- Nor let his nectar, nor his silken pods, [35]
- The sweet-smell’d cassia, or vast ceiba save.1
- Yet spare the guava, yet the guaiac spare;2
- A wholesome food the ripened guava yields,
- Boast of the housewife; while the guaiac grows
- A sovereign antidote, in wood, bark, gum, [40]
- To cause the lame his useless crutch forego,
- And dry the sources of corrupted love.
- Nor let thy bright impatient flames destroy
VER. 36. or vast ceiba save.] Canoes have been scooped out of this tree, capable of holding upwards of a hundred people; and many hundreds, as authors relate, have been at once sheltered by its shade. Its pods contain a very soft short cotton, like silk: hence the English call the tree the Silk-cotton-tree; and the Spaniards name its cotton Lana de ceiba. It has been wrought into stockings; but its commonest use is to stuff pillows and mattrasses. It might be made an article of commerce, as the tree grows without trouble, and is yearly covered with pods. An infusion of the leaves is a gentle diaphoretic,3 and much recommended in the small-pox. The botanical name of the ceiba is Bombax; and the French call it Fromager. There are two species; the stem of the one being prickly, and that of the other smooth.
VER. 37. Yet spare the guava,] The Spaniards call this tree guayava. It bears a fruit as large, and of much the same shape as a golden pippen. This is of three species, the yellow, the amazon, and the white; the last is the most delicate, but the second sort the largest: All are equally wholesome, when stewed or made into jelly, or marmalade. When raw, they are supposed to generate worms.4 Strangers do not always at first like their flavour, which is peculiarly strong. This, however, goes off by use, and they become exceedingly agreeable. Acosta says the Peruvian guavas surpass those of any other part of America.5 The bark of the tree is an astringent, and tanns leather as well as that of oak. The French call the tree Goyavier.
VER. 37. —yet the guaiac spare;] The lignum-vitae, or pockwood-tree. The virtues of every part of this truly medical tree are too well known to be enumerated here. The hardness and incorruptibility of its timber make abundant amends for the great slowness of its growth, for of it are formed the best posts for houses against hurricanes, and it is no less usefully employed in building wind-mills and cattle-mills.
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Cassia is probably Cassia fistula, commonly used as a purgative. It is likely native to India and Sri Lanka. Ceiba is the kapok or silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra). The ceiba, whose native range is Mexico and the tropical Americas, can achieve a height of fifty meters. To the Maya, the ceiba was a sacred tree whose roots connected the underworld to the human and upper worlds. ↩︎
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The guava is a fruit from the small tree Psidium guajava, which is probably native to Central and South America but was naturalized throughout the Caribbean by the eighteenth century. Guaiac refers to Guaiacum officinale or Guaiacum sanctum, both of which have native ranges that include the Caribbean. In the eighteenth century, the guaiac tree also was known as lignum vitae (“wood of life”) because it was used to treat a variety of diseases, including syphilis and yaws. It also was widely believed to be an abortifacient. Both Guaiacum officinale and Guaiacum sanctum are now endangered due to overexploitation and habitat loss. ↩︎
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Having the property of inducing or promoting perspiration. ↩︎
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Grainger is referring to parasitic worms (helminths) that live in the digestive tracts of humans and other animals. There are many such parasites, including tapeworms and roundworms. Worms were a major health concern in the eighteenth century, producing such physical effects as malnutrition and anemia, as well as cognitive problems. ↩︎
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Acosta is José de Acosta (1539-1600), a Jesuit theologian, philosopher, and missionary who traveled to and spent several years in Peru and Mexico. Chiefly known for his Historia natural y moral de las Indias (1590), one of the earliest and most comprehensive surveys of the Americas. ↩︎