The anana is called by the native Spaniards _piña del Paraguay_, from a sort of resemblance to the nuts of the pine, and from its being very abundant in the north of Paraguay. I observed that those of Paraguay were larger than those of Europe, but not so sweet. The juice of the former is as pleasant as that of strawberries to the taste; but, unless perfectly ripe, sharp and caustic; on which account this fruit, when cut into stocks, according to its length, must first be macerated in rich wine. The liquor of it, when expressed by the aid of fire, removes languor from the mind, and nausea from the stomach, relieves dysury, and nephritic pains, and restores the natural heat to the aged. Some preserve ananàs in sugar. Each plant yearly produces one fruit, and becoming exhausted, gradually dies away; whilst, in its place, a little plant, taken from the crown of the ripe fruit, is placed in the ground, and next year bears fruit. This also is the case when it grows wild without cultivation; for the new germ falls from the top of the plant, and takes root. THE MANDIOC. The mandioc is the root of the little plant mandiò, which is about the height of a middle-sized man. It is supported by a very straight, slender trunk, the thickness of a man's thumb, knotty like a reed, with bark resembling that of a hazle, and pith, spungy, like the elder's, and full of milk. At the top it is crowned with branches and little boughs, with elegant, long, narrow leaves, of a beautiful green colour. The flowers are yellow. The want of fruit is compensated by the roots, which are sometimes three feet long, fragile, thicker than a man's arm, and covered with a dusky skin like the bark of a hazle. Their very white pith is full of a milky, glutinous, and poisonous liquid. As in the cinnamon shrub the bark is alone made use of; so in the mandiò, the root is the only serviceable part. The Americans are acquainted with more than twenty species of this tree, differing in form and virtues. The mandiò bears seed not unlike that of the piñon del Paraguay; but it is quite useless in propagating the plant, for which purpose the trunk or stalk of the shrub is cut into stocks, about a span long, three of which are always stuck into heaps of mould, so that they project about the length of a span from the surface of the earth. In a short time they take root, put out leaves, and grow up. Neither do they require to be watered, for this plant detests moisture and shade, and loves dry soils, and sunny situations. It must be planted in the summer, in ground that has been well dried. Six months after it has been laid in the earth, you will find roots fit for eating; but in reality it is a year before they are fully mature, and attain to their ordinary size; at the end of which time, although they be not dug up, they will remain a long while under ground uninjured, but if taken out of the earth, grow rotten in the space of three days.