RREAD-FRUIT TREE. 
201 
its leaves are frequently a foot and a half long, of an 
oblong shape, deeply sinuated like those of the fig- 
tree, which they resemble in colour and consistence, 
and in the exsuding of a milky juice upon being 
broken. The fruit is about the size and shape of a 
new-born child’s head ; and the surface is reticu- 
lated, not much unlike a truffle; it is covered with a 
thin skin, and has a core about a s big as the handle 
of a small knife. The eatable part lies between the 
skin and the core ; it is as white as snow, and some- 
what of the consistence of new bread ; it must be 
roasted before it is eaten, being first divided into 
three or four parts ; its taste is insipid, with a slight 
sweetness somewhat resembling that of the crumb 
of wheaten bread mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke. 
This fruit is also cooked in a kind of oven, which 
renders it soft, and something like a boiled potatoe ; 
not quite so farinaceous as a good one, but rnore so 
than thosp of the middling sort. Of the bread-fruit 
they also make three dishes, by putting either water 
or the milk of the cocoa-nut to it, then beating it 
to a paste with a stone pestle, and afterwards mix- 
ing it with plantains, bananas, or the sour paste 
which they call mahie, The mahie, which is like- 
wise made to serve as a succedaneum for ripe 
bread-fruit before the season comes on, is thus 
made : The fruit of the bread-tree is gathered just 
before it is perfectly ripe, apd being laid on heaps is 
closely covered with leaves ; in this state it under- 
goes a fermentation, and becomes disagreeably sweet; 
the core is then taken out entire, which is done by 
