90 Sketch of the Tropical Fruits likely to be worth 



Of the Country Plums, which are of the size of an hazle- 

 nut, with one or more kernels, there are many sorts which 

 are known under the names of Besabis, Drap, Abooke, 

 Machai, or Machanter, Magint, Malinta, Wanibe, and se- 

 veral others.* 



There are also what are called by the Colonists, Hog 

 Plums, which are not so large as European Plums, yellow, 

 and rather insipid. The natives are very fond of them. 

 The tree is like an Ash ;f perhaps a species of Spondias. 



Country Figs are a fruit the size of an Apple, nearly 

 round, and agreeable to the taste, when sufficiently ripe 

 resembling an European Strawberry. The tree grows in 

 the best soil in the woods.J Mr. Brown has ascertained 

 it to belong to Dr. Afzelius's unpublished genus Sarco- 

 cephalus.|| 



The Akee Tree (Blighia sapida), is a large tree, with 

 abruptly pinnated leaves. Its flowers are small and white, 

 and grow in axillary panicles. The red fleshy capsule is 

 about as large as a goose's egg, pear-shaped, and three-sided ; 

 it splits into three pieces when ripe, each of which contains 

 a single seed, half immersed in a spongy arillus of consider- 

 able size. The latter is the part eaten, and it is said to have 

 a most exquisite flavour.§ The tree belongs to the same 

 natural order as the Rambutan, Litchi, and Longan ; it has 

 been many years in this country; and is well figured in 

 Tussac's Flore des Antilles, plate 3. 



* Afzelius in African Repository, page 1 7 1 . f Ibid. \ Ibid. 



I] Brown in Tuckeys Appendix, page 467. 



§ Konig in Annals oi* Botany, Vol. ii. page 569, plates 16 and 17- 



