. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . and drink; and for medicinal says, the tamarind is equally useful andagreeable. It has a pulp of a vinous taste, of whicha wholesome refreshing liquor is prepared; its shadeshelters houses from the torrid heat of the sun; and 2 k 370 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. its fine fig-ure greatly adorns the scenery of thecountry. Its refreshing properties has given it aplace in our poetry : The damsel from the tamarind-treeHad pluckd its acid fruit,And steepd it in water long;And whoso drank of the
. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . and drink; and for medicinal says, the tamarind is equally useful andagreeable. It has a pulp of a vinous taste, of whicha wholesome refreshing liquor is prepared; its shadeshelters houses from the torrid heat of the sun; and 2 k 370 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. its fine fig-ure greatly adorns the scenery of thecountry. Its refreshing properties has given it aplace in our poetry : The damsel from the tamarind-treeHad pluckd its acid fruit,And steepd it in water long;And whoso drank of the cooling draught,He would not wish for wine*. Mandelslo, an old traveller, says, that as soon as thesun is set the leaves of the tamarind close up thefruit to preserve it from the dew, and open as soonas that luminary appears again: Tis the cool evening hour:The tamarind, from the dewSheathes its young fruit, yet greenf. The East India tamarinds are preserved withoutsugar, and therefore they are the best for medicinaluse. About forty tons of tamarinds are annuallyimported into Great The Guava—Psidium pyriferum. The botanists enumerate eight or nine species ofthe guava, some of them natives of the East Indies,and other parts of Asia; some of the West Indies ; * Thalaba. t Ibid. THE GUAVA. 371 and others, amono: which are the kinds most valuedas fruit, common to both continents. The white Guava (Psidium pyriferum) is thebest, and also the most abundant in the West wild, the white guava is a shrub rather than atree, as it seldom exceeds eight or nine feet in height;but, when introduced into gardens, it attains the sizeof an ordinary apple-tree, with a trunk about six feethigh, and six inches in diameter. The wood is veryhard and tough ; the leaves are from two to threeinches long, and grow in pairs opposite each other;the flower is white, and has a very agreeable flavour;the fruit is rather bigger than a hens egg, of a sul-phureous yellow, very smooth, and
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