Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1901. 
Story  of  the  Papaw. 
275 
wines  and  elixirs  made  from  the  ripe  fruit  are  expectorant,  sedative 
and  tonic. 
A  malady  which  the  natives  call  the  "  cocoa  bag,"  is  a  trouble- 
some tropical  disease,  reputed  to  be  hereditary  and  contagious;  at 
all  events,  it  seems  to  lurk  in  the  blood  of  persons  of  otherwise 
apparently  good  health  and  habits.  Suddenly  the  victim  becomes  a 
mass  of  offensive  sores,  debilitated,  etc.  The  native  doctors  add  the 
papaw  fruit  to  the  diet  drinks  used  in  this  disease,  and  succeed  in 
moderating  its  violence,  at  least.  To  the  sores  a  paste  made  with 
the  papaw  milk  as  one  of  the  constituents  is  also  applied. 
The  slight  pimples  accompanying  the  first  stages  of  the  yaws 
soon  spread  into  ulcerous  sores  that  cover  the  entire  body.  Here, 
too,  the  claim  is  made  that  a  slice  of  the  papaw  rubbed  over  the 
pimples  will  abort  them.  It  is  also  claimed  that  the  ulcers  may  be 
cleaned  in  a  similar  fashion. 
I  witnessed  a  most  striking  cleansing  of  a  black  foot  in  which  the 
chiga  had  bored  and  laid  its  eggs,  producing  a  mass  of  foulness 
beyond  description.  Here  a  paste  of  the  papaw  milk  was  pushed 
into  the  seething  mass  and  kept  there  for  forty-eight  hours.  It  was 
then  flushed,  curetted,  and  antiseptics  were  applied.  A  clean  wound 
which  readily  healed,  resulted. 
The  green  leaves  or  slices  of  the  green  fruit  of  the  papaw  are 
rubbed  over  soiled  and  spotted  clothes,  and  by  its  power  of  dissolv- 
ing stains,  papaw  has  acquired  the  name  of  "  melon  bleach."  The 
leaves  or  a  portion  of  the  fruit  are  steeped  in  water  and  the  treated 
water  is  used  in  washing  colored  clothing,  especially  black,  the 
colors  are  cleaned  up  and  held  fast. 
The  seeds  are  eaten  as  a  delicacy.  They  have  quite  an  agreeable 
taste,  something  on  the  order  of  the  water-cress  and  a  piquancy 
slightly  suggestive  of  the  mustard  family.  Macerated  in  vinegar 
they  are  served  as  a  condiment.2 
The  strange  and  beautiful  races  of  the  Antilles  astonish  the  eyes 
of  the  traveller  who  sees  them  for  the  first  time.  It  has  been  said  that 
they  have  taken  their  black,  brown  and  olive  and  yellow  skin  tints 
^he  anthelmintic  properties  residing  in  both  the  seed  and  juice  have  been 
noted  by  various  authorities. 
2  The  seeds  are  encased  in  a  slimy  coating  and  advantage  is  taken  of  this  by 
the  younger  generation,  who  spread  them  out  on  a  board,  and  by  this  means 
form  a  "  slide,"  which  corresponds  with  the  frozen  gutters  so  agreeable  to  our 
northern  urchins. 
