THE QUABỸRA MIR̂I.
The quabỹra mir̂i, that is, the smaller quabỹra, differs totally from the former, and, in my opinion, exceeds all the other Paraguayrian fruits, both in sweetness, and salubrity. It is a little apple, resembling a medlar in size, and form, and covered with a hardish skin, which is green at first, and when ripe becomes a dark red. The pulp, which is full of tender seeds, pleases the palate with an agreeable taste, between sweet and sourish, and exhales a fragrant, balsamic odour, with which the bark and leaves are likewise scented. It is a remarkable circumstance that this fruit, though naturally hot, is never prejudicial, however freely it be eaten. The quabỹra mir̂i grows on shrubs like the junipers of Austria; they are supported by a slender stalk, but have a number of knotty, thick roots, spreading far and wide in the earth. They grow no where but in sandy soils, destitute of good grass. The quabỹra mir̂i is to be seen in every part of the plains of Taruma, of the lands near the little city Curuquati, and of the territories of St. Paulo, bordering on Brazil. But in those tracts of land where this fruit abounds, you find the pastures particularly poor, either from the grass being choked by the sand, or because these shrubs suck up the best juices of the earth. Certainly in the rest of Paraguay, where richer turf is found, I never beheld any thing the least like a quabỹra mir̂i. I should not be silent on the other use of this plant; in its little branches the ants make a wax whiter than milk, and fragrant as the most delightful balsam; it consists of very small, white grains, scattered up and down the shrub, which are laboriously collected by women, melted at the fire, and made into candles, for the use of the churches, where, when lighted, they exhale a very sweet odour. It is much to be lamented that this wax, though excellent in other respects, wants hardness; for the candles made of it melt quickly, and are consumed in a short time. To render them more durable, I have often mixed common bees' wax with the wax of ants.
LA GRANADILLA, OR THE PASSION FLOWER.
The first claim to our notice after these belongs to a most wholesome fruit, which the Spaniards call la granadilla. It grows in great abundance in the plain, at all seasons of the year, on a shrub which clings, like ivy, to hedges and bushes. There are many species of it, differing only in form and colour. They all bear a middle-sized apple, of a golden colour spotted with red, in taste between sweet and acid, with an agreeable odour, and full of round, black seeds. Whether eaten raw, or boiled with sugar, like citrons, and drunk mixed with cold water, it is extremely salubrious. Its sweet juice conduces much to strengthen the bowels, and without danger to cool the limbs, after they have been heated by the sun. If you attentively examine the beautiful flower of this plant, you will find the scourge, the crown, the nails, the cross, the pillar, the dice, the gall, and all the other instruments belonging to the passion of our Lord, plainly figured there.
On this account it universally goes by the name of the passion flower, and was thought worthy to be brought from America to Rome, in the time of Paul V.
THE GUEMBÈ.
The fruit guembè is the more remarkable for its being so little known, even by many who have grown old in Paraguay; for the northern woods only of that country are its native soil. It is about a span long, almost cylindrical in shape, being thicker than a man's fist in the middle, but smaller at both extremities, and resembles a pigeon stripped of its feathers, sometimes weighing as much as two pounds. It is entirely covered with a soft yellowish skin, marked with little knobs, and a dark spot in the middle. Its liquid pulp has a very sweet taste, but is full of tender thorns, perceivable by the palate only, not by the eye, on which account it must not be slowly chewed, but quickly swallowed: for if any one were leisurely to bruise the pulp with his teeth, his tongue would be made to smart for a long time by the latent thorns, and would be rendered less ready in speaking. The stalk, which occupies the middle, has something of wood in it, and must be thrown away. You cannot imagine how agreeable and wholesome this fruit is, and how it refreshes a man fatigued with long walking and bathed in perspiration. This ponderous fruit grows on a flexible shrub resembling a rope, which entwines itself round high trees. How great must be the strength of the guembepi, as the Guaranies call it, you may infer from this, that the stoutest Indians, when they cut a high tree for the sake of getting honey, sit for a long time with safety upon this shrub, which is entwined about the boughs and trunk. From the above-mentioned guembepi the Spaniards and Portugueze sometimes weave cables stronger than hempen ones.
THE TATAYỸ, A MULBERRY TREE.
The tatayỹ, a tall, large tree, bears mulberries, resembling those of our country in taste, and form, but larger, and of a yellow colour. The saffron-coloured wood of this tree is very hard, but docile, and of it the Indians make beautiful boxes, pipes, trumpets, and other things, as Europeans do of box. Pieces of the same wood, boiled with alum, are used for dying wool, and cotton, of a yellow colour.