BOOK III. C H A P. VI. s^j 



caufes bloody ftools, if fwallowed without any corredlor \^y\. But 

 when they are ripe, their juice, having been thoroughly concod:ed 

 by the lun, becomes mild and inoftenfive, if ufcd with a due pro- 

 portion of fugar ; and experience fhews, that all fruit may be more 

 I'afely eaten, the more fugar it contains. 



The fafer way is, to fubftitute the Seville orange, which grows • 

 wild in every part of this illand, and might eafily be propag.Ued in 

 iufficient quantity on every plantation, or in the neighbourhood of 

 the towns, for fupplying the inhabitants. 



It is a queftion whether the addition, of the cafhoo fruit, which 

 pofTeffes an highly ftyptic acid, be proper in punch ? It communi- 

 cates a pleafant flavour, and perhaps the roafting before it is ufed for 

 this purpofe may abate much of its aftringency, which is fo great in 

 the crude fruit, that it has often performed a cure in droplical com- 

 plaints, occafioned by the immoderate ufe of fpirituous liquors; I 

 Ihall not therefore haftily condemn, what may poflibly operate as 

 an antidote in fome degree to the bad effefts of thofe fpirits. • 



It was a long time a vulgar prejudice, that the diforder called the 

 belly-ache was caufed by drinking rum mixed with dark uncleanfed • 

 fugar in punch. But it is morally certain that this was an erroneous 

 opinion, and that the juice of unripe fruit, which was fuppofed the 

 moft harmlefs ingredient, was in facfl the primary caufe of this mif- 

 chievous confequence in many cafes [s]. 



[_)r] If a fowl jull killed, or a piece of batchers meat juft flaughtered, is fteeped before it is 

 piu on the fpit, in the juice of unripe limes for fome litile tiine, or if the juice ot three or four 

 is fi]ueezed into the water wherein fuch flefh is intended to be boiled, it will become io fotteneil 

 3S to be thorougly drefled in an hour's time. The Negroe cooks, who are to drefs what is called 

 here a furpr'iT^d fi-j:l, or one which is refpiireil to be roafted or boiled with great expedition 

 immediately after it is killed and plucked, pour lime-juice down the throat, and at the vent,to make 

 the fiefli tender and ealable. The fame efteft is caufed by the juice of the unripe papaw fruif, 

 which is knovvn to be highly cauftic. An eminent phyfician tor this reafon advifcd, that the limes 

 ufed for making punch ihould be diced thin, and boiling water poured on them, te extra'l mu- 

 cilage out of the ieeds, ivhich may prevent the acid from (hutting up the neck of the gall-bladder ; 

 and he affirmed that it might be drunk with much more fecurity by being fo blended. 



[a] Dr. Cheyiie declares it theyo/f caufe. " In the VJ'eJi-Inillcs (fays he) where, from the nc- 

 " ceflity of drinking much, and from the ■u'^'j/ of proper liquors, they are forced to drink vr\\.\c\\ pnncl-, 

 " though lemons and oranges be in their full perfection, they are iinimerfally affiled with nervous 

 " and «/«•/«/ dry belly-aches, palfies, cramps, and convulfions, \y\\\c\\ cut tbon off in a fi-M Jqys, 

 " entirely owing to this poijono/is mixture." The dortor was Tidly millaken in thefe pofitioiis, 

 and fo he was told by a cotemporary writer. " It the Weft- Indians are uiiiivrJiiUy afflicted with 

 " tltefe diforders, and aie cut off in a few iLiys, how tan any inhabltiuits remain alive? But if 



the 



