Page:EB1911 - Volume 04.djvu/492

 by whom he had two sons, Duncan, styled Lord Ormelie, who was passed over in the succession, and John, and earl of Breadalbane; (2) Mary, daughter of Archibald, marquis of Argyll, and widow of George, 6th earl of Caithness, by whom he had one son, Colin. By Mrs Mildred Littler, who has sometimes but probably in error been named as his third wife, he had a daughter, Mary.

, 2nd earl of Breadalbane (1662–1752), an eccentric nobleman, who was known as “Old Rag,” was succeeded by his only son, John (c. 1696–1782). This earl was a diplomatist, being British ambassador to Denmark and to Russia, and a politician, being for a long time a member of the House of Commons and a supporter of Sir Robert Walpole, in addition to holding several official positions. All his sons having predeceased their father, the title passed on his death, on the 26th of January 1782, to a cousin, John (1762–1834), who became 4th earl and was created a British peer as marquess of Breadalbane in 1831. His son John, the 2nd marquess (1796–1862), a prominent leader of the Free Church during the ecclesiastical disputes in Scotland, died without sons in November 1862. The marquessate now became extinct, but the Scottish earldom passed to a cousin John Alexander (1824–1871), whose son and successor, Gavin (b. 1851), was created marquess of Breadalbane in 1885.  BREADALBANE, a large district of Perthshire, Scotland, bordered N. by Atholl, E. by Strathtay, S. by Strathearn and W. by the districts of Argyll and Lorne, and occupying some 1020 sq. m. Most of the surface is mountainous, Ben Lawers (3984 ft.), Ben More (3843), and Ben Lui (3708), being the principal hills. Loch Tay is the chief lake, and among the rivers are the Orchy, Dochart, Lochay, Lyon, Almond and the Tay (during the early part of its course). Population mostly centres in Aberfeldy, Fortingal, Kenmore and Killin. The soil is not cultivable excepting in some of the glens and straths. Game is plentiful, the lakes and rivers afford good sport, and the deer forests and shootings are valuable. The district has given the titles of earl and marquess to the Campbells of Glenorchy.  BREAD-FRUIT. This most important food staple of the tropical islands in the Pacific Ocean is the fruit of Artocarpus incisa (nat. ord. Moraceae). The tree attains a moderate height, has very large, acutely lobed, glossy leaves, the male flowers in spikes, and the female flowers in a dense head, which by consolidation of their fleshy carpels and receptacles form the fruit. The fruit is globular in shape, about the size of a melon, with a tuberculated or (in some varieties) nearly smooth surface. Many varieties of the tree are cultivated, the fruits of some ripening numerous seeds, which are eaten as chestnuts; but in the best kinds the seeds are aborted, and it is only these that are highly prized as vegetables. The tree is a native of the South Sea Islands, where its fruit occupies the important position that is held by cereals in temperate latitudes. The fruit, which on distinct varieties ripens at different periods, affording a nearly constant supply throughout the year, is gathered for use just before it ripens, when it is found to be gorged with starchy matter, to which its esculent value is due. It may be cooked and prepared for use in a great variety of ways, the common practice in the South Sea Islands being to bake it entire in hot embers, and scoop out the interior, which when properly cooked should have a soft smooth consistence, fibrous only towards the heart, with a taste which has been compared to that of boiled potatoes and sweet milk. Of this fruit A. R. Wallace, in his Malay Archipelago, says: “With meat and gravy it is a vegetable superior to anything I know either in temperate or tropical countries. With sugar, milk, butter or treacle it is a delicious pudding, having a very slight and delicate but characteristic flavour, which, like that of good bread and potatoes, one never gets tired of.” In the Pacific Islands the fruit is preserved for use by storing in pits, where the fruits ferment and resolve themselves into a mass similar in consistency to new cheese, in which state they emit an offensive odour; but after baking under hot stones they yield a pleasant and nutritious food. Another and more common method of preserving the fruit for use consists in cutting it into thin slices, which are dried in the sun. From such dried slices a flour is prepared which is useful for the preparation of puddings, bread and biscuits, or the slices are baked and eaten without grinding. The tree yields other products of economic value, such as native cloth from the fibrous inner bark of young trees; the wood is used for canoes and articles of furniture; and a kind of glue and caulking material are obtained from the viscid milky juice which exudes from incisions made in the stem.

The bread-fruit is found throughout the tropical regions of both hemispheres, and its first introduction into the West Indies is connected with the famous mutiny of the “Bounty,” and the remarkable history of a small company of the mutineers at Pitcairn Island. Attention was directed to the fruit in 1688 by Captain Dampier, and later by Captain Cook, who recommended its transplantation to the West Indian colonies. In 1787 the “Bounty” was fitted out under command of Lieutenant (q.v.) to proceed to Tahiti to carry plants thence to the West Indian Islands; and it was after the cargo had been secured and the vessel was on her way that the mutiny broke out, and Lieutenant Bligh and some of his crew were turned adrift in a small boat in the open sea. The mutineers returned with the vessel to Tahiti, whence a number of them, with a few native men and women, sailed to the desolate and lone islet of Pitcairn. Lieutenant Bligh ultimately reached England, and was again commissioned to undertake the work of transplanting the plants, which in the year 1792–1793 he successfully accomplished.

A somewhat similar but inferior fruit is produced by an allied species, the Jack or Jak, Artocarpus integrifolia, growing in India, Ceylon and the Eastern Archipelago. The large fruit