the name given by the editor of Dalzel's History of Dahomy to a very singular fruit produced in that country, as well as in some other parts of Africa. It resembles a small olive in every respect but the colour; being of a dusky reddish hue, changing at the end next the stalk to a faint yellow. The pulp is firm, and almost insipid; the stone is hard like that of the olive. After having chewed one or more of such berries, and spit out or swallowed the pulp at pleasure, a glass of vinegar will taste, to the person trying the experiment, like sweet wine; a lime will seem to have the flavour of a very ripe China orange; and the same change is produced on other acids, the ordinary effects of which upon the palate is destroyed in a very unaccountable manner, without effervescence or any sensible motion. Indeed, the effect is very different from neutralization, arising from the mixture of acid and alkali; such combination producing a neutral saline liquor, whilst this miraculous berry seems to convert acids to sweets. Food or drink not containing any acid, suffer no change by the previous use of this fruit; its effect upon acids continues, even after a meal, though in a much smaller degree.

The natives use it to render palatable a kind of gruel called guddo, which is made of bread after it becomes too stale for any other purpose. They describe it as the fruit of a large tree.

Plants six or seven inches high were raised from this fruit by Mr. Dalzel, who tried to carry them from Angola to the botanic garden at St. Vincent's; but they died on the passage. He preferred the berries in spirits, in syrup, and in a dry form; but they lost their singular quality in all those preparations. The plant is an evergreen, and the leaves in this infant state are like those of the olive.