The Orange. 183 



belongs the immortal fable of Andromeda and Perseus ; 

 it was in Jaffa, literally The Beautiful,* that the maiden 

 Tabitha was restored to life by St. Peter. To-day the 

 adjacent orange-orchards are as lovely and as prolific 

 as those of Spain. We do not receive more from them 

 for want of direct steam communication. All consign- 

 ments from Jaffa to England have at present to be 

 trans-shipped either at Smyrna or Alexandria, with results 

 detrimental alike to the fruit and to the interests of the 

 merchants. Jamaica has already been mentioned (p. 15) 

 as exporting oranges to the United States on a scale 

 of great magnitude. The United States, by the way, 

 annually import about three hundred and fifty millions of 

 this fruit from the Mediterranean. Trinidad, after the 

 same manner as Jamaica, is bidding fair to become a 

 scene of immense and most lucrative orange-culture, the 

 annual crop of West Indian fruit being ready for gathering 

 at least two months before the crops in Europe are ready, 

 a fact that should tell in regard to the English demand. 

 Colonial oranges would be welcome indeed, especially as 

 the arrival would be so early. One of the very best fields 

 for the cultivation of this fruit is Brazil. Planted, in the 

 first instance, on the River Plate, the orange soon multi- 

 plied a thousand-fold, chiefly through the aid of the 

 parrots, and now, in certain localities, it grows as if wild, 

 sometimes forming veritable forests. The banks of the 

 lower Parana, and the islands which form its delta, are 



* Yapheh. The word employed in the Song of Solomon, v. 4 : 

 "Thou art beautiful, O my love." 



