To prepare the fruit for use instead of bread, it must be roasted, either whole, or cut into three or four pieces. It is also cooked in an oven, which renders it soft, and something like a boiled potatoe; not quite so mealy as a good one, but more so than those of an inferior description. The Otaheitans make three dishes of it, by putting either milk or the milk of cocoa-nut to it, then beating it to a paste with a stone pestle, and afterwards mixing it with ripe plantains, bananas, or mahie.

This mahie is a preparation of the ripe bread fruit, for which it is substituted during the season, just before athering a fresh crop. It js made thus: - The fruit is gathered just before it is perfectly ripe, and being laid in heaps, is closely covered with leaves; in this state it undergoes a fermentation, and becomes disagreeably sweet. The core is then taken out entire, by gently pulling the stalk, and the fruit is thrown into a hole which is dug for that purpose, generally in the houses, and neatly lined in the bottom and sides with grass; the whole is then covered with leaves, and heavy stones laid upon them. In this state it undergoes a second fermentation, and becomes sour; after which it undergoes no change for many months. It is taken out of the hole as it is wanted for use, and being made into balls, it is wrapped up in leaves, and roasted or baked. After it is baked, it will keep five or six weeks. It is eaten both cold and hot, and the natives seldom make a meal without it. To Europeans, however, the taste is said to be as disagreeable as that of a pickled olive generally is the first time it is eaten.

Sago Bread - is made from the wood of the sago tree, in the follow ing manner: - The natives of the islands of Banda and Amboyna saw the body of the tree into small pieces, and, after bruising and beating them in a mortar, pour water upon the fragments. This is left for some hours undisturbed, to let the pithy farinaceous matter subside. The water is then poured off, and the meal, being properly dried, is formed into cakes, or fermented and made into bread, which, it is said, is nearly as palatable as wheaten bread. The Hottentots make a kind of bread from another species of sago tree. The pith of this tree is collected, and tied up in dressed calf, or sheep-skin, and then buried in the ground for several weeks, which renders it mellow and tender. It is then made into cakes, which are baked under hot embers. Others roast the sago tree pith, and make it into a kind of porridge.

The sago of commerce is made from the pith of this tree, but it is granulated by passing it through a sieve. It acquires its brown colour from drying it on hot stones.

Casava Bread - is made in the Caribbee Islands, from a very poisonous root called Jatropa Maniat, rendered wholesome by the extraction of its acrid juice, which the Indians use for poisoning their arrows. So powerfully poisonous is this juice, that a tea-spoonful is sufficient to take away the life of a man. The root of the maniat, after being washed, scraped clean, and grated in a tub, is enclosed in a sack made of rushes, of very loose texture. This sack is suspended upon a stick placed upon two wooden forks. A heavy vessel is suspended to the bottom of the sack, and is so contrived as to press the juice out of the roots. When the juice is all taken from the roots, they become a sort of starch, which is exposed to smoke in order to dry it; when well dried, it is passed through a sieve: it is now called casava. It is baked into cakes by laying it on hot plates of iron, or on hot earth. The article called tapioca is the finest part of casava, collected and formed into small tears, by straining the mass, while it is still moist, so as to make it into small irregular lumps.

Plantain Bread - is made from the fruit of the plantain tree. This fruit is about a foot long, and from an inch and a half to two inches in diameter, and has a tough skin, within which there is a soft pulp, of a sweet flavour. The fruit is generally cut when green; the skin is taken off, and the heart is roasted in a clear cold fire for a few minutes: it is then scraped, and served up as bread. This tree is a native of the East Indies, and other parts of the Asiatic continent, but is cultivated on an extensive scale in Jamaica. It is said, that without this fruit the West India islands would be scarcely inhabitable, as no species of provisions could supply its place. Wheaten bread flour is not so agreeable to the negroes, and they greatly prefer it to the fruit of the bread tree.

Banana Bread - is made of the fruit of the banana tree. This fruit is about four or five inches long, of the shape of a cucumber, and of a highly grateful flavour. They grow in bunches that weigh twelve pounds and upwards. The pulp of the banana tree is softer than that of the plantain tree, and of a more luscious taste. When ripe it is a very pleasant food, either undressed, or fried in slices like fritters. All classes of people in the West Indies are very fond of it. When preparing for a voyage, they take the ripe fruit and squeeze it through a sieve; then form the mass into loaves, which are dried in the sun, or baked on hot ashes, having been previously wrapped up in leaves.

Moss Bread, or bread made of moss, is prepared from a species of the tribe lichen, called rein-deer moss, which contains a considerable quantity of starch. The Icelanders form the lichen islandicus into bread, and it is said to be very nutritive. The moss is collected in the summer, dried, and ground into powder - of which bread gruel and pottage are made. It is also boiled in milk or whey, till it cornea to a jelly. It should be previously steeped some hours in warm water, in order to extract the bitter matter with which it is impregnated, which is not only disagreeable as to taste, but is also a purgative.