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ANANAS DE AGULHA. [APPEND. 



cellent beverage may be obtained from it by ferment- 

 ation. * 



Ananas de Agulha, Bromelia muricata : — Arrud. 

 Cent. Plant. 



I have given the description of this plant in my first 

 centuria ; and do not describe it in this place because 1 

 have not made any experiments with it, but I suspect 

 that it possesses fibrous qualities. Its fruit is of the same 

 make as that of the ananas manso and of the crauata dc 

 rede, from which it principally differs, in having, instead 

 of bracteae, thorns of three inches and a half in length, 

 raised in the direction of the fruit, so that being covered 

 with these sharp thorns, it cannot be taken hold of with- 



* Bolingbroke says, that " it is a common thing to feed swine with 

 pine-apples. My astonishment was increased when our conductor 

 took us te a large trench fifty rood long, and twelve feet wide, which 

 was absolutely filled up with pine-apples; they so completely over- 

 ran the estate at one time, that he was ohliged to root them up for 

 the purpose of preventing their farther extension." — Voyage to the 

 Demerary, &c. p. 21. 



Neither pigs nor pine-apples are to he found thus by wholesale in 

 Pemambuco. — Transl. 



Barrere says, " La Pitte, qui est une espe'ee cV ananas, fournit encore 

 une filasse a"un bon usage. Le fit en est phis fort et plus fin que la 

 soye. Les Portugais en font des has qui ne cedent en rien, dit-on, par 

 leur bonte et par leur finesse aux has de soye." — Nouvelle Relation 

 de la France Equinoxiale, p. 115. 



Old Ligon says, " the last and best sort of drinke that this Hand 

 or the world affords, is the incomparable wine of pines ; and is cer- 

 tainly the nectar which the gods drunke ; for on earth there is none 

 like it ; and that is made of the pure juyce of the fruit itselfe, with- 

 out commixture of water or any other creature, having in itselfe a 

 naturall compound of all tastes excellent, that the world can yield. 

 This drinke is too pure to keep long; in three or four dayes it will 

 be fine ; 'tis made by pressing the fruite, and strayning the liquor, 

 and it is kept in bottles." — A true and exact History of the Hand 

 of Barbadoes, 1657. 



