SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. 



pleasant and cheerful. The groves, cross cut by many paths and 

 roads, form a beautiful evergreen garden, where bloom and fruit are 

 continually alternating. Most of the indigenous plants bloom twice a 

 year ; particularly during and after the rainy season, in June and July, 

 and in the temperate autumn months. The months of April and May, 

 the time of my visit, are dry and unfruitful months, during which the 

 flora here exhibits least its beauties and rarities. 



Here shrubs and trees are in great disproportion to the more deli- 

 cate, annual plants, of which there are but very few. Moreover, the 

 leaves of most of these shrubs and trees are of a firmer, parchment-like 

 nature, and their wood is dense and heavy. Although plants of this 

 character are better adapted for withstanding great heat, nevertheless 

 at the time of my, visit, after a persistent drought, shrubs of firm, laurel- 

 like foliage as well as those of a more delicate leafage, stood for the 

 most part wilted, if not refreshed now and then by a dew at night. 



Of the trees, either originally indigenous or transplanted, the fol- 

 lowing are to be set down, in addition to those already mentioned, 

 as remarkable or useful. 



The Papaw or Melon-tree, Carica Papaya L. (Trew: Ehret, Tab. 

 VII), is planted for its fruit in gardens or about plantations, the fruit, 

 cooked before it is full ripe, making a not unpleasant dish. It is be- 

 lieved here that if it is put with hard, tough meat, the same grows 

 softer and more digestible. The little seeds have a sharp, aromatick 

 taste. The trees are not very tall, sparsely leaved, and of a white, 

 spongy wood. 



The Guavas, Psidium pyriferum L. (Guiva, Trew: Ehret. t. 43), 

 and Psidium pomifernm L., are also transplantations; they are indige- 

 nous to Hispaniola. From their fruit confitures are made, as also from 

 that of the Mammee, Mammea americana L. 



The Avogado-tree, Lawns Pcrsea L. On a deserted plantation 

 behind the town [Nassau] there arc a few "of these trees, large and 

 handsome. The pear-shaped fruit, which ripens in September, is ex- 

 cellent of taste. 



The Banana-tree, Mnsa paradisiaca L., is grown abundantly in all 

 gardens. 



The common fig tree, Ficus Carica L., bears three times a year, 

 heavily, and good fruit, and deserves to be more raised, for the fruit 

 of the indigenous fig, Ficus henghalensis L., is small, dry, and un- 

 eatable. The pomegranate also yields well-tasting fruit. Among 

 the transplantations belong also, the Paternoster-tree, Mclia Ase- 

 darach L., the soap-tree, Sapindus Sapoiiaria L.; Nerium Ole- 

 ander, and Magnolia grandiflora L. Further, the Silk-Cotton-Tree 

 (Bombax pentandriirn L.) the seed-case of which yields a very 



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