Deals with the tree called jicama[1] or its fruit in the southern land.

Translated by Ella Nguyen ’23

Jicama is a large and beautiful tree found in the southern land and governorate of New Castile (on the other side of the equinoctial line), which bears a fruit that looks very similar to the quinces of the province of Castilla del Oro. They are similar in the pits, which are divided into three or four parts, as in the rest (the quinces will be discussed at length in the following Book IX, in chapter XXII). The part of this fruit called hicomas or jicama that is eaten is good tasting, and there is a lot of it in those parts.[2]

 

[1] Pachyrhizus erosus

[2] It is worthy of note that the author removed here Chapter XXXVIII, which dealt with the holm oaks and acorns in the province and governorate of Nicaragua and its environs since, as he himself expressed on an aside, it as told at greater length in another book.