For every day for thirty years he has, to
the exclusion of all other food, lunched on that fruit. Possibly the
papaw may be decadent in respect to morals and politics. The grape,
lemon, orange, pomelo, and the strawberry, each in the estimation of
special enthusiasts, is proclaimed the panacea for many of the ills of
life. One writer cites cases in which maniacs have been restored to
reason by the exclusive use of cherries. The apple, they say, too,
gives to the face of the fair ruddiness, but the tint is it not
too bold, compared with maiden blush which bepaints the cheek of
the beauty who rightly understands the use of the vital principle
of the papaw? Those who have complexions to retain or restore let
them understand and be fair.
In North Queensland the plant grows everywhere. In the dry, buoyant
climate west of the coast range, and in the steamy coastal tract, on
cliff-like hill-sides, on sandy beaches a few feet above high-water
mark, among rocks with but a few inches of soil, and where the decayed
vegetation of generations has made fat mould many feet deep, the papaw
flourishes. It asks foothold, heat, light and moisture, and given these
conditions a plant within a few months of its first start in life will
begin to provide food--entertaining, refreshing, salubrious--and will
continue so to do for years.
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