302 EXTRACTS FROM 



in several parishes hardly any sugar was made. Our ground 

 provisions, as plantains, yams, cocoes, cassada, ike. failed, and 

 a famine would, in all probability, have ensued, had we not 

 been seasonably relieved each year by the falling of the bread- 

 nuts, which were carefully gathered, dried, and put up for 

 use. These nuts being boiled and skinned, taste somewhat 

 intermediate between a potato and a bean, and eaten with 

 fish or salt, prove a very nourishing food. 



The dry weather also burnt up our pastures ; not a pile of 

 grass was to be seen, except under the shade of trees and 

 bushes. Our cattle and stock died in large numbers and 

 tainted the air with noxious exhalations. In short nothing 

 seemed to prosper but dogs, the carrion crow, and the vulture 

 of Brazil. 



Bread-nut leaves are excellent food for horses and cattle ; 

 but in dry seasons they are bitter and gummy, and do not seem 

 to answer without a mixture of other food. 



The heart- wood of the bread-nut tree is often hollow. The 

 rest is red like mahogany; is very solid and ponderous, and will 

 take a fine polish ; it has lately come into great repute for ca- 

 binet work. 



DICECIA DIANDRIA. 



139. Ckcropia peltata, L. — The Trumpet Tree, or Snakc-ivood. 



In loose lands, which have been in culture, this tree is very 

 common ; it grows as high as fifty feet. The trunk is grey, 

 and adorned with annular circles, at every six or eight inches, 

 which correspond with so many woody divisions in the hollow 

 middle part. 



The leaves are broad, and white underneath, but green on 

 their upper part. The young buds are sometimes used as 

 greens. 



