286 A VOYAGE TO Book V, 



labashes of wl¿ich snuff-boxes are made; that is, the 

 lower part is round, and tapers away gradually to- 

 wards the stalk ; from whence to its base the length 

 is usually between three andñvc irxhes. It is covered 

 with a Very thin, glossy, smooth shell, which, when the 

 fruit is thoroughly ripe, is detached from the pulp. 

 The colour, both during its growth and when ar- 

 rived at perfection, is green, but turns something 

 paler, as it ripens ; the pulp is solid, but yields to the 

 pressure of the finger^ the colour white, tinged with 

 green, and the taste so insipid as to require salt to give 

 it an agreeable relish. It is fibrous, but some more 

 (50 than other>. Tiie stone of this fruit is two inches 

 long, one ahd a half in thickness, and terminates in 

 a point. The taste is sour. It may be opened with 

 a. knife, and consists of two lobes, between which may 

 be distinctly perceived the germ of the tree. Within 

 the shell is a very thin tegument, wdiich separates it 

 from the pulp, though sometimes the tegument ad- 

 heres to the pulp, and at other times to the shell. 

 The tree is lofty and full of branches ; the leaf, both 

 in dimension and figure, something different from that 

 of the chirimoyo. 



In the province of Quito they give the name of 

 guabas to a fruit, which, in all the other parts of Peru, 

 is called by its Indian name pacaes. .Ir consists of a 

 pod like that of the algarobo, a little fiat on both 

 sides. Its usual length is about a foot, though there 

 are different sizes, some larger and some smaller, ac- 

 cording to d^iO coui.try v/ here they grow. Its out- 

 ward colour is a dark green, and covered with a 

 down, which feels smooth when stroked downwards, 

 and rough when the hand is moved in the contrary 

 direction, as in velvet. The pod, opened longitu- 

 dinally, is found divided into í-everal cells, each con- 

 taining a certain spongy medulla, very*lij::;ht, and equal 

 to cotcon in whiteness. In this are inclosed some black 

 seeds of a very disproportionate size, the medulla, 



■whose 



