HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
55 
The Attier, whose triangular flower is of a solid substance, has the taste of the 
pistachio. Its fruit resembles that of the pine tree ,• when ripe, it is filled with a 
white, sweet cream, has the fragrance of the orange-flower, and is full of black 
kernels. It is a grateful fruit, but very heating. 
The Manguier is a very fine tree, which the inhabitants of India represent on their 
painted silks; it is covered with flowery branches, like the Indian chesnut tree: to 
them succeeds a quantity of fruit, in the shape of a very large flat plumb, covered 
with a rind that smells like turpentine. The fruit has an agreeable-^nd vinous taste, 
and if it were not for its smell, might be said to equal the finest Trbits of Europe: 
it is probable that a very pleasant drink might be extracted from it. It is generally 
loaded with fruit in the hurricane season, which occasions the loss of the greater 
part of it. It grows on the sands, and even in the sea. 
The Bananier grows every where, but has no wood: it is nothing but a tuft of 
leaves, which rise in columns; and expand, at the top, in broad bands of green, which 
have the appearance of satin. At the end of a year, there sprouts forth from the 
top a long cluster bristled over with fruit, in the shape of a cucumber. The fruit, 
which is mucilaginous, has an agreeable taste, and the Negroes are very fond of it: 
it is given them on festivals, and they reckon their time by the course and number 
of Banana feasts. Its leaves resemble silk girdles; its cluster falls down for several 
feet, and its violet-coloured head resembles that of a serpent: this circumstance 
may have been the cause of its being called the fig tree of Adam. This fruit lasts 
all the year, and there are many kinds of it, some of the size of a plumb, and others 
as long as a man’s arm. Linen may also be made of the fibres of this plant. 
The Gouyanier bears a strong resemblance to the medlar tree; its flower is white, 
and its fruit smells like bugs. It possesses an astringent quality; and is the only 
fruit which breeds maggots. 
The Jam-rose, is a tree which affords a fine shade, though not of a lofty growth; 
its fruit emits the fragrance of a rose bud, and is of a sweetish taste. 
The Papayer is a kind of fig tree, without branches; it grows fast, and shoots up 
like a column, with a capital of large leaves: its fruit, which is like a small melon, 
grows out of its trunk, which is of the substance of a turnip. Its seed has the taste 
of cresses. The female Papayer only bears flowers; they are of a form and smell 
as agreeable as those of an honeysuckle. 
The Badamier seems to have been formed for the purpose of giving shade. It 
