38 



TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



He has paid much attention to the cultivation of 

 fine kinds of fruit, and has published a book on the 

 agriculture of Malta.* The superiority of the 

 Maltese oranges is well known, and they are with 

 justice esteemed the finest in Europe. We tasted 

 some of these fruits in the garden of Sir Thomas 

 Maitland, which might with propriety be called 

 < apples of the Hesperides. Citrons in the greatest 

 variety, and the shaddock (Citrus decumana), are as 

 common in the gardens as the carob tree (Ceratonia 

 Siliqud) ; and fine stone fruit, which, though originally 

 brought from the Caucasus and Pontus, yet attain 

 the highest perfection under this almost African 

 sky. This island produces a little wine, but far from 

 sufficient for its own consumption ; but they have 

 fine Salernian, and the strong wine of the neigh- 

 bouring island of Sicily. Besides the vegetables 

 common in the north, the love-apple (Solanum 

 Ly coper sicum) is likewise cultivated. The Indian 

 torch-thistle (Cactus Ficus Indicd) and C Opuntia 

 are common in the gardens, and on the dry walls, 

 and together with the aloe, impart to the landscape 

 somewhat of a foreign appearance. The common 

 people eat the fruit of the cactus, and the leaves 

 are sometimes cut to pieces and given to the cattle. 

 These leaves, which contain a great quantity of 

 carbonic acid, are used at Zante, as an ex- 

 cellent remedy for the stone, and the fleet of 



* Saggio di Agricoltura per le Isole di Malta e Gozo. 

 Messina, 1811, small 4to. 



