apples that I found, on this• eftate.—-The ftrft I have already
defcribed; and, though often confounded with the
latter, it is :a very diftinCt fruit,upon the whole.' The china
apples,- or civil oranges, as. they are ufually called, differ in
this from the other, oranges, that thep jare, more lucid, and
of a more favbury tafte; that the ftiell is fmoother, thinner,
arid not fp deep coloured; and particularly; that while
the oranges may be eaten in any: quantity, - without, pernicious
confeqn.enees,, the immoderate ufe of the,-china
apples is by long-experience in this colony found to produce
very dangerous effects. This fruit being here much
the fame as that which comes fromLifbon, itis.fiippofed
to have .been imported at firft (a§ was the other) by the
Pprtugue^ or th e ; Spaniajdsr; ;and .hi may /well bejconr
ceived, that in thofe countries, whgre-it drops ripe from
the trees in golden duffers, it muff, be incomparably
more delicious than it can ever be tafted in, Great Britain,
being fent thither green, after which it" indped becomes
orange, but can never arrive to its proper ftafe of maturity.
As for the fine fragrance that is diffufed through
all this colony, by the-continued groves.-of orange-blof-
fom.s and odoriferous fruits that it produces,. it can he
more eafily conceived than defcribed. I aHo found fome
fine lemons on this eftate, which however are here thick
Ihelled, but very large. There are alfo a fpecies of
fweet ones, which are fmaller, and which have, in my
opinion, a very infipid tafte.
Having mentioned Monf. de Cachelieu’s fine fruit, I
ought
ought not to' forget;hisfe^cejlent French.'wines,.'which c ra p .
were perfectly ƒunadulterated and truly delicious, parti- . .
cularly his -mu^acdell. But i&i^.fpitei of, all thefe good
things?, I-flail continued^’Valetudinarian, being opprefled
with weah-ndfs, and‘ ir^E^t-fqn. I Thijs, in hopesr.that ex-
ercife on horfebapk mf^ht do mei good, f ydetermined ta
take leave?to | r^y hofpitable, French friend aik leave
of abfence, to go for fome/timeito Paramaribo.
In cohiequence,^ oh the 9th, ^IpnekFourgepad arriving
in the river at the eftate Crawaflibo^and expecting:
foon to renew his manqeqpip^ftn* thp,/loth,-W<TMk him
a letter for the*abfjve purpofe/ • and. *idih'Tor labove. fix
hionths,pay, which-was,, due to me. I ’was amjvered, to&>
thei'iith, not only with a negative' toboth-my rpqu’eft§,i
which had been granted to other officer^ but info*truly
impertinent a ftyle, as I could not, oven from himfelf,
have expected—fuch. as callinjpjin queftion my; zeah
though he- knew I jyas fick ; and
own money, or even the proper remedies; antd means-pf
recovering. T h is. incenfed; mofo much* that I „wrote
him a fecond letter, to let him know I was incapable of,
doing or afking any thing unbecoming my,character,,
but on the contrary (ill as I was) ready, to give him fuch
proofs of my honour as Ihould leave him no farther;
room to doubt of it, ftiould he- he pleafed jto put it -to
the proof. This epiftle, weak and unfit as I was . for fer-
vice, I followed in perlbn tyro days after, with my French.
friend