78 
TltlNIDAD. 
several different kinds, tlie former growing on tall suc- 
cnlent trees, the latter bulbous roots gi’owing from vines 
which run on sticks. The ants are very fond of the 
yam vine, and in consequence, wherever they are it is 
useless to plant yams. The English potatoe will not 
grow to perfection in Trinidad. If you plant they will 
onl}' run to haulm, but sweet potatoes grow to a 
large size, and very easily. The cush-cush is one of 
the finest ground provisions that is possible to be eaten. 
They are like yams in the manner of their growth, 
but their mealy character and their peculiar flavour 
must be experienced by eating of them to be known. 
Some of them arc white in colour, others of a dee]> 
purple, similar to the colour of some kinds of beetroot. 
Tanias are very common, and a very wholesome root, 
growing not unlike a Lily; the young and tender leaves 
arc picked, and form a principal ingredient of calaloo 
soup. Calaloo and tom-tom, which is green plantain 
pounded in a mortar, is a very characteristic dish. 
I’eas and beans of many different kinds. Idgeon- 
peas, instead of growing on a rimning vine, are found 
on a good sized tree-shrub, with stem, roots and 
branches. Ochros are, to appearance, exactly like the 
hollyliock. In England, if tlie conical seed-vessel of the 
hollyhock were gathered, boiled and eaten, it would be 
thought strange, but this is what is done with the 
ochros here. They are picked while young, before the 
seed-vessel gets hard and dry. They are boiled and 
eaten whole, and are to Creoles, or acclimatized Eu- 
ropeans, very savoury, and are certainly slimy and 
cooling. It is quite common for persons to inveigh 
against them the first year of their residence in tlie 
land, and eventually to become very fond of them. 
Pumpkins, cuciunbers and mellangs, or egg-plants, arc 
plentiful. Casava is a root indigenous to the island — at 
least Columbus found the Indians using it as a principal 
article of food. There are two sorts of casava, a bitter 
and a sweet, and both are used for food ; the sweet is. 
