[ ] [ [65] ] A kind of apple common in Normandy, in the "Pays de Caux" more particularly.
[ ] [ [66] ] "Ahuacahuitl," native name, by corruption called "Aguacat"; by the Spaniards, "Avorat," "Avogade," and "Avocat"—the Avogada pear.
"Shaped like a pear, sometimes like a lime, green without, green and white within, with a large kernel in the middle. It is eaten cooked or raw, with salt. All travellers agree that no fruit in Europe can compare with it."—Clusius.
[ ] [ [67] ] Algaroba, or Algarova, the name given by the Spaniards to some species of acacia of the New World, from their resemblance to the algarobe, caroubier, St. John's bean, or carob tree, of which the pods form excellent food for cattle.
[ ] [ [68] ] The fruit of a variety of Cactus Opuntia—the "Nuchtli" of the Mexicans, and called "Raquette" by the French, from the shape of the leaves. "Ce que nos François appellent Raquette à cause de la figure de ses feuilles: sur quelques unes de ces feuilles, longues et herissées, croist un fruit de la grosseur d'une prune-datte; quand il est meur, il est rouge dedans, et dehors comme de vermillon. Il a cette propriété, qu'il teint l'urine en couleur de sang aussi tost qu'on en a mangé, de sorte que ceux qui ne savent pas ce secret, craignent de s'estre rompu une veine, et il s'en est trouvé qui, aians apperceu ce changement, se sont mis au lit, et out creu estre dangereusement malades."—De Rochefort, Voyage aux Antilles, etc., 1658.
This should be the same fruit of which Gage writes (1625-26): "There is another sort of this fruit, 'Nuchtli,' which is red, and is not esteemed as the others, although not of bad taste, but on account of its staining with the colour of blood, not only the mouth and the linen of him who eats it, but also his urine."
[ ] [ [69] ] From the Spanish "Ciruela"—plum.
[ ] [ [70] ] In Champlain's time only two varieties of palm were known (save the cocoa-nut tree, which was called "palm" par excellence), the "Palmiste franc," or cabbage palm—Areca oleracea (Linn.); and the "Palmiste épineuse," or thorny palm—Areca spinosa (Linn.)
[ ] [ [71] ] "Cocos lapidea" of Gaertner, the fruit of which is smaller than the common cocoa-nut, and of which small vases, cups, etc., are made.