50 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
Wheat also flourishes here, though it does not grow to a great height. It is 
sown by hand on account of the rocky soil; and is seldom kept more than two years. 
Although its -flour is never very white, its bread is preferable to that produced by 
the flour of Europe, for long voyages. 
The cultivation of rice is very successful ; this grain produces more abundantly 
than the wheat. 
The small millet yields a very plentiful harvest. 
Oats succeed well in this island, but they are little cultivated. 
The Negroes grow tobacco for their own consumption. 
The fataque, is a grass with large blades, like those of a small reed: artificial 
meadows are made of it. It is a native of Madagascar. Onobrychis. 
M. de St. Pierre mentions that attempts have been made to cultivate sainfoin, 
trefoil, flax, hemp, and hops, in this island, but without success. 
The culinary and fructiferous Plants. 
The greater part of the vegetables degenerate, and those who are curious in them, 
must annually obtain their seeds from Europe, or the Cape of Good Hope. The 
peas are tough, and without sweetness: the kidney-beans are hard ,• but there is a 
kind of them, which are larger and more tender, called the Cape pea. There is an¬ 
other kind, with whose vines arbours are formed. Horse beans are successful. 
There is also a kind of bean, whose pod is a foot in length; its grains are large, but 
are never eaten; and its branches are so luxuriant as to form verdant bowers. 
The artichokes put forth large leaves, but produce small heads, which are very 
tough, unless the root has been well manured. Hedges are formed of them, as they 
are very thorny, and rise to a considerable height. 
The Giromon is a small pumpkin. The cucumber is also diminutive, and less pro¬ 
ductive here than in Europe. The melon is in great estimation; and the Pasteque, 
or water-melon, is excellent: the climate is very favourable to it, as well as the 
soil, when improved by manure. 
Gourds grow here to an enormous size, and are of great use, as they form the 
utensils of the Negroes. 
The Bringelle, or Aubergine, is of two kinds: the one, which is a native of Ma¬ 
dagascar, has a very thick bark, and produces a round and yellow fruit; the other, 
which .is known in Europe, yields a blue fruit of the size of a large fig. 
