SUMMARY (Deborah Madsen):

As the title indicates, the text is arranged in three parts: first, an account of the benefits, as both food and medicine, of West Indian fruits and herbs; secondly, a report of the complaints by slaves of the hard and cruel conditions they suffer; finally, a dialogue is staged between an “Ethopian or Negro-Slave” and his American Christian “Master” (as described on the title page).

In the first part Tryon discusses the relative “heat” and humidity of each fruit, offers advice about how to consume it, and describes its influences, which he derives astrologically, on the body and the humors. For example, in relation to coconut he advises:  

But neither this [the milk] nor the Kernal is not to be eaten alone on full Stomachs, or between Meals, as English People are apt to do in all places where they come, accounting nothing food but Flesh and Fish ; whereas Herbs, Seeds, Fruits and Grains do far transcend them, as to brave firm substantial Nourishment, as I have else-where in several Treatises demonstrated, viz. in my Way to Health, -long Life and Hafpiness, .... The good Housewife made a Doctor, Etc.“ (13).

His description of the papaya presents an opportunity to define the planetary and astrological influence under which each fruit grows (18) and he uses the watermelon to indicate how these influences determine the qualities of the fruit, including medicial qulaities suhc as the manner of purgation (20). The pumpkin: is deemed “cold phlegmatic” and so is useful for choleric temperaments (22). From these discussions, Tryon exptrapolates that diet must be adapted to climate in order to maintain health (52):

... in the East-Indies, where the food is chiefly Herbs, Fruits and Grains, and their Drink is only Water, to meet with Persons of One Hundred Years of Age is common; nay, it is credibly reported, that some of those called Brachmants, who do wholly abstain from eating either Flesh or Fish, do lengthen out their days to One Hundred and Twenty, and One Hundred and Fifty Years: And in Guinea, tho’ it be a very hot Country, and generally the Constitution of the Air accounted very unwholsom, yet you shall see the Ethiopians frequently live One Hundred and Twenty Years in great strength and vigour. By all which it is plain, that the fault is neither in the Soil, nor the Climate, but it is Intemperance both in Quantity and Quality, is the main cause of the grievous Distempers and short Lives of our English that travel into hot Countries ... (52).

He sets down a series of rules for an appropriate plant-based dietary regime that is adapted to the climate of the West Indies:

• no flesh (54),
• no over-eating (55); especially foods that are highly sweetened (66),
• no over-consumption of alcohol (56), drink water or wine diluted with water (71),
• time meals according to the heat of the sun (62),
• rest in the middle of the day (63) and avoid “violent exercise” (64).

In the second and third parts of the book, where Tryon engages the issue of slavery, he emphasizes that enslaved people are unable to respect rules such as he recommends. While Tryon remarks that the Christian God demands that humans work but does not demand that an individual should work beyond their capacity. He is critical of the fact that enslaved people are not permitted adequate rest, they are deprived of sufficient water or other drink, and they are denied proper nutrition (both in relation to the poor quality of the food they are given and the insufficient quantity of food). They suffer cruel punishments, like burning for running away, and the early deaths of many necessitates the continuation of the slave trade in order to maintain the numbers of the enslaved. Tryon offers his critique of slavery from the perspective of Christian values, and follows with a dramatized exchange of viewpoints between an enslaved person and his "owner."