290 EXTRACTS FEOM 



the hand, emit a strong smell like musk, and would seem to 

 claim a place amongst the cordial medicines. 



Some Negroes boil and eat the young pods as okra. The 

 bark being put eight or ten days in water, makes a hemp, 

 but of no great strength. 



114. Hibiscus sabdariffa. L. — Red Sorrel. 



We plant this in gardens and inclosures. It rises to four 

 or five feet high. The stems are herbaceous, and red; the 

 leaves of a reddish green; and the blossoms of a pale red colour. 

 The pods are round, unequal, and pointed ; they open like 

 okra, and discharge many heart-shaped seeds. 



The red pods, before they are quite ripe, are cut and 

 sliced ; gently boiled with water ; sweetened with sugar ; then 

 bottled up, and in a few days make a sparkling and pleasant 

 acid liquor, called " cool drink," which, however, does not keep 

 but for a short time. 



The fruit also make a good ingredient in tarts. 



1 15. Gossipiu3i. — Cottun-Busli. 



We have three sorts of cotton cultivated in this country, 

 viz. the common (G. arboreum)-, bearded ( G. hirsiitum), 

 and the French cotton (G. barbadense). The two former 

 are never suffered to grow above four or five feet high, for, by 

 lopping the main stem, a great many branches are sent off, 

 and, of course, many broad leaves, and large yellow flowers, 

 whose petals are lapped agreeably to the suiVs motion. The 

 pods are of the bulk of a pigeon's egg, and of a conical fi- 

 gure ; at first they are green, then brovdL and at last black ; 

 when, if not gathered, they split in -llwRlivisions, and the 

 cotton expands. The seeds of the common cotton are smooth ; 

 those of the bearded have a little tuft of cotton fastened to 

 the apex ; both are black, and heart-shaped, and, as they 



