being the principal grain of those countries, and throughout the East, it seems more proper to mention it here than in any other place. It is the seed of a leguminous plant, growing in clusters, being terminated with a beard, and severally enclosed in yellow capsule or cases. When stript of their skin, the grains appear almost oval, of a shining white colour, and as it were transparent.—In the Indies the women thrash and dress all the rice, which is a very painful office.-This grain, which is the food of at least two thirds of mankind, is undoubtedly a very wholesome aliment; and as to what has been said, that living much upon rice is injurious to the eyes, and brings on blindness, the judicious regard it as a vulgar error*.

The anana, or pine-apple, as we call it, from the resemblance it bears to the cones of pines and firs, is a most delicious fruit, which grows spontaneously in the warm parts of the East-Indies, as well as in America. It is the product of an herbaceous plant with leaves like an aloe, and the top of the fruit is adorned with a little crown, and a bunch of leaves resembling a fire. The pulp is fibrous, but dissolves in the mouth, and unites in itself the fine flavours of the peach, the quince, and the muscadine grape. It is said, the Indians make a wine of the juice which is almost equal to

This error is said to have been founded on an observation made by some sailors, that fowls carried on shipboard from the American continent to Jamaica, which are fed on rice during the voyage, are very subject to become blind; but nothing is more common than to ascribe effects to wrong causes, and this is probably owing to some other cause, in which rice is not at all concerned for we do not find that the inhabitants of these countries, where rice is the almost constant and principal food, are more subject to blindness than the natives of Europe.

malmsey sack, and will intoxicate as soon. A confection of the anana is made in the countries where it grows, which is found of service to restore a decayed or broken constitution. Great endeavours have lately been used to cultivate the plant in Europe, which have been attended with such success, that very fine fruits of this kind are now produced in England in the gardens of the

curious.

The author of Spectacle de la Nature informs us that M. le Normand once gave the French king two suckers of a pine-apple, recommending their cultivation to his care, though they were almost withered, and had not any roots. The heart however was good, and they happened to take; but though their fruit could not be brought to its proper maturity, yet two suckers, in the year 1733, produced two pine-apples of admirable beauty. The assiduity used in their culture, in conjunction with a favourable autumn, raised them to a perfect maturity. The king himself tasted one of them the latter end of December, and found it excellent; and all those persons, to whom his majesty thought fit to send part of these fruits, unanimously agreed that they were completely ripe, had a delicate melting pulp, agreeably quickened by a fine acid, and were as richly perfumed as a strawberry.

The cocoa-tree is one of the most remarkable and useful productions of India. This tree, which the Malabars call tenga, grows straight without any branches till near its summit, and usually to the height of thirty or forty feet. The leaves, which are of a great length, and terminate in a point, serve the Indians to cover their houses with, and for many other purposes. Above the leaves

arise several shoots, as thick as a man's arm, and on the top of all grows a large excrescence in form of a cabbage, excellent to eat, and far exceeding our finest cabbages in flavour. From the sides and upper parts of the cabbage there likewise shoot out clusters of pods, containing some small kernels, tasting exactly like the English walnut. The nuts, which are the fruit of the cocoatree hang in clusters four or five together, and are as large as a man's head when at full growth. Before they are ripe they contain a clear cooling water or milk, which in time condenses to a pulp, and becomes an excellent food; and it likewise affords an oil, which is equally good for the lamp or the table. The shell of the nut is frequently made into bowls, spoons, and several other utensils; and in the kingdom of Siam they are used as measures for things either dry or liquid.

From the cocoa-tree the Indians extract a liquor called suri, which is of a grateful taste, and intoxicates like wine. It is pretty sweet when newly extracted, but in a little time becomes more acid; and from this liquor is distilled a spirit that will burn in fire like brandy. The suri, we apprehend, is the same liquor that some authors mention under the name of toddy, from whence Mr. Lockyer assures us they distil the spirit we call arrack, which is the Indian word for all strong waters. The method of obtaining the suri is by making an incision in the top of the capsule that

Goa and Batavia are the chief places for arrack. What is made at Batavia is much the strongest, but that of Goa is preferred to all others on account of its peculiar and reeable flavour; which is attributed to the earthen Is used to draw the spirit, whereas at Batavia they ner stills..

bears the flowers or fruit, and about four inches below, they make an oblique incision in the bark, from whence the liquor drops into a vessel hung to receive it. What is obtained in the morning is sweet and pleasant, and even more delicious than the milk of the nut; but that in the evening is somewhat acid, the next day it grows sourer, and on the third day it is entirely acid. In order to

make vinegar of this liquor, they put the vessels that receive it among lime for fifteen days, by which a violent fermentation being excited, much froth thrown up, and a whitish matter subsiding to the bottom, the suri is changed into vinegar. A sort of sugar called jagra, is likewise prepared from the suri, by putting into it a sufficient quantity of lime to tinge it of a reddish colour. The liquor is then boiled, and stirred continually till it is inspissated; whereby a red sugar is produced, which they render white by repeated dissolutions and boilings. As to the medicinal virtues of the cocoa, the suri is said to be highly beneficial to phthisical patients, or those who labour under any disorder of the kidneys. The liquor contained in the nut is good to extinguish thirst, purifies the blood, cleanses the stomach, and affords an excellent nutriment.

There is a remarkable species of palm-tree called areca, which is common in Siam and other parts of India. The trunk of this tree is straight and without branches like the cocoa, its leaves grow in the same manner, and it bears a fruit with a green covering of the shape and size of a pallet's egg. This covering or rind consists of numerous fine filaments running lengthways from the stalk to the head, under which is contained the fruit externally of a brownish colour shaped

like a nutmeg at one end, but flattish at the other. It is white within, and marbled with purplish veins, but has very little taste. The Indians chew this nut wrapped up in a betel-leaf, with lime made of calcined shells, which they affirm to be a mixture of a grateful taste, strengthening the gums, and promoting digestion.

Betel is a plant that grows in all the Indian provinces on the sea-coast. The Indians chew it in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and carry it about with them almost continually; but they use the nut and lime with it to qualify its bitterness. Some of the grandees use it with camphire, and others with aloes-wood, musk, and ambergrise. If chewed immediately after breakfast, it renders the breath agreeable; and though it blackens the teeth, they fancy it contributes greatly to their preservation.

The lacca-tree, which grows in Malabar, Pegu, and other parts of India, is remarkable for yielding a gum called lacca or lake, which is red, brittle, and clear, used in dying, painting, &c. Authors, indeed, differ as to the production of this curious drug, some imagining it to be a juice drawn from the tree by incision, whilst others affirm, that a kind of little ants, fixing themselves on the branches of the tree, leave behind them a reddish moisture, which, being hardened by the air and sun, becomes lacca. Mr. Geoffroy, examining this gum, found it to be a sort of comb, bees and some other insects are accustom

Upon breaking it into pieces it ap

ed into a multitude of little cells of an gure, which plainly show that it never om trees. Nor are these cells mere exents as some have imagined, but are intend