I had it in my thoughts, to make an Essay, what Sir Francis Bacons experiment solitarie, touching the making of Artificiall Springs would doe; but troughs of that stone, being of so dry and spungy a quality, would never have been fit for it, besides we have no brakes growing there, which is one of the materials us’d in that experiment.
Another sort of Withs we have, but they are made of the gum of trees, which falls from the boughes, drop after drop, one hanging by another, till they touch ground; from whence they receive some nourishment, which gives them power to grow larger, and if it happen that three or four of them, come down so nere one another as to touch and the wind twist them together, they appeare so like ropes, as they cannot be discern’d five paces off, whether it be a rope or a withe. I have seen of these of severall sises, from the smallest whip cord to the greatest Cable of the Soveraine; and the most of those timber trees I have named, has them; some four, some five, some halfe a dozen, hanging down like Bell ropes, from the branches to the ground, which was a sight of much rarity to me at first comming.
Aloes.
Aloes we have growing here, very good, and ’tis a beautifull plant; the leaves four inches broad, ¾ of an inch thick, and about a foot and a halfe long; with prickles on each side, and the last sprout which rises up in the middle, beares yellow flowres, one above another, and those flowres are higher then any of the leaves, by two foot; These thick leaves we take, and cut them through, and out of them issue the Aloes, which we set in the Sun, and that will rarifie it, and make it fit to keep. But it is the first comming which we save; for, if we let it run too long, the second running will be much worse; but, before that comes, we throw away the leafe. The leaves of this Plant, (which we call semper vivens in England, and growes neer the fire in Kitchins, hung up to a beam, with an oyl’d clout about the root) with the inner bark of Elder, and some other ingredients, boyl’d in Sallet-oyle, is the best medicine in the world for a burn or a scald, being presently applyed; and for that the medicine is beyond all that ever was, for that cure, I will set it down, and ’tis this.
Take Semper vivens, Plantine leaves, and the green rinde of Elder, of each a like quantity, and boyl them in Sallet-oyle, so much as will draw out all that tincture by boyling; then strain the Oyle well out, and put it on the fire again, and put to it a small quantity of spirit of Wine, and so much yellow Wax, as will bring it to the consistance of a Liniment.
One other Plant we have, and that is the Sensible plant, which closes the leavs upon any touch with your hand, or that end of your staff by which you hold, and in a little time will open again.
Flowers.
There are very few Flowers in the Iland, and none of them sweet; as, the white Lilly, which growes in the woods, and is much a fairer flower then ours; as also a red Lilly, of the same bignesse; but neither of them sweet. The St. Jago flower is very beautifull, but of a nauseous savour. One more we have, and that must not be forgotten for the rarity, because it opens, when all else close, when the Sun goes down; and for that reason we call it, the flower of the Moon: It growes in great tuffs, the leaves almost in the form of a Heart, the point turning back, the flower somewhat bigger then a Primrose, but of the purest purple that ever I beheld. When this flower falls off, the seed appears, which is black, with an eye of purple; shap’d, and of the sise of a small button, so finely wrought, and tough withall, as it might serve very well to trim a suit of apparell.
I know no herbs naturally growing in the Iland, that have not been brought thither from other parts, but Purcelane; and that growes so universally, as the over-much plenty makes it disesteemed; and we destroy it as a Weed that cumbers the ground.
English Herbs and Roots.