68 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



March 9, 1918. 



THE FOOD OF THE WEST INDIES. 



The following is the conclusion of the article on 

 the ahove subji'Ct bv Dr. H. A. Alford Nichols, ('.M.(!., 

 'M.V., F.L.S., Senior Medical Officer of Dominica, the 

 first part of which appeared in the last number of this 

 Journal: — 



It is better in every way for a country to be able to feed 

 its own people on home-grown food, and to employ imported 

 food products only in emergencies and as luxuries. A 

 population dependent on imports for food may at times be in 

 a precarious position, and another important consideration 

 is that the money sent abroad for provisions would be avail- 

 able for home industries, not the least of which would be the 

 raising of the food itself. 



Of all the West Indian Colonies, Dominica has reached 

 nearest the point of being capable of supplying the su.stenance 

 of its people by the products of the country. Mr. .Joseph 

 Jones, the Superintendent of Agriculture, in his report on 

 the Botanical Department for 191617, says in regard to this 

 matter: 'With the exception of Roseau, with its considerable 

 population, the country districts of Dominica are self-depen- 

 dent to a remirkable degree, and although the cessation of 

 imported foodstuffs even for a sliort lime would cause 

 inconvenience, there is no community in the West Indian 

 islands which is quite in so fortunate a position in regard to 

 local foods as Dominica.' 



There are several factors which together bring about this 

 .satisfactory condition of affairs. 1 'ominica is a mountainous, 

 well-watered island of large ar._^a, covered in the interior with 

 ■virgin forests, .so that there is an abundant rainfall, and the 

 country never suffers from the severe droughts that sometimes 

 occur in neighbouring islands. Most of the cultivated lands 

 He along or near to the seacoast where the greater part of 

 the inhabitants dwell, but there are many settlements on the 

 highlands of the interior. The greater number cf the 

 estates' labourers live in the towns of Itoseau and Ports- 

 mouth, or in the numerous villages along the seashore. 

 A consid'jrable number of them, however, live up the valleys 

 or on the hills, and they come down to the plantations daily 

 to work. 



Dominica is a land of small estates, and its peasan: 

 proprietors are very numerous. Many of the owners of the 

 einaller estates, and practically all the peasant proprietors 

 grow ground provisions and fruits, and rear live stock in 

 sufficient quantities for their own needs, and also for sale in 

 the markets. .Most of the beef, mutton, and pork sold by 

 the butchers, and the supply of inilk and eggs, besides vege- 

 table products, come from this useful and prosperous section 

 of the agricultural population. Pigs are raised in large 

 nunibers by the peasant proprietors, who often jiickic the 

 flesh for future consumption. 



.Many of the labourers rent '(gardens' on the outlying 

 lands of the estates, in which they grow vegetable foods for 

 themselves and their families, as well as for sale. The people 

 dwelling in the coast villages obtiiin an abundant harvest 

 from the sea. .Mo.it of the lish is eaten fresh, but a c|uantity 

 of the smaller kinds is slit open and salted, and dried in the 

 HUD for future use. 



The forests contribute in no inconsiderable degree to the 

 food supplies of the people. Indigenous animals — the :i.gouti 

 (Daiyjjfo<:la •igout'), a large rodent, and the manic lU 

 (Diadeljiliijf sp.), a marsupial— .ire fairly abundant in the 

 woods, and their Hech i- eaten both fresh and smoked. '"Jamc 

 birds, too, are obtainable in the shooting season; and a big 

 edible fp'^j (L<;/)<<,ciai,<'//«» peiUodactylus) and .several kinds 

 of land crabs are found aback of the coast lands. 



The forest vegetable fojd products are important addi- 

 tions to the food supply. There arc three kinds of wild yams: 

 the \i!a.w-wa.vr (Riijania /jUioiitura), a closely allied sjiecies 

 known as the cush-cush, and a third yam, called babaou-le 

 or cajila-ou, which is an undetermined species of Dioscorea 

 probably escaped from cultivation. .\ fourth food-plant is 

 a Calathea (C. .l//i>//yii), which is called topic tambou. Those 

 foods are fairly plentiful, and they are oaten largely by 

 the people in the country districts. The waw-waw or Carib 

 yam, as it is often called, is sometimes sold in the market of 

 Koseau, and it grows to a large size: but the people are so 

 an.vious to secure it that they dig it up long before it is 

 fuHy developed. It has recently been analysed in the 

 Botanical Department of Dominica, and its protein content 

 was found to be as high as 3'58 per cent. 



Thus the people of Dominica are really well off for 

 native foods a.s compared ' with the populations of the neigh- 

 bouring islands, in which most of the land is taken up by 

 the estates of large proprietors, and in which the local foods 

 have to be more largely supplemented by imported wheaten 

 (lour, and salted fish and meat. 



The Hon. W. H. Porter, LS.O., the Treasurer of Dom- 

 inica, has been good enough to furnish me with figures show- 

 ing the consumption per head by the population of the island 

 of the principal items of imported foods. His figures are 

 calculated from the imports of 1916 divided by the popula- 

 tion of 1915, and they are as follows: — • 



Consumption per caput per annum. 



Wheaten tlour 8950 9). 



Rice 10-52 „ 



Salt fish 13 -90 „ 



Salt pork 2'35 ,, 



Salt beef 0-61 ., 



Mr. Joseph Joccs, in his report already referred to, states 

 T.hat 'Dominica is self-supporting to a much larger extent 

 than Antigua and .St. Kitts, the only important article of 

 imported foodstuff being wheat tlour.' 



As might be ^upposed from this fortunate position in 

 regard to the home [u-oduetion of food, the labouring 

 population of Dominica bears favourable comparison with its 

 neighbours as regards vigour and health. 



.Some of the people dwelling in Roseau are of poor 

 physique, for, owing to ilithculties of transport, much of the 

 surplus ground provisions of the country districts cannot be 

 brought to town except with ditUoulty, and sometimes at 

 a prohibitive cost, so the townspeople have to pay much 

 higher rates for their native food, and to supplement it 

 largely by imported wheaten Hour and salt fish. 



Thus the poorer town dwellers, and tho.se who are past 

 w..rk find it extremely hard to obtain jiroper nourishment in 

 sufficient quantities. Fortunately, however, these people 

 form only a small part of the island popuiiition which, as 

 has been .shown, obtains sullicient nourishment containing 

 the necessary elements lor providing energy, and for building 

 u|i the body tissues. 



It is found that the ordinary labourer is not deficient in 

 power to do continuous hard work. My observations some 

 years ago on my own estate taught mo that the agricultural 

 labourer was fully capable of performing his daily task, and 

 that there was no undue exhaustion. Mr. George Branch, the 

 .Manager of the lime estates of Messrs. L. Rose it Co., Ltd., who 

 is probably now the largest employer of labour in the island, 

 informs me th .t the people arc quito capable of doing an 

 ordinary day's work, and that in this resi)ect many of them 

 ,irc 'hard to beat . Ho finds, too, that those who come from 



