Syrups and wines and
cordials made from the ripe fruit are expectorant, sedative and tonic.
Ropes are made from the bark of the tree. By its power of dissolving
stains the papaw has acquired the name of the melon bleach; the leaves,
and a portion of the fruit are steeped in water, and the treated water
is used in washing coloured clothing, especially black, the colours
being cleaned and held fast.
In the country in which it is supposed to be endemic it is believed that
if male animals graze under the papaw tree they become BLASE; but
science alleges that the roots and extracted juice possess aphrodisiac
properties, and who among us would not rather place credence upon this
particular fairy tale of science than the fairy tales of swarthy and
illiterate and possibly biassed gentlemen.
And as to its beauty-bestowing attributes, an admirer's word might be
quoted as a final note of praise--
"The strange and beautiful races of the Antilles astonish the eyes of
the traveller who sees them for the first time. It has been said that
they have taken their black, brown, and olive and yellow skin tints from
the satiny and bright-hued rinds of the fruit which surround them.
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