The royal commentaries of Peru : in two parts / written originally in spanish by the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega; rendred into english by sir Paul Rycaut.

BooK VHI. Royal Commentariú. And tiríl: as to tha~ Fruit which the SpaniardJ call Guayava1, and"the Indians Sa- vintu·; we fay, that they are of a round fafüion like the common Apple, and .with a skin or paring like them : In rhe mear, or pulp of it, are many litt!e rnund feeds, lefs than Grape-íl:ones; fome .oí which are yellow without, and red within, and are of two kinds ; fome are fo fowet, tbat they cannot be earen, others are fweet, and very.pleafant ro tbe palate ·; fome are green without, and white within, and are much better than the red; rhough in fome Countries on th~ Sea-cqaíl: they e- fieem ·the red much better than the white. The Spaniards make a Conferve of them, as alfo of other Fruits, whi~h -hath been praétifed fince my departure out of Peru. At Seville 1 faw fome Fruit óf the Savintu, which a Paífenger, a friend of mine, brought from Nombre de Dios ; and becaufe it was a Fruit of my own 1 Countrey, he ~nvited me to the eating of it. Anoth~r Fruit the Indians call Pacay, and the S¡mniards Guavas, which grow il1 green Pods, of about a quarter of a Yard long, and two fingers broad ; withia the pod, or íhell, there is a kind ofhairy fubíl:ance, like cotton ; and fo mm;:h re- fembles ir, that· fome New-comers out of Spain have quarrelled with the Indians for giving them Cotton to eat; but when they taíl:ed them, they found them fweet and pleaíant; being dried in the Sun, tney will keep a long time: withia the Pod they have A black Seed, like fmall Beans, but thofe are not to be eaten. The Fruir which the Spaniards call Pears, becaufe they refeinble rhem in the greennefs of their colour and íhape, the Indians call Palta, becaufe they firfi grew in a Province of that name. They are two or three times bigger than .the largeft fize of Pears in Spain ; they have a fine skin, or rine; which covers them, under which is the pulp; or meat, ofabout a finger thick, within which there is a fhell, or ftone; .they are of 'the fame formas the common Pears with us; there hath been no experiment, whether they be Medicinal, or not; onely 'tis certain, they are (lleafant to the taíl:e, and wholfome for the fick '> and being eaten with Sugar, they are a rare confeet. . They have alfo another fort of wild Fruit, which the Indians call luicma, and the Spaniards Lucma; it is in no manner pleafant to the taíl:e, thotigh it be rather (weet, than íharp or bitter 5 howfoever, it is a groíS kind of feeding, the Fruit being about the bignefs of a common Orange ; in the mear of it, it eontains a kernel or feed of a Cheíl:nut-colour, which is fo bitter, that it cannot be eaten. Moreover the Jndians had a fort of Plums which they called Vf{un, wbich are red, a~d f weec s and being eáten, they turn the Urine into a colour like bloud. L' e a Ar~