ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 321 



of palms. "In palmetis, Pihiguao consitis, singuli trunci quotan- 

 nis fere 400 fructus ferunt pomiformes, tritumque est verbum inter 

 Fratres S. Francisci, ad ripas Orinoci et Gauinise degentes, mire 

 pinguescere Indorum corpora, quoties uberem Palma? fructum fun- 

 dant." (Humboldt, de Distrib. geogr. Plant, p. 240.) 



( 16 ) p. 239. " Since the earliest infancy of human civilization" 

 In all tropical countries we find the cultivation of the Banana or 

 Plantain established from the earliest times with which tradition or 

 history makes us acquainted. It is certain that, in the course of the 

 last few centuries, African slaves have brought new varieties to 

 America, but it is equally certain that Plantains were cultivated in 

 the New World before its discovery by Columbus. The Guaikeri 

 Indians, at Cumana, assured us that, on the coast of Paria, near the 

 Golfo Triste, when the fruits were allowed to remain on the tree till 

 ripe, the plantain sometimes produced seeds which would germinate ; 

 and in this manner plantains are occasionally found growing wild in 

 the recesses of the forest, from ripe seeds conveyed thither by birds. 

 Perfectly formed seeds have also sometimes been found in plantain 

 fruits at Bordones, near Cumana.. (Compare my Essai sur la G6o- 

 graphie des Plantes, p. 29; and my Relat. hist. t. i. pp. 104 and 

 587, t. ii. pp. 355 and 367.) 



I have already remarked elsewhere (Cosmos, bd. ii. s. 191; 

 English edition, p. 156), that Onesicritus and the other companions 

 of Alexander, while they make no allusion to the tall, arborescent 

 ferns, speak of the fan-leaved umbrella palm, and of the delicate 

 and always fresh verdure of the cultivated plantains or bananas. 

 Among the Sanscrit names given by Amarasinha for the plantain 

 or banana (the Musa of botanists) there are bhanu-phala (sun-fruit), 

 varana-buscha, and moko. Phala signifies fruit in general. Lassen 

 explains the words of Pliny (xii. 6), " arbori nomen palae, pomo 

 ariense" thus : " The Roman mistook the word pala, fruit, for the 

 name of the tree ; and varana (in the mouth of a Greek ouarana) 

 became transformed into ariena. The Arabic mauza may have been 

 formed from moko, and hence our Musa. Bhanu-fruit is not far 

 from banana-fruit. (Compare Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, 



