18 Mr. James Epps, Jun., on 
the sand-box (Hura crepitans); this is commonly called the 
artillery tree, because its fruit, if kept in a dry place (or some- 
times when on the tree), bursts with a loud report, shedding its 
seeds in all directions. I had one-explode in my bedroom one 
night, which somewhat surprised me, and it was only in the 
morning that I found out what the noise was, by finding the 
seeds in all parts of the room. It takes its name of sand-box 
from the use the fruits were put to, years ago, before blotting 
paper was used. The fruits were filled with fine sand, and from 
the slits in the fruit the sand was shaken over the wet ink, when 
writing, to dry it, in the same way that we even now occasionally 
see a nurseryman do. Then we have an interesting and delicious 
fruit, i.e. the Papaw (Carica Papaya). The male and female 
plants grow separately. The tree is not a branched one, and the 
fruits are arranged up the main stem in the axils of the leaves. 
I have had fruits of over a pound in weight. Then we have the 
nutmeg tree (Myristica fragrans); this, like the papaw, has 
separated male and female trees, which necessarily makes it very 
difficult for the planter to form an estate, as he must wait until 
the trees blossom before being sure whether he is putting in a 
male or female tree. The fruits very much resemble a nectarine, 
and when ripe divide into two portions; the kernel is then seen 
inside covered by a scarlet network, which constitutes mace. 
When a nutmeg plantation is once formed the trees give the 
most profitable crop of all fruits. Then we have two more 
interesting trees, very much alike—the bread-fruit tree (Artocarpus 
incisa) and the bread-nut tree (Brosimum alicastrum) ; both yield 
fruits which are cooked and used as food. 
After a memorable drive of six miles we arrived at Les 
Fontaines estate (the small estate which I own). I could 
hardly believe I was there in the flesh, after looking at the 
photos at home so many times; I found it difficult to realize 
that I was at last in that beautiful spot. Just in front of the 
entrance to the estate is a fine clump of bamboos (Bambusa 
vulgaris) ; these clumps in the north of the island are common, 
but are very grand; at a little distance they resemble a flight 
of rockets at a firework display; a single stem will often measure 
six inches in diameter; they are one of the most useful tropical 
plants. Standing in front of the house is the Malacca apple; 
the tree being in blossom at the time, it brought a lot of hamming ~ 
birds to it. The orange trees were laden with fruit of a very 
fine quality. We then took a walk into the cacao plantation. One 
might imagine oneself in fairyland ; all the trunks and the thick 
stems of the cacao trees look as if covered with fairy lanterns. 
They are the fruits of the tree; some are green, some yellow, 
some a rich reddish chocolate, and some bronze. The gathering 
of the crop had commenced, and we presently came across a 
P=, 
