OBSERVATIONS UPON THE ORANGE TREP. 163 



wholesome. Much more caution is necessary in eating cocoa-nuts 

 and other cooling fruits." 



The Brazilians are probably the only people who th nk so much 

 caution necessary in eating oranges, as to refrain from their use in 

 the evening. 



The following passage may be found in a note in Roster's Brazil : 

 Lobat says,* " The orange is cut into two pieces, and is rubbed 

 violently upon the wound." — Vol. II. p. 196. 



" The first China Orange," says Evelyn, " which appeared in 

 Europe was sent a present to the old Conde Mellor, then prime 

 minister to the king of Portugal ; but of the whole case sent to 

 Lisbon, there was but one plant which escaped the being so spoiled 

 and tainted, that, with great care, it hardly recovered, to be since 

 become the parent of all those flourishing trees of that name cul- 

 tivated by our gardeners, though not without sensibly degenerating. 

 Receiving this account from the illustrious son of the Conde, I 

 thought fit to mention it for an instance of what industry may pro- 

 duce in less than half an age." 



Mickle, in the History of the Portuguese Empire in Asia, pre- 

 fixed to his translation of the Lusiad, informs us " that the famous 

 John de Castro, the Portuguese conqueror in Asia, was said to have 

 been the first who brought the Orange tree to Europe, and to have 

 esteemed this gift to his country as the greatest of his actions." He 

 adds, " that Orange-trees are still preserved in Cintra, in memorial 

 of the place where he first planted that valuable fruitage." 



The Orange tree is thought to produce more fruit, if deprived of 

 some of its blossoms. Rapin, in his Poem on Plants, recommends 

 that the nymphs should be allowed unchecked to pluck the silvery 

 blossoms, to adorn their bosoms and their vases. " Let 3-our wife, 

 your children, your whole family be there," says he, " and let them 

 bear away a portion of the fragrant spoils." 



The Orange is supposed to be the golden apple presented to Jupiter 

 by Juno on the day of their nuptials. These apples could be pre- 

 served nowhere but in the gardens of the Hesperides, where they 

 were protected by three nymphs, bearing that name, the daughters of 

 Hesperus; and by a more effectual and appalling guard, a never- 



* They employ the juice of sour oranges with wonderful and infallible success 

 in the cure of ulcers, however old and obstinate. 



o 2 



