133 COOK's VOYAGE. 
took for granted that they were fit to eat ; thofe however, 
who made the experiment paid dear for their knowledge of 
the contrary, for they operated both as an emetic and cathartic 
with great violence. Still, however, we made no doubt but 
that they were eaten by the Indians ; and judging that the 
conftitution of the hogs might be as ftrong as theirs, tho’ our 
own had proved to be fo much inferior, we carried them to the 
ftye ; the hogs eat them, indeed, and for fome time we tho't 
without fullering any inconvenience ; but in about a week they 
were fo much difordered that two of them died, and the reft 
were recovered with great difficulty. It is probable, how- 
ever, that the poifonous quality of thefe nuts may lie in the 
juice, like that of the calTada of the Well Indies ; and that 
the pulp, when dried, may be not only wholefome, but nu- 
tricious. Befides thefe fpecies of the palm, and mangroves, 
there were feveral fmall trees and fhrubs, altogether unknown 
in Europe ^particularly one which produced a very poor kind 
of fig ; another that bore what we called a plum, which it 
refembled in colour, but not in ffiape,, being fiat on the fides 
like a little cheefe ; and a th rd that bore a kind of purple 
apple; which, after it had been kept a few days, became eat- 
able, and tailed fomewhat like a damafcene. 
Here is a great variety of plants to enrich the colleflion of 
a botaniil, but very few of them are of the aefculent kind. A 
fmall plant, with long, narrow, graffy leaves, refembling 
that kind of bulrulh which in England is called the Cat’s-tail, 
yields a refin of a bright yellow colour, exaflly refembling 
gambouge, except that it does not llain ; it has a fweet fmeil, 
but its properties we had no opportunity to difcover, any more 
than thofe of many others with which the natives appear to 
be ac-quainted, as they have dillinguilhed them by names. 
I have already mentioned the root and leaves of a plant 
refembling the coccos of the Well Indies, and a kind of bean ; 
to which may be added, a fort of parfiey and purfeiain, and 
two kinds of yams ; one lhaped like a rhadilh, and the other 
round, and covered with ilringy fibres : both forts are very 
fmall, but fweet ; and we never could find the plants that pro- 
duced them, though we often faw the places where they had 
been newly dugup ; it is probable that thedrought had dellroy- 
ed the leaves, and wecould not, like the Indians, difcover them 
by the ftalks. 
Moll of the fruits of this country, fuch as they are, have 
been mentioned already. We found one in the fouthern part 
of the country refembling a cherry, except that the ftone was 
foft ; and another not unlike a pine-aple in appearance, but 
of a very difagreeable tafte, which is well know in the Eaft 
Indie’s, and is called by the Dutch Pjn Jppel Boomen. 
Of the quadrupeds, I have already mentioned the dog, and 
particularly 
