as in those places of which it is a native, there cannot be the least doubt; and it has this advantage over most other fruit trees, whether indigenous or exotic, that it produces two crops in the year.

We have already had to describe many fruits which are indigenous to Africa, in noticing those of the temperate climates. As we leave the northern parts of that continent, and approach the Equator, the date, the vine, and the fig, are no longer seen. There is, indeed, a fruit, that of the Lote-tree (Rhamnus lotus), which bears some resemblance to the berries of Europe, and which Mungo Park described as excellent. This plant is raised in our green-houses. The Cream-fruit of Sierra Leone, described by Dr. Afzelius to the African Society, grows on a lofty tree, and yields a quantity of fine white juice, from which it obtains its name. The fruits of the interior of Africa have been but little examined by Europeans; and their very names are unknown to us, with a few exceptions. They are, probably, of little worth. Of those that have not been found in any other quarter of the world, the most singular are the following:

THE AKEE-Blighia sapida.

This is a native of Guinea, from whence it was carried to Jamaica by Captain Bligh in 1793. It has grown well in the West Indies, and is there much esteemed as a fruit. It was introduced into England in 1793. The leaves of the akee are some thing similar to those of the ash: the flowers are small and white, and are produced in branched spikes. The fruit is oblong, ribbed, and compressed in the middle, of a dull orange colour, and contains several large seeds, to the end of which is attached

a rich and slightly acid arillus (the outer coat of a seed lightly attached to it), which is the part eaten.

THE NEGRO PEACH, OR EDIBLE PEACH.

The tree on which the negro peach is produced is very handsome, with lanceolate leaves, resembling those of the orange. The flowers are white, and grow closely clustered in little round heads, like those of the American button-wood, so common in shrubberies. The tree has flowered in the gardens of the Horticultural Society, but has not borne fruit in this country. The fruit is about the size of an ordinary peach, but very different in colour and qualities. Externally and internally it is brown, of varying shades; its form is irregular, and the whole surface covered with tubercles. About one-third of the diameter in the centre consists of a very firm and somewhat dry pulp, of a flavour resembling an apple. Between that and the rind, the pulp is of softer consistency, full of seeds and fibres, and has a flavour resembling the strawberry.

MONKEY'S BREAD-Adansonia digitata.

This tree is a native of the western coast of Africa, and also of Egypt. In the former country it is described by Adanson as being a tree of large dimensions and singular economy. The trunks were about twelve or fourteen feet high, but of the vast circumference of sixty or seventy feet. The lateral branches were forty or fifty feet long, of the thickness of a great tree, and with their remote branches touching the ground; while some of the roots that had been laid bare were upwards of a hundred feet long, and even then were not exposed for their whole length. The fruit is from nine to twelve inches long, and about four in diameter, of a brownish colour, and rather pointed toward the extremities. The pulp is a little farinaceous, mixed with fibres: when recent, it has a very refreshing, acid taste; and, eaten with sugar, it is both pleasant and wholesome. It retains its cooling qualities when dry; and on that account the physicians of Cairo administer it in fevers and other diseases.

CHAPTER X.

FRUITS OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS, AND THE SOUTH AMERICAN CONTINENT.-PINE-APPLE; MAMMEE; ALLIGATOR-PEAR; ANCHOVY-PEAR; CUSTARD-AP

PLES; WILD PLUMS; STAR-APPLE; CACTUS; PAPAW; GRENADILLAS; COCOA-NUT; CASHEW-NUT; JUVIA.

THE PINE-APPLE-Bromela.

THE earliest exchanges of tropical plants that took place between the Portuguese in the east, and the Spaniards in the west, have not been recorded with

perfect accuracy, so that we are not absolutely certain that the pine-apple may not be a native of some parts of Asia, and even of Africa, as well as of America. That it is a native of the West is certain, however, as all the varieties, except some of the trivial ones arising from cultivation, are found wild on the continent or the islands of that quarter of the world.

The Bromelias have been variously described ;some having formed them into three or four distinct genera, and others considered them as only species of one. In the Hortus Kewensis, in the formation of which the very best authorities have been consulted, six species are enumerated; and, with the exception of the Bromelia humilis (dwarf), they are all there represented as being natives either of South America or the West Indies. Only one of the species is of any value in cultivation, the others being merely wild plants. The cultivated species is the Ananas; but it may be as well first to mention the others. They are the pinguin, or broad-leaved; the karata, or upright leaved; the tongue-leaved, the red-branched, and the dwarf.

In the form and combination of their leaves, all the bromelias have some resemblance to each other, and also to the aloe; but the only species in which the seeds are united into one fleshy and esculent strobile, or pine, is the ananas.

The pinguin species have the leaves very short and strong about the root, and their edges are armed with strong crooked spines. The fruits are detached; each about the size of a walnut. The pulp is sweet, but it is at the same time so sharp as to be absolutely corrosive. A tuft of leaves growing above the fruit makes the pinguin look something like the pine-apple, when seen at a distance; but the detached fruit soon distinguishes it upon a closer inspection. Though not edible, the pinguin is not without its use.

It