242 I S L A N D O F C E Y L O N. 



DioscojLEA. Sativay v. tab. 130. This fpecies has a ckiiler.ecl root ;■ grow&". 



M"ild in 'Jamaica^ but is greatly cultivated in India as a food. D.. 

 Pentcrpbyi/a, v. tab. 127, and A/at a, Brozim's Jamaica^2y^^y Ge- 



Yams. i-ard, 925. The lall the nfeful yarns of the Wen Indies \ are of 



equal fervice for their fahitary roots as a food. Thefe, and 

 numbers of other congenerous twining plants, afllll to fuppcrt 

 th'e Indian peafantry, content with fimpie diet. 



Carica. Papaya^ "TrewEhret. tab. 8, is common to the JLafl and Wa^fl 



Indies^ and to Senegal. It is a fingular tree, having the fruit 

 growing out of the fides of the ftem, of the form of a melon,. 

 and ribbed, filled in the in fide with feeds, and is as large as a 

 child's head : the ftem is quite ftrait, the leaves large, and 

 divided into numbers of lobes. This tree is fuppofed to have 

 been introduced by the Portuguefe from the Brazils into the 

 ILaJi Indies \ many other fpecies, now common there, are 

 thought to have been brought by them from the new world.. 



MusA. Paradifaca, v. tab. 60, T'rczv Eh}'et. tab. 18, 19, 20. This is 



the celebrated plant which the Jcuds believe' to have been the 

 tree of knowlege of good and evil, placed in the midft of the 

 Garden of Eden^ which our great mother was forbidden ta 

 touch ; and by her difobedience brought fuch heavy penalty on 

 all her offspring. Milton does not attempt to defcribe it ; he 

 only fays — 



A BOUGH of faireft fruit, that downy fmil'd,. 

 New gathci'd, and ambrofial fmell difius'd.- 



Moderns 



