174 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



than they are ; when roasted, ground, and 

 boiled, they make a good substitute for cho- 

 colate. This author says, in his Hortus 

 Jamaicensis, that he first saw them growing 

 in a negro's plantation, who affirmed, that 

 they grew in great plenty in his country ; 

 these nuts have been cultivated in Jamaica, 

 where they prosper, and are called Gub-a-gubs 

 by the slaves. 



They are of the size, colour, and shape 

 of a filbert, are covered over in the ground 

 with a thin cistus or skin, which contains two 

 or three of them, and many of the cistuses, 

 with their nuts or kernels, are to be found 

 growing to the roots of one plant. When 

 they are ripe and fit to dig up, the cistus 

 that contains them is dry, like a withered 

 leaf, which is taken off, and leaves a kernel 

 reddish without side, and very white within, 

 tasting like an almond, and accounted by 

 some as good as a pistachio ; they are very 

 nourishing, and accounted provocatives. It 

 is said, that if eaten in quantities, these nuts 

 cause the head-ache. Lunan contradicts this 

 assertion, and says he never knew any such ef- 

 fect produced, even in those who chiefly lived 

 upon them ; for masters of ships often feed 

 negroes with them all their voyage ; and that 



