218 CULTIVATION OF SISAL IN THE BAHAMAS 



the whole interior is one vast "pine-yard," made up of the Bahama pine 

 (Pinus bahamensis). The trees are generally small, and from ten to 

 twenty feet apart. Under them is very frequently a dense undergrowth 

 of a tall brake, which is often six or seven feet high, and is known by 

 the natives as "May-pole." 



"Swash" is a very expressive term to denote the low swampy 

 ground, of which there are thousands of acres on the west coast. Here 



Fig. 8. 



Swash," 'West Side of Andros. 



the soil is soft and is composed of comminuted calcareous particles; 

 it supports no vegetation except innumerable small mangroves (Rhi- 

 zophora mangle), here and there small " button- woods " (Conocarpus 

 erectus), a few "salt bushes" (Avicennia nitida), and in some places 

 palmettoes. So far as sisal cultivation is concerned, the swash is 

 utterly valueless; but the pine-yard and coppet are both available. 

 In neither of these, however, is there what we recognize here as " soil " ; 

 and at first it was a source of wonder to the writer that anything at all 

 could grow there, for the surface is very largely the bare coral rock. 



