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natives did not appear to have discovered what invaluable "rie a 
and easily digestible food they possessed in the plantai 
All banana lands— zuba, Brazil, West esa a i me to devo 
consumed in Europe. For infants, persons of delicate digestion, 
ode and those suffering from temporary derangements of the 
, the flour, properly prepared, would be of universal demand. 
ting "my two attacks of gastritis, a v gruel of this, mixed with 
milk, was the only matter that could be d igested." 
Dr. Parke, surgeon to the expedition, also speaks (Personal Ez- 
Laine in Equatorial Afrcia, p. . 522) of the use of uim or plantain 
ur : 
* We found a little porridge of scalded banana flour, which had been 
just freshly made; and a few leathern belts, which is the only native 
article of apparel. The discovery of this sample of porridge here struck 
me as very peculiar; the first place where we had seen bananas dried 
and pounded into flour was at Ugarrowwa’s camp ; even the Zanzibaris, 
and the other natives whom we have met on our line of progress, had 
nof. cai this method of preparing bananas for food till they saw it 
used b So it is evident that the few natives with whom we had 
beco int ate on our way had Mabel to their villages and told 
their icons what they had seen 
* Ever since ve learned this eid of preparing our bananas we 
have been able iminish our risk of starvation very considerably. 
We can make eno pts flour in one day for several days' rations ; and the 
weight is so dh. less than that of the corresponding up of the 
een bananas, that men can carry a considerable number of days 
rations with e in addition to their other loads, whereas they could 
not manage more than a couple of days’ supply of the green bananas. 
The banana flour is most nutritious and very sustaining.’ 
It is generally recommended aa D make the best banana meal the 
fruit should be in an unripe con 
The changes that take place in iie RIA fruit during the successive 
stages of its growth and ripening are cre. by Dr. Warden in the 
Dict. Econ. Prod. of India, Vol. V., 
© Ebe VAR E of the banana oa bm stages of maturity has 
been investigated by L. Ricciardi. The green fruit contains over 
12 per cent. of starch, which disappears as the fruit ripens. It contains 
6:53 of tannin and the ripe only :34 per cent., so that as the fruit 
ripens this principle disappears, and this is also the case ith the other 
organic acids which are present. The a in the fruit which ripens 
on the tree is almost entirely cane sugar, but in the ‘fruit cut and 
ripened by exposure to air the invert-sugar reaches about 80 per cent. 
present in the green fruit to 3-04 per c cent., and in the img to 4°92 per 
cent. The green fruit yields 1°04, and the ripe *95 per ceat. of ash, 
which contains 23°18 per cent. of phosphoric anhydride, and 45°23 per 
cent. of potash.” 
The use of plantain-meal as an article of food is doubtless of ne 
antiquity. It is frequently mentioned by old authors. Rum 
eR that in the Malay archipelago * man begins life with plantains ” 
as the meal is used for making pap for new born infants. 
