According to father Labat, the smallest bits of manioc which have escaped the grater, and the clods which have not passed the sieve, are not useless. They are dried in the stove after the flour is roasted, and then pounded in a mortar to a fine white powder, with which they make soup. It is likewise used for making a kind of thick coarse cassada, which is roasted till almost burnt; of this, fermented with melasses and West India potatoes, they prepare a much esteemed drink or beverage called ouycou. This liquor, the favourite drink of the natives, is sometimes made extremely strong, especially on any great occasion, as a feast; with this they get intoxicated, and remembering their old quarrels, massacre and murder each other. Such of the inhabitants and workmen as have not wine, drink ouycon. It is of a red colour, strong, nourishing, re. freshing, and easily inebriates the inhabitants, who soon accustom themselves to it as easily as beer.

[Linn. Labat. Editor.

SECTION VII.

Rice.

Oryza.-LINN.

Or this most useful esculent there is but one known species, which is supposed to be a native of Ethiopia, though now propa gated in different parts of the four quarters of the globe. It affords many varieties, of which the following are the chief.

a Common rice cut six or eight months after planting.

Early rice ripens and is cut the fourth month after planting. Dry or mountain rice: the paddy of the Hindus; grows in mountains and other dry soils.

Clammy rice with large, glutinous, very white seeds; will grow well in both dry and moist soils.

These plants may be increased by seeds in the early parts of spring. The seeds should be sown in a hot-bed, and when the plants appear, they should be transplanted into pots filled with rich light earth, and placed in pans of water which should be plunged into a hot-bed; and as the water wastes it must be renewed from time to time. The plants must be preserved in a stove all the sum. iner; when towards the end of August they will produce grain,

which will ripen tolerably well, provided the autumn prove favour. able.

It is probable, however, that the mountain-rice, which endures at very considerable degree of cold on the tops of the loftiest hills of Hindustan, and grows in the midst of snow, might be naturalized to our own climate.

Rice is the principal food of the inhabitants in all parts of the East; where it is boiled and eaten, either alone or with their meat. Large quantities of it are sent annually into Europe, and it meets with a general esteem for family purposes. The Javanese have a method of making puddings which seems to be unknown here, but which is not difficult to be practised. They take a conical earthen pot which is open at the large end, and perforated all over: this they fill about half full with rice, and putting it into a larger earthen pot of the same shape, filled with boiling water, the rice in the first pot soon swells, and stops the perforations so as to keep out the water; by this method the rice is brought to a firm consistence, and forms a pudding, which is generally eaten with butter, oil, sugar, vinegar, and spices. The Indians eat stewed rice with good success against the bloody flux; and in most inflammatory disorders they cure themselves with only a decoction of it. The spirituous liquor called arrack is made from this grain. Rice grows naturally in moist places and will not come to perfection, when cultivated, unless the ground be sometimes overflowed, or plentifully watered. The grain is of a grey colour when first reaped; but the growers have a method of whitening it before it is sent to market. The manner of performing this, and beating it out in Egypt, is thus described by Hasselquist. They have hollow iron cylindrical pestels, about an inch diameter, lifted by a wheel worked with oxen. A person sits between the pestles, and as they rise, pushes forward the rice, whilst another winnows and supplies fresh parcels. Thus they continue working until it is entirely free from chaff. Having in this manner cleaned it, they add one-thirtieth part of salt, and rub them both together, by which the grain acquires a whiteness; then it is passed through a sieve, to separate the salt again from it. In the island of Ceylon they have a much more expeditious method of getting out the rice; for in the field where it is reaped they dig a round hole, with a level bottom, about a foot deep, and eight yards diameter, and fill it with bundles of corn. Having laid it properly, the women drive about half a

dozen oxen continually round the pit; and thus they will tread out forty or fifty bushels a day. This is a very ancient method of treading out corn, and is still practised in Africa upon other sorts of grain. [Pantologia. Hasselquist. Hawksworth.

SECTION VIII.

Maize, or Indian Corn.

Zea.-LINN.

Or this genus there are two species, the Curagua,a native of Chili, and the Mays or proper Maize, a native of America. It is this last which is chiefly cultivated not only in America but in many parts of Europe, especially in Italy and Germany. There are many varieties, which differ in the colour of the grain, and are frequently raised in our gardens by way of curiosity, whereby the plant is well known. It is the chief bread corn in some of the southern parts of America, but since the introduction of rice into Carolina it is but little used in the northern colonies. It makes a main part too of the food of the poor people in Italy and Germany, into which it has been transplanted since the discovery of America. This is the sort of wheat mentioned in the book of Ruth, where it is said that Boaz treated Ruth with parched ears of corn dipped in vinegar. This method of eating the roasted ears of Turkey wheat is still practised in the East; they gather in the ears when about half ripe, and having scorched them to their minds, eat them with as much satisfaction as we do the best flour bread.

In several parts of South America they parch the ripe corn, never making it into bread, but grinding it between two stones, mix it with water in a calabash, and so eat it. The Indians make a sort of drink from this grain, which they call bici. This liquor is very flatulent and intoxicating, and has nearly the taste of sour small beer: but they do not use it in common, being too indolent to make it often; and therefore it is chiefly kept for the celebration of feasts and weddings, at which times they often get completely drunk with it. The mauner of making this powerful beverage is to steep a parcel of corn in a vessel of water, till it grows sour, then the old women, being provided with calabashes for the purpose, chew some grains of the corn in their mouths, and spitting it into the calabashes, empty them, spittle and all, into the sour liquor, having previously drawn off the latter into another vessel. The chewed grain soon

raises a fermentation, and when this ceases, the liquor is let off from the dregs, and set by till wanted.

In some of the islands of the South Sea, the same beverage is obtained by similar means: and here, where each individual is his own lawgiver, it is no uncommon thing for a near relation to excuse a murderer, for a good drunken banquet of bici.

[Lin. Pantologia.

SECTION IX.

Sago.

Areca. Sycas.-LINN.

THE nutritive mealy grain which we call Sago is obtained from both the above plants, and we shall hence give a brief account of each.

This genus of plants belongs to the natural order of the palms, and its fruit is a dry plum with a bivalved kernel. The genus has two species as follow:

1. C. circinalis, or proper Sago-tree. This grows spontaneously in the East Indies, and particularly on the coast of Malabar. It runs up with a straight trunk to 40 feet or more, having many circles the whole length, occasioned by the old leaves falling off; for, standing in a circular order round the stem, and embracing it with their base, whenever they drop, they leave the marks of their adhesion behind. The leaves are pinnated, and grow to the length of seven or eight feet. The pinne or lobes are long, narrow, tire, of a shining green, all the way of a breadth, lance-shaped at the point, are closely crowded together, and stand at right angles on each side the mid-rib, like the teeth of a comb. The flowers are produced in long bunches at the foot-stalks of the leaves, and are succeeded by oval fruit, about the size of large plums, of a red colour when ripe, and a sweet flavour. Each contains a hard brown nut, inclosing a white meat, which tastes like a chesnut.

en

This is a valuable tree to the inhabitants of India, as it not only furnishes a considerable part of their constant bread, but also supplies them with a great article of trade. The trunk contains a farinaceous substance, which they extract from it and make into bread

in this manner: they saw the body into small pieces, and after beating them in a mortar, pour water upon the mass; this is left for some hours to settle. When fit, it is strained through a cloth; and the finer particles of the mealy substance running through with the water, the gross ones are left behind and thrown away. After the farinaceous part has sufficiently subsided, the water is poured off, and the meal being properly dried, is occasionally made into cakes and baked. These cakes are said to eat nearly as well as wheaten bread, and are the support of the inhabitants for three or four months in the year.

The same meal more finely pulverized, and reduced into granules, is what is called sago, which is sent into all parts of Europe, and sold in the shops as a great strengthener and restorative. There is a sort of sago made in the West Indies, and sent to Europe, in the same manner as that from the East; but the West India sago is far inferior in quality to the other. It is supposed to be made from the pith of the areca oleracea.

2. The cycas revoluta, or brood boom (or bread tree) of the Hottentots, a plant discovered by Professor Thunberg. The pith, or medulla, which abounds in the trunk of this little palm, Mr. Sparman informs us, is collected and tied up in dressed calf or sheepskins, and then buried in the earth for the space of several weeks, till it becomes sufficiently mellow and tender to be kneaded up with water into a paste, of which they afterwards make small loaves or cakes, and bake them under the ashes. Other Hottentots, not quite so nice, nor endued with patience enough to wait this tedious method of preparing it, are said to dry and roast the pith or marrow, and afterwards make a kind of frumenty of it.

2. Areca.

Fausel-nut.

This genus also belongs to the natural order of the palm. It includes the three following species.

1. A. cathecu, a native of India. It has no branches, but its leaves are very beautiful; they form a round tuft at the top of the trunk, which is as straight as an arrow. It grows to the height of 25 or 35 feet, and is a great ornament in gardens. The shell which contains the fruit is smooth without, but rough and hairy within; in which it pretty much resembles the shell of the cocoa nut. Its size