TREES VALUABLE FOR FRUITS. 35 



covered with yellow flowers in the spring. The physicians call the 

 pulp of the fruit cana, and purgatives are made from it. 



Another tree which the forests contain produces the pimienta or all- 

 spice. Although it is abundant and of the best quality, it is little 

 known because of its limited exportation. It is ordinarily gathered by 

 the natives only after falling from the trees when it is ripe, on wet 

 soil exposed to rains and dews, which cause it to deteriorate. There- 

 fore its condition when exported is not a criterion of its real quality. 

 This tree grows among the forest trees of the southern coast of Porto 

 Eico, especially in the districts of Guayama, Ponce, and Ooamo, which 

 are the dryest and least fertile in the island, the tree being rare on the 

 northern coasts, which are fertile. Its stem is tall, straight, and 

 smooth; the wood is hard and suitable for working, having a dark- 

 reddish color, which in time becomes a lustrous black. Its bark is a 

 silver gray, its branches rich in foliage; the leaves, which resemble the 

 laurel, have the odor of pepper and serve for condiments and different 

 remedies. In Jamaica and other places this tree is cultivated by 

 transplanting it to uplands which will not serve for sugar cane. The 

 pimienta is also gathered in Jamaica by beating the branches with a 

 pole before it is perfectly ripe, and it is dried in the sun, protected 

 from all dampness and dew. It is cleansed with care and put into bags 

 for transportation to Europe, with which there is a prosperous com- 

 merce. In Porto Eico it is utilized mostly without any precautions for 

 preserving it from humidity or any preparations for drying it in the 

 sun, as it is gathered a few barrels at a time, the rest being abandoned. 



No less common upon the southern coast and in the higher parts of 

 the island is the tree which produces the nutmeg. Fray liiigo, in his 

 "Historia," says: 



I will not venture to affirm that this is of the same quality as that which the Hol- 

 landers bring us with so much care from the island of Banda, one of the Moluccas, 

 where they have endeavored to praise it to the disparagement of the trees of this 

 species which grow elsewhere, or to define the class of aromatic nuts to which this 

 belongs. Since I am lacking in the necessary information and knowledge to analyze 

 and examine it with precision as to its quality, therefore it is necessary to leave 

 undecided its exact name and species, contenting ourselves with saying that its 

 form, size, color, odor, and other qualities differ hut little from that which the Hol- 

 landers bring from Asia. Porto Ricans prefer this native spice to the imported for 

 some uses, and if it were cultivated it would improve greatly, since the land which 

 produces such good quality naturally would give better results by cultivation. 

 This soil and the temperature of the island, as well as geographical position, are in 

 no respect inferior to the Moluccas. 



TREES VALUABLE FOR FRUITS. 



The climate produces a variety of fruits, unusual in their growth and 

 of excellent quality. The orange, lime, lemon, citron, guava, cashaw, 

 anona, corazones, mamey, jobos, aguacate (alligator pear), mango, and 

 other fruit trees of warm countries are common throughout the island. 

 While it may be inappropriate to discuss these in a report upon the 

 forests of the island, a few words concerning some of them may be of 



