STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 375 



In the Malay Archipelago, says Wallace,' many species occur wild in the forests and 

 some produce edible fruits. In 1591, at the Nicobar Islands, near Sumatra, the plantain 

 was seen by May.' At Batavia, in 1770, Captain Cook fotmd inniunerable sorts but 

 only three were good eating, although others were used for cooking. In New Guinea, in 

 1770, he found plantains flourishing in a state of the highest perfection. Le Maire,* 1616, 

 says this fnut is called tachouner. In New Holland Captain Cook found the plantain tree 

 bearing a very small fruit, the pulp well-tasted, but full of seeds, and in another place 

 said to be so full of stones as scarcely to be edible. Both the banana and plantain are 

 now cultivated in Australia in many varieties. 



In Polynesia, Mendaiia, in 1595, mentions " very fine plantains " at Mendana Islands 

 and elsewhere. In 1606, de Quiros saw plantains as appears from his memorial to the 

 King of Spain. In 1588, Cavendish * had " plantains " brought out in boats to his ships 

 and in 1625 Prince Maurice ' of Nassau mentions bananas as brought to his ships. Easter 

 Island, when discovered in 1722, had " plantains." In 1778, Captain Cook discovered 

 the Sandwich Islands and found there the banana, and Wilkes,' in 1840, says bananas 

 and plantains are abundant. The Fiji Islands were discovered by Tasman in 1643, and 

 they were visited by D'Urville in 1827, although there had been intervening arrivals of 

 Europeans. In 1840 Wilkes ' found there five or six varieties of banana with insipid 

 fruit and three varieties of plantain cultivated to a great extent, as also the wild species 

 of Tahiti and Samoa. Tahiti was discovered by Wallis in 1767 and visited by Bougain- 

 ville in 1768, and by Cook in 1769. In 1777 Captain Cook speaks of the plantain as 

 being cultivated there and also of wild plantains in the mountains. Ellis * says the 

 plantain and banana are indigenous and also cultivated in the native gardens. When 

 Captain Cook discovered Wateroo Island, he found plantains and he mentions them at 

 Atooi, the Annamooka Islands. 



The banana is mentioned by Ramusio,' 1563-74, as being found in Africa. At the 

 island of St. Thomas, off the coast of Guinea, he says " they have also began to plant 

 that herb, which in one year grows to the height of a tree. It produces fruit like the figs 

 called muse in Alexandria, and it is called abellana in this island." In 1593, Sir Richard 

 Hawkins '" says " the plantain is a tree found inmost parts of Afrique and America," and 

 describes the fruit as having many varieties: " some great, some lesser, some round, some 

 square, some triangle, most ordinarily of a spanne long " and " no conserve is' better, 

 nor of a more pleasing taste." St. John, in his Adventures in the Libyan Desert, mentions 



Wallace, A. R. Trap. Nat. 254. 1895. 



'May, Capt. H. Voy. 1591. Hakl. Voy. 10:196. 1904. 



Le Maire and Schoutin Voy. 161 5. Dalrymple Coll. 1770. 



Lives, Voy. Cavendish, Drake 141. 1854. 

 ' Enc. Brit. 18:269. 1859. 



Wilkes, C. U. S. Explor. Exped. 3:333. 1845. 

 ' Ibid. 



Ellis, W. Polyn. Research. 1:59. 1833. 

 ' Ramusio G. Co//. Voy. Portugese ^3^. 1789. 

 "Hawkins, R. Voy. So. Seas 1593. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 49. 1847. 



