PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
57 
proper that I should instruct him on every subject which has 
come within my knowledge. The bread-fruit tree of this island 
grows with great luxuriance, in extensive groves, scattered 
through every valley. It is of the height of fifty or sixty feet, 
branching out in a large and spreading top, which affords a beau¬ 
tiful appearance and an extensive shade from the rays of the sun; 
the trunk is about six feet in circumference; the lower branches 
about twelve feet from the ground; the bark soft, and on being 
in the slighest degree wounded exudes a milky juice, not unplea¬ 
sant to the taste, which, on being exposed to the sun, forms an ex¬ 
cellent bird-lime, and is used by the natives as such, not only for 
catching birds, but a small kind of rat with which this island is 
much infested. The leaves of Jjfiis tree are sixteen inches long 
and nine inches wide, deeply notched, somewhat like the fig leaf. 
The fruit, when ripe, is about the size of a child’s head, green, 
and divided by slight traces into innumerable six sided figures. 
This fruit is somewhat eliptical in its shape, has a thin and deli¬ 
cate skin, a large and tough core, with remarkable small seeds 
situated in a spongy substance between the core and the eatable 
part, which is next the rind. It is eaten baked, boiled or roasted; 
whole, quartered, or cut in slices, and cooked; either way was found 
exceedingly palatable, was greatly prefered by many to our soft 
bread, which it somewhat resembled in taste, but was much sweeter; 
it was found also very fine, when cut into slices and fried in butter 
or lard. It keeps only three or four days, when gathered and hung 
up; but the natives have a method of preserving it for several 
years, by baking, wrapping it up in leaves, and burying it in the 
earth: in that state it becomes very sour, and is then more highly 
esteemed by them than any other food. The bread-fruit tree is 
every thing to the natives of these islands. The fruit serves them 
and their hogs for food throughout the year, and affords large sup¬ 
plies to be laid up for a season of scarcity. The trees afford 
them an agreeable and refreshing shade; the leaves are an excel¬ 
lent covering for their houses; of the inner bark of the small 
branches they make cloth; the juice, which exudes, enables them 
to destroy the rats which infest them; and of the trunk of the tree 
they form their canoes, many parts of their houses, and even their 
gods. Describe to one of the natives of Madison’s Island a conn- 
