WEST INDIES. 
3 5 
CHAP. I.] 
grows without cultivation, and to an extraordinary 
size, on the banks of the river Plate,* we are as¬ 
sured by Jean de Lery, a Protestant minister, who 
was chaplain in 1556, to the Dutch garrison in the 
fort of Coligny, on the river Janeiro, that he him¬ 
self found sugar-canes in great abundance in ma¬ 
ny places on the banks of that river, and in situa¬ 
tions never visited by the Portuguese. Father 
Hennepen, and other voyagers, bear testimony 
in like manner to the growth of the cane near the 
mouth of the Mississippi; and Jean de Laet to its 
spontaneous production in the island of St. Vincent. 
It is not for the plant itself therefore, but for the 
secret of making sugar from it, that the West Indies 
are indebted to the Spaniards and Portuguese; and 
these to the nations of the east.” 
Such is the reasoning of Labat, which the learn¬ 
ed Lafitau has pronounced incontrovertible; and it 
is greatly strengthened by recent discoveries ; the 
sugar-cane having been found in many of the 
islands of the Pacific ocean, by our late illustrious 
navigator captain Cook. 
In these accounts, however, there is no contra¬ 
diction. The sugar-cane might have grown spon¬ 
taneously in many parts of the New World; and 
Columbus, unapprised of the circumstance, might 
likewise have carried some of the plants to Hispa- 
* Piso observes, <{ In provincia Rio de la Plata, Cannas Sacchart 
sponte enasci, adolescereque in arbori proceritatejn, atque chrystaila 
saccharea sestu solis exsudare^ constat.” 
