138 The Botanical Gazette. [May, 



surface smooth and faceted. This last is certainly the most 

 delicious fruit I ever tasted. We saw it only on Blue Moun- 

 tain. The sour sap is acid and at first seemed to have the 

 flavor of kerosene, but we soon became accustomed to it and 

 when beaten up with sugar it was quite a delicacy. 



The papaw, 28 a smooth yellow fruit, of one to three or even 

 ten pounds weight, containing the numerous shot-like seeds 

 in the center, tastes not unlike muskmelon. The guava, 29 

 from which the delicious guava jelly is made, is about the size 

 of a lime, and like the pomegranate, contains so many seeds 

 that it is not desirable eating though pleasant flavored. 



The naseberry, 30 or sapodilla as it is called in the Bahamas 

 and to some extent in Kingston, is also about the size of a 

 lime, but has a rough brown skin and one or two large black 

 seeds. 



The alligator pear 31 was a grievous disappointment. It is 



CU<*/"Jw -s avo 



about the size of a goose egg and contains one large seed 

 surrounded by yellow, and to us very insipid, flesh. It was 

 learned that it should be flavored with salt, pepper, vinegar, 



U The mango, 32 in spite of its slight turpentine flavor, was 

 very good eating, but it requires considerable experience to 

 eat it without daubing the juice all over the face. The fruit 

 is somewhat larger than the alligator pear and flattened. It 

 contains a large seed, whose surface is covered with long fiber, 

 out of which the pulp must be sucked. 



Oranges, and sweet ones, too, are plenty. We bought 

 them at fifty cents per hundred. Bananas are also abundant, 

 but strange to say, we found great difficulty in getting ripe 

 ones, as they are picked for shipment when green. They sell 

 for twenty-five cents a bunch. Plantains 33 resemble bananas 

 but can b'e distinguished by the longer neck to- the fruit. 

 They are eaten fried in cocoanut oil or butter, being while 

 raw very inferior to bananas. 



The akee 34 is a red, pear-shaped or slightly three-sided 

 fruit, which contains a pulp (arillus) of the color and consist- 



» 8 Carica Papaya. (Papayac.) 

 *» Psidium Guava. (Myrtac.) 

 :!0 Sapota achras. (Sapotac.) 

 1 ' Persea gratissima. (Laurin.) 

 :,9 Mangifera Indica. (Terebinth.) 

 3:1 Musa paradisiaca. (Musac.) 

 14 Blighia sapida. (Sapind.) 



