ell as singular productions of the vegetable kingdom, being no less
beautiful than it is useful. This tree is large and shady; its leaves
are broad and indented, like those of the fig tree--from twelve to
eighteen inches long, rather fleshy, and of a dark green. The fruit,
when full-grown, is from six to nine inches round, and of an oval
form--when ripe, of a rich, yellow tinge; it generally hangs in
clusters of two or three, on a small thick stalk; the pulp is white,
partly farinaceous, and partly fibrous, but when ripe, becomes yellow
and juicy.

_Indented_, toothed like the edge of a saw.

_Farinaceous_, mealy, consisting of meal or flour; from
_farina_, flour.

How is the Bread-Fruit eaten?

It is roasted until the outside is of a brown color and crisp; the
pulp has then the consistency of bread, which the taste greatly
resembles; and thus it forms a nourishing food: it is also prepared in
many different ways, besides that just mentioned. The tree produces
three, sometimes four crops in a year, and continues bearing for fifty
years, so that two or three trees are enough for a man's yearly
supply. Its timber, which at first is of a rich yellow, but afterwards
assumes the color of mahogany, is used in the building of houses and
canoes; the flowers, when dried, serve as tinder; the sap or juice
serves for glue; the inner bark is made, by the natives of some of the
islands of the Pacific Ocean, into a kind of cloth; and the leaves are
useful for many purposes. One species of the bread-fruit, called the
Jaca tree, grows chiefly on the mainland of Asia.

_Mainland_, the continent.

Describe the Jaca Tree.

This kind grows to the same, if not a larger size than the bread-fruit
of the islands, but is neither so palatable nor so nutritious; the
fruit often weighs thirty pounds, and contains two or three hundred
seeds, each four times as large as an almond. December is the time
when the fruit ripens; it is then eaten, but not much relished; the
seeds are also eaten when roasted. There are also other trees in
different parts of the world, mostly of the palm species, which yield
bread of a similar kind.

Is there not a tree which produces a substance resembling the Butter
which we make from the milk of the cow?

The Shea, or Butter Tree, a native of Africa: it is similar in
appearance to the American oak, and the fruit, (from the kernel of
which the butter is prepared,) is somewhat like an