BREAD FRUIT. 



417 



Sen, anil from thence to bring the bread-fruit plant 

 to tin- \Ves-t Indies, and such others as might be 

 found of rarity or use. On his return, it was left for 

 him to explore the passage between New Holland 

 and New Guinea ; a passage which no mariner had 

 dared to attempt before the Captain's voyage in the 

 Bounty, which has been already narrated. All tin; 

 was accomplished. 



On the 28th August 1791, Captain Bligh anchor- 

 ed, with his tender, in St Cruz road at the island of 

 TeneniFe, and having taken in wine and refreshments, 

 he sailed from thence on the 1st September; after 

 having touched at the island of St Jago, he proceed- 

 ed to the Cape of Good Hope, and anchored in 

 Table Bay on the 6'th November. 



The vessels remained at the Cape until the 23d 

 December 1791, when they sailed for Van Diemen's 

 Land, which they reached on the 9th February 

 1792. Having sailed on the 2'kh of the same month, 

 they arrived on the 9th of April in Matavai Bay in 

 the island of Otaheite. 



At this place they remained, and the crews were 

 zealously employed in collecting the bread-fruit 

 plants, which were stowed in the great cabin of the 

 Providence, which had been previously prepared for 

 their reception. All were got on board by the 17th 

 July, and they sailed the following day, with 1281 

 pots and tubs of plants, in the finest condition. 



After a most dangerous passage through the straits 

 which separate New Holland from New Guinea, 

 Captain Bligh anchored at Coupang in the island of 

 Timor, on the 2d October, where he remained, re- 

 placing such plants as had died with others of that 

 island, until the 10th of the fame month, when he 

 sailed by the Cape of Good Hope, which he passed, 

 without having the thermometer lower than 61 

 Fahrenheit, or going farther south than 37 46' south 

 latitude. 



On the 17th December, he anchored at St He- 

 lena ; there 57 kinds of fruit trees were collected, 

 and that the settlement might be benefited by those 

 he had on board, Captain Bligh gave to the govern- 

 ment 23 bread fruit plants, besides some other valu- 

 able fruit trees. 



Captain Bligh now proceeded to the island of 

 St Vincent, and arrived in Kingston Bay on the 

 23d January 1793 ; there he remained until the 23d 

 instant, when, having left under the Care of Dr An- 

 derson, the well-known superintendant of the bo- 

 tanical garden in that colony, 333 bread fruit trees, 

 and 21 1 fruit trees 4 and having received 467 plants 

 for his Majesty's garden at Ke\v, he sailed for Ja- 

 maica in termination of his orders. 



Having executed the duty entrusted to him witli 

 the utmost celerity, Captain Bligh arrived at Port 

 Royal, in the island of Jamaica, on the 5th Febru- 

 ary 1793. There he landed 623 plants, 347 of which 

 were bread fruit. The others consisted of the finest 

 fruit of the East. 



To complete all the objects of Captain Bligh's 

 mission, it only remained for him to return to Bri- 

 tain with a selection of plants for the king ; and ac- 

 lingly he accomplished that end, with a great va- 

 riety of beautiful specimens. 



The two vessels sailed from Jamaica on the Mth 



June 1793, and having left some plantl on the Grand 

 Cayman, they arrived in the Downs on the 2d Au- 

 gust 1793." 



The Providence was 420 tons burthen. The As- 

 sistant 110 tons. The former carri-d 100 men, the 

 latter 27. The Assistant was commanded by Lieu- 

 tenant Nathaniel Portlu. 



From Jamaica and St Vincent's, plants of th< 

 bread fruit tree have been introduced into (!:. 

 parts of the British colonies, chiefly by the i-xei - 

 tions of public spirited individuals ; so that the cul- 

 ture of it has received a very fair trial. It has been 

 said that Dr Anderson of St Vincent has succeed- 

 ed in raising trees both from cuttings and layers. 

 We know not whether this be the fact or not ; but 

 of this we are perfectly assured, that the experiment 

 has been completely unsuccessful in the hands of 

 some intelligent gentlemen, who have made it with 

 much attention, and on whose accuracy we can rely. 

 Fortunately, however, it has been sufficiently ascer- 

 tained, that there is a simple mode of propagation 

 which very generally answers. It is merely this : 

 One of the branches of the root is bared of earth, 

 and then wounded with a spade ; in a short time, a 

 shoot springs up from the wound ; after this has 

 occured, and the shoot is sufficiently vigorous to bear 

 removal, the separation is completed ; and any acci- 

 dental connection with fibres, or other useless ap 

 pendages, is also destroyed. The young plant is 

 then dug up, with a proper quantity of earth, and 

 placed in a hole, in which it soon fixes itself. In 

 about three years, it expands into a full sized tree, 

 which yields fruit in great abundance. 



It will naturally be asked, after the vast exertions 

 made by the meritorious and persevering individual, 

 who commanded both expeditions to the South Sea 

 islands, in quest of the bread fruit tree, after the ex- 

 pense incurred, and the benevolent zeal displayed by 

 the Sovereign, for the welfare of his West Indian sub- 

 jects, and after the high expectations that were at 

 one time excited by the splendid narratives of voy- 

 agers, how far the bread fruit tree has succeeded in 

 point of cultivation, as well as in point of utility, as 

 an article of food, on which a large proportion of the 

 West India population could depend ? The answer 

 to such inquiries will be unsatisfactory, and such at, 

 little accord with the very flattering hopes which 

 were at one period expected to be realized. In those 

 colonies where the plantain tree (Miisa paradisiaca,) 

 grows readily, the bread fruit tree cannot be introdu- 

 ced with advantage, owing to the greater difficulty of 

 cultivation in the one case than in the other, and to 

 the very decided preference which the negroes give 

 to the plantain. The bread fruit tree, as we haw 

 already seen, requires some years to bring it to matu- 

 rity, the mode of propagation is tedious, and negroes 

 have no great predilection for the fruit. This may 

 arise from want of habit, (which might indeed be 

 overcome,) and from its nut furnishing food so pala- 

 table as that to which they have been accustomed. 

 The plantain tree, on the contrary, is propagated 

 with wonderful facility, and yields fruit in about 

 fifteen months. Whenever an old plantain walk, 

 (the name given in the colonies to the place allotted 

 to the cultivation of this vegetable,) is to be cleared, 



Drcxl 

 I ruit. 



