230 TRINIDAD. 



the former, but the bunch is supplied with a much greater 

 number of plantain-fingers, averaging about sixty and eighty, 

 but sometimes from one hundred to one hundred and thirty. 

 This species is regarded as more delicate than the others, par- 

 ticularly when ripe. Dominica plantain : this is a variety of the 

 latter ; though the body is exactly like that of the Horn plan- 

 tain, the bunch, however, resembles that of the French ; but the 

 fruit is somewhat shorter and plumper. The plantain is exten- 

 sively used in Trinidad, and on the neighbouring continent : it 

 is a cheap, wholesome, and nutritious diet, and perhaps the most 

 productive of all alimentary plants — in fact, field labourers 

 contend that it is better suited to the support of their strength, 

 in manual labour, than bread — at any rate, it forms the staff of 

 life to the generality of Creoles. Its nutritive value has not 

 yet been ascertained, but Boussingault considers it superior to 

 that of potatoes ; it is also superior, in general opinion, to that 

 of cassava and rice : it may rank as a farinaceous aliment, con- 

 taining albumen and gum. The plantain is used either in the 

 ripe or green state : in the former it is eaten either as a fruit, or 

 prepared in various ways with sugar and spices, as confectionery. 

 When green, it is either roasted, dressed with meat, or simply 

 boiled, and afterwards crushed in a mortar, so as to form a thick 

 paste, which is used instead of bread. Plantain may be regarded 

 as the most productive of all alimentary plants; the yielding 

 per acre is, according to Humboldt, 155,000 pounds; and 125,000 

 pounds, according to Boussingault. The plantain requires a 

 good deep soil and a sheltered position, being easily prostrated 

 by strong winds. It is propagated by sprouts (improperly called 

 slips) which are planted at ten feet apart. From five to seven 

 of these young shoots or suckers spring out of and around the 

 parent stem. The fruit, or rather the bunch of fruits, makes its 

 appearance between eight, nine, and twelve months. The young 

 shoots then give their fruit in succession, for two, three, or even 

 many years, according to the climate, fertility of the soil, and 

 the caie bestowed on them. A plantain walk requires only occa- 

 sional weeding and pruning. We import from Venezuela about 

 7,000,000 plantains annually — value, 53,000 dollars. 



Bread-fruit (Artocarpus incisa). — Artocarpacea. — The bread- 

 fruit, so invaluable to the inhabitants of the Polynesian Islands, 

 is perhaps too much neglected in the western archipelago ; for, I 



