23 FAMILY HERBAL 



and has a dusky red coat or shell, but it is 

 white within. This is the part used in medi- 

 cine, for the whole fruit is not regarded. The 

 anacardium, or kernel, is said to be a cordial, 

 and a strengthener of the nerves, but we do not 

 much use it. There is a very sharp liquor be- 

 tween the outer and inner rinds of the shell, 

 which will take away freckles from the skin, 

 but it is so sharp that the ladies must be cau- 

 tious how they use it. 



The West-India-Bean, or Cashew Nut-Tree, 

 Arbor acqjou vulgo cajou, 



IT appears by the description of the anacar- 

 dium how very improperly it is called a nut, 

 for it is the kernel of a large fruit, though 

 growing in a singular manner. The case is just 

 the same with respect to the Cashew nut, for it 

 is neither a nut nor a bean, any more than the 

 other : but it is necessary to keep to the common 

 names, and it is proper they should be mentioned 

 together. 



The tree which produces it is large and spread- 

 ing ; the bark is of a pale colour, rough and 

 cracked, and the wood is brittle. The leaves 

 are half a foot long, and two or three inches 

 broad, blunt at the end, and of a fine green 

 colour. The flowers are small, but they grow 

 in tufts together. The fruit is of the bigness 

 and shape of a pear, and of an orange and pur- 

 ple colour mixt together ; the Cashew nut or 

 bean, as it is called, hangs naked from the 

 bottom of this fruit. It is of the bigness of a 

 garden bean, and indented in the manner of a 

 kidney ; it is of a greyish colour, and consists of 

 $ shelly covering, and a fine white fleshy sub- 



