Being now in a comfortable lodging at Mr. de la Mare’s, and attended by so good a creature as Joanna, I recovered apace; and on the 25th was so well, that I was able to walk out for the first time, when I dined with Mrs. Godefroy, Mr. de Graav not being in town to concert matters relative to the emancipation of Joanna, who had now once more literally saved my life. At this table there was never wanting all the wholesome and refreshing nourishment that I stood in need of, with the best of fruits and wines. Among the articles conducive to the restoration of health, are reckoned in this country all the different kinds of pepper which it affords, and the no less efficacious acid of limes. Among the first are the cica pepper, the lattacaca, and the dago-peepee, as they are called in Surinam; for the negroes name each thing from the resemblance it bears to another: but these are known in Europe by the names of Cayenne, Pimento, and Capsicum. The first is properly called Cayenne from the French settlement of that name in Guiana; but the name cica or chica is derived from its round shape and size, resembling the insect called chiga or chigoe, already described; the next resembles rats excrements, &c. All the above species, besides some others, grow on low green shrubs, they all equally excoriate the mouth, have all the same fiery qualities, and when ripe are of a scarlet or rather a blood colour. The Europeans seldom eat any thing without it; but the blacks, and especially the Indians, swallow it I might say by handfuls, not only as a relish, but as a remedy in almost every disease. The limes grow on beautiful trees like lemons, but the leaf and the fruit are much smaller; they are rather a brighter yellow than the lemons, have a fine thin shell, and are extremely full of the richest acid that I know, which has a particularly fine flavour, and is a great blessing to the sick soldiers and sailors in this colony, who have them for the trouble of gathering; so that it is not uncommon to see the tars employing their leisure time in picking and carrying large hampers full to their vessels. In Surinam there are whole hedges of lime-trees, and all round Paramaribo they grow wild. It is much to be lamented that, among other articles of luxury, this fruit cannot be transported to Europe; but whole casks of this juice are frequently sent over, and they are also pickled and preserved in large jars by the inhabitants.