A. E. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. 425 
adapted to the making of roads. It is so porous that the heaviest 
rains very quickly soak into it, and it is seldom dusty. But at the 
time of my last visit, April, 190], these roads were considerably out 
of repair, especially the south road, owing to some very severe storms 
during the preceding winter. 
A drive along either of the three principal roads, on the Main 
Island, eastward or westward, will at once relieve the visitor of all 
his impressions of barrenness, derived from the appearance as seen 
from the steamer, for cultivated land and luxuriant vegetation are 
seen on all sides. Great numbers and many varieties of foreign 
tropical trees, shrubs, and flowering plants are abundant along the 
roadsides and in the gardens. Wherever there is sufficient soil, and 
Figure 6.—Banana Patch; a Pawpaw with fruit is near the right side. 
especially in the valleys or “sinks,” it is highly cultivated. The 
principal crops are Bermuda onions, early potatoes, and Bermuda 
lilies, but patches of sweet potatoes, bananas, and various garden 
vegetables are common. Many unusual fruit trees may also be seen, 
such as the Orange, Avocado Pear, and most curious of all, the Paw- 
paw, with its columnar trunk, surmounted by a terminal cluster of 
large leaves, and sometimes with a cluster of large fruits just below 
them. It is remarkable for containing a vegetable digestive ferment 
called papain, capable of digesting meat, ete. (Fig. 6.) 
