784 JAMAICA, 



kept foi- a long time, packed In the dried leaves, and flowed la 

 tight caflvs, and requires only a frefli roafting, or heating, when 

 wanted for ufe. It is a cheap, hearty food, and would fnrnifli the 

 fallors with a wholefome and agreeable change, after a tedious^re- 

 petition of falt-meat, and not only keep them free from fcorbutic 

 foulnefles, but ferve the purpofe of other vegetable aliment not fo 

 eafily to be had at fea, and certainly much better for them than 

 mouldy bifcuit, full of weevils and dirt. 



1 19. Wild Plantane. — Miifa,fpadlce ereclo^ &c. 



This beautiful plant grows wild in moft of the cooler mountains 

 and gullies of Jamaica. In growth and leaves it perfedlly refembles 

 the other fpecies, but differs widely in the more eflential parts, and 

 produces no fruit. The ftem, or body, of it is fomewhat fmaller, 

 •but equally fucculent. 



I have feen, in this ifland, very large trafts of land, which once 

 were confiderable fugar-plantations, but, in length of time, became 

 fb exhaufted, as not to make any proportionable return to the labour 

 beftowed on them, and have therefore been thrown up, and de- 

 ferted. Where this has happened from a change of feafons, and 

 the want of fhowers, the difafter is Incurable ; and fuch land can- 

 not be reftored to fertility, except by the return of favourable wea- 

 ther, or by artificial waterings ; the firft is fcarcely to be hoped for ; 

 the fecond Is not always pra£licable. But there are other lands, 

 which have been worn out with inceflant cultivation, and not fo 

 deftltute of (howers. In many places, It is ufual to let them lie 

 fcillow for two or three years, negleding what Is abfokitely requl- 

 fite during this interval of time; which is, to hoe-plough them, 

 once a year at Icaft, before the weeds feed and ripen ; fo that the 

 rains and dews, falling upon them, have only aHifted the growtli 

 and multiplication of weeds in fuch a manner, that they cannot 

 afterwards be exterminated. It has been demonfhated, that water 

 (more particularly rain) is the principal fupport -^xud pabulum of all 

 vegetables. In their ftate of dillblution, the more rarefied particles 

 of the fluid, they have imbibed, re-afcend into the atmofphere ; but 

 much of the remainder becomes earth, affording a folid and adual 

 fuftentation and addition to the furface on which It falls. For this 



reafbu 



