540 FOURTH BULLETIN OF [1846. 



tlie average quantity for an orchard is from six to ten pounds for each tree. Some 

 trees have produced, it is said, in their native soil, one hundred and fifty pounds in 

 one season. The ordinary a^e i? about seventy years, but in their native place 

 ninety. In commerce, there are four different varieties of the clove known — tlie 

 common, the fer.nle, the royal, and the wild or rice clove. The two latter are 

 smaller and more scarce than thn other kinds. The best cloves are large, heavy, 

 have a hot taste and oily feel. Those which have had the essential oil extracted 

 are shrivelled, and usually want the knob at the top. 



Tlje Arabs are increasing their plantations by cutting down the cocoa and bana- 

 nas trees, and clearing away the natural brushwood and planting this spice-tree, 

 the I'roduce of which, in a fow years, no doubt, will be the principal export of this 

 island. 



The next most important article of cultivation is the Jatropha raanihot, which 

 constitutes a very large part of the food of the inhabitants. It is cultivatpd in the 

 same manner as in Brar.il, but not used so much in the form of flour, and the Tapio- 

 ca is very seldom extracted. It is very singular thnt the root in a raw state is a 

 very active poison to the huniin and animal race, but after being subjected to 

 boiling or dried in the sun until the acrid juice has escaped, it becomes one of the 

 mos' wholesome and nutritious productions of the vo^ntablo kingdom, and is sup- 

 posed to furnish nutriment to tlireo-fifths of the human race. The pcisonousprin. 

 ciple of this root is yet undetermined, but Guibourt thinks it is hydrocyanic acid; if 

 80, it would probably be profitable to extract it, if a proper method was known. 



The cocoa-nut tree is also extensively cultivated for food, for the oil which is ob- 

 tained from the mature fruit for a beverage, and for a spirit obtained frc.a the fer- 

 mented sap. The oil is obtained by crushing the mature fruit in a wooden mortar, 

 in which a large stick of timber is made to revolve by means of a camel attached 

 to the end of a long lever. The unripe fruit furnishes a very refreshing beverage 

 which may be drank by the most delicate, with perfect impunity, and the inniaturo 

 pulp may be eaten without any danger of exciting those diseases so common in 

 tropical climates. This is one of the few examples in the vegetable kingdom, where 

 a fruit may be eaten or used in any stage of its growth and be nutritious and per- 

 fectly innocuous. 



The mango tree grows here to a very large size, and bears an abundance of fruit 

 of large size and fine tlivor. 



The cashew-nut is also ver) ibutidnnt. 



The oranges are vastly inferior to those cultivated in Brazil, which, no doubt, is 

 to be attributed to the kind, and not to the climate or soil. 



The pine-apple is very abundant, and grows apparently without cultivation. 



Ranauas ai J plantains can be obtained in any quantity and of a very good quali. 

 ty, also pumpkins and culinary herbs. 



Among the indigenous plints found here, i'» the Hypoxis erccta, a small grass, 

 like plant, having a yellow flower with six petals, dis(josed in a star-like manner. 

 This plant grows abun lantly in North and South America, and the bulbous root 

 bruised and applied to wounds caused by poisonous serpents is supposed in some 

 parts of the United States to be an effectual remedy. 



I observed on the uncultivated grounds of the low extent which borders the bay, 

 the Nauclei gambir, a plant much cultivated in the East Indies, for an astringent 

 extract called catechu, which it produces. I do not know that this plant is cul- 

 tivated here, but it certainly could bo to great advautage, as the specimens I saw 

 were extremely hrge and flourishing. 



In the cultivated fields I saw the papaw, a plant that is common now through, 

 out the tropics, although a native of America. The fruit, when cooked, is much 

 esteemed by some persons, but it appears to have little to recommend it. Its groat 

 peculiarities are, that the juice of the unripe fruit is a most poweri'ul and efficient 

 vermifuge ; the powdi-r of the seed even answers the same purpose, and that a prin- 

 cipal constituent of this juice is fibrine, a principal otherwise supposed to be pecu- 

 liar to the animal kingdom and to fungi. It is also said by Dr. Lindley and other 

 authors, that lliis tree has the singular property of rendering the toughest animal 

 substances tender, by causing a separation of the animal fibre; its vapor even doo» 

 this, for it is said that newly killed moat suspended among the leaves, and oven 

 old hogs and old poultry become tender in a few hours, when fed on Ihu loaves and 

 fruit. 



