e, by the effects of the revolutionary wars.--E.]

But the most abundant article of vegetable luxury here, is the fruit; of
which there is no less than six-and-thirty different kinds, and I shall
give a very brief account of each.

1. The pine-apple; _Bromelia Ananas_. This fruit, which is here called
_Nanas_, grows very large, and in such plenty that they may sometimes be
bought at the first hand for a farthing a-piece; and at the common
fruit-shops we got three of them for two-pence half-penny. They are very
juicy and well flavoured; but we all agreed that we had eaten as good
from a hot-house in England: They are however so luxuriant in their
growth that most of them have two or three crowns, and a great number of
suckers from the bottom of the fruit; of these Mr Banks once counted
nine, and they are so forward that very often while they still adhered
to the parent plant they shot out their fruit, which, by the time the
large one became ripe, were of no inconsiderable size. We several times
saw three upon one apple, and were told that a plant once produced a
cluster of nine, besides the principal: This indeed was considered as so
great a curiosity, that it was preserved in sugar, and sent to the
Prince of Orange.

2. Sweet oranges. These are very good, but while we were here, sold for
six-pence a piece.

3. Pumplemoeses, which in the West Indies are called Shaddocks. These
were well flavoured, but not juicy; their want of juice, however, was an
accidental effect of the season.

4. Lemons. These were very scarce; but the want of them was amply
compensated by the plenty of limes.

5. Limes. These were excellent, and to be bought at about twelve-pence a
hundred. We saw only two or three Seville oranges, which were almost all
rind; and there are many sorts, both of oranges and lemons, which I
shall not particularly mention, because they are neither esteemed by
Europeans nor the natives themselves.

6. Mangos. This fruit during our stay was so infested with maggots,
which bred in the inside of them, that scarcely one in three was
eatable; and the best of them were much inferior to those of Brazil:
They are generally compared by Europeans to a melting peach, which
indeed they resemble in softness and sweetness, but certainly fall much
short in flavour. The climate here, we were told, is too hot and damp
for them; but there are as many sorts of them as there are of apples in
England, and some are much superior to ot