Digital Grainger

An Online Edition of The Sugar-Cane (1764)

38

  • They soon a formidable fence will shoot:
  • Wild liquorice here its red beads loves to hang,1
  • Whilst scandent2 blossoms, yellow, purple, blue,
  • Unhurt, wind round its shield-like leaf and spears. [540]
  • Nor is its fruit inelegant of taste,
  • Tho’ more its colour charms the ravish’d eye;
  • Vermeil,3 as youthful beauty’s roseat hue;
  • As thine, fair Christobelle:4 ah, when will fate,
  • That long hath scowl’d relentless on the bard, [545]
  • Give him some small plantation to inclose,
  • Which he may call his own? Not wealth he craves,

grow in the barrenest soils, and on the tops of walls, if a small portion of earth be added. There are two sorts of it, one whose fruit is roundish and sweet, the other, which has more the shape of a fig, is sour. The former is sometimes eaten, but the other seldom. The French call them Pomme de Raquette. Both fruit and leaves are guarded with sharp prickles, and, even in the interior part of the fruit, there is one which must be removed before it is eaten. The leaves, which are half an inch thick, having a sort of pulp interposed between their surfaces, being deprived of their spines, and softened by the fire, make no bad poultice for inflammations. The juice of the fruit is an innocent fucus,5 and is often used to tinge guava jellies. The opuntia, upon which the cochineal insect breeds, has no spines, and is cultivated with care in South-America, where it also grows wild. The prickly pear makes a strong fence, and is easily trimmed with a scymitar.6 It grows naturally in some parts of Spain.7

VER. 538. wild liquorice] This is a scandent plant, from which the Negroes gather what they call Jumbee Beeds. These are about the size of pigeon-peas, almost round, of a red colour, with a black speck on one extremity. They act as an emetic, but, being violent in their operation, great caution should be observed in using them. The leaves make a good pectoral drink8 in disorders of the breast. By the French it is named Petit Panacoco, to distinguish it from a large tree, which bears seeds of the same colours, only much bigger. This tree is a species of black ebony.9

  1. Wild liquorice (Abrus precatorius) is a slender, viny plant that produces scarlet, pea-sized seeds with small black spots at the points of attachment. The seeds are known as jumbee beads, while the plant is sometimes known as the rosary pea. The seeds are commonly used to make jewelry, and they have been associated with the practice of obeah, perhaps because the black spots on the seeds resemble eyes. The seeds also may have been used to heal or poison since they contain the toxin abrin, which can induce nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and dehydration. Abrus precatorius is native to Africa, Asia, Malesia, Australia, and the Pacific region. ↩︎

  2. Climbing, ascending. ↩︎

  3. Bright red color. ↩︎

  4. Gilmore suggests that Christobelle refers to Grainger’s wife, Daniel Matthew Burt. This seems likely, especially if one reads “Christobelle” as “Belle of St. Christopher.” Lines 544-547 refer to Grainger’s long-standing wish that he might one day own his own plantation. See, for example, his 25 March 1765 letter to Bishop Thomas Percy (Nichols 288). ↩︎

  5. A paint or cosmetic for beautifying the skin; a wash or coloring for the face. ↩︎

  6. A scimitar is a short, curved, single-edged sword associated primarily with Turkey or the Middle East. ↩︎

  7. Opuntia ficus-indica, which is native to Mexico, was introduced to Spain by Columbus upon his return from his first voyage. ↩︎

  8. Pectoral drinks aid in digestion. ↩︎

  9. Ebony refers to various Asian and African trees of the genus Diospyros in the ebony family (Ebenaceae). Historically, ebony wood has been valued for its dark color and used to make furniture, ornaments, and other objects. ↩︎