the chief esculent plants of the torrid zone.
rice—various aspect of the rice-fields at different seasons—the rice-bird—maize—first imported from america by columbus—its enormous productiveness—its wide zone of cultivation—millet, dhourra—the bread-fruit tree—the bananas—their ancient cultivation—avaca or manilla hemp—humboldt’s remarks on the banana—the traveller’s tree of madagascar—the cassava root—tapioca—yams—batatas—arrowroot—taro—tropical fruit trees—the chirimoya—the litchi—the mangosteen—the mango.
of all the cereals there is none that affords food to so vast a multitude as the rice-plant (oryza sativa), on whose grains from time immemorial the countless millions of south-eastern asia chiefly subsist. from its primitive seat, on the ganges or the sikiang, its cultivation has gradually spread not only over the whole tropical zone, but even far beyond its bounds, as it thrives both in the swamps of south carolina and in the rich alluvial plains of the danube and the po.
along the low river banks, in the delta-lands which the rains of the tropics annually change into a boundless lake, or where, by artificial embankments, the waters of the mountain streams have been collected into tanks for irrigation, the rice-plant164 attains its utmost luxuriance of growth, and but rarely deceives the hopes of the husbandmen.
the aspect of the lowland rice-fields of india and its isles is very different at various seasons of the year. where, in java, for instance, you see to-day long-legged herons gravely stalking over the inundated plain partitioned by small dykes, or a yoke of indolent buffaloes slowly wading through the mud, you will three or four months later be charmed by the view of a gracefully undulating corn-field, bearing a great resemblance to our indigenous barley. cords, to which scare-crows are attached traverse the field in every direction, and converge, to a small watch-house, erected on high poles. here the attentive villager sits, like a spider in the centre of its web, and by pulling the cords, puts them from time to time into motion, whenever the wind is unwilling to undertake the office. then the grotesque and noisy figures begin to rustle and to caper, and whole flocks of the neat little rice-bird or java sparrow (loxia oryzivora), rise on the wing, and hurry off with all the haste of guilty fright. after another month has elapsed, and the waters have long since evaporated or been withdrawn, the harvest takes place, and the rice-fields are enlivened by a motley crowd, for all the villagers, old and young, are busy reaping the golden ears.
java sparrow.
the rice-fields offer a peculiarly charming picture when, as in the mountain valleys of ceylon, they rise in terraces along the slopes. ‘selecting an angular recess where two hills converge, the kandyans construct a series of terraces, raised stage above stage, and retiring as they ascend along the slope of the acclivity, up which they are carried as high as the soil extends. each terrace is furnished with a low ledge in front, behind which the requisite depth of water is retained during the germination of the seed, and what is superfluous is permitted to trickle down to the one below it. in order to carry on this peculiar cultivation the streams are led along the level of the hills, often from a distance of many miles, with a skill and perseverance for which the natives of these mountains have attained a great renown.’
165 maize is no less important to the rapidly-growing nations of america than the rice-plant to the followers of buddh or of brama. the time when the cereals of the old world were first transplanted from their unknown asiatic homes is, and ever will be, hidden in legendary obscurity; but the epoch when maize was for the first time seen and tasted by europeans lies before us in the broad daylight of authentic history. for, when columbus discovered cuba, in the year 1492, he found maize cultivated by the indians, and was equally pleased with the taste of the roasted grains and astonished at their size. in the following year, when he made his triumphant entry into barcelona, and presented his royal patrons—ferdinand and isabella—with specimens of the various productions of the new world, the maize-spikes he laid down before their throne, though but little noticed, were in reality of far greater importance than the heaps of gold which were so falsely deemed to be the richest prizes of his grand discovery. in this manner maize was first conveyed from the new world to spain, whence its cultivation gradually extended over the tropical and temperate zones of the eastern hemisphere. round the whole basin of the mediterranean, maize has found a new home, and its grain now nourishes the lombard and the hungarian, as it does the egyptian fellah or the syrian peasant.
while our northern cereals only produce a pleasing effect when covering extensive fields, but are individually too insignificant to claim attention, the maize-plant almost reminds the spectator of the lofty bambusaceæ of the tropical world. even in our gardens it rises above a man’s height, and in warmer countries not seldom attains the gigantic stature of fourteen feet. ensiform, dark green, lustrous leaves, somewhat resembling those of the large oarweeds of the northern seas, spring alternately from every joint of this cereal, streaming like pennants and sharply rustling in the wind. the top produces a bunch of male flowers of various colours, which is called the tassel. each plant likewise bears three or more spikes or ears, proceeding from the stem, at various distances from the ground, and closely enveloped by several thin leaves, forming a sheath, or husk. they consist of a cylindrical substance of the nature of pith, which is called the cobb, and over the entire surface of which the seeds are ranged and fixed, in eight166 or more straight rows. each of these has generally as many as thirty or more seeds, and each seed weighs at least as much as five or six grains of wheat or barley. surely a cereal like this deserves beyond all others to symbolise abundance, and, had it been known to the greeks, it would beyond all doubt have figured conspicuously in the teeming horn of amalthea.
in light sandy soils, under the scorching rays of the sun, and in situations where sufficient moisture cannot be obtained for the production of rice, numerous varieties of millet (sorghum vulgare) are successfully cultivated in many tropical countries—in india, arabia, the west indies, in central africa, and in nubia, where it is grown almost to the exclusion of every other esculent plant. though the seeds are by much the smallest of any of the cereal plants, the number borne upon each stalk is so great as to counterbalance this disadvantage, and to render the cultivation of millet as productive as that of any other grain.
the bread-fruit tree is the great gift of providence to the fairest isles of polynesia. no fruit or forest tree in the north of europe, with the exception of the oak or linden, is its equal in regularity of growth and comeliness of shape; it far surpasses the wild chestnut, which somewhat resembles it in appearance. its large oblong leaves are deeply lobed like those of the fig-tree, which they resemble not only in colour and consistence, but also in exuding a milky juice when broken. about the time when the sun, advancing towards the tropic of capricorn, announces to the tahitians that summer is approaching, it begins to produce new leaves and young fruits, which commence ripening in october, and may be plucked about eight months long in luxuriant succession. the fruit is about the size and shape of a new-born infant’s head, with a thin skin, and a core about as big as the handle of a small knife. the edible part, which lies between the skin and the core, and is as white as snow, must be roasted before it is eaten; its taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten bread mixed with boiled potatoes. when the season draws to an end, the last fruits are laid in heaps, and closely covered with leaves. in this state they undergo a fermentation and become disagreeably sweet; the core is then taken out entire, which is done by gently pulling out the stalk, and the167 rest of the fruit is thrown into a hole, where it undergoes a second fermentation, and becomes sour, after which it will suffer no change for many months. it is taken out of the hole as it is wanted for use, and, being made into balls, it is wrapped up in leaves and baked.
to procure this principal article of their food costs the fortunate south sea islanders no more trouble than plucking and preparing it in the manner above described; for, though the tree which produces it does not grow spontaneously, yet, if a man plants but ten of them in his lifetime, which he may do in about an hour, he will, as cook remarks, ‘as completely fulfil his duty to his own and future generations, as the native of our less genial climate by ploughing in the cold of winter and reaping in the summer’s heat as often as the seasons return.’
dampier (1688) is the first english writer that mentions the bread-fruit tree, which he found growing in the ladrones, and a few years later lord anson enjoyed its fruits at tinian, where they contributed to save the lives of his emaciated and scurvy-stricken followers. it continued, however, to remain unnoticed in europe, until the voyages of wallis and cook attracted the attention of the whole civilized world to the fortunate islands, whose inhabitants, instead of gaining their bread by the sweat of their brow, plucked it ready formed from the teeming branches of their groves.
but the wonderful luxuriance of tropical vegetation is perhaps nowhere more conspicuous and surprising than in the magnificent musaceæ, the banana (musa sapientum), and the plantain (musa paradisiaca), whose fruits most probably nourished mankind long before the gifts of ceres became known. a succulent shaft or stem, rising to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and frequently two feet in diameter, is formed of the sheath-like leaf-stalks rolled one over the other, and terminating in enormous light-green and glossy blades, ten feet long and two feet broad, of so delicate a tissue that the slightest wind suffices to tear them transversely as far as the middle rib. a stout foot-stalk arising from the centre of the leaves, and reclining over one side of the trunk, supports numerous clusters of flowers, and subsequently a great weight of several hundred fruits about the size and shape of full-grown168 cucumbers. on seeing the stately plant, one might suppose that many years had been required for its growth; and yet only eight or ten months were necessary for its full development.
each shaft produces its fruit but once, when it withers and dies; but new shoots spring forth from the root, and, before the year has elapsed, unfold themselves with the same luxuriance. thus, without any other labour than now and then weeding the field, fruit follows upon fruit, and harvest upon harvest. a single bunch of bananas often weighs from sixty to seventy pounds, and humboldt has calculated that thirty-three pounds of wheat and ninety-nine pounds of potatoes, require the same space of ground to grow upon as will produce 4,000 pounds of bananas.
this prodigality of nature, seemingly so favourable to the human race, is however attended with great disadvantages; for where the life of man is rendered too easy, his best powers remain dormant, and he almost sinks to the level of the plant which affords him subsistence without labour. exertion awakens our faculties as it increases our enjoyments, and well may we rejoice that wheat and not the banana ripens in our fields.
as the seeds of the cultivated plantain and banana never or very rarely come to maturity, they can only be propagated by suckers. ‘in both hemispheres,’ says humboldt, ‘as far as tradition or history reaches, we find plantains cultivated in the tropical zone. it is as certain that african slaves have introduced, in the course of centuries, varieties of the banana into america, as that before the discovery of columbus the plantain was cultivated by the aboriginal indians.
‘these plants are the ornaments of humid countries. like the farinaceous cereals of the north, they accompany man from the first infancy of his civilisation. semitical traditions place their original home on the banks of the euphrates; others, with greater probability, at the foot of the himalayas. according to the greek mythology, the plains of enna were the fortunate birthplace of the cereals; but while the monotonous fields of the latter add but little to the beauty of the northern regions, the tropical husbandman multiplies in the banana one of the noblest forms of vegetable life.’
169 the musaceæ are not only useful to man by their mealy, wholesome, and agreeable fruits, but also by the fibres of their long leaf-stalks. some species furnish filaments for the finest muslin, and the coarse fibres of the musa textilis, known in trade under the name of manilla hemp, serve for the preparation of very durable cordage.
to the same family of plants belongs also the traveller-tree of madagascar (ravenala speciosa), one of those wonderful sources of refreshment which nature has provided for the thirsty wanderer in the wilderness. the foot-stalks of the elliptical, alternate leaves embrace the trunk with broad sheathes, in which the dew trickling from their surface is collected. thus the ravenala, the hollow baobab, the pitcher-plant, and the juicy cactuses, all answer a similar purpose, and it is impossible to say which of them is most to be admired.
life and death are strangely blended in the cassava or mandioca root (jatropha manihot); the juice a rapidly destructive poison, the meal a nutritious and agreeable food, which, in tropical america, and chiefly in brazil, forms a great part of the people’s sustenance. the height to which the cassava attains varies from four to six feet: it rises by a slender, woody, knotted stalk, furnished with alternate palmated leaves, and springs from a woody root, the slender collateral fibres of which swell into those farinaceous parsnip-like masses, for which alone the plant is cultivated. it requires a dry soil, and is not found at a greater elevation than 2,000 feet above the level of the sea. it is propagated by cuttings, which very quickly take root, and in about eight months from the time of their being planted, the tubers will generally be in a fit state to be collected; they may, however, be left in the ground for many months without sustaining any injury. the usual mode of preparing the cassava is to grind the roots after peeling off the dark-coloured rind, to draw out the poisonous juice, and finally to bake the meal into thin cakes on a hot iron hearth. fortunately the deleterious principle is so volatile as to be entirely dissipated by exposure to heat; for when the root has been cut into small pieces, and exposed during some hours to the direct rays of the sun, cattle may be fed on it with perfect safety. if the recently extracted juice be drunk by cattle or poultry, the animals soon die in convulsions; but if this same170 liquid is boiled with meat and seasoned, it forms a wholesome and nutritious soup. the jatropha janipha, or sweet cassava, though very similar to the manihot or bitter variety, and wholly innocuous, is far less extensively cultivated.
the yam-roots, so frequently mentioned in narratives of travel through the tropical regions, are the produce of two climbing plants—the dioscorea sativa and alata—with tender stems of from eighteen to twenty feet in length, and smooth sharp-pointed leaves on long foot-stalks, from the base of which arise spikes of small flowers. the roots of the d. sativa are flat and palmated, about a foot in breadth, white within and externally of a dark brown colour, those of the d. alata, are still larger, being frequently about three feet long, and weighing about thirty pounds. both kinds are cultivated like the common potato, which they resemble in taste, though of a closer texture.
the dioscoreæ are natives of south asia, and are supposed to have been thence transplanted to the west indies, as they have never been found growing wild in any part of america; while in the island of ceylon, and on the coast of malabar, they flourish in the woods with spontaneous and luxurious growth.
the spanish or sweet potato (convolvulus batatas), commonly cultivated in the tropical climates both of the eastern and the western hemispheres, is an herbaceous perennial, which sends out many trailing stalks, extending six or eight feet every way, and putting forth at each joint roots which in a genial climate grow to be very large tubers, so that from a single plant forty or fifty large roots are produced. the leaves are angular and stand on long petioles, the flowers are purple. the batata is propagated by laying down the young shoots in the spring; indeed in its native climate it multiplies almost spontaneously, for if the branches of roots that have been pulled up are suffered to remain on the ground, and a shower of rain falls soon after, their vegetation will recommence.
arrowroot is chiefly obtained from two different plants—the marantha arundinacea and the tacca pinnatifida. the former a native of south america, is an herbaceous perennial and is propagated by parting the roots. it rises to the height of two or three feet, has broad pointed leaves, and is crowned by a spike of small white flowers. it is much cultivated, both for171 domestic use and for exportation in the west indies, and in some parts of hindostan. the arrowroot is obtained by first pounding the long stalky roots in a large wooden mortar, and pouring a quantity of water over them. after the whole has been agitated for some time, the starch, separated from the fibres, collects at the bottom of the vessel, and, having been cleansed by repeated washing, is dried in the sun.
the tacca pinnatifida, likewise an herbaceous plant with pinnated leaves, an umbelliform blossom, and large potato-like roots, is scattered over most of the south sea islands. it is not cultivated in the hawaiian group, but found growing wild in abundance in the more elevated districts, where it is satisfied with the most meagre soil, and sprouts forth among the lava blocks of those volcanic islands. arrowroot is prepared from this plant in the same manner as from the west indian marantha, but, as the improvident polynesians only think of digging it out of the earth, and never give themselves the trouble of replanting the small and useless tubers, its quantity has very much diminished.
the caladium esculentum, an aquatic plant, furnishes the large taro roots which, boiled to a thick paste, form the chief food of the sandwich islanders, and are extensively cultivated in many other groups of the south seas. it grows like rice on a marshy ground, the large sagittated leaves rise on high foot-stalks, immediately springing from the root, and are likewise very agreeable to the taste, but are more seldom eaten, as they are used for propagation. severed from the root, they merely require to be planted in the mud to produce after six months a new harvest of roots. the growth is so abundant that 1,500 persons can live upon the produce of a single square mile, so that supposing the united kingdom to be one vast taro-field, its surface would be able to nourish about two thousand millions of souls.
as there is a mountain-rice which thrives without artificial irrigation, there is also a mountain-taro (caladium cristatum), which resembles the former in general appearance, but prefers a more dry and elevated soil. although the plant grows wild both in the society and marquesas islands, yet pitcairn’s island was the only spot where mr. bennett saw it cultivated.
but the possession of a plant which furnishes so much food172 with so little labour, can hardly be considered as a benefit for the sandwich islanders, whose natural indolence is too much encouraged by the abundance it creates. the hawaiian constantly sees before his eyes the coffee-groves and sugar-plantations, the cotton and indigo fields, which, cultivated by chinese coolies, amply reward the enterprise of the european and american settlers in his native land, and yet he saunters by, too indolent even to stretch out his hand and gather the berries from the trees.
it may easily be imagined that the tropical sun, which distils so many costly juices and fiery spices in indescribable multiplicity and abundance, must also produce a variety of fruits. but man has as yet done but little to improve by care and art these gifts of nature, and, with rare exceptions, the delicious flavour for which our native fruits are indebted to centuries of cultivation, is found wanting in those of the torrid zone. in our gardens pomona appears in the refined garb of civilisation, while in the tropics she still shows herself as a savage beauty, requiring the aid of culture for the full development of her attractions.
yet there are exceptions to the rule, and among others the peruvian chirimoya (anona tripetala) is vaunted by travellers in such terms of admiration that it can hardly be inferior to and probably surpasses, the most exquisite fruits of european growth. hänke calls it, in one of his letters, a masterpiece of nature, and tschudi says that its taste is quite incomparable. it grows to perfection at huanuco, where it attains a weight of from fourteen to sixteen pounds. the fruit is generally heart-shaped, with the broad base attached to the branch. the rind is green, covered with small tubercles and scales, and encloses a snow-white, juicy pulp, with many black kernels. both the fruit and the blossoms exhale a delightful odour. the tree is about twenty feet high, and has a broad dull green crown.
in the eastern hemisphere, the litchi, the mangosteen, and the mango enjoy the highest reputation.
the litchi (nephelium litchi), a small insignificant tree, with lanceolate leaves, and small greenish-white flowers, is a native of china and cochin-china, but its cultivation has spread over the east and the west indies. the plum-like scarlet fruit is generally eaten by the chinese to their tea, but it is173 also dried in ovens and exported. in order to obtain the fruit in perfection, for the use of the imperial court, the trees, as soon as they blossom, are conveyed from canton to pekin on rafts, at a very great trouble and expense, so that the plums may just be ripe on their arrival in the northern capital.
the beautiful mangosteen (garcinia mangostana), a native of the moluccas, and thence transplanted to java, siam, the philippines, and ceylon, resembles at a distance the citron-tree, and bears large flowers like roses. the dark brown capsular fruit, about the size of a small apple, is described as of unequalled flavour—juicy and aromatic, like a mixture of strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and oranges. it is said that the patient who has lost an appetite for everything else still relishes the mangosteen, and that the case is perfectly hopeless when he refuses even this.
the stately mango (mangifera indica) bears beautiful girandoles of flowers, followed by large plum-like fruits, of which, however, but four or five ripen on each branch. more than forty varieties are grown at kew, the finest of which are reserved for the queen’s table. from ceylon, its original seat, the mango has been transplanted far and wide over the torrid zone.
