412 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



the trunk rises to the height of about forty feet, and, 

 in a full grown tree, is from a foot to fifteen inches 

 in diameter ; the bark is ash-coloured, full of little 

 chinks, and covered by small knobs ; the inner bark 

 is fibrous, and used in the manufacture of a sort of 

 cloth ; and the wood is smooth, soft, and of a yellow 

 colour. The branches come out in a horizontal 

 manner, the lowest ones about ten or twelve feet 

 from the ground ; and they become shorter and 

 shorter as they are nearer the top : the leaves are 

 divided into seven or nine lobes, about eighteen 

 inches or two feet long, and are of a lively green. The 

 tree bears male and female flowers, the males among 

 the upper leaves, and the females at the extremities of 

 the twigs. When full grown, the fruit is about nine 

 inches long, heart-shaped, of a greenish colour, and 

 marked with hexagonal warts, formed into facets. 

 The pulp is white, partly farinaceous and partly 

 fibrous ; but, when quite ripe, it becomes yellow and 

 juicy. The whole tree, when in a green state, 

 abounds with a viscid milky juice, of so tenacious a 

 nature as to be drawn out in threads. 



In the island of Otaheite and other places, where 

 the bread-fruit forms the chief support of the people, 

 there are, as is the case with cultivated vegetables in 

 all countries, many varieties ; only two, however, are 

 very different from each other — that which contains 

 seeds in the fruit, and that which contains none. 

 The variety with seeds is much inferior to the other, 

 being more fibrous, containing less farina, and not so 

 pleasant to the taste ; it is, therefore, not cultivated, 

 though, in cases of need, it is roasted and eaten. 

 Whether the seedless sort has been produced wholly 

 by cultivation it is not easy, and would not be of 

 much importance, to ascertain : it is the one culti- 

 vated in the South Sea islands' ; it vvas originally 

 found only there ; and the tree was not in much 

 repute till these islands were discovered. 



V' 



