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Show 20 BOOK I. \o.o.-v--1 • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. quinces, apricots, pears, pomegranates, figs, black-cherries, walnuts, almonds, olives, chefnuts, and grapes; although thefe laft were not altogether wanting in the country ( x). In Miztcca there are two kinds of wild vine original in the country : the one in the !hoots and fi~Jure of the leaves fimilar to the common vine, produces red grrtpes, la~ge, and covered with a hard [kin, but of a fweet and grateful tafie, whi h would certainly improve from cul~ure. The grape of the other vine is hard, large, and of a very har!h tafie, but they make an excellent onfcrve of it. With refpeCl: to the cocoa-tree, the plaint.ajn, the citr~n, orange, and lemon, I am perfuaded, from the tefiunony of OvJedo, Hct~nandez, and Bernal Dias, that they had the cocoa from the Plulippine Hlands, and the reft from the anaries (y! ; but as I know there are many of another opinion, I decline engagmg myfelf m any difpute; becaufe, befidcs its being a ma~ter of no i~1portance t.o me, it would force me to deviate from the lme of my luftory. It IS certain, that thcfe trees, and all others which have been imported there from elfewhere, have fuccefsfully taken root, and multiplied as much as in their native foil. All the maritime countries abound with cocoanut trees. Of oranges, there are feven different kinds, and of lemons nly four. 1 here arc as many of the plain.tain, or platano, as the paniards call it ( z). The largefi, which is the zapalot, is from fifteen (x) The places named Pflrras and Pflrral in the dioccfe of New Bifcaglia, had th cfe names from the abundance of vines which were found th ere, of which they made many vineyards, which at this day produce good wine. (y) Oviedo, in his Natural Hi!lory, atte{ls, that F. J. Bulangas, n Dominican, was the firll: who brought the Mu.fa from the Canaries to Hifpaniola, in 151 6; and from thence it was tran fplanted to the continent of America. Hernandez, in the. iiid book, chap. tO· of his Natural Bif\ory, fpe:~ks thus of the cocoa: Nnji·itm· pttjfim aptal Orientales ct jam quoque apud OccidcntnleG Indos. B. Dins in his I!iftory of the onqucn, chap. 17. f:1ys, he fowed in the country of Co:uzacuako, fcven or eight orange fl!cd . ; and thefe, he :1dds, were the fir!l: oranges ever planted in New Spain. 'With regard to the muf.1, of the four fp l·cics which there arc of it, it is probable, one of them only is forei gn, which is called G11ineo. (z) The mufa was not altogether unknown to the ancients. Pliny, in citing the account w ich the foldicrs of Alexander the Great gave of all that they faw in India, gives this dcf.: ription of it: 11-fajol' et alia (arbQs) pomo cl fufi'V ilate prawllrntior1 quo fnpimtes I11tftw11m 'l.li'!• tmt. Foli11m fi'Villm alas imitntur, longitudiue c11bito rrm1 tri111111 latit11rli11o dutml~ Frullttm ,.0; .• t h·~ cmittit ll~lllil'~.bilrm jlll'C'i tlllh~dint, llf tmo q~mrtmos Jnt irt . Arbori 1/{/1//(/1 pflltr, pomo flll iCil r. I·h{1. Nat. l1b. :xu. cap. I . Bl'ltdcs thefc fpcc1fic cham -:lcrs of the mufa he fuhjo :ns furth r, that the namePn/a111 which was given to the mui:t in thofe remote times, ia nill pre(erv d ,11 Malnhar, ns Garzin dell' Orto, a learned Portugucfe phyfician, bears witncfs, 1~ho r fidcd thrre many years. lt is to be fufpceted whether Plata11o or planwin has been derived from the word Pal1111 H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. fifteen to twenty inches in length, and about three in diameter. It is pard and little efieemed, and is only eat when roafied or boiled. The Platano largo,. th~t is long, is eight inches at the mofi in length, and one and a half 111 dtarneter. The .lkin at fid1: is green, then yellow, and when perfeCtly ripe, black or blacki{h. It is a reliOting and wholefome fruit, whether boiled or raw. The Guinco is fma1l er than the other, but richer, fofter, more deli ious, and lcfs wholefome. T~e fibres which c?ve;:r th.e pulp are flatulen t. Thi fpecies of plantam h;ts been cui t1vated 111 the public garden of Bologna, and we have tafted it, but found it fo unripe and unpalatable on account of the climate, that it might have been fuppofcd to be a quite different fpecies. The Dominico is the finallefi and likewiie the moll: delicate. The tree alfo is finaller than the others. In th:tt country thtre are whole woods of l~rge e~tent not only of the plantain, but alio of oranges and le1nons ; and 111 M1chuacan there is a onfidcrable commerce with the dried ~lantai1~s, which are preferable to raifins or figs. . The frlllts w.h1ch are unquefiionably original in that country are the pme-apple, which from being at firfl: view like to the pine-tree, was c~lled by ~he Spaniards Piita. The Mamci, Chirimoya (a), Anona, Cabeza dt Negro, black Zapotc, Chicozapote, white Zapote, yell? w Zapotc, Zapotc li S. Dor 1inico, Ahuacate, Guayaba, Capultno, Guava, or uaxinic.uil, Pitahaya, Papaya, Guanabana, Noce Encarcelado, Plums, Dates, Chajoti, Tilapo, bo or Hobo, Nance, Cacahuate, and many others unimportant to be known by the reader. Mofl: of thefe frui ts are defcribcd in the works of Oviedo, Acoll:a, Hernandez, La t, Nieremberg, Marcgrave, Pifon, Barrcr ; Sloane, l'nlan. The name ~ananas, which the French v;ive it, is the liunc as it bears in Guinea and the name Mufa, wh1ch the Italians give it, i~ t:tken from 1hc Arabic. By fom it 1 'b call I tl F . f jJ d. r d c las cen • C( 1e rutt o ara llC1 an even fome arc pcrfuadcd it is the very fr uit which mnde our firfl: parents tranfgrcfs. (a) Several Europea.n.writers on the nffi1irs ~f. Americ~, co~fou~d the Chirimoya with the ~rcona and Gu~naba~\.l. but they arc three dtilm~; fp c1cs ot frutts ; although the twu lirlt :u.c f~mewhat. rctcmbltng each ~thcr. It i; n.c~effitry _ alf'o w g- unrd ~gaiul1 ·onf)••nJing the ptne .tpple wlth the Anona, wluch are n~01:c tbfh:rcnL from each other than the Cllt'utnhcr nnd mcl~n .. Hor~'la:c, however, makes two dtthnCl: fn1its of the Chirimoya and Chcriruolia, wherea. s Cl~~runolt:t rs only t~e co rruption of the firfl: and original natn..: of the fruit. The Ate ltkewdl·, ~vhrc.h fome Judge a fruit different from the Chcrimoya, is only a vati . ty of tl . f:unc fpccJc s, tc X. 1- . -- 21 BOOK r. ~ • |