chap, i.] WEST INDIES. 13 
acquainted with this production, which grew in 
great perfection in Valencia, and other parts of 
Spain; yet he found, it seems, on his arrival, no 
trees or plants in the newly-discovered country, of 
which he had any previous knowledge, excepting 
only the pine and the palm. That the cane was 
then there, appears from a subsequent passage; 
in which, speaking of such vegetable productions 
as the Spaniards had sown or planted in an inclosed 
garden immediately after their arrival, Martyr has 
these words, which, combined with the former, 
are, as I conceive, decisive of the question.— 
“ Melones cucurbitas, cucumeres et alia id genus, 
in diem sextum et trigesimum carpserunt. Sed 
nusquam se meliores unquam comedisse aiebant. 
Ha?c hortensia, toto anno habent recentia. Can- 
narum radices ex quorum succo saccarum extorque- 
ter , sed non coagulatur succus , cubitales cannas 
intra quindecimum etiam diem emiserunt. 
On the other hand, there are authors of great 
learning and industry, who maintain that the sugar¬ 
cane is a native of both of the islands and the conti¬ 
nent of America, within the tropicks. They as¬ 
sert, that it was found growing spontaneously in 
many parts of the New Hemisphere, when first 
explored by the Spanish invaders. P. Labat, who 
appears to have considered the question with a la¬ 
borious attention, is decidedly of this opinion,* and 
he quotes, in support of it, among other authori- 
* Tom. III. c.xv. p. ao. 
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