A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The _Oca_, or _Oxalis tuberosa_, produces five or six tuberosities on
each root, three or four inches in length covered by a thin smooth skin.
It is eaten boiled or roasted, and has a pleasant subacid taste. Like
the potato, it is multiplied by means of its bulbs cut in pieces. There
are several species of this plant; one of which called _red culle_, is
much used in dyeing, and Is considered as a specific remedy for
inflammatory fevers.
Two species of gourds are known in Chili. The first species, with a
white flower, called _quada_, has twenty-six varieties, several of which
produce sweet and edible fruit, while that of the others is bitter. With
one of these last, after extracting the seeds, the Chilese give a
pleasant perfume or flavour to their cyder. The yellow-flowering gourd,
called _penca_, has two kinds or varieties, the common and mamillary,
owing to the fruit of the latter having a large nipple-shaped process at
the end. Its pulp is sweet, and resembles in taste a kind of potato
named _camote._
The _quelghen,_ or Chili strawberry has rough and succulent leaves, and
its fruit is sometimes as large as a hens egg. This fruit is generally
red and white; but in the provinces of Puchacay and Huilquilemeu, where
they attain the greatest perfection, the fruit is yellow. "The Chili
strawberry is _dioecial_, and has degenerated much in Europe by the want
of male plants, and the females producing hybrid fruit by impregnation
from the ordinary strawberries growing in the neighbourhood; in
consequence of which circumstance the cultivation of this kind has been
abandoned in Europe."
The _madi,_ a new genus of plants peculiar to Chili, has two species,
one wild and the other cultivated. From the seeds of the latter an
excellent oil is procured, either by expression, or by boiling in water,
of an agreeable mild taste, and as clear as the best olive oil. This
plant, hitherto unknown in Europe, would be a most valuable acquisition
to those countries in which the olive cannot be raised.
Many species of the capsicum, or guinea pepper, are cultivated in Chili,
under the name of _thapi_, and are used as seasonings in the food of the
natives.
The _illmu,_ or Bermudiana bulbosa, produces bulbous roots, which are
excellent food either boiled or roasted, and are very pleasant in soups.
The _liuto_ produces a bulbous root, which yields a very white, light,
and nutritious flour, which is much used as food for the sick.
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