1686.—"The Plantain I take to be King of all Fruit, not except the Coco itself."—Dampier, i. 311.
1689.—"... and now in the Governour's Garden (at St. Helena) and some others of the Island are quantities of Plantins, Bonanoes, and other delightful Fruits brought from the East...."—Ovington, 100.
1764.—
"But round the upland huts, bananas plant;
A wholesome nutriment bananas yield,
And sunburnt labour loves its breezy shade,
Their graceful screen let kindred plantanes join,
And with their broad vans shiver in the breeze."
Grainger, Bk. iv.
1805.—"The plantain, in some of its kinds, supplies the place of bread."—Orme, Fragments, 479.