bags.
1843 18,649
1844 2,408
1845 21,092
1847 9,649
1848 18,196
1849 14,108

Pimento is worth in the London market 6d. to 7d. per lb. The duty is
5s. per cwt.

VANILLA.

The fleshy, pod-like, odoriferous fruit of different species of
_Epidendrum_ constitute the substance called vanilla, which is used in
confectionery for giving a delicious perfume to chocolate, liqueurs,
&c. As an aromatic it is much sought after by confectioners, for
flavoring ices and creams; and also by perfumers, liqueurists, and
distillers. The best comes from the forests round the village of
Zurtila, in the intendancy of Oaxaca, on the eastern slopes of the
Cordillera of Anahuac, between the parallels of 19 deg. and 20 deg. N.
All the vanilla which is used in Europe is imported from Mexico,
Venezuela, and Vera Cruz.

It is a native of tropical America, and grows wild in Brazil, Peru,
the banks of the Orinoco, and all places where heat, shade, and
moisture prevail. There are many species indigenous to the Bahamas,
Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominica, Martinique and St. Vincent, which
would produce considerable gain to the inhabitants if they would give
themselves the trouble of cultivating or collecting its fruit.

This parasitical plant has a trailing stem, not unlike the common ivy,
but not so woody, by which it attaches itself to the trunks of trees,
and sucks the moisture which their bark derives from the lichens and
other cryptogamia, but without drawing nourishment from the tree
itself, like the misletoe and loranthus. The Indians in Mexico
propagate it by planting cuttings at the foot of trees selected for
that purpose. It rises to the height of 18 or 20 feet; the flowers are
of a greenish yellow, mixed with white. The plant is subcylindrical
about eight or ten inches long, of a yellow color when gathered, but
dark brown or black when imported into Europe. It is one-celled
siliquose, and pulpy within, wrinkled on the outside, and full of a
vast number of seeds like grains of sand, having when properly
prepared, a peculiar and delicious fragrance. It should be gathered
before it is fully ripe.

Different species of vanilla are natives of Guiana, and it is found in
large quantities along the banks of its rivers, and in the wooded
districts which intersperse the savannahs. The oily and balsamic
substance which the minute seeds possess, may be found to have
medicinal q