1696.] EBONY AND OTHER TREES. VJ7 



white and black : The black is hardest. The Soldiers who 

 are eraploy'd to saw this Wood, will saw twenty foot of 

 White^ before they can twelve of Black, and which is their 

 ordinary Task for a day. 



Here are Oranges^ both sweet and sour,^ and great plenty 

 of Citrons of the same kind. Also divers of Trees fit for 

 Shipping.* A good quarter of a League from the Fort, 

 there is a Grove of Limon-Trees,^ round which, as well as in 



bark of a pleasant smell. The ebony bears a fruit like a medlar, full 

 of viscous juice, that is sweet and pleasant-tasted. There is another 

 sort of Ebony here, veined with black." (Bernardin de St. Pierre, I. c, 

 p. 63.) Ebony-trees. To the Ehenac{;mhe\oiig Plaqtieminiei' mellanick or 

 Ehene hlanc (Diosjyijros mdaukla) ; Ehcne noir {D. tesscUaria.) (Pnd- 

 ham, p. 868.) 



1 In orig. : " rouge." 



2 Oranges. Citrus anrantium, C. Bigaradie, C. Bergamia, C deciunana. 

 Lemons and Citrons, Citrus acida, C. Limonum, C. mcdica, C. Limetta. 

 Malagasy Orange, Citrus Vangassaye. 



"The Citron-tree bears fruit in cool and damp places only; the 

 citrons are small but full of juice. 



" The Orange-tree also thrives in a soil of this kind ; its fruit is 

 larger, and sharp-tasted. Many of them grow in the neighbourhood 

 of the Great Port (South-East Port) ; yet I doubt if these two species 

 are natural to the island. The sweet orange is very rare, even in 

 gardens. Orange-trees are of many sorts ; among them is one yield- 

 ing an orange called a Mandarin ; a large kind of Pamplemousse, 

 of a red colour and but middling taste ; a citron that bears a very 

 large fruit, but with little juice in it (the shaddock of the W. Indies)." 

 (Bernardin de St. Pierre, op. cit., p. 63.) 



3 In orig. : " aussi doux & aigres." 

 * In orig. : " pour la charpente." 



^ In van Braam's map is shown de Groete Linioen Booms Rivier, 

 possibly the stream which flows into Bestel's Cove, indicating the 

 Grove of Oranges and Lemons mentioned by Leguat. '' There are also 

 a great many sweet and sour lemon (citroen-tioomen) and orange trees, 

 planted in 1606 by Heer Matdiefysm Keernan, who brought them from 

 the island of Annabon, And close by the Fort one overlooks a great 

 wood, and near it a large plantation of tobacco and sugar-cane. There 

 are here very fine pine-apples, pisang (plantain?), and other Indian fruits. 

 The Calappus {filao or casuarinn) and other trees grow well here. By the 

 end of our occupancy there was also a Company's garden with all sorts 

 of European (^Vaderlaiuhe) fruits; but rice does not thrive well here" 



