NOTES ON THE BOTANY OF JAMAICA. 281 
the Inga Saman, the saccharine pods of which in some degree replace 
the Carob of the South of Europe. Its introduction,-like that of the 
Guinea-grass, was purely accidental :—some cattle were imported from 
South America, which had been fed on their passage with the pods of 
this tree, and upon landing dropped the seeds, which have since been 
dispersed in the same manner all over the island. It is a beautiful tree. 
With its numerous tufts of rose-coloured stamens, and elegant pin- 
nate leaves, and its size and fine outline, and its usefulness, it stands 
queen among all the A/imosee. 
I am tempted here, by the mention of bullocks, to advert to their 
instinctive habit of taking the same track to water. I had always 
supposed it a mere habit, and seen no other advantage from it than 
perhaps their more readily finding their way to and fro. But in these 
tropical regions (the zone to which the ox probably belongs, for it 
seems to have been used in India and Egypt from the remotest times), 
the final cause is obvious. The earth becomes so hard during the 
long season of drought, that when the rain descends, as it does at last 
in sheets of water, the most of it would run away to waste, were it 
not detained by these gutters, and conducted by them to the spots where 
it can best be stored up for use, namely, the ponds at which the cattle 
habitually drink. I was first struck with this, when watching a coloured 
overseer directing some work-people in making a drain to carry the 
rain-water to a pond, and observed that the line he had drawn ran for 
the whole length of the field exactly parallel with the cow-path, wind- 
ing round every eminence and depression, the one beside the other. 
It may be asked, ** Why then make the drain?” I presume because the 
footsteps of the animals, and the dust collected in their paths, would 
absorb too much of the water, and tend to fill the pond with mud. 
To return from this digression: the Mango is another very con- 
spicuous exotic intruder. It prefers the sloping side of pasture-fields, 
and is much valued for the shelter it affords to the cattle, and a highly 
nutritious food. All animals eat the mango fruit. There is no tree 
here with the branches and leaves so crowded, or that bears such a 
quantity of blossom. Why nature should waste so much power as 
she does in making abortive flowers for these Anacardiacee is not 
easy to see. A single panicle will, perhaps, have 200 flowers on it, 
and not one of twenty panicles bear a fruit, and the tree continues to 
blossom several months. There is one near my window that was in 
VOL. II. 20 
