A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 



425 



adapted to the making of roads. It is so porous that the heaviest 

 rains very quickly soak into it, and it is seldom dusty. But at the 

 time of my last visit, April, 190], these roads were considerably out 

 of repair, especially the south road, owing to some very severe storms 

 during the preceding winter. 



A drive along either of the three principal roads, on the Main 

 Island, eastward or westward, will at once relieve the visitor of all 

 his impressions of barrenness, derived from the appearance as seen 

 from the steamer, for cultivated land and luxuriant vegetation are 

 seen on all sides. Great numbers and many varieties of foreign 

 tropical trees, shrubs, and flowering plants are abundant along the 

 roadsides and in the gardens. Wherever there is sufficient soil, and 



Figure 6. — Banana Patch ; a Pawpaw with fruit is near the right side. 



especially in the valleys or "sinks," it is highly cultivated. The 

 principal crops are Bermuda onions, early potatoes, and Bermuda 

 lilies, but patches of sweet potatoes, bananas, and various garden 

 vegetables are common. Many unusual fruit trees may also be seen, 

 such as the Orange, Avocado Pear, and most curious of all, the Paw- 

 paw, with its columnar trunk, surmounted by a terminal cluster of 

 large leaves, and sometimes with a cluster of large fruits just below 

 them. It is remarkable for containing a vegetable digestive ferment 

 called papain, capable of digesting meat, etc. (Fig- 6.) 



