EXPEDITION TO S U R I NA M. 299 



tude, in not committing a trefpafs of wliicli too many chap. 

 others would have made a boaft. Shortly after, how- XII. 

 ever, this gentleman again became my friend, even more 

 than before this affair happened, having been perfedtly 

 undeceived. ; 



On the 6th, a poor drummer of the Society brought 

 me a prefent of fome alltgato, or more properly avogato 

 pears and oranges, for having fupported him, he faid, in 

 Holland againft my fervant, who had knocked him down.. 

 This trait of gratitude afforded me more pleafure than 

 the coolnefs of my late friend had given me pain.— The 

 avogato pear grows on a tree above forty feet high, and 

 not unlike a walnut-tree : the fruit, which is about the 

 iize and colour of a large pear, viz, a pale green, is the 

 moft exquiiite, in my opinion, of any in the colony, or 

 even in the world ; the inlide is yellow, and the kernel 

 is inclofed in a foft rind like a chefnut. The pulp is fo 

 falubrious and nutritious, that it is often called the ve« 

 getable marrow, and is frequently eaten with pepper and 

 fait : nor can I compare it to any thing fo Vv'cli as a peach, 

 melting in the mouth in the fame manner, not fo fweet 

 indeed, but incomparably more delicious. 



The oranges in Surinam are of three different fpecies ; 

 the four, the bitter, and the fweet, all being originally 

 imported from Spain or Portugal. The four oranges are 

 an excellent cure for fores and running ulcers, fo com- 

 mon in this climate, but painful in the operation ; for 

 which reafon they are only ufed for the negroes, who it 



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