Mr. Churchill's Journey 



There are seldom any trees in banana planta- 

 tions except bark-cloth trees, a kind of fig. As 

 soon as the bark from which the cloth is made 

 is stripped off, they are wrapped round with a 

 sheath of banana leaves, in order to preserve them 

 from insects and to promote the process of re- 

 growth in the bark. The bark may be employed 

 for the manufacture of cloth until the tree is four 

 or five years old, but as a rule the same tree is 

 not stripped more than two or three times. The 

 first time it produces a thick coarse cloth, but the 

 second time a much finer quality. 



White-flowering, rose-tinted tobacco which at- 

 tains a height of about three feet, and cucumber- 

 like plants producing gourds for the making of 

 various kinds of vessels, spoons, etc., are univer- 

 sally grown near the houses. 



Banana plantations, with groups of huts, green 

 fields, blue mountains, shady villages, and a smil- 

 ing heaven, composed an enchanting picture, and 

 merrily we continued our way over firm red clay 

 roads right through the banana groves. 



A brilliant moonlight night followed an equally 

 beautiful day. It is a unique pleasure to sit in 

 the deep darkness of a banana grove and watch 

 . the play of the ever-changing shadows, which the 

 bluish moonliorht throws throuorh the thick foliatre 

 upon the dark red ground. An almost ghostly 

 silence reigns over all ; only at times the mighty 

 leaves rustle softly as if they dreamed. The 



75 



