378 BANANA—MANIOC. 
plants, which, in the space of a year, at a very mo- 
derate calculation, will yield more than 4410 ib. 
avoirdupois of nutritive substance. Our author es- 
timates, that the produce of the banana is to that of 
wheat as 133: 1, and to that of potatoes as 44: 1. 
In America numerous preparations are made of 
this fruit, both before and after its maturity. When 
fully ripe it is exposed to the sun, and preserved 
like our figs ; the skin becoming black, and exhaling 
a peculiar odour like that of smoked ham. This 
dry banana (platano passado), which is an object of 
commerce in the provinceof Mechoacan, has an agree- 
able taste, and is a very wholesome article of food. 
Meal or flour is obtained from it, by being cut into 
slices, dried in the sun, and pounded. 
It is calculated that the same extent of ground in 
Mexico on which the banana is raised is capable of 
maintaining fifty individuals, whereas in Europe, 
under wheat it would not furnish subsistence for 
two ; and nothing strikes a traveller more than the 
diminutive appearance of the spots under culture 
round a hut which contains a numerous family. 
The region where it is cultivated produces also the 
valuable plant (Jatropha), of which the root, as is 
well known, affords the flour of manioc, usually con- 
verted into bread, and furnishes what the Spanish 
colonists call pan de tierra caliente. ‘This vege- 
table is only successfully grown within the tropics, 
and in the mountainous region of Mexico is never 
seen above the elevation of 2625 feet. Two kinds 
are raised, the sweet and the bitter. The root of 
the former may be eaten without danger, while that 
of the latter is a very active poison. Both may 
be made into bread ; but the bitter is preferred for 
