866 NiEUHOFP*s Brazil. 



Nothing is fo much in requefl among the Brazilians, as the Akaju, a kind of wild 

 apple, which furniflies them both with food and drink, being very juicy ; fo that this 

 tree feems by kind nature to have been planted here for the peculiar comfort of the in- 

 habitants : it fpreads its branches round about in a great compafs, but does not grow to 

 that height as many other trees in this country : its wood, which is very folid, is very 

 fit for the building of fhips, from whence iflues a very clear gum in the fummer-feafon. 

 Its leaves, which are red, refemble thofe of our walnut-trees, efpecially when they firfl: 

 fprout forth in the fpring, but are of a much finer fcent, which they never lofe but by 

 being diftilled. The bloflbm is a flower confifting of five fmall leaves, which grow to 

 the number of about a hundred in one duller ; each of thefe flowers has a (talk, with 

 a fmall head in the middle. At their firfl coming out, which is in September, they are 

 very white, but turn foon after to a rofe colour ; they are very odoriferous, and fill all 

 the circumjacent grounds with their agreeable fmell. This tree bears a double fruit, 

 viz. an apple, and achefnut : the apple is of an oval figure, very juicy ; its pulp fpongy, 

 full of kernels, and of a tartifli tafl:e. The juice taints linen with a certain colour, 

 fuch as we call iron-molds, which is never to be taken out, but returns as often as thefe 

 trees ftand in bloflbms ; it is of a whitifli colour after it is preflTed out, and tartifli, but 

 changes both its colour and tafl:e by fermentation, and becomes very flrong. The rind 

 of the apple, which is very thin, is white mixed with red. The chefnut, which grows 

 on the top of the apple in the fliape of a laftib's kidney, is covered with a thin fl^in, over 

 which grows a thick afli-coloured ftiell, full of a hot, ftiarp and burning oil, which bites 

 the tongue ; to correft which, they roafl: the chefnut in the afiies, break the fliell with 

 a hammer, and eat the pith or kernel, which tafl:es better than a common chefnut, and 

 will keep good for feveral years. The Brazilians are fo fond of this fruit, that they 

 often fight for it ; then they encamp among thefe trees, and remove not till they have 

 confumed all thereabouts, unlefs they are forced thereunto by the enemy. They num- 

 ber the years of their ages by this tree, becaufe it bears fruit but once a year, which 

 ripens towards the latter end of December or in January, there being none to be found 

 on the trees after February in Pernambuko. About the time the fun returns back from 

 the tropick of Capricorn, it commonly rains in Brazil, which the inhabitants call the 

 rains of Akaju, for, if the fame happens to be moderate, they promife themfelves great 

 plenty of this fruit. The chefnuts are hot in the fecond degree ; if eaten raw with wine 

 and fait, they tafl:e like walnuts, but if roailed or preferved with fugar, they are of a 

 delicious tafle. The oil which is taken out of the fliell, is an excellent remedy againft 

 the hair-worm ; it is hot in the third and fourth degree, and frequently applied to can- 

 cers and other malignant ulcers. The gum, powdered and taken in a convenient ve- 

 hicle, opens the obftrudions 'of the womb. The juice of the apple furniflies them with 

 good cyder. 



There are many forts of palm-trees to be met with in Brazil, fome of which grow 

 wild, fome are planted and cultivated by the inhabitants. Among the firfl the palm- 

 tree called Pindava by the Brazilians, which grows very tall, claims the preference, of 

 which there are whole woods to be feen in the open country. In the more remote and 

 unfrequented places, grows a certain palm-tree called Karanatham and Anjtchekaira by 

 the Brazilians, and by an Arabick word among the Portuguefe, Tamar, or date, which 

 this fruit refembles. The tree grows as high as a common date-tree, its wood is red 

 and very folid, but of no great ufe. The bark is grey, which from the ground up- 

 wards to a certain part of the tree is diftinguifhed by many fcales, which are largefl: at 

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