CHAPTER XIV

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THE CHIEF ESCULENT PLANTS OF THE TORRID ZONE.

Rice--Various Aspect of the Rice-fields at different Seasons--The Rice-Bird--Maize--First imported from America by Columbus--Its enormous Productiveness--Its wide zone of Cultivation--Millet, Dhourra--The Bread-Fruit Tree--The Bananas--Their ancient Cultivation--Avaca or Manilla Hemp--Humboldt’s Remarks on the Banana--The Traveller’s Tree of Madagascar--The Cassava Root-- Tapioca--Yams--Batatas--Arrowroot--Taro--Tropical Fruit Trees--The Chirimoya--The Litchi--The Mangosteen--The Mango 163

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