HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
5i 
There are two sorts of pimento; the one which is known in Europe, and the 
other which is natural to this island. It is a shrub, whose fruit is very small, and 
shines like grains of coral, on a foliage of the finest green. The Creols use it in all 
their ragouts; it is a very strong pepper, and burns the lips like a caustic: it is 
called the fiery pimento. 
The Ananas, the finest of fruits, is known here; and the strawberry begins to multiply 
in cool situations : they however are not very productive,'any more than the raspberry, 
whose fruit has degenerated. There is avery fine sort from China, which attains the 
size of cherries, and is very abundant; but it is neither sweet nor fragrant. 
Spinage, cresses, sorrel, parsley, fennel, and celery, are of difficult cultivation: 
the beet, lettuce, endive, and cauliflower, are much smaller and less tender than 
they are in Europe. The cabbage, which is among the most useful vegetables, flou¬ 
rishes here. The pimpernel, purslain, and sage, increase here; but, above all, the 
cistercian, which is a long-lived plant. 
Asparagus, carrots, parsnips, sassafrass, radishes, and turnip radishes, require cul¬ 
tivation ; but as cattle are scarce, manure is proportionably rare. There is a kind 
of Chinese radish, which is successful. The red beet flourishes, but is very woody. 
The Pomme de terre, Solatium Americanum, is not larger than a walnut, from being 
ill cultivated: those of the Indies, called Cambar, weigh often upwards of a pound: 
its skin is blue, like a violet; but it is white within, and its taste very insipid: it 
affords a variety to the food of the Negroes. It multiplies considerably, as well as 
the potatoe, some kinds of which are preferable to the European chesnut. Saffron is 
used to give a colour to culinary, or cari, preparations, like the pistil in Europe. The 
ginger is not so hot as that of the Indies. The pistachio, which is not the fruit of 
the pistachio tree, is a small nut, that grows in the ground, in a rough shell: to be 
eaten, it must be roasted; but it is principally cultivated in order to extract a lamp- 
oil. This plant is a phenomenon in botany, as it is very rare indeed that oily quali¬ 
ties are found in those fruits which grow beneath the surface of the earth. 
The mignionette, balsam, tuberose, larkspur, China-aster, and small pinks, all 
flourish as in Europe. The large pinks and lilies put forth abundance of leaves, 
but seldom bear flowers. Anemones, ranunculas, and the Indian rose, as well as 
the stock and the poppy, flourish in this island. 
Among the more common flowering plants of Africa there is but one, which is the 
fine everlasting of the Cape; whose berries are large and red, like strawberries, and 
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