Amongst the trees which bear nuts, the Cocoa is the most common
at Surinam. The inhabitants like best to take the fruit when it is half ripe,
and mix the milky juice with rum and sugar, when, it makes a pleasant
punch; but it seems they do not tap the tree to make palm-wine. The
Indians, when they come to the town, bring often different sorts of nuts
with them, and many of them are the production of trees, the species of
which are little if at all known by the inhabitants of Paramaribo.
With regard to the European vegetables, different species are cultivated
at Surinam, particularly on sugar plantations, where the beds are
manured with trash o f the sugar cane; that is, the remains after the
extraction of the sugar; and the young plants are shaded under baskets,
so made as to admit the fresh air to them. The cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage,
carrot, and french beans, grow perfectly well here, and the asparagus
.likewise is said to be good. The potatoes cultivated in the colony
are the sweet potatoes, the others are brought from North America,;
but among the farinaceous roots, the yams are by many preferred to
the best potatoes. The onions grow very small at -Surinam, and
.the large ones are brought from North America. But the cassava merit?
particular description, as them are two sorts, o f which one, when not
known and not properly prepared, is a most violent poison: wherefore the
directors are not allowed to plant the bitter casava without a special permission
from the owner of the plantation, which they have a difficulty to
obtain, as many unfortunate accidents are said to have happened by new
negroes mistaking one species for the other. T h é 'sweet cassava shrub
grows about four feet, and sometimes still higher, the stems are o f a red-
gray colour, its leaves are large, digitated, and gradually tapers to the
point; the root grows to the size o f a foot and more, in the shape o f a
parsnip; it is eaten boiled or roasted, and with butter; the taste is compared
to that of a chesnut. The stem of the bitter cassava is said tó be distinguished
by its being of a deeper red colour, and the root containing in the middle
a tough ligneous fibre, but which only runs half through it, Whilst in the
sweet cassava is runs from the top of the root to the extreme point, and is
much larger than in the other species. To prepare the bitter cassava for
food, its poisonous juice is extracted by grinding first the root, and then
puttingit into a press, which consists of along tube, made by the Indians
©f the fibres pf,a reed, platted in an elastic manner, and this is fastened by
one end to the roof, and to the other a heavy weight is suspended, which
squeezes gradually out the pernicious juice-; the prepared cassava is then
made into flat round cakes, Which are baked on hot stones, in which man-
nernhey will keep for half a year, and are greatly liked by the , Indians
and negroes, and even by many of the white inhabitants. The cassava
is something in taste like ship-bisc.uk, only more tender ; by boiling,
the poisonous juice looses its pernicious quality, and being afterwards
mixed with different spices is served to season dishes.
The Tayes is a root which grows to the size o f about a foot and half,, and
near eight inches in diameter ; it is much used for food among the negroes,
but the young sprouts are also esteemed by the white inhabitants, who boil
them )n broth, when they become so tender as to dissolve entirely; or they
are stewed with meat, or roasted, with an addition of pepper, salt, and
lemon juice, in which cases' they are reckoned to be very wholesome, and
nourishing. The Tayes is produced from seed, as well as by cutting the
tops of the roots in different slices, and planting them three feet distant
from each other, and they will come to perfection in six months. These
large roots being extremely productive, are not only used for. the nourishment
of the human specie?, but also for many domestic animals.
It has been a matter of question among the learned, of what com-
plexion our first parents were ; but it plight he less, difficult, perhaps, to
guess at the region which formed the original habitation "of the human
specie?. It was probably one bearing a. strong resemblance' to Guiana,
where an eternal summer reigns; where. delicious fruits» and wholes
some roots spontaneously and plentifully grow j where man, not yet'
instructed to make a net, has no more to do that no bruise the Hiarra
root, apd drop .it into the water, and- a number o f fish spun become
intoxicated, and float motionless p a the water, to; ho taken fly him. I f
he finds himself in the midst of the woods, and does not know yet how
to dig a well to quench hjs thirst, he has only to break a sort of wild
vine which grows plentifully in those forests, and- a cool and clear water
drops abundantly from.it.* As soon as h e begins to exercise fib talents, he
The author can speak from his oytn experience-how refreshing such, draughts are