114 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. fCHAP. vi. 



is said to be too humid for the insect to thrive in, but the ex- 

 periment has scarcely been tried. 



FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 



The fruits winch are brought here to the greatest per- 

 fection, in addition to the grape, are the orange and the fig, to 

 which may be added the mulberry : the lemon also, and the 

 pomegranate, with the strawberry and apple, represent the 

 products of a temperate latitude ; whilst the pineapple, the 

 guava, the mango, the shaddock, the custard apple, the 

 papaw, the Japan meddlar, and the banana *, ripen, a tropical 

 fruitage, without assistance from art. All European vegeta- 

 bles grow to perfection. 



At the Jardim, Mr. Veitch has succeeded in growing rice 

 and the principal varieties of the tea plant, at an elevation of 

 three thousand feet above the sea. 



The Tchu-tchu (Sechium edule), or pepinella, as the natives 

 call it, is an excellent vegetable ; it is a creeper, and grows so 

 luxuriantly that one seed is sufficient to cover a whole house 

 with its produce. It resembles vegetable marrow in sub- 

 stance, but is superior in flavour, and is even said to improve 

 the taste and quality of bread when added to wheaten flour 

 Arrowroot is produced abundantly and of good quality in 

 Madeira. Pumpkins grow to a very large size, and are used 

 by the natives as the chief ingredient of their favourite dish, 

 the Sopa Portugueza. The coffee tree flourishes in their 

 grounds, and plentifully supplies their tables. 



* " 'T is almost a crime inexpiable to cut this fruit with a knife, which 

 after dissection gives a faint similitude of our Saviour crucified ; and this 

 they say is to wound his sacred image." — Ovington's Voyage to Suratt, 1689. 



