356 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



of manioc or cassava, j^aius, and maize or Indian corn ; 

 to whicli may be added sweet potatoes, pumpkins, millet 

 of two or three species, and calavanses : they have besides 

 cabbages, spinach, pepper, capsicum, the sugar-cane, 

 and tobacco. Of fruits they have the plaintain or banana, 

 papaw, oranges, limes, and pine-apples. 'J'he latter fruit 

 Avas met with b}^ Captain Tuckey growing on the open 

 plains near the extreme point of his journey, and far be- 

 yond where any Europeans had advanced. This fruit, 

 therefore, as well as the bananas, the one being from the 

 West, the other from the East Indies, (or both perhaps from 

 the West), must have been carried up into the interior by the 

 natives. The only beverage used by the inhabitants, except 

 Avhen they can get European spirits, is the juice of the palm 

 tree, of which there are three distinct species. It is usually 

 known by the name of palm Avine, and was considered by 

 the whole party as a very pleasant and wholesome liquor, 

 having a taste, when fresh from the tree, not unlike that of 

 sweetish cyder; is very excellent for quenching tlie thirst, 

 and for keeping the body gently open. When tapped near 

 the top, the juice runs copiously out during the night, but 

 very little is said to exude in the day time. One of the spe- 

 cies yields a juice sweeter than the rest, and this being suf- 

 fered to ferment, is said to produce a liquor of a very intoxi- 

 cating quality. The trees are remarkably tall, and are 

 ascended by means of a flexible hoop which encloses, at the 

 same time, the body of the person intending to mount and 

 the stem of the tree, against the latter of which the feet are 

 pressed, while the back rests against the hoop. At each 



