XAYMACA; THE ISLAND OF MANY RIVERS 321 

 Having established relations with Mr. M , 



the enterprising agent in Port Antonio of the 

 American Fruit Company, we were able to get 

 needed stores, — flour of good quality, butter, and 

 bacon from the United States. Poultry, eggs, 

 vegetables, fruit, coffee, the latter home cured, 

 were supplied by higglers at the door. 



There is a monotony about tropical fare in a 

 country district. Ice is wanting, butter and cream 

 lack a proper consistency, and though the climate 

 suggests cooling beverages, sherbets and other 

 frozen compounds, one must adjust one's palate to 

 a lukewarm temperature. Meat must be eaten 

 before it is properly hung, and hence lacks savor ; 

 the same is true of poultry. Of our accustomed 

 vegetables, we had potatoes and tomatoes ; for the 

 rest we found the chou-chou, which grew like the 

 cocoa directly from the trunk of a tree, an admi- 

 rable substitute for squash. The aki, suggestive 

 of omelet, did not tempt us, one portion was said 

 to be poisonous. Fruits there were in endless 

 variety, — sweet-sop, sour-sop, star-apple, custard 

 apple, sapodilla, avocado pear, mammee-sapota, 

 mango, in addition to the familiar pineapple, 

 orange, lime, shaddock, and cocoanut. The 

 Number Eleven Mango is a fruit to be remem- 

 bered, ranking, I fancy, with the famous durian 

 of Borneo. Of the other unfamiliar fruits I can 

 say little in praise ; all save the avocado pear are 



