

 roots, each with a seed-stalk as thick as my arm, and above 4 feet 

 long, assuring me that he had now the immense pleasure of 

 complying with my request ; but I very ungratefully returned 

 them to him, with a written recommendation that he should cut 

 them down into gumsticks, and make his penitents chew them 

 soft, before he gave them absolution. I went down next day to 

 see my friend the "Padre," and I found that he had cut each root 



