fpread like an umbrella, about twelve:or fourteen ill ntmi“
beiS.fb as to; c6ver- the talMF pMori. They are of a
fhiftti^fea^giieen till they fade, and hang Sown in tatters»
"as tlieir places are Fupplied by the young-ones. From-the
ceBtFe^if :S11 this therecglb.#Sla ftreiig ffalk, '%bahtrthfee
feet long, and bendi ng % do wn wards: by the ; weighh of a
purple- fpaffia, * ^aiid^ on this
ftalk grows the fruit called pihitams, in the fhape' of
cucumbers, ahd above one hundred in number, \Vhieh-is
ufually called a bunch. [ Each tree, or plant, bears bufbnh
of thefe; hunches at a time. When it; is cut ^do'wn, * it: is
fpeedily fupplied by the young flioots’, whi6h fpring
from life bulbous root» and which; in ^the fpace of ten
months time are ready to undergo th e fame operation.
It requires a rich nouridhng foil te make it profperpxyitfr-
out which it never arrive! at proper maturity;- This fruit
being divefted of its tegtirnent whehfgreeh»-ha§ ih th e in-
fide a pale yellow farinaceous fubftance,’ and fupplihs
(as I have already intimated) the want of bread, when’
either boded or roafted: it has ah agreeable tafte,- andW
very wholefome; when the fheil becomes yellow the in-
fide is foft, and then may be-eaten raw, having much the
tafte of a very ripe pear; but when arrived at that degree
of maturity it is only ufed by way of deffert.
Another fpedes refembling this, is the banana, which
only differs from the plantain, in its fruit being lefspand
more oval, and this fpecies is never eaten till it is yellow-
and fully ripe. The former is moft ufeful in point ofi
food;