BREAD FRUIT— BANANA— PLANTAIN. 



551 



potatoes and milk. It is generally about the size of a melon, a little fibrous toward 

 the center, but everywhere else quite smooth and puddingy, something between yeast- 

 dumplings and batter-pudding. We sometimes made curry or stew of it, or fried it in 

 slices ; but it is in no way so good as simply baked. With meat and gravy it is a 

 vegetable superior to any I know either in temperate or tropical countries. W^ith 

 sugar, milk, butter, or treacle, it is a delicious pudding, having a very slight and 

 delicate but characteristic flavor, which, like that of good bread and potatoes, one 

 never gets tired of." 



When the season draws to an end, the last fruits are gathered just before they are 

 perfectly ripe, and, being laid in heaps, are closely covered with leaves. In this state 

 they undergo a fermentation and become disagreeably sweet ; the core is then taken 

 out entire, which is done by gently pulling out the stalk, and the rest of the fruit is 

 thrown into a hole, which is dug for that purpose, generally in the house, and neatly 

 lined in the bottom and sides with grass ; the whole is then covered with leaves, and 

 heavy stones laid upon them ; in this state it undergoes a second fermentation, and 

 becomes sour, after which it will suffer no change for many months. 



It is taken out of the hole as it is wanted for use, and, being made into balls, it 

 is wrapped up in leaves and baked : after it is dressed it will keep five or six weeks. 

 It is eaten both cold and hot, and the natives seldom make a meal without it, though 

 to Europeans the taste is as disagreeable as that of a pickled olive generally is, the first 

 time it is eaten. The fruit itself is in season eight months in the year, and the 

 Mahei or sour paste formed in the manner above described fills up the remaining 

 cycle of the year. 



To procure this principle article of their food costs the fortunate South Sea Islanders 

 no more trouble than plucking and preparing it in the manner above described ; for, 

 though the tree which produces it does not grow spontaneously, yet, if a man plants 

 but ten of them in his lifetime, which he may do in about an hour, he will, as Cook 

 remarks, as completely fulfil his duty to his own and future generations, as the native 

 of our less genial climate by plowing in the cold of winter and reaping in the summer's 

 heat as often as the seasons return." Though it has a far extended range over the 

 islands and coasts of the Indian and Pacific Ocean, yet its importance as an article of 

 food is chiefly confined to the Tahitian, Friendly, Samoan, Fiji, and Marquesan 

 groups, while in most parts of the Indian Archipelago it is either neglected or only 

 used for fuel. 



The wonderful luxuriance of tropical vegetation is perhaps nowhere more conspicu- 

 ous and surprising than in the magnificent Musacece, the Banana {Musa sapientum), 

 and the Plantain {Musa paradisiaca), whose fruits most probably nourished mankind 

 long before the gifts of Ceres became known. A succulent shaft or stem, rising to 

 the hight of fifteen or twenty feet, and frequently two feet in diameter, is formed of 

 the sheath-like leaf-stalks rolled one over the other, and terminating in enormous 

 light green and glossy blades, ten feet long and two feet broad, of so delicate a tissue 

 that the slightest wind sufl&ces to tear them transversely as far as the middle rib. A 

 stout foot-stalk, arising from the center of the leaves, and reclining over one side of 

 the trunk, supports numerous clusters of flowers, and subsequently a great weight 

 of several hundred fruits about the size and shape of full grown cucumbers. On 

 seeing the stately plant, one might suppose that many years had been required for its 



