Digital Grainger

An Online Edition of The Sugar-Cane (1764)

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  • Planted; and which, impervious to the sun,
  • His latter days beheld.—One noon he sat
  • Beneath its breezy shade, what time the sun
  • His sultry vengeance from the Lion1 pour’d;
  • And calmly thus his eldest hope addrest. [630]

  • “BE pious, be industrious, be humane;
  • “From proud oppression guard the labouring hind.
  • “Whate’er their creed, God is the Sire of man,
  • “His image they; then dare not thou, my son,
  • “To bar the gates of mercy on mankind. [635]
  • “Your foes forgive, for merit must make foes;
  • “And in each virtue far surpass your sire.
  • “Your means are ample, Heaven a heart bestow!
  • “So health and peace shall be your portion here;
  • “And yon bright sky, to which my soul aspires, [640]
  • “Shall bless you with eternity of joy.”

ish, as does the pulp, which is contained in pods four or five inches long. They bear once a year. An excellent vinegar may be made from the fruit; but the Creoles chiefly preserve it with sugar, as the Spaniards with salt. A pleasant syrup may be made from it. The name is, in Arabic, Tamara. The Antients were not acquainted therewith; for the Arabians first introduced tamarinds into physic; it is a native of the East as well as of the West-Indies and South-America, where different provinces call it by different names. Its cathartic2 qualities are well known. It is good in sea-sickness. The botanical name is Tamarindus.

  1. Refers to Leo, the fifth sign of the Zodiac; the sun enters it in mid-July and exits it in mid-August. ↩︎

  2. Purging, purgative. ↩︎