a no /series travels . ^pril 4, 



the country, as they had been represented to him, he had 

 occasion to observe that tliey were moxe gentle in their 

 manners, and more unaffectedly kind, in proportion to the 

 smallnefs of the intercourse they have with the Europeans.^ 

 " Tlie houses," says he, " of these negroes, consist of 

 stakes of wood interlaced with branches, whose interstices 

 are closed with a kind of mortar. They consist only of one 

 floor, but they are divided into several apartments, which 

 are kept very neat and clean. Woo ' here abounds ; the 

 mountains are covered with trees which appear to be as an- 

 cient as the wofld. Some of those I saw measured forry-iive 

 feet in circumference. The soil is so fertile thai tlie la- 

 bours of agriculture occupy not above four weeks in the 

 year. Palm-trees grow here in great abundance, from which 

 the inhabitants extract a very refreihing drink, and also 

 an oil which answers instead of butter. Their principal 

 nourifliraent is the fruit of the banana, [^musa pnradisaica 

 Linn.] j and the root of the yam, \_Dioscre^a atata Linn.} ^ 

 which is here of a more delicate kind than that which 

 grows in the West Indies. 



" There are two methods," continues he, " of obtaining the 

 drink in question from the palm-trees. One is to pluck up 

 by the roots an old palm-tree, which h':s given over car- 

 rying fruit, to lay it horizontally, and to bore a deep hole in 

 the middle of the trunk, under which they place a vefsel to 

 receive the juice that flows from it. During the first three or 

 four days it yields but very little 5 but in eight dajs follow- 

 ing, it runs so fast, that one would think the whole sub- 

 stance of it would be converted into juice. The other me- 

 thod is to allow the tree to continue standing, to cut off 

 only the summit, and to make an incision along the trur*k. 

 The liquor that is obtained in this manner is not so abun- 

 dant^ but of a better quality than the other." 



Every morning they go to the v-'oods to collect this li- 

 quor for the consumption of the day. Our author, in his 



