Cap. X. The Caribbyvl (lands. 



55 



The feed, which is not fo biting, nor fo fpicy as thofe of the 

 other two kinds, lies in the midft of it : Being ripe it is one of 

 the moft delightful fruits that may be. The feed hath been 

 brought over into France and other parts, and hath come td 

 perfection 3 but the fruit is not fo big as that of America. This 

 cod and the feed within it is us'd inlteadof pepper, becaufe it 

 communicates a certain picquancy to things, like that fpice : 

 But the operations of them differ much 3 for after it hath bit- 

 ten the tongue, and by its acrimony inflam'd the palat, inftead 

 of fortifying and warming the ftomach, it weakens it, and cau~ 

 fes coldnefs in it 5 or rather, according to the opinions of fome 

 Phyficians, it over-heats it, and by its cauftick vertue weak- 

 ens it, caufing coldnefs in it only by accident, inafmuch as it 

 difperfes the radical moifture,wnich is the feat of heat. Whence 

 it is obferv*d in the Iilands, that thofe who ordinarily ufe it in 

 their meat are fubjeft to pains in the cheft, and apt to contract 

 a yellow colour. 



TOBACCO. 



THe Plant called Tobacco, from the Ifland Tabago, where, 

 as fome affirm, it was ftrft difcover'd by the Spaniards, 

 bad alfo the name Nicotianum hom one Nicot aPhyfician, who 

 firft us'd it in Europe, and fent it from Portugal into France: 

 It was alfo called ^ueen-herb, hence, that being brought from 

 America jx. was prelented to the Queen of Spain as a rare Plant, 

 and of extraordinary vertues. The Spaniards give it further 

 the title of Holy-herb, for the excellent effects they have expe- 

 rienced from it, as Garcilafo in his Royal Commentary of the 

 Tncas of Per«, lib. n.ch. 25. affirms. Laftly,the French call 

 it Petun, though de Lery is much difpleas'd at the name,affirm- 

 ing, that the Plant he faw in Braftl, and which the Topinam- 

 bou* call Petun, differs very much from our Tobacco. The Ca- 

 ribbians in their natural Language call it Touly. Heretofore 

 there were known in the Jflands but two kinds of Tobacco- 

 Plants, commonly called by the Inhabitants Green-Tobacco, 

 and Tongu'd-Tobacco, from the figure of its leaf } but lince 

 there have been brought from the Continent the feeds of Viri- 

 nus, and the Tobacco of the Amazons, they are divided into 

 four kinds : The two former are of a great produce, but the 

 two others are more efteern d by reafon of their fweet fcent. 



All thefe kinds- of Tobacco-Plants grow in the Iilands to 

 the height of a man and higher, if their growth be not check*d 

 by cutting off the tops of their items : They bear good (tore 

 of leaves, which are £reen, long, downy on the lower fide, and 

 (eem in the handling as if they were oiled : Thofe which grow 

 towards the ftock of the Plant are larger and longer, as deri- 

 ving more nourilhment from the moifture of the root. At" 



