2,66 ^he Discoveries 
but the old Trees planted by the Spaniards being gone 
by Age, and few now thriving, as the Spanijh Negroes 
foretold, little or none now is produced worthy the Care 
and Pains in planting and expedling it. Thofe Slaves 
afcribe its not coming to Perfeblion to a fuperftitious 
Caufe, many religious Rites being performed at its 
Planting by the Spaniards, which their Slaves were not 
permitted to fee. But ’tis probable that wary Nation, as 
they removed the Art of making Cochineal, and curing 
Venelloes, into their inland Provinces, which were the 
Commodities of the lilands in the Indians Time, and for- 
bad the opening any Mines in them, for fear fome ma- 
ritime Nation might be tempted to conquer them ; fo in 
tranfplanting the Cocoa from the Caraccas and Guatamala 
on the Continent, they might conceal, wilfully, fome Se- 
cret in its planting from their Slaves. 
There is alfo more Indico produced in Jamaica, than 
in any other Colony, by reafon of the great Quantity of 
Savanah Land, for it thrives bell in fandy Ground. The 
Seed from whence it is raifed is yellow and round, fome- 
thing lefs than a Tare. The Ground is made light by 
hoeing ; then Trenches are dug like thofe our Gardeners 
prepare for Peafe, into which the Seed is put about 
March : It grows ripe in eight Weeks Time, and in frefli 
broken Ground will fpring up about three Foot high, but 
in others to no more than eighteen Inches. The Stalk is 
full of Leaves of a deep green Colour, and will, from 
its firft fowing, yield many Crops in one Year. When 
it is ripe it is cut and fteeped in Fats twenty- four Hours, 
then it mull be cleared from the firft Water and put into 
proper Cifterns, where, when it has been carefully beaten, 
it fettles about eighteen Hours. In thefe Cifterns are fe- 
veral Taps, which let the clear Water run out, and the thick 
is put into Bags of about three Foot loj^, made com- 
monly of Ozenbrigs, which being hung up all the li- 
quid Part drops away ; when it will drop no longer, it 
is put into Wooden Boxes, three Foot long, fourteen 
Inches v/ide, and one and an half deep \ thefe Boxes muft 
be placed in the Sun till it is very hot, and then taken in 
till the extreme Heat is over ; this muft be done conti- 
nually till it is fufficiently dryed. In Land that proves 
proper for Indico, the Labour of one Hand, in a Year’s 
time, will produce between eighty and one hundred 
Weight, which may amount from tv/elve to fifteen 
Pounds to the Planter, if no Accident happen ; for In- 
dico, as well as other Commodities in thofe Parts, is fub- 
jedl to many j the moft common areBlafting and Worms, 
by which it is frequently deftroyed. 
Piemento is another Natural Produdlion of Jamaica, 
from whence it is called Ja.maica Pepper, alluding to its 
Figure and the chief Place of its Growth -j the Trees 
that bear it are generally very tall, and fpreading, have- 
ing a Trunk as thick as one’s Thigh. It rifes ftrait, 
above thirty Foot high, is covered vv^ith an extraordi- 
nary fmooth Skin of a grey Colour ; it is branched out 
on every hand, having the End of its Twigs fet with 
Leaves of feveral Sizes, the largeft being four or five 
Inches long, and two or three broad, in the Middle, 
where it is broadeft, and whencq it decreafes to both ex- 
tremes, ending in a Point fmooth, thin, Ihining, without 
any Incifures of a deep green Colour, and ftanding on 
Foot-Stalks an Inch long j when bruifed very odorife- 
rous, and in all things like the Leaves of a Bay Tree. 
The Ends of the Twigs are branched into Bunches of 
Flowers, and each Stalk fuftaining a Flower bending 
back, within which Bend are many Stamina of a pale 
sreen Colour ; to thefe follows a Bunch of crowned 
Berries, the Crown being made up of four fmall Leaves, 
which are bigger, when ripe, than Juniper Berries : At 
firft, when fmall, greenifti, but when they are ripe, black, 
fmboth, and fhining ; containing in them a moift, green, 
aromatic Pulp, two large Seeds feparatsd by a Membrane, 
each of which is a Hemifphere, and both joined make 
a fpherical Seed. 
It grows on all the hilly Part of the Hand of Jamaica, 
but chiefly on the North Side ; . and wherever thefe Trees 
grow, they are generally left ftanding when other Trees, 
are felled ^ and they are fom.etimes planted where they 
.pever grew, becaufe of the great Profit from the cured 
and Settlements Book I. 
Fruit exported yearly in great Quantities into Europe, 
Jamaica Pepper Tree flowers in July, and 
gufi, but fooner or later, according to their Situation and 
different Seafon for Rains ; and after it flowers the Fruit 
foon ripens : But ’tis to be obferved, that in clear open 
Grounds it is fooner ripe than in thick Woods. There is 
no great Difficulty in curing or preferving this Fruit 
tor Ufe •, ’tis for the moft Part done by the Negroes. 
They climb the Trees and pull off the Twigs with the 
unripe green Fruit, and .afterwards carefully fepa rate the 
Fruit from the Twigs and Leaves, v/hich done, they ex- 
pofe them to the Sun, from the Rifing to the Setting, 
tor many Days ; fpreading them thin on Cloths, turning 
them now and then, and carefully avoiding the Dews, 
which are there very great. By this means they become 
a little wrinkled, and from a green, change to a brown 
Colour, when they are fit for the Market ; being of dif- 
ferent Sizes, but commonly of the Bignefs of black Pepper; 
fomething like in Smell and Tafte to Cloves, Jumper 
Berries, Cinnamon and Pepper, or rather having a peculiar 
mixt Smell, fomewhat a kin to all of them, from whence 
it is called All-fpice. The more fragrant and fmaller they 
are, they are accounted the better. 
It is defervedly reckoned the beft and moft temperate, 
mild and innocent, of all Spices, and fit to come into 
greater Ufe, and to gain more Ground than it has of the 
Eaji India Commodities of this kind, almoft all of which 
it far furpaffes, by promoting the Digeftion of Meat, at- 
tenuating tough Humours, moderately heating and 
ftrengthening the Stomach, expelling Wind, and doing 
thofe friendly Offices to the Bowels, which we expedt 
from Spices. 
The wild Cinnamon Tree, commonly called, though 
falfly, Cegrtex Winteranus, grows in this Hand ; its 
Trunk is about the Bignefs of the Piemento Tree, and 
rifes twenty or thirty Foot high, having many Branches 
and Twigs hanging downwards, making a very lovely 
Top ; the Bark confifts of two Parts, one outward and 
another inward ; the outward Bark is as thin as a milled 
Shilling, of whitiffi Afli or grey Colour, with fome 
white Spots here and there upon it, and feveral fliallow 
Furrows of a darker Colour running varioufiy through 
it, of an aromatic Tafte •, the inward Bark is much 
thicker than Cinnamon, being as thick as a milled Crown 
Piece, fmooth, and of a whiter Colour than the out- 
ward, of a much more biting and aromatic Tafte, 
fomething like that of Cloves, and not glutinous like 
Cinnamon, but dry and crumbling between theTeeth ; the 
Leaves come out near the Ends of the Tv/i^s, without 
any Order, ftanding on Foot-Stalks, each of them two 
Inches in Length, and one in Breadth ; near the End 
where broadeft and roughefl:, being narrow at the Begin- 
ning, from whence it augments in Breadth to near, its 
End, of a yellowifii green Colour, fhining and fmooth, 
without any Incifures about its Edges, and fomewhat 
refembling the Leaves of Bay. 
The Ends of the Twigs are branched into Bunches of 
Flowers, ftanding fomewhat like Umbels, each of which 
has a F,^>ot-Stalk, on the Top of which is a Calix made 
up of fome little Leaves, in which ftand five fcarlet or 
purple Patala, within which is a large Stylix to thefe 
follow fo many calyculated Berries of the Bignefs of a 
large Pea, roughifh, green, and containing, within a mu- 
cilaginous pale green thin Pulp, four black fhining Seeds 
of an irregular Figure : All the Parts of this Tree, when 
freffi, are very hot, aromatic, and biting to the Tafte, 
fomething like Cloves, v/hich is fo troublefome, as fome- 
times to need the Remedy of fair Water. It grows in the 
Savanah Woods, very frequently on each Side the Road, 
between Pajfage Fort and the Town of St Jago de la Vega. 
The Bark of the Tree is what is chiefly in Ufe, both in 
the Englijh Plantations, between the Tropics in the JVefi 
Indies, and m. Europe, and is without any Difficulty cured, 
by only cutting off the Bark, and letting it dry in the 
Shade. The ordinary Sort of People in the V^efi Indies ufe 
it inftead of all other Spices, being thought very good to 
confume the immoderate Humidity of the Stomach, to 
help Digeftion, afid expel Wind, ipc. Rum loofes its 
difagreeable Smell if mixed with this Bark, 
The 
