7 J 



when thoroughly ripe, are cleansed of their coating of clay, tied np in 

 suitable leaves, well secured by the fibre of the aloe, anrl much resem- 

 ble when ready for market reeves of large onions, a dozen gourds mak- 

 ing up one reeve of aji. The cost of these in the good old times was 

 fifteen pence for a dozen gourds; what the price may be now is only 

 known on the exchange. Time was when some of the old families of the 

 interior who had passed their lives in ignorance of railways, daily news- 

 papers, and quotations of the state of the markets, had their own special 

 way of preparing aji, mixing with it some delicately scented bark 

 ground to powder, or other salutary substance known only to the reticent 

 Indian. From such houses no visitor was ever allowed to take his de- 

 parture without carrying with him a supply of the latest-made aji ; no 

 traveller went to the capital or any of the coast towns but he carried 

 with him some of this excellent pepper as a present to the archbishop or 

 bishop of the diocese, the ladies of Santa Rosa, or the good Fathers 

 who once a year went long journeys to baptise the children, marry their 

 parents, and otherwise maintain the influence and authority of the 

 Church in the remote parts of the earth. But even this good custom is 

 fast dying out." — (Kew Bulletin.) 



;o:- 



VEGETABLE SOAP. 



By Dr. Anthony Robinson. * 



The Ooratoe or Ouraya (as Dr. Browne calls it in p. 199 of his Nat- 

 ural History of Jamaica) is a species of the Agave. [A. Morrisii, 

 Bak.] There are but few plants more common than this in Jamaica, 

 where it grows naturally upon the most barren rocky hills, and is so 

 generally well known to the inhabitants of this island, as to render a 

 botanical description unnecessary. 



The Vegetable Soap mentioned in my petition to the honourable 

 house of assembly, and with some of which sundry experiments were 

 tried before a committee thereof, is prepared from the leaves of this 

 plant. 



The lower leaves of the moderate grown plants may be cut off for 

 use, without injury to the other parts ; but care must be taken not to 

 cut off so great a quantity as to prevent the plants from flowering or 

 vegetating, for by such means, the planter will never be able to increase 

 his stock. 



The plant blossoms in the spring, and the whole top of many of 

 them is then covered with a number of little plants, which are to be 

 carefully gathered as the stem withers, and planted in the fissures of 

 the rocks where there is some soil, and at a proper distance, making 

 allowance for the spreading of the plants which when arrived at 

 maturity, expand 14 or 15 feet. 



» Prom the " Columbian Magazine," January, 1798. Published in King- 

 hu % Jamaica. 



