a Trip to the West Indies. 17 
including sugar-cane, As a good water supply is laid on, and 
pumps are found at regular intervals, one often sees an affectionate 
father or mother tubbing his or her young offspring. The coolie 
women are given to smoking, and it is a common sight to see 
the materfamilias squatting down enjoying the fragrant weed. 
After a little we left the coolie village, and passed through 
another village called Cocoarite; this is the terminus of the 
tram lines. We then arrived at the entrance to two valleys, one 
leading to Diego Martin and the Blue Basin, the other to Petite 
Vallée. We took the road to Petite Vallée. We then passed 
through several small cocoa estates, every now and then passing 
the owners’ houses, beautifully surrounded with palms and 
flowers. Every time I turned my head I had something new to 
‘see. A few things I might mention: the frangipani (Plumieria), 
of which there are two varieties, the white and the pink; the 
beautiful Hibiscus, of which there are many varieties; the cotton 
(Gossypium Barbadensis), with its large mallow-shaped flowers, 
covered at the same time with bursting fruits, showing the cotton 
attached to the seeds within; the crotons with their wonderful 
variety of variegated leaves of the richest colours; the sorrel 
(Hibiscus subdariffa), the fruit of which is used for making 
_ preserves and for making sorrel wine, a very pleasant drink. 
_ Then we were struck by some grand trees covered with an intense 
_ scarlet blossom ; these trees at this season of the year lose their 
leaves, and are decked with this blossom. These are the beloved 
trees of the Trinidadian, and ones they are justly proud of; they 
are the ‘‘madre de cacao,’’ or mother-of-the-cocoa (Hrythrina 
_umbrosa). They are used by the cacao-planter to shade his 
cacao trees from the burning influence of the sun’s rays. The 
tree is also supposed to supply nitrogen to the soil, chiefly by its 
leaves and blossoms, and the cacao certainly appears to thrive 
wonderfully under its protection. There is also another variety, 
which is evergreen, and is used in damp lowlands for shade, 
namely, the Hrythrina velutina, or bocare ; also a variety which 
takes a bush form, the flowers of which are of a dull yellow. This 
_ is the the tree the negroes call the “‘jumbie”’; it is the Hrythrina 
corallodendron. The seeds are very pretty, being very hard and 
of a bright scarlet colour, with a decided black spot. Then we 
have the bright yellow flowers of the poui (Tecoma spectabilis). 
This is a most useful timber, the wood being exceedingly hard; 
it is about the only wood that will stand tropical weather. It is 
‘used chiefly for posts, telegraph-poles, and timbers in exposed 
‘places. The balata, or bullet-wood (Mimusops Balata), though 
_ yery hard is easily worked, and is a very useful wood ; it is used 
for house-frames, fence-posts and wheel-spokes ; the tree gives a 
_ deliciously sweet fruit, and also yields a valuable gum. Then 
_ we have another very large tree, sometimes used for shade, viz. 
