Which, with their fragrant scents, perfume the air, | So shall thy canes defy November's cold, Burst into being; while the canes put on 390 401 The bundles some untie; the wither'd leaves, While Procyon reigns yet fervid in the sky; 410 Ungenial to the upland young; so best, | Till yellow plantanes bend the unstain'd bough 490 But chief thee, planter, it imports to mark 440 Thy plants, that, when they joint, (important age, 461 In plants, in beasts, in man's imperial race, 470 'Tis said by some, and not unletter'd they, Ver. 393. Whose brow the fern-tree.] This only grows in mountainous situations. Its stem shoots up to a considerable height, but it does not divide into branches, till near the summit, where it shoots out horizontally, like an umbrella, into leaves, which resemble those of the common fern. I know of no medical uses whereto this singularly beautiful tree has been applied, and indeed its wood, being spungy, is seldom used to economical purposes. It, however, serves well enough for building mountain-huts, and temporary fences for cattle. Ver. 418....... the mail'd anana.] This is the pineapple, and needs no description; the cherimoya, a South American fruit, is by all, who have tasted both, allowed to surpass the pine, and is even said to be more wholesome. The botanical name of the pine-apple is bromelia. Of the wild pineapple, or ananas bravo, hedges are made in South America. It produces an inferior sort of fruit. While rolls the Sun from Aries to the Bull, Ver. 482....... if seasons glad the soil.] Long-continued and violent rains are called seasons in the West Indies, To Britain's shore, ere Libra weigh the year: 490 Thy fields thus planted; to secure the canes With limes, with lemons, let thy fences glow, Their shapely beauties, and perfume the sky. Much cause have I to weep thy fatal sway.- 510 Ver. 500. ...... now children of this clime.] It is supposed that oranges, lemons, and limes were introduced into America by the Spaniards; but I am more inclined to believe they are natural to the climate. The Spaniards themselves probably had the two first from the Saracens, for the Spanish noun naranja, whence the English word orange, is plairly Arabic. Ver. 503.. the logwood-hedge.] Linnæus's name for this useful tree is hæmotoxylon, but it is better known to physicians by that of lignum compechense. Its virtues, as a medicine, and properties as an ingredient in dying, need not to be enumerated in this place. It makes a no less strong than beautiful hedge in the West Indies, where it rises to a considerable height. With which the sons of Jewry, stiff-neck'd race, 520 Emblem of innocence, shall grace my song. 530 strong cement; and the main stem, being wounded, ....་.. The privet.] Ligustrum. This shrub is sufficiently known. Its leaves and flowers make a good gargle in the aphthæ, and ulcered throat. Ver. 520....... carnation fair.] This is indeed a most beautiful flowering shrub. It is a native of the West Indies, and called, from a French governor, named Depoinci, poinciana. If permitted, it will grow twenty feet high; but, in order to make it a good fence, it should be kept low. It is always in blossom. Though not purgative, it is of the senna kind. Its leaves and flowers are stomachic, carminative, and emmenagogue. Some authors name it cauda pavonis, on account of its inimitable beauty; the flowers have a physicky smell. How it came to be called doodle-doo I know not; the Barbadians more properly term it flower fence. This plant grows also in Guinea. Ver. 508....... Nor shall the ricinus.] This shrub is commonly called the physic-nut. It is generally divided into three kinds, the common, the French, and the Spanish, which differ from each other in their leaves and flowers, if not in their fruit or seeds. The plant from which the castor-oil is extracted is also called ricinus, though it has no resemblance to any of the former, in leaves, flowers, or seeds. In one particular they all agree, viz. in their yielding to coction or expression a purgative or emetic oil. Ver. 526....... seen the humming bird.] The humThe Spaniards name these nuts avellanas purga-ming bird is called picaflore by the Spaniards, on activas; hence Ray terms them avellana purgatrices count of its hovering over flowers, and sucking their novi orbis. By roasting they are supposed to lose juices, without lacerating, or even so much as dispart of their virulency, which is wholly destroyed, composing their petals. Its Indian naine, sayı say some people, by taking out-a leaf-like substance Ulloa, is guinde, though it is also known by the apthat is to be found between the lobes. The nut ex-pellation of rabilargo and lizongero. By the Caceeds a walnut, or even an almond, in sweetness, and yet three or four of them will operate briskly both up and down. The French call this useful shrub medecinier. That species of it which bears red coral like flowers is named bellyach by the Barbadians; and its ripe seeds are supposed to be specific against melancholy. Ver. 510....... The acasse.] Acacia. This is a species of thorn; the juice of the root is supposed to be poisonous. Its seeds are contained in a pod or ligumen. It is of the class of the syngenesia. No astringent juice is extracted from it. Its trivial name is cashaw. Tournefort describes it in his voyage to the Levant. Some call it the holy thorn, and others sweet-brier. The half-ripe pod affords a ribbeeans it was called callobree. It is common in all the warm parts of America. There are various species of them, all exceeding small, beautiful, and bold. The crested one, though not so frequent, is yet more beautiful than the others. It is chiefly to be found in the woody parts of the mountains. Edwards has described a very beautiful humming bird, with a long tail, which is a native of Surinam, but which I never saw in these islands. They are easily caught in rainy weather. Ver. 536.......prickly pear.] The botanical name of this plant is opuntia; it will grow in the barrenest soils, and on the tops of the walls, if a small portion of earth be added. There are two sorts of it, one whose fruit is roundish and sweet, the other, which 541 550 They soon a formidable fence will shoot: 559 570 Oft, oft hath she their ill-judg'd avarice blam'd, trees; 580 And with cool cedars screen the public way? 589 who exceed in drinking or exercise, are liable on their arrival in the West Indies. The French call it maladie de Siame, or more properly, la fievre des matelots. Those who have lived any time in the islands are no more subject to this disease than the Creoles, whence, however, some physicians have too hastily concluded, that it was of foreign extraction. Ver. 595. Cassada,] Cassavi, cassava, is called has more the shape of a fig, is sour. The former jatropha by botanists. Its meal makes a wholeis sometimes eaten, but the other seldom. The some and well-tasted bread, although its juice be French call them pomme de raquette. Both fruit poisonous. There is a species of cassada which and leaves are guarded with sharp prickles, and, may be eat with safety, without expressing the even in the interior part of the fruit, there is one juice; this the French call camagnoc. The colour which must be removed before it is eaten. The of its root is white, like a parsnip; that of the leaves, which are half an inch thick, having a sort common kind is of a brownish red, before it is of pulp interposed between their surfaces, being scraped. By coction the cassada juice becomes deprived of their spines, and softened by the fire, an excellent sauce for fish; and the Indians premake no bad poultice for inflammations. The pare many wholesome dishes from it. I have given juice of the fruit is an innocent fucus, and is often it internally mixed with flour without any bad conused to tinge guava jellies. The opuntia, upon sequences; it did not however produce any of the which the cochineal insect breeds, has no spines, salutary effects I expected. A good starch is made and is cultivated with care in South America, from it. The stem is knotty, and, being cut into where it also grows wild. The prickly pear makes small junks and planted, young sprouts shoot up a strong fence, and is easily trimmed with a sci-from each knob. Horses have been poisoned by mitar. It grows naturally in some parts of Spain. Ver. 538. Wild liquorice.] This is a scandent plant, from which the Negroes gather what they call jumbee beeds. These are about the size of pigeon-peas, almost round, of a red colour, with a black speck on one extremity. They act as an e natic, but, being violent in their operation, great caution should be observed in using them. The leaves make a good pectoral drink in disorders of the breast. By the French it is named petit panacoco, to distinguish it from a large tree, which bears seeds of the same colours, only much bigger. This tree is a species of black ebony. Ver. 559. contagious blast.] So a particular species of blight is called in the West Indies. See its description in the second book. Ver. 571....... yellow deaths. ] The yellow forer, to which Europeans of a sanguine habit of body, and eating its leaves. The French name it manibot, magnoc, and manioc, and the Spaniards mandiocha. It is pretended that all creatures but man eat the raw root of the cassada with impunity; and, when dried, that it is a sovereign antidote against venomous bites. A wholesome drink is prepared from this root by the Indians, Spaniards, and Portuguese, according to Pineda. There is one species of this plant which the ludians only use, and is by them called baccacoua. Ver. 596. Tanies.] This wholesome root, in some of the islands, is called edda: its botanical name is arum maximum Egyptiacum. There are three species of tanies, the blue, the scratching, and that which is commonly roasted. The blossoms of all three are very fragrant, in a morning or evening. The young leaves, as well as the spiral staiks which support the flower, are eaten by negroes as a salad, (Which Nature to the soursop had resign'd) Heaven bless'd his labour: now the cotton-shrub, taste. Ver. 597.....to the soursop.] The true Indian name of this tree is suirsaak. It grows in the barrenest places to a considerable height. Its fruit will often weigh two pounds. Its skin is green, and somewhat prickly. The pulp is not disagreeable to the palate, being cool, and having its sweetness tempered with some degree of an acid. It is one of the anonas, as are also the custard, star, and sugar-apples. The leaves of the soursop are very shining and green. The fruit is wholesome, but seldom admitted to the tables of the elegant. The seeds are dispersed through the pulp like the guava. It has a peculiar flavour. It grows in the East as well as the West Indies. The botanical name is guanabanus. The French call it petit corosol, or cœur de bœuf, to which the fruit bears a resemblance. The root, being reduced to a powder, and snuffed up the nose, produces the same effect as tobacco. Taken by the mouth, the Indians pretend it as a specific in the epilepsy. Ver. 600. Cotton.] The fine down, which this shrub produces to envelope its seeds, is sufficiently known. The English, Italian, and French names, evidently are derived from the Arabic algodon, as the Spaniards at this day call it. It was first brought by the Arabians into the Levant, where it is now cultivated with great success. Authors mention fourspecies of cotton, but they confound the silk-cotton tree, or ceiba, among them. The flower of the West India cotton-shrub is yellow, and campanulated. It produces twice every year. That of Cayenne is the best of any that comes from America. This plant is very apt to be destroyed by a grub within a short time; bating that, is a profitable production. Pliny mentions gossipium, which is the common botanical name of cotton. It is likewise called zylon. Martinus, in his Philological Lexicon, derives cotton from the Hebrew word katon, or, as pronounced by the German, Jews, kotoun. His coffee bath'd, that glow'd with berries, red As Danae's lip, or, Theodosia, thine, Yet countless as the pebbles on the shore; Oft, while drought kill'd his impious neighbour's grove. 610 In time, a numerous gang of sturdy slaves, 620 those who plant cacao-walks, sometimes screen them by a hardier tree, which the Spaniards aptly term madre de cacao. They may be planted fifteen or twenty feet distant, though some advise to plant them much nearer, and perhaps wisely; for it is an easy matter to thin them, when they are past the danger of being destroyed by dry weather, &c. Some recommend planting cassada, or bananas, in the intervals, when the cacao-trees are young, to destroy weeds, from which the walk cannot be kept too free. It is generally three years before they produce good pods; but, in six years, they are in highest perfection. The pods are commonly of the size and shape of a large cucumber. There are three or four sorts of cacao, which differ from one another in the colour and goodness of their nuts. That from the Caraccas is certainly the best. None of the species grow in Peru. Its alimentary, as well as physical properties, are sufficiently known. This word is Indian. Ver. 605. His coffee.] This is certainly of Arabic derivation; and has been used in the East, as a drink, time immemorial. The inhabitants about the mouth of the Red Sea were taught the use of it by the Persians, say authors, in the fifteenth century; and the coffee-shrub was gradually introduced into Arabia Felix, whence it passed into Egypt, Syria, and lastly Constantinople. The Turks, though so excessively fond of coffee, bave not known it much above one hundred and fifty years; whereas the English have been acquainted therewith for upwards of an hundred, one Pasqua, a Greek, having opened a coffee-house in London about the middle of the 17th century. The famous traveller, Thevenot, introduced coffee into France. This plant is cultivated in the West Indies, particularly by the French, with great success; but the berry from thence is not equal to that from Mocha. It is a species of Arabian jasmine; the flower is Ver. 604. ...... cacao walk.] It is also called cocao and cocô. It is a native of some of the provinces of South America, and a drink made from it was the common food of the Indians before the Spaniards came among them, who were some time in those countries ere they could be prevailed upon to taste it; and it must be confessed, that the Indian cho-particularly redolent, and from it a pleasant corcolate had not a tempting aspect; yet I much doubt whether the Europeans have greatly improved its wholesomeness, by the addition of vanellas and other hot ingredients. The tree often grows fifteen or twenty feet high, and is straight and handsome. The pods, which seldom coutain less than thirty nuts of the size of a flatted olive, grow upon the stem and principal branches. The tree loves a moist, rich, and shaded soil: hence dial water is distilled. It produces fruit twice every year; but the shrub must be three years old before any can be gathered. It should not be al lowed to grow above six feet high. It is very apt to be destroyed by a large fly, which the French call mouche a caffe; as well as by the white grub, which they name puceron. Its medical and alimentary qualities are as generally known as those of tea. 490 650 "Be pious, be industrious, be humane; 640 He spoke, and ere the swift-wing'd zumbadore 650 And all the cane-lands wept their father lost. Ver. 624. Tamarind-vista.] This large, shady, and Ver. 643. Ere fire-flies.] This surprising insect is frequent in Guadaloupe, &c. and all the warmer parts of America. There are none of them in the English Caribbee, or Virgin Islands. Ver. 644. ...... on rapid Twilight's heel.] There is little or no twilight in the West Indies. All the year round it is dark before eight at night. dawn is equally short. The 660 Care meliorates their growth. The trenches fill And now thy cane's first blades their verdure lose, THE SUGAR-CANE. ADVERTISEMENT. 670 THE following book having been originally addressed to William Shenstone, esq. and by him approved of; the author should deem it a kind of poetical sacrilege, now, to address it to any other. To his memory, therefore, be it sacred; as a small but sincere testimony of the high opinion the author entertained of that gentleman's genius and manners; and as the only return now, alas! in his power to make, for the friendship wherewith Mr. Shenstone had condescended to honour him. ARGUMENT. Subject proposed. Address to William Shenstone, esq. Of monkeys. Of rats and other vermin. Of weeds. Of the yellow fly. Of the greasy fly, Of the blast. A hurricane described. Of calins and earthquakes. A tale. 10 ENOUGH of culture.—A less pleasing theme, 29 |