124 PRODUCE OF THE SOIL. 
cascades as they descend from every direction 
into the sea. The high mountains are unin- 
habited, and the settlements made only in the 
valleys, more especially in the low land between 
the mountains and the sea-shore. 
In these charming amphitheatrical land- 
scapes, their houses, consisting only of roofs 
resting on stakes, surrounded and shaded by 
bananas, bread-fruit and cocoa-trees, are scat- 
tered at small distances from each other. 
Attached to every house are enclosed fields, 
where the proprietors cultivate their yams, 
sweet potatoes, and other wholesome and plea- 
sant roots, which form their chief nourishment. 
The rest of the cultivated land is filled by 
plantations of bananas and plantains, or little 
forests of cocoa and bread-fruit trees, so luxuri- 
antly interwoven, that the burning rays of the 
sun cannot penetrate to injure the bright ver- 
dure which clothes the soil. The neatly kept 
grass footpaths leading through these groves 
from one dwelling to another, are variegated - 
with flowers of the richest colours and most 
fragrant perfumes, and enlivened by the notes 
of innumerable birds arrayed in all the splendid 
