Part 21 (1/2)

Describe the appearance of the Mango Tree

The flowers of this tree are small and whitish, formed in pyramidal clusters The fruit has some reseoose's egg; its taste is delicious and cooling; it has a stone in the centre, like that of a peach At first this fruit is of a fine green color, and soolden or orange color Thefruit once or twice a year, from six or seven years old to a hundred

_Pyra a pyramid

How is this fruit eaten?

When ripe, it is eaten by the natives either in its natural state, or bruised in wine It is brought to us either candied or pickled, as the ripe fruit is very perishable; in the latter case, they are opened with a knife, and the arlic, est variety weighs two pounds or upwards The several parts of this tree are all applied to some use by the Hindoos: the wood is consecrated to the service of the dead; from the flour of the dried kernels different kinds of food are prepared; the leaves, flowers, and bark, aremedical properties

_Consecrated_, separated from a common to a sacred use

Is there not a tree which bears a fruit that inally found in the southeastern parts of Asia and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, though introduced into the tropical parts of Aular productions of the vegetable kingdo no less beautiful than it is useful This tree is large and shady; its leaves are broad and indented, like those of the fig tree--fro, rather fleshy, and of a dark green The fruit, when full-grown, is from six to nine inches round, and of an oval fors in clusters of two or three, on a small thick stalk; the pulp is white, partly farinaceous, and partly fibrous, but when ripe, becoe of a saw

_Farinaceous_,of meal or flour; from _farina_, flour

How is the Bread-Fruit eaten?

It is roasted until the outside is of a brown color and crisp; the pulp has then the consistency of bread, which the taste greatly rese food: it is also prepared in many different ways, besides that just mentioned The tree produces three, so for fifty years, so that two or three trees are enough for a man's yearly supply Its timber, which at first is of a rich yellow, but afterwards assu of houses and canoes; the flowers, when dried, serve as tinder; the sap or juice serves for glue; the inner bark is made, by the natives of some of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, into a kind of cloth; and the leaves are useful for many purposes One species of the bread-fruit, called the Jaca tree, grows chiefly on the mainland of Asia

_Mainland_, the continent

Describe the Jaca Tree

This kind grows to the saer size than the bread-fruit of the islands, but is neither so palatable nor so nutritious; the fruit often weighs thirty pounds, and contains two or three hundred seeds, each four tie as an almond December is the time when the fruit ripens; it is then eaten, but not much relished; the seeds are also eaten when roasted There are also other trees in different parts of the world, mostly of the palm species, which yield bread of a similar kind

Is there not a tree which produces a substance rese the butter which we make from the milk of the cow?

The Shea, or butter Tree, a native of Africa: it is similar in appearance to the American oak, and the fruit, (from the kernel of which the butter is prepared,) is somewhat like an olive in forreen rind

How is the butter extracted?

The kernel, being taken out and dried in the sun, is boiled in water; by which process a white, firm, and rich-flavored butter is produced, which will keep for a whole year without salt The growth and preparation of this commodity is one of the first objects of African industry, and forms a principal article of their trade with one another

You have given me an account of a useful butter prepared from a plant; is there not also a tree which can supply the want of a cow?

In South A milk; it is called the Cow Tree This tree is very fine; the leaves are broad, and so; the fruit is rather fleshy, and contains one or two nuts or kernels The milk is very abundant, and is procured by incisions made in the trunk of the tree; it is tolerably thick, and of a glutinous quality, a pleasant taste, and agreeable sroes and people at work on the far into it their bread lue,--an adhesive, gummy substance, prepared fro wood, &c, and for many other purposes