R. T. LOAVE — ERTJITS AND YE GE TABLES OE MADEIRA, ETC. 181 



medicine ; and thus not sufficiently to make its cultivation any 

 object. 



130. Cicca disticha L. fil. (Averrhoa actda L.). A com- 

 mon tree in gardens or about bouses in the Cape Verdes, but not 

 known in Madeira or the Canaries. Its austerely acid obtusely 

 5-ribbed or -angled subglobose or oval fleshy-coated yellowish- 

 green fruit, growing in racemes clustered on the thicker branches, 

 and about the size of a small gooseberry or marble, is called Aze- 

 dinha or Groselha, i. e. Gooseberry, by the Portuguese. It is 

 scarcely eaten except preserved with sugar, when it turns nearly 

 or quite black. It has no flavour besides its acidity. 



Urticaceje. 



131. Mortjs nigra L. The Mulberry flourishes in Madeira, 

 producing abundantly large and most delicious fruit in July, 

 which, however,is considered by the Portuguese to be unwholesome. 

 In the Canaries, and especially in Palma, it is more extensively 

 cultivated for feeding silkworms. There is a silk-manufactory at 

 S ta Cruz, the principal town of Palma ; but the silk, which is said 

 to be of excellent quality, is chiefly exported to Lyons. 



I never met with this Mulberry in the Cape Verdes, but in 

 lieu of it 



132. M. pabularia Dene. This Mulberry, distinguished by 

 its long loose weak flaunting or declining branches, and large 

 cumbrous foliage of long-stalked cordate serrate coarsely rugose 

 or bullate light-green leaves, is often planted about fields or 

 houses in the Cape Verdes as well as in the Madeiras and 

 Canaries. It is cultivated merely for its foliage, which is used 

 as fodder. The fruit, which I have never seen, was reported to 

 me in Pogo to be "red," i. e. perhaps rose- or flesh-coloured. 



133. Picus Carica L. The common Pig in numerous varieties 

 is most abundant in the Madeiran and Canarian groups. Indeed 

 in some islands of the latter its fruit constitutes when dried a 

 considerable portion of the daily food of the people. It cannot 

 without difficulty be preserved in this way in Madeira ; but the 

 fresh figs are most abundant in quantity and of delicious quality 

 from the end of June to October, the trees producing usually two 

 crops within that time. In the Cape Verdes the Pig-trees are 

 comparatively rare, and seem not to flourish. 



134. P. (Stcomorus) guineensts Miq. ? This fine tree, 

 though indigenous in the Cape Verdes, is also frequently seen in 

 gardens or near houses. The wood is a good timber; but the 



