THE POTATO. 141 



dicial to the rice crop, while it is favourable, or 

 rather not so hurtful, to that of the potato, and 

 ' therefore nature points out the one crop as a 

 substitute when the other fails.' It is certainly a 

 fortunate circumstance that the superstition by which 

 the Hindu is enshived does not shut up every 

 avenue to innovation and improvement. No reli- 

 gious prejudice forbids the culture of this vegetable, 

 and therefore the natives evince a readiness to 

 adopt it in all situations where it can be as easily 

 obtained as other food.* The soil of Bengal, and 

 the long continuance of dry weather, may, perhaps, 

 be obstacles sufficient to prevent this root from be- 

 coming the principal nourishment of the lower 

 orders ; but it is supposed that if it could be raised 

 cheaper than rice, the potato would be generally pre- 

 ferred by Hindus. At present it is almost universally 

 served up at European tables in Bengal in the 

 same manner as in England ; and though the crop 

 is less abundant, and the roots are smaller in size, 

 they are scarcely inferior in quality to those of this 

 country. 



Wherever the Englishman seeks a home, he al- 

 ways strives to naturalize this root, which was so 

 long struggling into notice in his own country. 

 Now amid all the luxuriant and delicious vege- 

 tation of tropical climes, he still retains his pre- 

 ference for that simple vegetable, which he considers 

 almost a necessary of life. At Ceylon all his at- 

 tempts to cultivate this plant have been nearly vain, 



* The Southern Africans in this respect prove themselves 

 more obstinately adverse to innovation than the Hindu. ' The 

 Matchappees, though very fond of potatoes, have never been 

 prevailed, upon to plant any, because they resemble nothing 

 which has been handed down to them from their forefathers, 

 to whose manners and customs they seem as strongly attach- 

 ed as the Hindu or the Mussulman.' -Campbell's Travels in 

 South Africa, vol. i, p. 101. 



