522 



APPENDIX— PHYTOLOGY. 



capillaments ; the fruit is a capsule, a little flat and pointed, of the size of a large chestnut, and of 

 a green colour, composed of two valves or folds, covered with fine soft thorns, and lined with a 

 membrane that encircles a large quantity of small seed, having over them a green substance which 

 when diluted in water, affords a precious dye The Indians are not ignorant of this, and use it to 

 paint their bodies. 



ViNHATico is a high and straight tree of yellow wood, and fructifies in pods with beans. 



There are a variety of edible roots : — potatoes of various kinds ; mandioca, of which is made the 

 usual bread of the country; its plant, of which there are various sorts, is a shrub of one or more 

 stems ; the root, after being scraped and reduced to flour, is pressed until exhausted of its abundant 

 juice, which is generally poisonous, and is ultimately toasted in a large earthern or copper vessel over 

 a furnace till it becomes dry ; this vegetable prospers well only in substantial soils : if is planted in 

 little mounds of earth, by putting into each half the stock of the plant, which is a span in length. 

 The aypim is a species of mandioca, whose root is boiled or roasted. The mendubim is a plant of 

 little growth, with leaves similar to the French bean, producing beans at the root with a gray skin, 

 which encloses from one to three small seed. The potatoe do ar, a creeping plant, without a flower 

 preceding it, produces a fruit of irregular form, without stone or seed, is covered with a thin and green 

 skin, and has the taste of the potaloe. 



Besides the fruits mentioned there are many others, amongst which are the pine, or attu, the size 

 of a quince, with a white, soft, and savoury pulp; the conde, which is of the size of the preceding, 

 with the pulp equally soft, but not so white; the mammao is larger, with a smooth and yellow skin, 

 and the pul|) of the same colour ; the pitomba ; the mocuge ; of the banana, whose length exceeds 

 many times its diameter, there are three sorts, the whole having a thick skin, and clustered upon 

 one stalk ; the plant which produces them is of considerable growth, without either branches 

 or wood in the trunk; the leaves are very long, slender, and smoolh, with proportionable width, 

 and the back fibres very thick ; the trunk is formed of the leaves firmly woven togeiliei, being two 

 or three yards in height, round, erect, and inflexible, the leaves branching out from it ai tlie top. 

 The pine-apple, resembling a pine, with various leaves in the eye, is of delicious flavour and 

 aromatic scent ; the plant from whobc centre it issues is very similar to the aloe. The muracuja is 

 of the size of an orange, oblong and regular, with a thick and hard skin, green on the outside and 

 white within ; it is full of gross and rather sour liquid, containing seeds similar to those of the 

 melon. 



The sugar-cane, mandioca, tobacco, and the matte-plant, are all indigenous, and now cultivated 

 to a great extent with considerable advantage, furnishing many lucrative branches of commerce. 



The indigo-plant and opuncia are met with almost in all parts ; the first, which only prospers in 

 strong soils, is yet cultivated but in few provinces. There are a diversity of pep|)ers ; that of 

 Malabar, which only thrives in substantial and fresh soils, has been cultivated only witlini a few 

 years. 



The plant commonly called malicia de niulher (woman's malice) is a creeping and thorny twig, 

 with very small foliage, whose little leaves obtain their opposite one's, when Ihey immediately adhercj 

 so thai the twig is encircled, and remains in this state for a considerable time. 



THE END. 



