C H A P T E R XXIV.
O f the Produce o f Pi l e w, an d o f th e Way o f L ife o f the
N a t iv e s .'
P R O D U C E.
XT' VERY part of the iflaad called CooROORAA,'ofwhich
■*-' P e u e w was the Capital (as far ^ our p ^ j^ ©j--
portaaities o f s making oh£ervations} Teenaed to be«' the
marts o f induftry and good cultivation.—AR the ifl,ands
which our people law were well cowered with trees o f various
kinds and fizes, fome o f them -being very large, .3s may
caiHy be conceived by their canoes made -out o f trunks,
which, when o f the Iargeft dimenfions, were capable o f carrying
twenty-eight or thirty men.—They had a great, variety
o f timber-trees, among which was noticed the Ebony?
and a tree, that, being pierced or wounded by a gimblet,
there ran from it a thick white liquid, o f the confidence
o f cream.—They had alfo a fpecies of the M anchineel tree, in
cutting down o f which our people ufed to get bliftered and
fwelled; the inhabitants pointed out the eaufe, faying, that
it
it" was owing to their feeing ffprinkled- !by the fap of this
tree._This the natives ^reckoned: .amoiig,-, the unlucky trees,
and advifed our people agaimft the ufe. of ilg^Baat the moft
fingularltree noticed at Pele w*was:oney,,.ka ■ fize and,in its
manner of branching, not?unlike oip Cherry-tree, but in. its
leaves refembling tjhe Myrtle. Its peculiarityv/was^, that it
had rpb bark, -having, only, an .Outward .coat of aboiit the’
4 hickbeTs Of a pard^darker than the infide,. though equally
elofe in texture'?' the colour oTthe interior'pairt being nearly
of‘‘mahogany, arid fo e-xtre|nel|!har^ that few of ther
tools which the Englifh had could work, it, the. wood breaking
.their edges- almoft every moment? a , circumft.an.ee
< which, very early in the condrufttori o f
mined our people againft'the ufe of it.’—They.had alfo the
Garbage-tree; and a tree whofe/fruit nearly refembled an almond
^ ; the Garambola; and the wild Bread-frUit, calj&i by
thex AatiVes | RiamalL-*—f ams t and coraa-nuts* being the
•Hi®-* article of fuftenanee, were attended to with the utmoft
care*, the former were of the, grey .mottled« Mnd f the
latter were in large plantations, affording both food and
lhade.— The beetle-nut they h ad .in -abundance, and .made
great ufe'of it, though onlywhengreen 5, contrary to the
-pradticeofthe people of India, who never ufe it but when
dry. They . poffeffed Plantains and Bananas, S.,e v f l l ®
* Terminalla calappa ofLlNNJSUS. ' ? t Arum efculcntum o f L inn jeus. j.
Q<1 2 oranges