THE BUTTER-TflEE. 
55r 
I believe, be very fit for building. The few productions of 
the soil cultivated by the people of Time are left in the 
fields, with small pieces of written paper affixed to them, 
to keep off thieves ; and no one ever touches them. During 
my stay at Time, I only saw one man whose yams had been 
stolen out of the ground; but, said the negroes, they were 
not protected by grigris. 
The butter-tree, or ce, is very abundant in the neighbour- 
hood of Time. It grows spontaneously, and in height and 
appearance resembles the pear-tree. The leaves grow in 
tufts, supported by a very short foot-stalk. They are round 
at *top, and when the tree is young, they are six inches long. 
When the tree grows old the leaves become smaller, and 
resemble those of the Saint-Jean pear-tree. It blossoms at 
the extremity of its branches, and the flowers, which are 
small, grow in clusters, and are supported by a very strong 
pedicle. The petals are white, and the stamina are nume- 
rous and scarcely perceptible to the naked eye. The fruit, 
when mature, is as large as a Guinea-hen's egg, of oval shape, 
and equal at both ends. It is covered with a pale-green 
pellicle, beneath which is a gre^n farinaceous pulp, three 
lines thick, of an extremely agree ible flavour. 1 he negroes 
are very fond of it, and 1 liked it myself. Under this pulp 
there is a second pellicle, very thin, and resembling the 
white skin which lines the inside of an egg-shell. This 
covers the kernel, which is of a pale coffee colour. The fruit 
being disengaged from the two pellicles and the pulp, is 
enclosed in a shell as thin as that of an egg, and the kernel 
is of the size of a pigeon's egg. The fruit is exposed seve- 
ral days to the sun, in order to clry it, then pounded in a 
mortar, and reduced to flour whicli is of the colour of wheat 
bran. After being pounded, it is placed in a large calabash ; 
luke-warm water is thrown over it, and it is kneaded with 
the hands until it attains the consistence of dough. To as- 
certain whether it is sufficiently manipulated, warm water 
