BREAD-FRUIT TREE. 
39 
ence, are numerous, varied, and valuable : among 
these, the first that demands notice is the bread¬ 
fruit tree, artocarpus , being in greater abundance, 
and in more general use, than any other. The tree 
is large and umbrageous; the bark is light-coloured 
and rough; the trunk is sometimes two or three feet 
in diameter, and rises from twelve to twenty feet 
without a branch. The outline of the tree is 
remarkably beautiful, the leaves are broad, and 
indented somewhat like those of the fig-tree, fre¬ 
quently twelve or eighteen inches long, and rather 
thick, of a dark green colour, with a surface glossy 
as that of the richest evergreen. 
The fruit is generally circular or oval, and is, on 
an average, six inches in diameter; it is covered 
with a roughish rind, which is marked with small 
square or lozenge-shaped divisions, having each a 
small elevation in the centre, and is at first of a 
light pea-green colour; subsequently it changes to 
brown, and when fully ripe assumes a rich yel¬ 
low tinge. It is attached to the small branches 
of the tree by a short thick stalk, and hangs either 
singly, or in clusters of two or three together. The 
pulp is soft; in the centre there is a hard kind of 
core extending from the stalk to the crown, around 
which a few imperfect seeds are formed. 
There is nothing very pleasing in the blossom ; 
but a stately tree, clothed with dark shining leaves, 
and loaded with many hundreds of large light 
green or yellowish coloured fruit, is one of the 
most splendid and beautiful objects to be met 
with among the rich and diversified scenery of a 
Tahitian landscape. Two or three of these trees 
are often seen growing around a rustic cottage, 
and embowering it with their interwoven and pro¬ 
lific branches. The tree is propagated by shoots 
