[63] Champlain has here evidently the description of the cacao tree and the "Metl," or Maguey (Aloes Pitta, Aloes disticha, Agave Americana), to which nearly all the latter part of his description applies, save the "leaf like that of an olive tree." I have before spoken of a tree which is called Gouiave,[64] which grows very commonly in this country, and bears a fruit also called Gouiave, of the size of an apple of Capendu,[65] of a yellow colour, and the inside like to that of green figs; the juice is pretty good. [64] "Psidium" (Linn.) "Sa qualité est de resserrer le ventre, estant mangé vert, dont aussi plusieurs s'en servent contre le flux de sang; mais estant mangé meur il a un effet tout contraire."--De Rochefort, _Hist. des Antilles_, etc., 1658. [65] A kind of apple common in Normandy, in the "Pays de Caux" more particularly. This fruit has the property, that if a person should have a flux of the belly, and should eat of the said fruit, without the skin, he would be cured in two hours; and on the contrary, if a man be constipated, and eat the skin only, without the inside of the fruit, it would incontinently loosen his bowels, without need of other medicines. [Illustration: Acoyates] There is also another fruit called Accoiates,[66] of the size of large winter pears, very green outside: and when the skin is taken off, a very thick flesh is found, which is eaten with salt, and has the taste of kernels or green walnuts; there is a stone in it, of the size of a walnut, of which the inside is bitter. The tree (branch) on which grows the said fruit, is here figured, together with the fruit. [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. Also there is a fruit, which is called Algarobe,[67] of the size of plums of Apt, and as long as bean-pods; the shell of it is harder than that of cassia, and is of a chesnut colour; a small fruit like a large green bean is found in it, which has a kernel, and is very good. [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. I saw also another fruit called Carreau, of the size of the first:[68] the skin is very tender, and of an orange colour; the inside is red as blood, and the flesh like that of plums; it stains where it touches, like mulberries: the taste is very good, and it is said to be excellent for curing the bite of venomous creatures.