VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 
365 
The common potato I have already mentioned in a 
former chapter (p. 186). The sweet potato (. Batatas 
edulis ) will grow in all its varieties, from the huge purple- 
fleshed tuber to the delicate little yellow form; but it is 
very little cultivated. The yam ( Dioscorea ) is much 
more common, but dry and tasteless. The cocos or kalo 
(Colocasium esculentum ) grows well in the wetter lands, 
but is more common in Belize than in Guatemala, and 
in neither place attains the prominence as a vegetable 
that it enjoys in the Pacific Islands or in China and the 
East Indies. The cassava (Manihot utilissima), so impor¬ 
tant a food in South America, is here mostly confined to 
Carib use, and I have never seen it inland or on the south 
coast; as a dietary its importance merits attention, and 
it should be exported. In a dry climate it keeps well, 
and I have specimens four years old still perfectly good. 
Frijoles, or beans, black, white, and red, are very abundant 
and good. The Mexicans are the greatest consumers 
of beans in the world, and their neighbors southward 
probably rank next. 
The breadfruit ( Artocarpus incisa ) grows remarkably 
well in Livingston and Belize, although I think the fruit is 
smaller than in the Pacific islands. Carefully baked when 
full grown, but not ripe, it is a fine vegetable, and the 
baked fruit sliced and fried is a delicacy. The odor of 
the uncooked fruit is very unpleasant. Squashes, cucum¬ 
bers (including a small spiny wild one which is very 
good), melons, grow well, and pumpkins are planted 
among the corn, as in New England. Indeed, the variety 
of squashes is very great, and one may see a dozen or 
fifteen kinds in a single heap. They are fed to cattle as 
pumpkins are with us. Some are so hard that they keep 
