OF LA PEROUSE. 379 



A very fmall banana called pifang rachgd, is 

 confidcrcd as the beft fpecies; after the li-tchi 

 and garchiea niangoftana % - it is the befl fruit that I 

 ate at Amboyna. They have alfo feveral fpecies 

 of li-tchi, among the number of which may be 

 reckoned the ramb-outan of the Malays, nephe* 

 hum lappaceum. Three celebrated botaniils, Lin- 

 naeus, Juffieu, and Gaertner, have fallen into 

 an error in the claffification of this genus, un- 

 doubtedly becaufe they had not an opportunity 

 of feeing completely the parts of fructification. 



Linnaeus clalTes it in the family of the euphor- 

 Via, Juffieu in that of the compofitce, and Gaert- 

 ner in that of the amentate*\ whereas it evidently 

 belongs to the family of thefiponari^e. 



The fame prohibitory fytiem which we have 

 feen purfued at the Cape of Good Hope, was like- 

 wife followed at Amboyna. In order to prevent 

 every rife in the price of provi lions, the Company 

 undertook to victual our mips. The natives 1 lip- 

 ply the Company at a low price with provifions, 

 of which, in difpoting of them to us, they 

 took care to make a good profit. 



The Dutch have palTed into a law, a cuftom 

 ftill far more pernicious : the principal fervants 

 of the Company have a right to take, without 

 paying, at the houfesofthe natives, the provifions 

 neceflary for their daily confumption. Nothing 

 can bp conceived more oppreffive than this ar- 

 bitrary 



