atering-place, and some few orange trees. Their drink is mostly water,
yet the men use great quantities of _palmito_ wine, which they call
_moy_, giving little or none to the women. It is strange to see their
manner of climbing the palmito trees, which are of great size and
height, having neither boughs nor branches except near the top.
Surrounding the tree and his own, body by means of a _withe_, or band of
twisted twigs, on which he leans his back, and jerking up his withe
before him, he foots it up with wonderful speed and certainty, and comes
down again in the same manner, bringing his gourd full of liquor on his
arm. Among their fruits are many kinds of plumbs; one like a _wheaten_
plumb is wholesome and savoury; likewise a black one, as large as a
horse plumb, which is much esteemed, and has an aromatic flavour. A
kind called _mansamilbas_, resembling a wheaten plumb, is very
dangerous, as is likewise the sap of the boughs, which is perilous for
the sight, if it should chance to get into the eyes.[209] Among their
fruits is one called _beninganion_, about the size of a lemon, with a
reddish rind, and very wholesome; also another called _bequill_, as
large as an apple, with a rough knotty skin, which is pared off, when
the pulp below eats like a strawberry, which likewise it resembles in
colour and grain, and of which we eat many. There are abundance of wild
grapes in the woods, but having a woody and bitterish taste. The nuts of
the palmito are eaten roasted. They use but little pepper and _grains_,
the one in surgery and the other in cooking. There is a singular fruit,
growing six or eight together in a bunch, each as long and thick as
one's finger, the skin being of a brownish yellow colour, and somewhat
downy, and within the rind is a pulp of a pleasant taste; but I know not
if it be wholesome.

[Footnote 209: Probably the Manchencel--E.]

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I observed in the woods certain trees like beeches, bearing fruit
resembling beans, of which I noticed three kinds. One of these was a
great tall tree, bearing cods like those of beans, in each of which was
four or five squarish beans, resembling tamarind seeds, having hard
shells, within which is a yellow kernel, which is a virulent poison,
employed by the negroes to envenom their arrows. This they call _Ogon_.
The second is smaller, having a crooked pod with a thick rind, six or
seven inches long, and half that breadth, containing each five large
bea