270. _The PLANTAIN-TREE_ (Musa paradisiaca), _which is much cultivated in
the West Indies and South America, has a soft stem, fifteen or twenty
feel high, with several leaves on the summit; and bears a fruit of pale
yellow colour, somewhat shaped like a cucumber, about a foot in length,
and two inches thick._
_The leaves are frequently eight feet long, and more than two feet broad,
and are so thin and tender that they are often torn by the wind. The
fruit is produced in bunches so large as each to weigh forty pounds and
upwards._
To the negroes of the West Indian islands the plantain is an invaluable
fruit, and, like bread to the Europeans, is with them denominated the staff
of life. In Jamaica alone many thousand acres are planted with these trees.
This fruit is usually gathered before it is ripe, and, after the skin has
been peeled off, is roasted for a little while in a clear fire; it is then
scraped and eaten as bread, for which it is an excellent substitute.
Plantains are sometimes boiled, and eaten with salt meat; they are also cut
into slices and fried, pounded, and made into puddings, and used in various
other ways. Horses, cattle, swine, and other domestic animals, are fattened
with them. When ripe they may be eaten raw, and, in this state, they have
somewhat the taste of a ripe pear.
The _leaves_ of the plantain-tree, being soft and smooth, are sometimes
employed as dressings after blisters; and, when green, are used as food for
hogs.
The vegetation of this tree is so rapid that if a line or thread be drawn
across, and on a level with the top of one of the leaves, when it begins to
expand, it will be seen, in the course of an hour, to have grown nearly an
inch.
271. _The BANANA is a valuable plant_ (Musa sapientum) _which grows in
the West Indies and other tropical countries, and has leaves about six
feet in length, and a foot broad in the middle; and fruit four or five
inches long, and about the shape of a cucumber._
When ripe, the banana is an agreeable _fruit_, with a soft and luscious
pulp; and is frequently introduced in desserts in the West Indies. The
Spaniards have a superstitious dislike to cut this fruit across; they
always slice it from end to end, because, in the former case, the section
presents an imaginary resemblance to the instruments of our Saviour's
crucifixion. The banana is sometimes fried in slices as fritters. If the
pulp of this fruit be squeezed through a fine sieve, it may be formed into
small loaves, which, after having been properly dried, may be kept for a
great length of time.
272. _MILLET is a small yellowish seed of a grassy plant_ (Holcus
sorghum), _with large and compact stalks which rise to the height of
seven or eight feet, and is much cultivated in several parts of India and
Africa._
In some countries millet _seed_ is ground into flour and converted into
bread; but this is brown and heavy. It is, however, useful in other
respects as food, and is an excellent seed for the fattening of poultry. A
good vinegar has been made from it, by fermentation; and, on distillation,
it yields a strong spirit. Millet seed is imported into this country from
the East Indies, for the purpose chiefly of puddings; and, by many persons,
it is preferred to rice. The _stalks_ of the millet plant, if subjected to
the same process that is adopted with the sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice,
from which an excellent kind of sugar may be made.
273. _GUM ARABIC is a well-known drug, obtained from a tree_ (Mimosa
nilotica) _which grows in Egypt._
_This tree has leaves doubly winged, with spines at the base, and small
flowers, of globular shape, growing four or five together on slender
footstalks._
The principal supply of gum arabic in this country is obtained from
Barbary, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf. The average quantity imported from
the Persian Gulf, betwixt 1804 and 1808, was about 7500 hundred weight per
annum, and the price for which it was vended at the East India Company's
sales was about 3_l._ per hundred weight. It used formerly to be packed in
skins, but it is now brought in large casks. The trees which yield it grow
abundantly in numerous parts of Africa and Asia, but the gum does not
freely exude from them except in tropical regions. It issues from clefts in
the bark, in the same manner as the gum of the cherry and plum trees of our
orchards and gardens: and, by exposure to the air, it soon becomes hard and
solid. We are informed that, in some parts of Egypt, the inhabitants
procure this gum, by boiling pieces of the roots of the trees, and
afterwards separating it from the water. We receive gum arabic in small
irregular masses, or rough pieces, of pale yellowish colour, and roundish
shape.
It is, however, to be remarked, that, by far the greatest part of the gum
which is sold in the shops under this name is not such, but is the
production of another species of tree (_Mimosa Senegal_), and is properly
called _gum Senegal_, The latter is imported from Senegal, Guinea, and
other parts of Africa. It is generally seen in large rough pieces, of
roundish figure, and brownish hue, more or less pure; possesses similar
properties to the other, and is much cheaper.
On account of their mucilaginous qualities, these two kinds of gum, under
the name of gum arabic, were formerly used for several purposes in
medicine; and, in coughs and hoarsenesses, were considered of great
service. They are now principally in request by the manufacturers of
water-colours; by dyers, and artificers of different kinds. In Africa the
latter constitutes a principal ingredient in the food of the inhabitants.
They sometimes dissolve it in milk: and this solution of it is esteemed a
favourite repast by some of the tribes.
The dried _juice_ of the _unripe fruit_ of Egyptian mimosa is called
_acacia_, and is to this day much used in medicine by the Egyptians. It is
sometimes imported into this country in roundish masses, wrapped in thin
bladders; and is externally of deep brown colour, and of a yellowish or
reddish brown within.
274. _MYRRH is a gummy, resinous substance, obtained from a tree which
grows in Abyssinia, Arabia, and other countries of the East, but
respecting which we are hitherto possessed of no certain account. Mr.
Bruce, however, imagined it to be a species of mimosa._
This drug is generally imported in a kind of grains, of irregular form; of
brownish or reddish yellow colour, and somewhat transparent. Its smell is
aromatic; and its taste is pungent and bitter. In its medicinal effects,
myrrh, when taken into the stomach, is supposed to warm and strengthen it,
and also to strengthen the other viscera. It is believed to resist
putrefaction in all parts of the body; and, hence, has been recommended as
a medicine in malignant, putrid, and pestilential fevers; and in small-pox.
At the East India Company's sales this drug is sold at the rate of about
twenty pounds per hundred weight. It is, however, liable to great abuses.
The larger masses, in particular, are frequently an artificial composition,
skilfully incrusted with a coat of myrrh.