REMARKS
Upon some PLACES of the
TREATISE upon Chocolate.
REMARK I.
The Coco-tree is the same as the Palm-Tree so famous in the
East-Indies; its Fruit is call'd Coco, and care should be taken that
it be not confounded with Cocao. I make this Remark, because I find
that William Dampier very improperly calls Coco's Cocao-Nuts, and the Tree that bears them a Cocao.
REMARK II.
They have transported these great Trees from St. Domingo to the Vent
Islands; their Leaves being almost round, are firm and so smooth, that
one would think they had been varnished. Their Fruit are sometimes as
large as one's Head, and their Skins very thick: When that is taken off, the Pulp is very near the Colour, Smell, and Taste of our Apricocks; in the Middle there are four Stones as big as Pullets Eggs, which are difficult to separate from the Fruit. They are eaten with Wine and Sugar; they make also very good Marmalade.
REMARK III.
The Calebash-Tree is nigh as large as the Apple-Tree; it supplies the
Natives and Negroes with Buckets, Pots, Bottles, Dishes, Plates, and
several other Houshold Utensils. One cannot describe the Shape nor
Bigness of Calebashes, since there are some of the Size of a Pear, and
others as large as the greatest Citrons; and besides, there are long, round, oval, and of all Fashions. The Fruit, which is green and smooth upon the Tree, becomes grey as it dries; within, it is full of a white Pulp, of no use at all, which they take out through a Hole; the Shells they put to several Services. The Bark is about one Fifth of an Inch thick, but very hard, and difficult to break.
REMARK IV.
The Papaw-Tree is pretty uncommon as to its Make; its Trunk is strait, but hollow, and of so tender a Wood, that it is easily cut down with a Hedging-Bill; it is about four Yards high, without any Branches; its Leaves much like those of our Fig-Trees, but twice as big, and are joined to the top by Stalks of a Foot and a half long, and hollow like a Reed. They being about thirty in number, grow at the top of the Trunk all round about it; the lowest are ripest and largest, they are green, and of the bigness of one's Fist. The Pulp, which is but half an Inch thick, is like that of a Melon, but of a sweet faintish Taste; but it makes a pretty good Confection, of a fine green Colour.
There is another kind of Papaw-Tree, whose Fruit is as large as a
Melon, and better tasted than the former.
REMARK V.
The Banane is a sort of Plant, whose Root is a great round Bulb, from
whence proceeds a Trunk, green and smooth, six Feet high, as thick as
one's Thigh, and without any Leaf. On the top of it grow about twenty
Leaves, about a Foot and a half broad, and about five Feet long; but so
tender, that the Wind tears them from the Middle to the Sides, into
Slangs like Ribbons: From the Center of these Leaves grows a second
Trunk, more firm than the rest of the Plant: upon this grows a Cluster
of about forty or fifty Bananes, sometimes more, sometimes less. A
Banane is a Fruit as thick as one's Arm, about a Foot long, and a
little crooked. They gather this Cluster green, and hang it up in the
Ceiling; and as the Bananes grow yellow, or mellow, they gather them. When this Cluster is taken away, the Plant withers, or they cut it down at the Root; but for one Trunk lost, the Root sends forth five or six more.
Besides these Bananes, there is a Fruit call'd Banane-Figs; but the
Plants that produce them are very little different: The Figs are much
less than the Bananes, being but four or five Inches long. The Fig is
more delicious, but the Banane is thought to be more wholesome, and
the Pulp more solid. They roast them upon a Grid-Iron, or bake them in
an Oven, they eat them with Sugar and the Juice of an Orange. The
Banane done in a Stew-Pan in its own Juice, with Sugar and a little
Cinnamon, is excellent.
REMARK VI.
