CHAPTER IX 



A RAMBLE ALONG THE COAST 



THE vegetation along the seashore is naturally very 

 different to that at a higher altitude. Wherever 

 it has been found possible, the ground has been 

 brought into cultivation, even up to a height of 

 2,500 feet. Pressed by the ever-increasing popula- 

 tion, and the consequent need of more food for 

 more mouths, the country- people are continually 

 bringing into cultivation fresh patches of ground. 

 No minute piece seems to be wasted, and many an 

 odd corner and neglected patch which, from its 

 steepness or the poor quality of soil, escaped cultiva- 

 tion in years gone by, being rejected as incapable 

 of bringing any return for the vast labour which 

 has to be applied to it in the first instance, has been, 

 as it were, pressed into service of late years. The 

 larger expanses of cultivated ground have been 

 utilized for the profitable and ever-increasing sugar 

 crop, and these tiny terraces, when the stones have 

 been dug out or the rock blasted, and walls built 



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